“The diseases of the mind are more and more
destructive than those of the body.”
~  Marcus Tullius Cicero. 1st-century BC Roman philosopher

That thoughts become things is not new to our generation. Cicero was aware in the 1^st Century BC.

The ego tries to incessantly fill our heads with worry, judgment, negative and self-defeating thoughts. A recent Higher Awareness article referenced the high-powered negative technology that runs amuck in our mind:

On spam: What unsolicited junk do we allow to enter our minds and distract us from what’s important?

On viruses: What malicious thoughts and behaviors sabotage our dreams and sap our vitality?

On worms: How do we allow fear to worm its way into our lives and subvert our highest intentions?

If only there was a computer service warranty we could take out on our minds. Perhaps there is – but does it ever require constant vigilance…

Silencing the mind. Getting quiet. Replacing negative thoughts with positive affirmations.

On getting quiet, Sir J. Lubbock wrote: “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.”

A few weeks ago I wrote an article summarizing the book, “It Works,” http://rosiebrownrn.com/it-works/. Key points from the book include:

You must know what you want.

You have within you a mighty power capable of giving you that which you earnestly desire.

The Plan: write down on paper, in order of importance, the things and conditions you really want.

Three Positive Rules of Accomplishment:

1)      Read the list of what you want three times each day: morning, noon, and night.

2)      Think of what you want as often as possible.

3)      Do not talk to anyone about your plan except the Great Power within you which will unfold your objective mind the method of accomplishment.

I wrote my list on an index card. A friend then encouraged me to turn the card over and write on the back, “What my life will look like in 6 months.”

How about this? “Ahh! Abundance just everywhere! So happy! My life is an explosion of JOY! My health is fabulous, I am blissfully happy, I am traveling the world! I have so much money with which to enjoy life and help others! I am so, so happy!! My partner is fabulous! I am so in love! Life is so grand! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! So grateful!”

Wonder what can happen if that card is read every day, three times a day? What would you write on your card? What do you want your life to look like in 6 months?

It takes effort to still the mind, sweep away the negative thoughts, and, consequently, cure the diseases of the mind. It can start with taking time every day to be still, empty your head, and then fill the mind back up with the dreams you have written on your index card.

“If each of us sweeps in front of our own steps, the whole world would be clean.”

~  Goethe

Thursday evening I listened to a call given by Jack Canfield, announcing the details of his upcoming “Breakthrough to Success” scheduled for August 8 – 14. For details and registration, see www.canfieldtrainings.com.

Thought you might be interested in some of the golden nuggets given during the call…

If you are on purpose, you will experience joy.

Assess your life situation. Are you experiencing joy? That’s the way to tell if you are on purpose.

Jack went on to discuss the following four levels you pass through on our journey to mastery:

Level I: Repair and Recovery

It is at this level that you see disease: “dis-ease”

Level II: Foundation

This is where you build infrastructure in your life…where you join a Mastermind group, focus on an exercise or nutritional program, drink enough water, etc.

Level III: Reserve

Here you have an abundance of ____ – fill in the blank. It could be an abundance of time, money, energy, resources. This is where the Law of Attraction kicks in on a positive level.

Level IV: Mastery

Love, health, happiness are yours. It is estimated it takes 10,000 hours to accomplish mastery. How many hours is that? Well, if there are 24 hrs in a day and 365 days in a year, if you used every minute of your year, that would = 8,760 hours. So, a long time – but hey, you are going to be here anyway, right? Why not stay on the path leading to mastery? Then one not-so-distant-day in the future, you will have arrived.

Jack then spoke about why people struggle in achieving success:

1. You don’t set goals, a vision.
2. You don’t have a solid foundation, a solid system for predicting results, principles, or a strategic plan in line with your principles.
3. You are stuck in a comfort zone. Learn how to take risks.
4. You don’t have a plan – convert your vision into an action plan.
5. You don’t take sustained action and persevere. Take action NOW. It only takes one step in the right direction to change your life.

Next came probably the greatest gift of the entire call: seven questions that will change your life:

1. What is a difficult/challenging/troubling situation in your life right now?

2. How are you creating it or allowing it to happen?

3. What are you pretending not to know?

4. What is the payoff for keeping it like it is?

5. What would you rather be experiencing?

6. What actions will you take to create that?

7. By when will you take that action?

I challenge you to pick up a pen and paper right now and answer those seven questions. It is simply amazing what will bubble up.

Now, go back and assess which of the four levels you are currently residing. Is it time to move?

Next, review Jack’s five reasons for struggling to achieve success. Make a commitment to create an action plan that feels right for accomplishing that which you desire to achieve. Put it in writing on an index card – several index cards. Plant those cards everywhere and review what you wrote three times a day. See blog article “It Works” – http://rosiebrownrn.com/it-works/.

Are you on purpose? Are you experiencing joy? If not, take action NOW.

It only takes one step in the right direction to change your life.

It was Christmas for me today…and now you.

When I visited my doctor this morning, he told me about the incredible results he is having in his life after reading and following the advice given in a little pocket guide written in 1926. The book is titled It Works. The author would not identify himself because he felt the book was to be a gift to everyone, and he should not receive credit/praise for it.

It is an amazing little book. There was a pocket of strong energy going on back in the 20s and 30s as noted in the works of C. Clements Stone, Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Frances Scovel Shinn, Neville Goddard, and Wallace D. Wattles, Here yet is another of the many of gems produced during that era.

I sat in my doctor’s office after my appointment and read it cover to cover. I took notes so I could share with you:

¨  You must know what you want.

¨  You have within you a mighty power capable of giving you that which you earnestly desire.

¨  The Plan: write down on paper in order of importance the things and conditions you really want.

¨  Three Positive Rules of Accomplishment:

1)      Read the list of what you want three times each day: morning, noon, and night.

2)      Think of what you want as often as possible.

3)      Do not talk to anyone about your plan except the Great Power within you which will unfold your objective mind the method of accomplishment.

¨  No need to analyze how this Power within you is going to accomplish your desires. The method of accomplishment will unfold quite as mysteriously as the ear of corn appears on the stalk, and in most cases much sooner than you expect.

¨  Be definite – if it is a car that you want, decide what kind, style, price, color, and all other details including when you want it. If a home, write the location and cost. If you want money, write the amount. If a sales record, write the total, the date required, the number of items you must sell to make it, list your prospects and put after each name the sum expected.

¨  When discrediting thoughts appear, give thanks and assert credit to your Omnipotent Power. You can’t give thanks without gratitude – and be happy. When giving thanks, let it be reflected on your face.

How to obtain a copy of It Works:

DeVorss Publications

DeVorss & Company

PO Box 1389

Camarillo CA 93011-1389

www.devorss.com

(800) 843-5743

I intend to follow the advice. Want to do it with me and see what happens? Will the tricky part be getting clear on what we definitively want? Just as I had that thought, I remembered two quotes that appeared in my mailbox today:

“You cannot transcend what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself.”
— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it…”

—  Johann Wolfgang von Goeth

A five minute abbreviated version as well as the entire interview between David Riklan and Don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements and his latest book, The Fifth Agreement (which he authored with his son), can both be found at http://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/fifthagreement.html.

Here are some notes that I took as I listened to the two audios. I thought the notes might also be of help to you.

The Four Agreements:

1. Be impeccable with your word. You create your own story.
2. Don’t take anything personally. Everybody has a story, their own story. It is not your story, so don’t take it personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions. You might try to create things to fill in understanding of someone else’s story, but it is not your story. You might not be filling it in accurately.
4. Always do your best. This is the action step.

The Fifth Agreement:

Be skeptical, but learn to listen. Don’t believe yourself or anybody else. Everybody lives in their own story. What they say is true for them, but not necessarily for you.

• We learn everything from our parents, teachers, society.
• We work to create our story.
• Respect your own creation and everybody else’s creation. We are all artists. If we don’t like our story, we can change it.
• We are all messengers, angels – each one of us.
• What kind of messenger are you?
• What kind of messages do you deliver to yourself?
• Do you really believe who you think you are?
• Do you like the way you live your life?
• Are you happy?
• If not, let’s see what you believe about yourself. “I am never going to make it.” “I am a loser.” “I am not intelligent.”
• You use words against yourself, and you create a nightmare of your life. You turn to alcohol, addictions, feel sorry for yourself, you don’t like yourself, you look in the mirror and you see hate –  you hate yourself.
• How do you know who you really are? With knowledge you will never know who you are.
• “What I am is really not that important any more. What is important is just to be.” – just the way you are.
• Enjoy life –  just the way you are.
• No longer pretend to be what you are not, even when you don’t know who you are.
• You are not your story. You are whatever you are.

Yesterday at breakfast a friend pulled a book out from her purse. It would not be till later in the day that I would fully recognize the gift I had just been given.

My friend excitedly told me about this book that she had found at a second hand store…The Greatest Secret in the World by Og Mandino. She mentioned a plan that he recommends you to follow. She was following the plan. Curiosity got the best of me. A check of the publishing date found it to be 1972. Her excitement about the book caused me to jot a note of the title and author before returning it to her.

Later in the day, I made a trip to Barnes and Noble. I held my breath as I asked if the book was available, fearful it might be out of print. One of the workers overheard my request, and took charge with “Follow me. I am sure we have it on our ‘Bargain Books’ rack.”

Sure enough, there it was. A glance at the title caused my heart to sink…The Greatest Salesman in the World. Before the clerk could get away, I exclaimed, “Oh no, this is not the right one.” She came back to point out to me that the book was a trilogy. A closer look at the title revealed, “Og Mandino’s Great Trilogy with The Greatest Salesman in the World.” This little gem did not contain just one book but three. The third book is titled The Greatest Miracle in the World.

I turned to the middle of the book to find the second book, The Greatest Secret in the World. This little book is fabulous. If you want to change your life, this is the book for you. The instructions detail what you must do each day for 30 days….nothing difficult, only discipline is required.

The following paragraph will give you a hint of what is expected:

“As I repeat the words daily they will soon become part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.”

Order or pick the book up at a bookstore today. You will see for yourself why my friend was so excited. Now you too have been given the gift.

My yoga teacher, Lezlie, sent me the following quote last night. I read it a couple of times. It seems to hit the nail on the head…

A Messy Process

Evolution is a messy process. So anybody who really wants to make the effort to strive for something new is going to have to be willing to make mistakes, take wrong turns, even to fail, but never give up. The simple truth is this: if not failing is more important to you than genuinely succeeding, you’re never going to make it. If you really want to succeed, you have to have a to fearlessly engage with the evolutionary process until something profound, mysterious, and extraordinary happens that cannot be undone. ~ Andrew Cohen

Have you ever sat back and lamented in hindsight for all the mistakes you made? People who were negatively affected by your actions? Things that just didn’t turn out the way you had planned, the way you had dreamed?

Never fear, it is all in the past. Today is a whole new day. Andrew Cohen is telling us that we cannot succeed if we don’t take some wrong turns and make some mistakes along the way. Be kind to yourself. Be excited that the traumas of yesterday have built a bridge to an amazing future.

TODAY…

Totally

Outstanding

Delight

Awaits

You

TODAY, this very moment, is when the “profound, mysterious, and extraordinary happens that cannot be undone.”

It all starts today by you and me picking ourselves up, shaking off the dust, and excitedly moving forward…allowing the good things to come our way.

You have a “big heart, heroic will, tenacity, courage, and commitment.” You can do it! Just start today…

Dr. Gabhart, ND (www.whitneygabhartnd.com) has taught me to put “first things first:”

1. Eat right
2. Sleep right
3. Poop right

 BUT…

If you want a more extensive set of guidance for the New Year, check out this Handbook for 2010:

Scanning through the morning mail and seeing this statement jerked me back into reality:

“I’m very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. ‘Don’t complain about growing old – many, many people do not have that privilege.’”                     ~  Earl Warren, 1891-1974

Right after that splash of cold water in the face, I reviewed an update from a friend concerning her husband who is suffering from a form of cancer. They spent the entire New Year’s Day and evening in the hospital with him receiving his blood transfusions. This week he will have another bone marrow biopsy to see if the leukemia has progressed, and to asses starting another round of chemotherapy.

And what was it again that I was worrying about just prior to reviewing the morning mail? Somehow it doesn’t seem so significant now. No matter the circumstances you find yourself in, there is someone else out there who is struggling even more.

Last night I read an interesting article containing the following comment, “And when faced with light or darkness, we all too often choose our anger, our fears, our failings.”

The message being communicated was that darkness exists so we can choose, so that we can become the creator of our own lives, the conductor of our own symphonies.

What better time to reflect on the creation of your own life, right now, the beginning of a whole new year?

On Monday I was privileged to spend some time with a life coach. She offered some solid advice that may also be of help to you as you dig deep into your own being and reflect upon your dreams and desires for this new year:

• Who are you?
• What do you want? What is important to you?
• What are your needs?
• What are your weaknesses, your strengths?
• Define what you want in a relationship.
• Give yourself some time to reflect over the last years.
• What unresolved issues do you have?
• There are only 2 kinds of feelings: 1) Those that feel good and 2) Those that
  don’t. Honor yourself.
• Walk through the discomfort, the feelings.
• Put it on the table for you. Be true to you.
• This has to do with honesty – be true to the self.
• Open the box and let some light into it.
• Does guilt drive you?
•  Honor the self, not in a selfish way, in a selfless way.
• #1 thing to do: honor the self. If you cannot honor you, pay attention, you
  are not going to be happy.

What an opportunity to lay a strong foundation for the upcoming year – and our life in general. Hmm, I intend to take some time and journal my responses to these questions. I invite you to do the same. Perhaps we can dialogue a bit about what comes up?  In the meantime, have a blessed day.  :  )

A couple messages this morning, one from Jack Canfield, the other from Dr. Mercola, communicated a similar message: PLAN.  Interesting that this afternoon I heard still yet a contrasting message: ALLOW. Which is it? Plan or allow?

  “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” communicates a strong message. If you fail to plan enough time, you may miss the most important meal of the day – breakfast. Dr. Mercola teaches that it is best to exercise in the morning. Again, if you don’t plan to set the alarm and lay out your exercise clothes the night before, you set into motion a plan to miss the exercise that your body needs.

If you fail to get to bed at a reasonable hour, not only do you suffer physically and mentally all day long, you simply do not have the zest to incorporate that needed exercise and breakfast into the hour before you head off to work.

More and more the experts tell us that food is medicine. If you do not plan for a healthy lunch, or if you do not pack one, a greasy burger and fries may sabotage your health and well being when the ravages of hunger strike at noon.

Many experts teach a system of using some sort of day planner. Years ago I learned the “Six Item Priority List” system. Every night before going to bed, make a list of the six most important items you need to do tomorrow. In the morning, review the list. Prioritize the list and tackle the biggest item first. Don’t forget to put you and your family on that priority list. Then in a year, look at all the priority items that you accomplished.

What then do you do when you have your list all prioritized, and nothing goes according to plan? So much for planning. What about allowing?

Abraham’s message this morning said, “In your action, you lose sight of the vision, you lose sight of your trust in the process, and you just bang around in a sense of futility. Hold the vision and trust that the Universe will acclimate to your vision. Hold the vision and trust the process. “

Hold the vision…don’t get buried in the action. Trust the process. Tough to do. How easy is it to slip into despair that your day is not going according to plan, that you haven’t been as productive as you’d planned?

A friend this afternoon shared with me he had no plan when he woke this morning. No alarm and no plan. Yet, by afternoon he recited some incredible feats that he had accomplished.

I, on the other hand, busily lamented that it was now 2:30 pm and I had “nothing to show for it.” He turned to me and said, “You need to learn to allow. Just allow it.”

While on the subject of allowing, it seems that gratitude also needs to be mentioned. Every single thing that happens in your day, the good, the bad, and the ugly, are really all good things. Gratitude for all that is weaves magic in your day and subsequently your life – when you can remember and when you can discipline yourself to be grateful for every single thing.

Plan or allow? Maybe it is some sort of healthy combination…with a sprinkling of gratitude for all that is.

What a wonderful morning reminder from Abraham to wake up to this morning:

“Your life is right now! It’s not later! It’s not in that time of retirement. It’s not when the lover gets here. It’s not when you’ve moved into the new house. It’s not when you get the better job. Your life is right now. It will always be right now. You might as well decide to start enjoying your life right now, because it’s not ever going to get better than right now–until it gets better right now!”

I am reminded of the story that Wayne Dyer tells where the man was unhappy doing what he was doing, resenting his wife because she always pushed him to stay in that career. On his deathbed, he looked up and said, “What if my whole life has been a mistake?”  Upon hearing that story, at age 19, Wayne made the vow to himself to not die with his music still in him.

How can we keep the music alive, moment by moment? It is the stark reality to realize that our individual moments eventually comprise all the days in “the dash” – that space of time between our birth year and the year of our last breath.

It is interesting what happens when one sprinkles in laughter, fun, and enjoyment along with what could appear to be a long, grueling work process. For example, Dr. Gabhart and I are writing a book. We have noted that we are much more productive, making much more progress, when we take a break in between working sessions. We sometimes take the time to drive someplace different for lunch, sometimes we spontaneously decide to run to a consignment shop on the fly, etc.

This week we created an aggressive timeline for completion of our projects. We also discussed the importance of having fun along the journey. With that in mind, we created a plan to drive a couple hours one day next week to nearby Brown County, a wonderful nature retreat, to work from there.

What if your job confines you to a building? What can you do to make the day fun? What can you do to recharge your energy? What can you do to make someone else’s day, which will in return invigorate you? Can you walk around the building at lunch? Can you pause to take a fun mental trip every couple of hours or so? Can you play soft, uplifting music in the background in your cubicle? Can you put up pictures, snapshots at your desk?

Yesterday, on her second day of school, my granddaughter took me on a tour of her new classroom. She was thrilled to show me her locker, a privilege that comes with advancing to 3^rd grade. From her backpack, she carefully withdrew a half dozen of her favorite snapshots, each accompanied with a fun magnet. Happily, she spread out all the pictures and magnets on the floor and then set about decorating the inside of her locker.  

What we can learn from a third grader with a new locker? Every time she opens that door, she is filled with a warm sensation streaming from her happy pictures.

What will you do today to keep the music alive in these moments within your dash?