Connected and Committed

form and shape your substance

Someone recommended the book Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth to me the other day, and I picked it up in a store whose owner stashes his own, dog-earred copy under the counter. He asked me what a blissmonger was. I said, "Blissmongers are folks who understand how positive thinking pays off in enhanced physical and emotional well-being, and they find a way to do it more often than not." He seemed taken aback a bit, and stumbled on articulating how difficult it is to maintain a positive outlook. This surprised me even more when I got to the following passage of this book:

"When you are in charge of your mind, in the consciousness of oneness with the creative flow, when you are working with life itself instead of against it, when you are positive and loving and secure in the conviction of Truth, then you are under the “white cloud” (Psalm 91 calls it “the shadow of the Almighty”). In this consciousness, syntropy does its work: parking spaces open up for you; stocks go up as you buy; dishonest people are fair in their dealings with you; jobs appear; promotions come. It would appear that you are living a “charmed life.” Actually, it is nothing more or less than consciousness out-forming itself.

And when you maintain an optimistic view toward conditions in the world and are incurably “bullish” toward the economy in general, regardless of what the economic “gloom casters” may be saying, then you carry your while cloud of syntropy out into the world. You become a positive and highly contagious influence for a condition of general prosperity. In a very real sense, you make a difference!

Remember, your fortune, your personal success, and your prosperity are not in the hands of some “fickle finger of fate”—nor are they determined by sudden changes in the economy. The answer is in your conditioned ability to form and shape the ever-present substance of the Universe. You can change your luck.

Resolve that you will chase off the black cloud of entropy. Paul gives the key (Phillips translation): “Don’t let the world around you force you into its mold, but let God remold your mind from within.” Establish yourself under the white cloud of entropy. You will walk and work in  a consciousness in which all things will really work for good. Even a job dismissal will turn out to be the best thing that has eve happened to you, as you are serendipitously directed into a new career. Some will call it luck. Just be sure you call it consciousness. Your fortune begins with you!

Henry Thoreau seems to sum it up for us in this quotation from his classic work Walden with gender references changed by me because I can and because it makes sense to:

"If one advances confidently in the direction of her dreams, and endeavors to live the life which she has imagined, she will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. She will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary: new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within her; or old laws will be expanded and interpreted in her favor in a more liberal sense, and she will live with license of a higher order of begins."

******

I am currently working on some material for an e-course about strategies that will help maintain that positive outlook, and with the topic coloring my version of reality, it surprises me when people who claim to get this stuff, don't really. It makes me wonder what part of the book this person really resonates with. I guess I'll find out.

a thunderstorm and a tornado

Two fabulous things happened today. OK, more than that did--many, many fabulous things happened today, but there are a couple that make me want to write about them. Which is what I do here.

The first was, the power came back on after approximately 24 hours without it. Huge banks of thunderstorms moved through where I call home most of the afternoon and one in particular made its presence known unequivocally. I was inside a thrift store establishment with a movable wall that was partially open, and a door on the other end of the building that was also open. All of a sudden the rain started descending in torrents, and the wind picked up and sucked air through so fast, dishes were crashing and people were screaming. I ducked into a dressing room for a moment and did some deep breathing to center some energy and help move that sucker out of the area. No one was hurt there, but when I got home, no power.

The second amazing thing that happened today was listening to the latest Abraham cd from the monthly subscription. Much of most cds and  intros are very apropos to little old me, so much so that I demonstrate to myself the law off attraction every time I open the envelope and pop in the cd. This one, however, arrived with some extra special LOA juice just for me--someone was asking about expansion that didn't have to include going back to work full time in order to manifest that expansion.

I smiled during the entire track. It was the first one with a guest's question on the cd. Made my day and I'm going to put that sucker in as many paces and on as many different media as I possibly can so it's engraved in my psyche.

Casting director, your skills at this coordinating thing are constantly raising the bar on themselves, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

optimistic conspectus

A place where people go to be optimistic. What a great idea. My posting appears in the "Women" and "The Americas" column. Pass it on!!

another place i'd love to work

A job description for a web/graphic designer from Realtree in Columbus GA:

OK, you can design the hell out of it. But can you concept it, lay it out, and mock it up? Can you code it? Can you make it wiggle? Can you shoot it? Can you direct it? Can you manage it? Now, can you do all of that for a camouflage company?

Realtree is a leader in the outdoor industry, and we're looking for freak of nature. Part graphic designer. Part web-head. Part pop-cultural demigod. Our in-house creative team handles all of our brand identity, print, collateral, television, and web work. We love paper and ink, but we do realize 1's and 0's are taking over. Which is why we're looking for a hybrid to join our team.

Nice But Not Must-Haves

• Experience
• After Effects
• Photography
• Video Editing
• Hunting Trophies

How fun would that be?!

new bliss bling

New bliss bling available. Let the spiral energy vortex be with you :-)

#oh4six

Lots of talk these days about social media--which to use to get the most customers. How about we bring the conversation back around to serving the perfect customers for you, and serving quality products and/or services they want?

I saw this sign at the condiments counter after purchasing a very nicely executed latte at a local Biggby's. Great sentiment here, but what about people calling to tell you how great they think your products are, or the people who work in your stores? Or suggestions on how to make things better, new products to try, etc.

And if people do call, what are they going to encounter? A template survey recording? Or a real person who will interact with them? Will you collect their email address to send them a thank-you for their interest, and here's a discount coupon on their next visit? Or will you spam them with endless enticements to buy your stuff because you think they should?

Authentic, transparent, two-way communication between businesses (and I'm not singling Biggby's out, they just happened to be where my camera was today) and their customers is what is going to bring your economy around. Ultimately, it doesn't matter which platform you use to do that: direct mail, Yellowpages, blog, website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or whatever vehicle gets dreamed up next week. It matters how you go about using them to build a community of fans rather than selling to us.

If you are wise enough to get that community-building is crucial, how would you answer these mighty fine questions--are you #oh4six?

 1. Do you think monetization first?

 2. Can you articulate what value your community provides for your fans?

 3. Will you build it and then decide how the movement progresses?

 4. Will you allow community members to interact with each other via a platform you provide?

 5. Will you encourage those natural leaders who rise to the top of your community to blaze trails in ways you probably wouldn't have thought of on your own?

 6. Do you care about these fans of yours as people?

Answering these questions about you is no mystery for your customers. Will their answers all be in the negatory? That's zero for six--#oh4six. Word-of-mouth marketing embraces these tenets of building community and relationships with that track record. Let us tell our stories about our experiences with your company and spread the word about how cool your product and/or service is. Listen to what's being said, and get out of the way of how it grows.

I learned everything I know about word-of-mouth from Brains on Fire. But they are oh so far away and not able to meet at a #tweetup. Through the beauty of Twitter I've had the great fortune to meet some local folks who have this paradigm running in their veins as well, like Curve and Module. They're batting #oh4six and can help you do it, too.

Community builds around your business regardless of your being aware of it or not. Put some energy toward which way that community leans for you. Be #oh4six and proud.

self portrait

Susan Boyle

I started watching the Susan Boyle videos on Monday, and have been as captivated as everyone else on the planet with her talent, her story, how she transformed cynicism to genuine admiration on the part of jaded judges, if not disaffected audience members.

The part that appeals to me the most is knowing that there is something like her Britain's Got Talent experience in all of us--an unexpected explosion of authenticity and enthusiasm just waiting to find the appropriate opening. Especially because it probably won't be on the same scale as Susan's notoriety.

Her gift is world-class, globally appreciated. Does your mind go down the road of "I'll never do something like that"? Don't let it. The only difference between Susan's story and yours is that she didn't give up on her dream.

There is something inside every one of us that the world needs to hear, see or understand, and the people who are waiting for that thing to appear. They may not know that they are waiting for it to appear, but they are, and when they do encounter it, their lives are changed forever.

Your contribution to humanity may be as seemingly insignificant as buying that pair of cowgirl boots that you've always wanted to wear because deep down you are that cowgirl. Taking that baby-step toward what you've convinced yourself is silly, crazy, insane, petty or ridiculous will soon reveal itself as the catalyst for all manner of chain reaction that lights up your life with satisfaction and contentment. Because you allowed yourself to be who you really are, despite all your efforts to the contrary.

What smallest action that you can imagine would take you from numbed-out-from to re-engaged-with-life? The thing that you think people will judge you for, that will prompt derision and ridicule, but will transform you in ways that you can vaguely sense as mildly dangerous? Buy that book, call that person, investigate that degree program, put that canvas on the easel, open that draft of a novel, google that travel destination?

Baby-steps, we're talkin'. No full-blown, overwhelming manifestation, just a baby-step toward one.

Let that nag at you a little more insistently today while you consider actually doing it.

And go watch Susan.

it's who you know, how you look at it, and what you do

The Glass is Half FULL

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

sweet magnolia

Spring break. Good times. Left five inches of snow behind and found magnolia blossoms swelling from the branches. There's something about those petals that makes me want to eat them like tempura. Still groovin' on a friend's new place and feel the awesome energy that will surely conspire to inspire her to new heights--truly gorgeous surroundings. Picked up a copy of Attracting Perfect Customers and started weaving the connections from previous work with what they consolidate in one place. Sorry marathons with Little Man and grandparents. Excellent finds at Goodwill in NE Portland.

Now to unpack and reconfigure for the perfect situation that is on its way with perfect timing and amazing fit. Bring it.

shiney and new

Met up with a friend who is starting a brand new chapter in her life in the most beautiful space, surrounding herself with what she wants in it. This has been a long time coming, and it's all manifesting so beautifully. Quite a sight to behold. Great inspiration here, on many levels.

a little bit of this and a little bit of that

I'll be off having a little bit of this and a little bit of that aforementioned above stuff this week so postings will be minimal during break time. Enjoy!

not get sent to prison for complaining

"I'm going to use some of my time to change my habits. When someone cuts me off in traffic, instead of name-calling, I'm going to think of someone who did a tiny act of kindness in recent memory. Maybe it's the person who let me onto a jammed expressway, or the person who helped a senior pick up the cane he had dropped.

Next time I have to call tech support and push 1,2,3, etc., I'm going to remember that I live in a country where there is electricity and things available for reasonable prices that need tech support, and remember that, eventually, I will get help on my issue and not get sent to prison for complaining."

Linda Robinson
Guest Column The South Lyon Herald | April 2, 2009 | www.58moon.com

confident abandonment

Four Steps to Spiritual Freedom by Thomas Ryan

"Somewhere I had read: fear is essentially un-Christian. I had not really understood, but this provocative phrase had struck and, in an unplanned moment of lucidity, it shook me to the core. It did not happen suddenly. Nothing snapped. Rather unexpectedly yet slowly: like a lake freezing in a snow-flurried December, or like an obscure shoreline dawning on the unhurried horizon, the panic, the nausea, the desperation sublimated into a reawakened trust, a more humble yet more passionate readiness to listen to what witness God wished me to offer here and now in each breath, in each gesture and with each word from my lips. I rediscovered the peaceful excitement of confident abandonment."

While the religious language of this passage doesn't resonate with me, the spiritual vibe does. I love that term confident abandonment with regards to surrender and letting go of what you cannot control anyway. And what makes more sense to me to listen for is that still small voice within that never leaves, never takes a misstep, is never wrong.

Confident abandonment. Give it a try.

fewer and fewer rattles

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler popped into my head awhile ago. 

I still remember the experience of reading that book when I was near the age of the protagonist, Claudia--twelve or so. I loved the spunk and the adventure and the whole idea of running away and living in the Met in Manhattan. How cool would that be?

Ever on the lookout for something to divert Little Man's attention from action figure world, I checked out the book at the library this weekend and started reading it aloud. At first he wasn't all that interested, but I persevered and got him hooked enough that he didn't notice when I passed the first page mark where I said he could decide whether we would continue or not. Now he wants to start over and read it again.

One of my favorite parts:

Claudia said, "But Mrs. Frankweiler, you should want to learn one new thing every day. We did even at the museum."

"No," I answered, "I don't agree with that. I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you.

"If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

Here's to feeling full, all you peeps who are figuring out how to get by one day at a time like the rest of us. Connect with someone today, and see how it fills both of you up, especially for them when they needed it most and couldn't say it out loud.

And here's to fewer and fewer rattles. Noise pollution on the soul level. Distracting at best, disempowering at worst.

Think I'll go make a resistance toy rattle.....