Live Your Best Life

The Return to Live Your Best Life

Its been a very long time since the last time I posted here. By all rights, I could let sleeping dogs lay and begin anew but it feels somehow as if I'm returning home. After all, within the protocols and code making publishing to Live Your Best Life a reality I would find my voice--not just my physical voice but one of spirit and joy.

The time spent here publishing my thoughts, feelings and findings are something I treasure so it made perfect sense to come back at the breaking of the next leg of my journey.

Since October of last year (2007), I have been writing and building a blog of a different sort. A business blog, if you will. There I have spent time cataloging experience and expertise in the areas of network marketing and internet marketing.

Even at Network Marketing Journey I would take the time to express myself through articles coming from deep introspection but this was not the overall goal of that blog. I always felt as if something were missing--or more precisely, I missed expressing myself as I always did here.

This is why I have chosen to return to Live Your Best Life. Because it is natural and right for me to do so.

Not only that, I have many things to share and story to tell and I can't wait to share them as events unfold before me.

I would be honored if you should decide to follow along with me. This day has been a long time in coming and though I knew it would arrive, I did not know when.

My story begins at a Wal-Mart in Owatonna, Minnesota. To me it was the most unlikely of places to meet the next person who would begin to mentor me in this life. But since when are the predictable things in life the ones of greater value?

I apologize for being a bit of a tease but I look forward to speaking with you again soon. Until next time!

Live Well and Love Often.

Tim

We choose to forget

This was sent to me this morning and I wanted to share it with you. Take the time to read it and let me know if it resonates with you as it did with me.

Response/Ability

we choose to forget
who we are and then
forget that we've
forgotten

who are we really? 
the center that watches and
runs the show that can choose
which way it will go

the I AM consciousness
that powerful loving perfect

reflection of the cosmos

but in our attempt to cope
with early situations we chose
or were hypnotized into
a passive position

to avoid punishment or
the loss of love we chose
to deny our response/ability

pretending that things just
happened or that we were
being controlled
taken over

we put ourselves down and
have become used to this 

masochistic posture

this weakness
this indecisiveness

but we are in reality free
a center of cosmic energy 

your will
is your power

don't pretend
you don't have it

or you won't

- Bernard Gunther

My Vision

Last week I spoke of some videos that I recently watched that were inspiring to me. I had originally promised it for Monday but do to life happening I haven't been able to share it until now. What will follow below is the email I sent out to a group of friends immediately after viewing the second of the two movies I spoke of. It is brief and to the point but I'd like to take a moment and thank Elan Sunstar again, for the wonderfully inspiring emails he continues to send. Keep them coming, my friend.

http://www.evolve.org/pub/doc/media_inspirations.html#

I'm going to make this one quick but I wanted to share this link with everyone, and again I can thank Elan Sunstar for the days inspiration. Go to the link above and down below you will find 3 links on the webpage that lead to flash videos. Click on the middle one titled "Humanity's Team". The video is done by Neale Donald Walsch - a gentleman who talks and teaches about living life to its fullest.

I was reminded that we are all one as I viewed "Humanity's Team". You and I each have our own physical bodies but the truth is that we are all one body. We are all in this world together and as Beth Orchard put it when she responded to my email:

I felt inspired by that clip you sent and just thought i'd let you know that. it's important for the people who we want to feel connected to globally and locally that we continue to inspire during times of crisis and even when things are going well. people who want to reach others and touch their lives are special people and they really do have a different outlook on life. i feel it's important to build a community of people who create to inspire and inspire to create.

I couldn't have said it better myself, Beth.

How will you spend your dash?

Today, as I walked into a day I knew was going to be a very long and trying day I was thinking of one thing. As I got ready for my day I had a movie playing in the background, 'The Last Samurai'. I've spoke about this movie in the past and rightly so because many of the ideas within the film have really touched me. On this day, I was reflecting on the lines at the end of the movie between two of the main characters. The emporeor asked the american officer to speak of how the samurai lord died.

The officer's answer was to look up and say, "I will tell you how he lived."

Those six words got me thinking about what would be said about me during the days following my passing. Would I be spoken of as living life or having let it pass me by. That simple thought kept me going through a very trying day which has left me weary and writing this at 1am in the morning.

My conclusion? I want to be remembered for my passion for life. As the person who always had a way of making people smile when the going is rough. I wish to be remembered for my kind heart and giving soul and while I still have breath I will give onto others and I will share the love and life I have to give. I came home battle worn with a smile on my face knowing that if I created a positive and made others smile it was a good day, regardless of the trials.

A movie. The Dash.

I decided that when I got home I was going to relax, no work. So what do I do? Sit down in front of the computer and check my email. To be confronted by.. you guessed it. Work. However, among the comments, replies and typical business emails I get I recieved a reminder from Rosa Say. I had inquired about the Joyful Jubilant Learning Network and she was kind enough to send me a note about a post she had recently written about how to get involved. After reading that post, I decided that I was going to take the time to read some of the posts and quickly found myself at the most recent post 'How Large Is Your Dash?'.

The article is centered around a movie called 'The Dash' and I highly recommend that you visit the link, read the article and watch the movie. I will not spoil it for you but the contents of the movie are truly fitting for my previous thoughts.

Once you've watched the movie post a comment on the JJLN blog or come back here and share your thoughts with me.

Live. Love. Learn.

God Bless.

Who talk?

In Janruary of this year (2006), Shel Isreal and Robert Scoble put there heads together and wrote a book called Naked Conversations. The book tackles a subject that is still widely debated almost a year later, and probably will be for awhile to come. Business Blogging. The title fits perfectly because blogs are out there on the internet for anyone and everyone to see, evidenced by the fact that you are reading this article.

The authors, bloggers as a whole, are sharing of themselves or giving you insights into their business as well as allowing you to see a side of them you might not normally see. The conversations we, as authors and readers, have are not unlike the conversations we have with ourselves.

Think about it.

Do you talk to yourself? Sure you do. You are consciously and unconsciously sending yourself messages, 100s of messages a day. Don't believe me? What about the time you made a mistake at the office and after your boss spoke to you and say to yourself "Well, that was stupid. How could I be so dumb?"

The way that we talk to ourselves is naked, just as blogging is suggested to be by the book, only the audience is different. Its an audience of one and you need only to pay attention to what you are saying to yourself. Doing this doesn't require a great deal of work it means you are more aware of the thoughts that pass through your mind and by paying attention you'll catch the lies that you tell yourself.

• "Well, that was stupid of me. How could I be so dumb?" That isn't true! I'm not dumb but I did make a mistake and can be aware of it next time.
• "I'll never succeed. I don't have any skills." Wait a minute, that isn't true either, I'm a talented writer and networker. I DO have skills.

See what I mean? By paying attention to the things you tell yourself and countering them with what you know to be true you can begin to foster those feelings and acknowledge them as truth. In time you will feel better about yourself and you won't talk down to yourself nearly so much as you once did.

We are all special. Acknowledge it and tell yourself no different. Trust me, you'll feel much better and you are so worth the effort.

Self Talk

Tom sent me an email a couple days ago after finding an old email that included a passage pertaining to the law of attraction. The paragraphs below make no mention of the LOA but the speak well to the subject.

This really resonated with me. First of all, it was through the shifting of the way I thought about myself and others that brought about change in me. And secondly, because it can help many more. So rather than forwarding it through email I'm including it here.

Enjoy and take it to heart because the method for changing your life described below truely works.

Self Talk. Most important. Self talk will create your world, your reality. "Life doesn't happen to you, You happen to Life. You cause your Life, every detail of it." When your self talk changes, so does your life, your reality. It's not what others say about you that matters, it's what you say about your self that really matters.

Having good thoughts about yourself will always manifest themselves in your actions and deeds with your loved ones and other people as well. This also helps me keep out negative outpuke from others. When this happens, having some where to go mentally will keep this outpuke out. I've used my perfect day or days, or some great quotes like: Life responds to your outlook! What you focus on expands! We are building the Worlds Largest, most Profitable, Highest retention Organization in the History of Network Marketing easily and consistently through Education and Team Work, and Life doesn't happen to you, You happen to life.

Your word is law, and keeping that law empowers one. Use this to move forward to what you want. When you find yourself there, that will feel good. That feeling for me is what I'm after.

The World Within

"There is a world within – a world of thought and feeling and power; of light and life and beauty and, although invisible, its forces are mighty." - Charles F Haanel, The Master Key System

Mind Gone Wild Or NOT

Recently I wrote and article about 'The Sleeper'. A person who just drifts through life always wanting better but never reaching for it. After getting those thoughts out in written form I started to think about all of the thoughts processed in the mind of a Sleeper.

Here are 20 of the ones I came up with:

• See problems and not opportunities.

• What if it doesn't work?

• Opportunities never come my way.

• When is it my turn?

• Money is hard to obtain.

• I'll just sleep in today - tends to do this every day.

• The world needs more love but I'll be damned if I'm the first to show it.

• Being vulnerable is a weakness.

• Learning is a chore of the past.

• I don't want to work. Let alone go the 'extra mile'.

• It's their fault!

• Nothing goes right for me.

• Never show your weaknesses.

• I don't have any skills.

• I hate change and want no part in it!

• I'm not worthy of being loved.

• I'd much rather remain ignorant. Nothing is expected of me that way.

• I can't do anything right.

• I won't try because I fear failing.

• What if they laugh at me?

There are many many more that can be listed and detailed but these are a good start to recognizing some of the stories that we tell ourselves.

Wesly Dobbs Takes the Stage OR The Sleeper Defined

Unless you are a comic book fan or perhaps even a fanatic you probably don't recognize the name Wesly Dobbs. If you are a comic book fan you might recognize Wesly Dobbs as the 'original Sandman' created in 1939. The Sandman has been a prominent figure in comics, books, and even music for many many years. All of them make reference to a person being influenced by or put into a dream like state when they are in contact with this figure--this Sandman.

All of the accounts, while varied have one quality that holds true in each: Sleep.

What does it mean to sleep?
We all sleep. In fact we all NEED sleep but I'm referring to a different brand of being asleep. The Sleeper I'm referring to is someone who drifts through the days of their life in an almost comatose state. The person who is asleep in this respect doesn't experience life. They believe that life is random and when the things they want from life aren't given to them, they are crushed. As a result they are often distanced from the world and in general they aren't very happy.

How to identify the Sleeper
The best way to find the symptoms of the Sleeper is to ask a series of questions. There are many questions that can bring the Sleeper out into the open, more than I can share in one sitting so here are some questions to begin.

Do they lack enthusiasm and/or passion? Passion and enthusiasm are often the product of experiences that we enjoy or knowing enough about ourselves to know what makes us passionate.

Are they an energy drain? Negative people draw the life out of other people rather than living life.

Do they have planned goals and dreams that they aim for? Are they actively doing what it takes to realize them? To participate in life one has to be aware of what they want and go after those things.

Has the person in question developed an introspective way of viewing themselves and their world view? Knowing your heart and listening to its voice is paramount to anyones efforts in realizing their potential.

Are they adverse to change? Change is a rocky road and avoiding it can cause anyone to become complacent.

How about confidence? Do they believe in themselves or do they have low self esteem? Low cofidence can often cause people to withdraw.

Answering yes to one or some of these questions doesn't mean you have a Sleeper on your hands but if you are answering in the affirmative to most of them chances are you do.

If you do, however, the best remedy is lots of love, support and guidance when asked for it. Most of all support them.

Thought On Confidence

Have confidence in yourself--know that you can do and be anything that you want. You only have to intend it and then focus on that, not the external forces that try to disarm you.