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01/04/2006: "Essays on Excellence # 655"

Good Morning Freedom Fighters and Truth Seekers,



The new year is underway and many returned to work today to face more challenges. 
Peace and Prosperity are two things which most people have on their list of
wants this year.  Peace comes when the enemies of peace are beaten and find
the costs of fighting to high.  That will come when millions of citizens
around the globe link hands and stand tall.  They will face fear together
and punish anyone who violates the rights and property of others. 
Prosperity will come when more individuals will create an enterprise which
brings good products and services to the consumer at a fair
price.

Resolutions for a Peaceful New Year
How you--and your children--can start to create peace and harmony this year.
By Naomi Drew


Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. —John F. Kennedy

Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change. —Jim Wallis, editor of "Sojourners"

The joy and hope of this new year are tempered by heaviness in our hearts as conflict rages abroad, and young lives are lost daily. Regardless of our religious, ethnic, or political orientation, we each feel the pain of this loss, and have great compassion for families whose loved ones are fighting abroad. May we take care not to get so swept up in the busy-ness of our lives that we lose touch with the heartache that many in our midst are enduring. Now, more than ever, it's essential that we bring the spirit of peace, love, and goodwill toward each other into the new year. May this be a time of healing, compassion, and reaching out--a time to transcend our differences, and strengthen our human connections.
How do we stay in touch with and convey to our children spirit and meaning peace, love, and good will? How can we embody each of these in our actions? What follows are some answers to these questions.

1. Speak from the heart.
Let people know either by your spoken words, or through notes you send, how much you love and care about them. Avoid the superficial and inauthentic. Reach deep into your heart and soul, and speak from these when you connect with others. Encourage your children to do the same.

2. Forgive someone.
Think of one person, past or present, toward whom you have ill feelings. Be it a parent, a sibling, a spouse, child, or someone who was once your friend, ask yourself if you can find it in your heart to grant them forgiveness.

Sit down and write a note of forgiveness to this person. This note is just for you. When you're finished, ask yourself if you're ready to make a phone call or send an actual note that helps mend fences. Talk to your children about your process and see if they have someone they need to forgive. Let them know that forgiving is one of the greatest gestures of generosity we can make.

3. Listen with compassion.
So often conversation tends toward the mundane. We go through the motions of talking and listening while our internal conversations ramble on. This year, try listening with an open heart even if you disagree. Listening compassionately simply means that you're making an effort to understand. Try putting yourself in the other person's place as you listen, and see what you can learn. Encourage your children to do this as well. Compassionate listening is another gesture of true magnanimity.

4. Stop and notice.
The rush-rush nature of life often compels us to engage in back-to-back activities without soaking in what we're experiencing. Stop, notice, and take in the small moments: the look in your child's eyes as you admire a drawing she made for you in school; the feel of your mother's arms around you after having been apart; the sound of your friend's voice a thousand miles away. Then, later, reflect. Take some time to write about subtle observations and emotions that you experienced just by stopping and noticing. Resist getting swept up in the swirl. Instead, stay present to the richness of each moment.

5. Make a difference for someone in need.
What can you do to make a difference in someone's life? My sister has a wonderful ritual of taking her children to a home for the aged each New Year's. She and her girls give homemade gifts to elderly people who have no families to visit them. My sister has shared many stories with me about the tears and hugs of the people she and her children have connected with. The small handmade gifts and shared conversation are priceless to the elderly people who would otherwise be alone during this time. Think of things you and your family can do to reach out to others.

6. Continue several of the above suggestions all year long.
If we each made the conscious decision to live in the spirit of peace, love, and goodwill every single day, our world would slowly start to change. For this new year, and all year long, remind yourself and your children that this essential change in our world begins with each of you. We can each be the candle that helps to light the world.

For those of you who have loved ones serving overseas, deepest prayers go to you and to those you love. May they be well wherever they are, and may, someday soon, we find a way to live in peace.

Today, dear friends, we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it. Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes shall come, what new needs shall arise?. . . . The land is a land of hills and valleys. It is not all smooth nor all downhill. If life were all one dead level, the dull sameness would oppress us; we want the hills and valleys. . . We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, blessed new year!
-- Lettie B. Cowman

The conventional Happy New Year approach is to think of the New Year as something that happens outside of our selves. It is a good luck wish that the New Year, in some magical way, will bring us our heart’s desire. We look to the New Year to make us happy. When we expect happiness to come to us from the outside, we are usually disappointed. Happiness is not guaranteed by sunny weather, a raise in pay, a new car, a beautiful home or anything else of a material nature. External things are often possessed by very unhappy people. Happiness does not come out of a New Year, it comes out of men and women. Life does not change when we hang a new calendar on the wall or when the clock strikes midnight and a New Year begins. The only way life will change for us is when we change ourselves.
-- Wilferd A. Peterson


http://www.icq.com/img/friendship/static/card_16961_rs.swf


Vitamins for the Mind - Empathy & Caring
by Jim Rohn

Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the person.

Be sensitive to the plight of others. You have to know about the tragedies as well as the triumphs, the failures as well as the success.

How do you build a bridge between age 12 and age 40? By remembering.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.

The more you care, the stronger you can be.

Don't operate on the heart with a hatchet.


Put Some Z.I.P. Into Your Relationships
by Chris Widener

Relationships are really what make the world go 'round, aren't they? I mean, good, positive, healthy and meaningful relationships provide us with the richest experiences we have here on this old earth of ours. Your loving spouse who shares everything with you; that best friend who connects with you like few others do; the people at work who appreciate you and help you to become the best that you can be; This is what brings joy to life!

But... relationships can also be the bane of our existence! What really brings more pain in this life than a broken relationship, especially when it isn't just broken but downright ugly!

So, it behooves us to do all that we can to keep our relationships zipping right along, doesn't it? If we put our very best into our relationships we can almost guarantee getting the very best out of our relationships!

Through the years I have spent hundreds of hours working with people in their relationships: Marriages, friendships, working relationships and social relationships. Through it all I have seen some wonderful things and some terrible things. It truly is the good, the bad and the ugly!

But I have been able to find three core elements of successful relationships. These are things that, when done over time, begin to create for you the kinds of relationships that you truly desire. They are the kinds of relationships you have always dreamed of.

The key to remembering these three items is the acronym Z I P. Z I P stands for three things you can do - and begin to do immediately - to improve any and all of your relationships. They are:

Put some ZEST into your relationships.
Cultivate more INTIMACY in your relationships.
Develop a PURPOSE in your relationships.

Let's take a closer look at each of these three:

Put some ZEST into your relationships.
By Zest, I primarily mean fun. Relationships were meant to be fun! We wouldn't have been made with the capacity to have fun if relationships weren't supposed to have a little zest in them!

Think about it: Don't you usually start out most healthy relationships with a lot of fun times. Whether it is going out to dinner or a ballgame, or spending time playing a game or even just a lively talk, you usually have fun as a major part of the relationship. Fun is some of the glue that bonds the relationship.

But as life goes on, specifically in a marriage, but in all relationships really, the fun starts to go by the wayside. More and more it is about getting the job done, whatever the job may be.

To restore the relationship, to put a little zip into it, we need to reintroduce the idea of "zest."

What about you? Have you lost the zest? What can you do to get it back? Think of a specific relationship you have: What were the fun things you did at the beginning of the relationship that acted as the glue that bonded you together? Now, commit to doing those again and see if your relationship doesn't begin to soar again! If you can, develop new fun things to do together so you can both start an adventure of fun together!

Cultivate more INTIMACY in your relationships.

First a couple of clarifications: One, I don't just mean intimacy in the currently common understanding, that is, sexual intimacy. I mean for all intents and purposes, taking your relationship to a deeper level. Second, I don't mean that you have to start doing group hugs with your workmates or having revelation sessions where the tissue flows freely.

What I do mean is that every relationship that is mutually satisfying has a level of depth to it that provides meaning. This is really what the search is for in our relationships: meaning.

Remember when you first started your relationship, whether with your spouse or friend. All of that time was spent opening up, telling who you are, where you were from, what your likes and dislikes are. There was a deep sense of satisfaction with the relationship - that is why it continued. You liked who they were and you enjoyed being known by them.

But then something happens. We get to a certain level and the pursuit of depth ends. We stop sharing feeling, likes, and dislikes. We stop sharing joys and dreams and fears. Instead, we settle into routine. The daily grind takes over and we stop knowing one another and we simply exist together. Now don't get me wrong, every time you get together doesn't have to be deep. Remember, I am the one who advocates in the previous paragraphs just having plain old fun sometimes. But there is a need for regular times of intimate connection where we go deeper with others.

This is particularly hard for many of the male species like myself but it is not only possible but healthy and needed! If we want to have the kinds of relationship we were made to have, we have to open ourselves up to having others know us and for us to know others.

True meaningful relationships come when we are loved and accepted for whom we are at our core, not simply for acting the right way in our relationships so as to keep the other person in it.

Think about the relationships you would like to see improvement in. Take some time in the coming weeks and months to spend time just talking and getting to a deeper level in your relationship. Specifically, let the other person deeper into your world. You can't force the other person to be more intimate and you certainly can't say, "Let's get together and have an intimate conversation," because that would be too contrived. But you can make a decision for yourself that you will let others into your world. Perhaps this will be the catalyst for them doing the same.

You can guard yourself from intimacy but then you won't go much deeper and you will feel a longing in your heart for more, or you can begin the deepening process and see your relationships change for the better.

Develop a PURPOSE in your relationships.

The most meaningful relationships we have are those that are held together by a common purpose and vision for what the relationship can accomplish, not only for those involved but also for a greater good.

Let's face it, when people have a common purpose they feel like they are part of a team and they feel bound together in that relationship. Even when people may be disappointed in the people they are in relationship with, if they have a purpose, such as raising the children, they are much more likely to stick it out. Purpose creates bonds.

So what happens if we are proactively involved in seeking out a common purpose with those who we want to have a relationship with or those who we already have a relationship with but we would like to see it go deeper with? Well, it gets better and stronger.

Think about your strongest relationships. Aren't they centered around at least one area of purpose or a common goal?

What about a relationship that has cooled? Think back and see if perhaps you used to have a common purpose but it has gone by the wayside.

And what of your desire to see a relationship grow? Take some time to begin to cultivate a common purpose. Sit down with that person and tell them that you would like to have some common goals, some purposes that you pursue together. As you develop these, you will see your relationship strengthen in ways you never imagined!

Let's recap: You want your relationships to show a little "zip?" Then put a little Z I P in them:

Put some ZEST into your relationships.
Cultivate more INTIMACY in your relationships.
Develop a PURPOSE in your relationships.


THE POWER OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
by Jerry Clark

You have immediate access to the most powerful tool in existence. A tool that can create anything you want. A tool that is only limited by your limited use of it. This tool is priceless, not even a billion dollars can purchase you one. However, each of us has one because it came standard equipped. Oh, there's one catch: It didn't come with an owner's manual; thus, we have to figure out how to use it all on our own. Even if you never figure out how to use it, it is always working. That's right 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of every year. It can work for you or it can work against you, whichever you choose. Unfortunately, most people never figure out how to use it; thus, it usually works against them by default. In fact, at least 97% of our population never seems to come close to figuring out how to use this powerful tool to their advantage, and as a result they usually lead lives of quiet desperation as Henry David Thoreau would say. They always settle for less, and that's exactly what they get. They go to their graves with all their Repressed Talent still inside of them never discovering the magic within them. They spent their entire lives suffering and being miserable when all the while they had in their possession a tool that could have granted them anything they desired. What is this tool? This tool is your Mind. That's right your mind is the most incredible and powerful tool in the Universe, and yet most people know little or nothing at all about it. It is time for you to learn how this tool works and use it to your advantage. Once you become proficient in the operation of this tool, you will be on your way to building a solid business and generate an unlimited stream of income that can last several lifetimes. The first thing you should realize is that there are no coincidences, there's just cause and effect. As you build your Network Marketing business, you will see some people get started in the business and move to the top quickly, while others who appear to be working just as diligently take five times longer to make it to the top. It may appear that some people are luckier than others. Well, yes and no. It all depends on what you definition of luck is. Most people look at luck as some mysterious force that causes some to get positive results while others are doomed to a lifetime of misery and frustration. In this case, no, some are not luckier than others. However, if you look at luck as a natural phenomenon that occurs when a certain set of conditions are meet, then yes some are luckier than others. But remember, they are not lucky because some strange force decided to favor them and make them lucky; instead they are lucky because for every Cause, there is a correlating Effect. For every Action, there is a correlating Reaction. Plain and simple, this is how nature works. Let's go over this concept in more detail by explaining a concept called Creation Model.

The Creation Model: Everyone seems to want to know the "secret" to success. Let's just say for now that success means to be able to do what you want, when you want, where you want, without having to be concerned about the price and without hurting others along the way. Being that we are in a "Microwave" society, everyone wants "success" now. The problem, however, is that most people are looking for success on the outside when - as you and I know - success starts on the inside. Most people want to change their conditions but they don't want to change themselves. They want to change their circumstances but they don't want to change what got them in those circumstances. It is of critical importance that we understand that we must change the Cause of our conditions and circumstances in order for them to change. At least, in order for them to change on a long-term basis. And the Cause of all of our circumstances is our thoughts. Once we change our thoughts, we will automatically change our circumstances. The only way to change our thoughts is by reprogramming ourselves. That's right, you have been programmed to think the way you think and that programming has gotten you what you now have. Is that good news? If not, then you can now feel excited because you have the power to change it. Day by Day, Drip by Drip, Inch by Inch, you can start flooding your mind with empowering messages that can start you on the life-long process of positive transformation. We will give you an analogy so you will get a better idea of how this works, but for now let's take a general look at what is called the Creation Model... The Creation Model is simply a more detailed look at how Thoughts become Things or how Causes become Effects. Every effect or result you get in life has a cause. In other words there are no coincidences, there are only cause and effect. Let's take a look at the relationship between cause & effect.

Thoughts: Your thoughts are the causes of all your effects. Therefore you can trace all of your results you've gotten in life to a particular thought or set of thoughts you have entertained in your mind for a period of time. When you are born, your brain is similar to that of a blank tape with the record button constantly on. So everything you hear or experience after birth - and many say while still in your mother's womb - is recorded in your brain. We call this recording of information programming. The programming you receive come from many sources: Your parents, parent's friends, the media, church, school, relatives, teachers, and anyone or anything that comes in contact with you. You are constantly being programmed until you learn how to program yourself and even then others are programming you if you allow them to do so. The thing to understand is that most of the programming we receive while growing up is self-limiting and self-defeating. Most of it doesn't even make plain everyday common sense. Some of programming or thoughts that we receive from others become beliefs.

Beliefs: A belief is nothing more than a batch of similar thoughts. The more of any particular thoughts you have, the stronger the belief will be. A strong belief increases your conviction level regarding the issue pertaining to the belief. The pictorial representational form of a belief is called your self-image. Your attitudes are formed from your beliefs.

Attitudes: An attitude is simply a way of leaning towards a particular person, place, thing, issue, idea or concept. If you are leaning towards a particular issue, you are said to have a positive attitude towards that issue. If you are leaning away from an issue you are said to have a negative attitude towards that issue. From our attitudes we develop certain feelings.

Feelings: Our feelings are a physiological or an emotional response our body has when any person, place, thing, issue, idea or concept is presented to us. Of course this feeling will be a result of the attitude we have toward whatever we have been presented with. These feelings that we develop will help determine the actions we take.

Actions: Our actions are what we physically do at any given time in any given situation. These actions will mainly be determined by how we feel about what it is we are presented with. The actions we take will determine our results.

Results: We can call the results we get the effect. When we get a result due from a given set of actions we take. It is either the result we want or the result we don't want. If it is the result we want, great, we usually keep doing what we were doing to get that result. If it is a result we don't want most people figure they need to change their actions - which is true. However, this will only result in a short-term change because in order to make change lasting and long term we need to change the cause and now you know that the cause is the thought. Changing your thought will cause a chain reaction that will enable you to more naturally take the necessary actions to get the results you want out of life. This is so important, yet most people do not understand it. Now hopefully you see why it is necessary for you to reprogram yourself. This is the only way for you to create lasting change with less tension, anxiety, and frustration. This is not intended to be a full blown detailed course in psychology, but this information is so important to your success in your Network Marketing business that we want to give you an analogy to help drive it home. When you were born imagine your brain being as pure as a clear glass of spring water. Now imagine every time you heard or saw something negative it was equivalent to someone putting a drop of Red Dye in the glass of spring water. Think about that for a moment. Every time you are told "No" or "You can't do that" a Red Drop is going into your glass. Every time you turn on the TV and see an act of violence or crime you are receiving Red Drops. Every time you read the newspaper and find out about the latest catastrophes you are receiving Red Drops. Every time you associate with people who blames and complains you are receiving Red Drops. Most people have received so many Red Drops over the years that they have developed self-defeating and self-limiting beliefs and attitudes without even realizing it. The secret is in reversing the process. Unfortunately you can't just dump out the glass with all of the Red Dye. Instead you have to dilute it with clear drops of fresh spring water. The key word is drops. In other words you can't just pour a whole gallon of spring water in at one time - you have to place one drop of spring water at a time in an effort to dilute the Red Dye. Understand that your glass will never be as pure and clean as it was when you were first born. The good news, however, is that you can dilute the Red Dye enough to accomplish all the dreams you have and more. The key to this is for you to consciously - from here on - minimize the amount of Red Dye that goes in your glass and maximize the amount of clear drops that goes in. Books, tapes, events that are positive, inspiring and empowering gives you a constant source of clear drops. You need to deliberately take full advantage of these resources you have at your disposal. We hope you are starting to realize the awesome power of personal development. People desperately need it and most don't even realize it. Diluting the Red Dye in your glass is the "Secret" that we're all looking for. It's the key to transforming the results you get in life because you will be altering the Cause.


William Prouty, CLU RHU CBC CEC MBA PhD
CEO and Founder
Champions For Life Foundation
PO Box 989, Sun City, CA 92586-0989
Phone 951-301-0605 FAX 951-301-0606
Skype account: williamprouty
wprouty@aol.com
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