When is it my turn?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Thought of the Day
The world is abundance. It is therefore very interesting and sad that there is so much need, and so much that seems lacking. Everything you’ve ever wanted or needed exists today, right now. What’s keeping it from you? Could it be that you don’t believe you deserve it? Could it be you don’t believe it exists for you? Sure it exists for someone else, but not for me! So, I have to wonder why God has seen fit to bless 5% of our population with abundance, while the rest of us 95% must go without. It surely doesn’t sound like something my God would do.

So, is that what happened? God decided to desert 95% of us? No, of course not. God has created abundance for us all. We are living in the Garden of Eden, and all we have to do is ask, and it will be given to us. I know that sound very Christian, well that’s because Jesus said it. “But I’m not a Christian”, you say, “what about me?” Don’t worry, it’s a truth none of us can escape – Buddha said; “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” Or you can turn to the Bhagavad-Gita and Krishna, where it says; “Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.” This is a truth as strong as any thread run through a bunch of pearls to make a single necklace.

“But I’m living in the middle of a depression”, you yell, “if there is so much abundance, how can this be?” The answer still lay in the truth. We are where we are, because we ‘asked’ for it. It is what we believed in. As a collective conscious, we have made choices and asked for those things that have brought us to where we are today. You have merely been swept up into the current of the collective conscious. Neal Donald Walsh writes; “FATE is just an acronym meaning – from all thought everywhere”

So how do you change your feelings of want and lack? First be sure that you are lacking. Greed and gluttony can give the illusion of need and lacking when in truth there is none. Then be grateful for all that you have. After that, be grateful for all that you have yet do not hold in your hands. Then give what you have away to another. If you have nothing then give of your own service. To serve does not make you a servant. In your giving, then shall you receive. And lastly – stop pointing fingers at those you believe to be the 5%. The goal here is to part of the 100%

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

How big is your cocoon?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Thought of the Day
“Don’t tell me you’re a victim – show me you’re a survivor” (R. Hills) There are so many things in this life that can lead us down the road to being a victim. Not to mention it is such an easy road to travel, we almost do it automatically. I believe our ego, which is designed to protect us, nearly forces us into being a victim, but as with many issues regarding the ego, to follow it completely will not serve us very well.

Are you a victim of the economy? A victim of homelessness? A victim of poor health? A victim of old age? A victim of rape? A victim of violence? A victim of a cheating lover? When we are faced with sever diversity, it may be wise to be a victim for a short time, because it can give us time to recover (that is what the ego wants). Also, being a victim can motivate us to a place where we may grow and recover. But to be a victim for any long period of time makes us turn in ourselves to a place where we can serve no one, including ourselves. It can give us a false sense of security.

When we turn in on ourselves as a victim, we experience and live the worst possible emotions; fear, worry, hate. All of these things will close us off and cause more trouble in our lives. Remember the old saying; “what we resist, persists”. If we constantly resist and are thinking about avoiding being mugged for example, your chances of being mugged are greater. Now, this does NOT mean forget about precautions. Yes take precautions, but do not focus or give so much energy to fear.

Victims of circumstance must ultimately, step out of fear, worry and hate in order to be a survivor and become connected again. We are all connected, and it is love, caring and respect that will make that happen. Being a victim isolates us from the collective and causes harm to everyone concerned. Remember, we may not always have control over what happens to us, but God has blessed us with the ability to choose how we will respond to any situation; choose to be a survivor. Can this choice be difficult? You bet your sweet ass it can - one of the hardest choices we might have to ever make! But trust me - it gets easier very quickly. Love is always easier than Fear.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin'
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Thought of the Day
There are no endings – only new beginnings. I heard this the other day, and it resonated with me. As we know, our scientists have proven that nothing ‘dies’, everything we know merely changes form. So, what we experience is less of an ending and more of only change. I recently watched the movie written by Mitch Albion – The five people you meet in Heaven, and was touched by what he wrote for the character Marguerite; “Lost love is still love, Eddie. It just takes a different form, that's all. You can't hold their hand... You can't tousle their hair... But when those senses weaken another one comes to life... Memory... Memory becomes your partner. You hold it... you dance with it... Life has to end, Eddie... Love doesn't.”

So, if we think like this – then we realize that we no longer have to cope with loss, we only need to be able to deal with change; it’s a matter of perspective. Some of us are better with dealing with change. Change can be difficult for some, but if you ask me it’s easier than complete loss (which we now know just doesn’t exist).

The best way to cope with change is simply to accept it. I know, sometimes easier said than done, but accepting change does not mean that we have to agree with it. We need to accept this is how things will be for now, and then we can go about creating more beginnings – instigating more change.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

What part of the chain are you?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Thought of the Day
You have heard the saying, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. There is some truth to this saying, especially if you live your life with negative perspectives.

But I challenge you to really take a closer look at that saying. Yes, a chain is weakest at its weakest link, but why is that link weak? Are not all the links connected? The weakest link is weak because it has been made to endure all the stresses. This stress over time has caused its metal to denigrate into weakness. So weak it threatens the integrity of the chain.

I wonder why, even though all the links are connected, it was this one link that was made to endure all the stress? Could not this stress be spread out across the chain? If you are a link in this chain, connected to all the other links – do you not want your chain to be the strongest? Are you not then willing to take some stress from your fellow links to maintain the integrity of your chain?

Today – don’t look at the weakest link and pointing your finger say; “you will be our downfall”. No, say rather; “You and I are connected – let me take that from you – let me help you with that, together we WILL overcome”.

The chain is only as strong as its ability to share its joys and sorrows – together and connected.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

What are you hiding from?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Thought of the Day
There is a perspective that we create everything that is in our life. If we don’t create it then we allow another’s creation to come into our life. Many say this is our spiritual or divine nature – our oneness with God and the Universe. It is said that the God or Goddess inside us can create anything we want.

There is another perspective, a larger perspective, which says the above perspective is a bunch of hooey! This normally comes from those with a very strong religious perspective. Nevermind that the Buddha teaches us; “The mind is everything. What you think is what you become”. Nevermind that Jesus taught us; “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do”. Masters, time and time again, have given us permission to create – but we hide. Like Adam in the Garden of Eden, in our fear - we hide.

Don’t be afraid. You know why you are seeing this today.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Even a snake sheds its skin
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Thought of the Day
I don’t know if the weather is getting nicer where you are, but it sure is here. The sun is out longer and longer every day, and the days are getting warmer and warmer. Here in California, it’s true we don’t get to experience the seasonal changes as some other places in the country / world, but the onset of spring is very special to many no matter where you are.

I’m right there with you too. I love the spring! To me spring is the sign of birth and rebirth; a time to start new things, or start anew with old things. To me, the onset of spring is more important and certainly more exciting than the beginning of the year. And this is where “spring cleaning” comes from too.

So, I would like everyone to at least start thinking and planning about your spring cleaning. Oh, you don’t think I mean cleaning house do you? Well, that’s a good place to start, but just as your house accumulates dust and things over the winter time, you body, mind and soul accumulates clutter too. Right now I’m more interested in you cleaning the clutter from your body, mind and soul. If you think about it, you know what I’m talking about. Use your newly found will-power and start cutting back. Open the shades on the windows of your heart and mind and let the light shine into those dark, musty corners… plenty or webs grew there over the winter – time to get rid of them.

Reduce the clutter and brighten things up, and I promise you’ll be much happier.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Do you see silver linings?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Thought of the Day
I heard the other day someone ask a psychic; “I feel like I’ve been thrown out of a plane flying at 4,000 feet without a parachute – what can I do? The psychic replied; “Hang on; it will all be over soon.”

Of course everyone laughed, except (I would guess) for the person that asked the question. But where the psychic / motivational speaker was coming from was from a positive verses negative perspective. The New Thought movement teaches us that we are to move forward with an attitude of gratitude. Well, that is all well and good, but is it good to say, “I am so grateful that I am out of work, and have no money to speak of”. We can and should accept our lives as they are, because there is a lesson for us in everything, but we certainly don’t have to be grateful that we need to open a vein and sell blood in order to buy a ‘kids-meal’! To be grateful for the negative is counter productive and will only lead to more negative.

If you’ve been thrown out of a plane at 4,000 feet, then your perspective of things beneath you should be pretty good. You also will have some time to change some things. We live in a very relative world, and there are always at least two sides to everything (sometimes more). Try to see the positive instead of the negative. We get to assign the meaning to our lives – that is what God called free choice… so why not assign good to the good you can find? OK… the good may not always be easy to see. A silver lining can be pretty small when we are looking at a massive, dark, rain cloud, but trust me – the silver lining is there - always.

I know one thing I will promise you - one thing for certain. If there is no silver lining – if you cannot or will not see the silver lining – you cannot or will not EVER see the rainbow!

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

What WILL you do?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Thought of the Day
Will-power; do you have it? It’s probably one of the most difficult things for a great number of people. Where does it come from or how do you get it.

Will-power to me is the ability to persist amid distraction and temptation – and just plain laziness - it is perseverance. From an esoteric perspective the 5 th chakra is the seat of communication and will-power. This is not too surprising because the 5 th chakra is located in the neck along with the thyroid gland. Anyone that has hypothyroidism knows how a poor metabolism impacts motivation.

So how do you fix a poor will-power? I won’t go into the esoteric now, but just to let you know there is a process to align and clear your Chakras.

But lets look at the more practical. The way we normally create or manifest things in our lives is to first think, then talk and lastly do. To think a thing is to start the creative juices flowing. To talk about it builds a structure or foundation for the creation to happen, and then the doing is the creation itself. If you want to change something that has already been created (by you or another) then you will find it easier to reverse the creative process. Don’t think about it… don’t talk about it… just do it (talk and think later). For example; you feel like you should exercise more. You think about it.. even talk about it, but when it comes time to the actual creation… it never happens. In order for you to change that you must change the process. You feel like you need more exercise – don’t think about it, get up and walk around the block. Just do it - later you can talk and think about how good you felt for doing something you wanted / needed to do.

Now remember will-power is helped (or hindered) a great deal by habits. It takes approximately 28 days for our brains to physically destroy and create a new neural network that makes up any single habit. Every habit you have has its own neural net. Give your body enough time to physically change, which takes about a month.

There is another key to will-power, and that is passion. If you are not passionate about something, your ability to create it, or change it will probably not happen. So, make good choices based on your passions, and you will start to see things happening.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Gotta lot of frogs to eat??
Mood:  happy
Topic: Thought of the Day
Are you overwhelmed? Do you get up in the morning remembering your dreams, which were nothing more than all the things you have to do today and the rest of the week / month?! Do you have the feeling of “where the hell do I start?!” I have to tell you, it’s not an uncommon feeling (you are not alone) in the current political and economical state of our country (and the world). Of course you probably know this, but being overwhelmed is no fun. All too often these feelings segue into feelings of fatigue, depression, frustration and anger – just to name a few.

So, you’re feeling overwhelmed – I’m here to tell you, you have too much on your plate. I guess I wouldn’t be much of a life coach if I left you with such an obvious statement – Doh! So, what are we going to do? My first question is, “Are you SURE you cannot delegate any of your ‘to do’ list?” I have to ask are you sure, because I know how hard it can be sometimes to let go of ownership of your to-do list. But if it comes to your well being I recommend delegate, delegate, and delegate.

Oh wait – do you even have a ‘to-do list’? That is the first step. Write it down! If you are trying to juggle everything in memory – you’re are most certainly heading for a hard-drive crash! – write it down. Then prioritize. This can be hard to do for some, but here’s a hint – if you’ve been putting something off or over 2 weeks – that’s your number one item on the list. Remember – “If you have a lot of frogs to eat – eat the biggest frogs first!” Once you have your list – start to schedule your day. OK, I know that may sound really anal for some of you, but if you are feeling overwhelmed doing things with a plan, on a schedule will all but wipe away those overwhelming feelings. Lastly, start a practice of relaxation. I recommend both journaling and meditation. (do both for kicks!)

If you do these things it’s been my experience your stress due to being overwhelmed will decrease quite a bit, and you’ll find yourself moving forward again with a more positive mind-set.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Risk it!
Mood:  happy
Topic: Thought of the Day
Do you remember the last time it was that you fell down? I mean really fell down where you ripped up your skirt or jeans, your knees were bloodied and the palms of your hands looked liked ground beef with sticks and stones sticking out of them. Unless I miss my guess, you’ve not fallen like that in several years.

Have you ever thought about why that is? Well for one thing most of us have traded in our bicycle for a stationary one at the gym, and the roller blades (in my day they were called skates) or skateboards have been traded in for Prada pumps and Florsheim oxfords that we don’t dare scuff up. Our childhood exuberance and daring is not gone necessarily, but we have certainly traded in the bloody scraped knees for most likely a jacked up pride or ego.

But here’s the difference. When we were children, as soon as we were bandaged we were back up on the bike or strapping on the roller-skates for more action. Yes, the wounds hurt – and we cried, but they didn’t stop us from moving forward. Today, when we get our pride or ego banged up, it can take days or weeks (sometimes even much longer) to get over and past it so that we can truly move forward.

As my mentor Debbie Ford would say, we have to learn to turn our “wounds into wisdom”. We cannot stop taking risks because we are afraid of falling and scraping our knees. So go pull the 10 speed or mountain bike out of the garage or storage locker, and go for a spin (I promise you will remember how). As you speed past people walking along, or as you fend off chasing dogs like some jousting knight of old… remember… remember your youth and the risks you allowed yourself. If a 10 year old can do it… so can you.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard