“Shop for security over happiness and you buy it, at that price.” Richard Bach wrote that in his Messiah’s Handbook, and it’s true. It works along the same principle of “Great love and great achievements require great risk”. (anon.)

If we truly want to grow, think about how our body grows. If we want to build some mass / muscle, thereby decreasing fat we work out. Only when we go past our bodies comfort level do we start this ‘growing’ process. We have to rip our muscles open, literally, in order for them to grow. The damaged muscle will then start to repair itself, and thereby grow. Then there is the impact to the muscle based on hormones as well. Both growth hormones and testosterone have major influence in muscle growth.

The development and growth of our mind and / or our spirit requires the same sort of process. Damage must first be done, before the proper helpers are released to allow for growth. In other words, in love and achievements (just as in muscle growth);

No pain no gain.

The only difference is, if we don’t workout in the gym, or with an active lifestyle, we’ll grow fat and somewhat sedentary; you’ll see and feel the difference fairly quickly. If we don’t work out our mind and spirit – we will eventually be forced to grow by other external means. The pain caused by this type of growth is far more than if you held the reigns.

Take and keep the control.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

“Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature.” Michael Faraday said that and I certainly do agree. Nature is nothing if not full of wonder and awe. How many times in your life have you been awestruck by nature. Have you ever been in a thunder storm where you not only heard the thunder, but felt its concussion pressing against you? Have you ever been moved by the vastness of the ocean? Have you ever relished the damp, musty odor of a mountain forest? Have you ever been away from the city lights and simply blown away by our own night sky?!

Our primitive ancestors first raised their eyes to God, by looking into nature, and do you know what they felt? Connected; and why wouldn’t they? Are we not part of nature? Of course we are, so it is only natural that we feel connected to nature. Whole orders of spiritual and religious orders have been based on nature.

But where is nature in your life today? I hope it still has a place in your life; it’s important. In our progress, nature seems to have taken a back seat. It’s pretty clear to me that we as the human race has made some fairly large mistakes when it comes to how we have treated nature. There is a huge disconnect. When logging magnates can be quoted in saying, “… when I see a forest, all I see is a bunch of stumps with piles of money on it” Then something if very wrong.

In our world of steel and glass, nature has become nearly out of our grasp, but thankfully not completely. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s because I believe in it so strongly. Get in touch with nature. Never EVER pass by the opportunity to take time to smell the roses.

Nothing is too wonderful.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” Mahatma Gandhi said that, and nothing could be truer. It takes a great deal of strength and sometimes courage to forgive, but it’s ironic that often when we find our self in that position we don’t feel very strong. But don’t confuse the fatigue of being “beat down” with weakness – they are not the same thing.

When we are in the position to forgive someone, it means that something has been taken from us, and whether it was taken willingly or not makes no difference. Often the taking is done in some form of subterfuge or ignorance. Of course this taking can be anything from physical items or money to such lofty things as honor and love. When we realize that something has been taken from us we often feel very tired. We feel beaten and used. These feelings can even become a form of depression. When we feel like this, strength is probably the last thing that we feel.

But indeed, to get from that point; the point of being beat down, to the point of saying, “I forgive you” is a major step and takes a great deal of strength. This is why forgiveness is so very important. If you don’t forgive you remain in a weakened position. Either that or you become soured and embittered. To forgive gives us the strength to rise above the pit that sucks us down into the muck. To forgive shows the world your strength. To forgive gives us the power to continue and continue in a position of strength – not weakness.

There are some that would apply rules to forgiveness, and at times these rules do seem important. For example there are those that believe only if someone is remorseful and asks for forgiveness they should be forgiven. There are those that say, "yes, forgive but never forget". There was a time when I might have followed those rules. But now I say, why waste all that extra energy. When we are feeling tired and beat down already, not to forgive only beats us down even further - rise above it. And if you do not forget is that not only half of a forgiveness? Yes, we must learn our lessons and in that way we remember, but forget the hurt otherwise it's only going to keep on hurting.

FORGIVE

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Ech-o: a sound heard again near its source after being reflected, even after the source is silent; a lingering trace or effect.

Are you an echo? Wouldn’t you like to be? Most of us do I think. Mitch Albom wrote about this, beautifully in his novel, For One More Day. The nice thing about an echo is it has a vibration, a resonance, which seems to just keep on going; much like the rings of waves caused by the pebble thrown into the quiet smooth pond. Do you remember when you were a kid (heck even now if you can be a child at heart) and you had so much fun with echoes? We’d stand around at the entrance of the cave, or base of the valley and yell at the top of our voices, waiting to see who could make the longest echo. We would scream so hard it felt as if our heads would explode, then we’d fall as silent as the dead and count the number of echo’s that would bounce back.

The key to this marvelous game was not only being able to scream the loudest, but also being able to be silent, for it was only in complete silence (even sometimes holding our breath) that the faintest of echo’s could be heard. Sure it was fun to be the source of the echo, but it was also fun to be able to hear the smallest of vibrations – almost just a feeling on the hairs inside our ears – the whispers of ghosts.

We all have, at one time or another been the source of the echo. We all have screaming loudly down pretty well over the years. The real challenge for us today is to hear the echoes. Remember… the echoes that started off the loudest also last the longest.

How long will you echo in the hearts and minds of others? Do you hear others echoing inside you?

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

The internet movie (and subsequent release of book, DVD, and audio CD) of The Secret, brought new found fame and glory to the Law of Attraction. Never mind that this philosophy has been around since “God was a boy”. All of the Earth’s spiritual Masters have taught us about the Law of Attraction in some way – every religion has talked about it in one form of dogma or another.

So, with so many references around, why is it that there is so much misery? Why don’t we all just have what we want?! That is the first thing the nay-sayers ask when the subject arises. Well, in my opinion there are several answers to that question, and I’ll not be able to address them all in this single blog. The few that I will address briefly, are most people 1) don’t understand the Law of Attraction, 2) Don’t understand how it works, and 3) Don’t have the patience for it to work in their lives.

The Law of Attraction is not about us thinking of something and like magic it appears. This is not the way God, or as many may say, The Universe, works. Our life is all about a process. As they say, it’s about the journey not the destination. Jesus didn’t heal some of the lepers and left the rest because he thought it was some mischievous joke! No, he healed only a handful (relatively speaking) because they are the ones that needed that process.

Action is the final key to the Law of AttrAction, but it’s not all that is needed. First we need to be still enough internally, for our intention and attention to take root. Before any action we must intend something, and then we pay our intention, some much needed attention. Only after we do this process on an internal basis, can we let go and DO in the external world.

These first internal steps are often missed. Now you may have some success with the Law of Attraction from simple external actions, but what you attract does not have a full process, and will therefore be transient.

Intention + Attention + Action = Attraction

Do the math! The Law of Attraction is NOT wishing on a star!

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Yesterday my 12 year old daughter was bemoaning her life as a “tween”; no longer a child, but not yet a teenager. As I tried to sympathize with her and expound some of my worldly knowledge, she hit me with a zinger that was packed with the wisdom of ages.

I knew my approach was probably not the best way, but I thought she was mature enough to deal with it – besides as a life coach my children have to put up with a fair deal more ‘mentoring’ than I’m sure their peers have to.

She was bemoaning about how confusing everything is and how difficult it is sometime to make the right choices. I tried to let her know that she was not alone with this problem that nearly every teen in the world is like this because their brain has not finished growing. The pre-frontal cortex is going through a growth spurt and the cerebellum is still growing (sometimes into the early twenties!). That the frontal cortex controls emotions, and the cerebellum controls, in part, cognitive thinking… so it’s no wonder that emotions are out of whack, and you don’t know what to do or think about them. Throw the changes in hormones into the soup, and it makes the teenage years a living hell!

You can imagine this information normally goes over like a lead balloon with teens. It’s very condescending to them and almost insulting. I thought my daughter could take it though.

Her response – “Well, at least my brain hasn’t STOPPED growing like YOURS!”

So, mom and dad… no matter how mature your teens are – never tell them their brains are not finished growing. It can end conversations very quickly. Course of action – listen and strive for a win / win solution (if a solution is needed), AND make sure your brain never stops growing (at least in some ways).

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am). When Descartes wrote this, I wonder where he was coming from. Philosophically, of course, it has been accepted that because we think, we exist. That is of course a clearly physical or biological perspective. If, however, you look at his expression from the spiritual perspective of ‘New Thought’, we find perhaps yet another meaning.

Has not the Buddha taught us that, “what we think we become”? Didn’t Jesus say, “Greater things than this shall you do”. When I think of the words “I Am”, the first thing that comes to my mind are the words used for the Name of God – “I Am that I Am”. Also, “I am”, is the key to unlocking the Law of Attraction. I Am, is the essence of creation… in short, I Am is the divine nature of mankind – hidden within us all.

Maybe, just maybe Descartes was not trying to validate our physical existence, but rather he was confirming what the Spiritual Masters have been teaching us for centuries. Perhaps it was not a physical validation but a spiritual confirmation of our divinity - transcending our mere existence .

Maybe Descartes did not write, “I think therefore I am” but rather, “I think, therefore – I AM”

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Do you wan to be a winner? I think most people would answer yes, to this question. It sure beats being a loser at any rate. Well, there is a sure fire way to be a winner and the example of just how to do that comes from the unlikely (sometimes detestable) arena of politics. So what is this secret weapon our current president, Barack Obama used to win this last election? Harvey Milk used it in his successful career, as did Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. I’m sure you’ve guessed the name of the secret weapon by now – Hope.

If you want to be a winner then give others hope. Without hope, we cannot dream and if we cannot dream then we will stop moving forward in a positive light. Nearly everything this world knows was first brought to life by a dream. Including YOU. What do you think would have happened if your parents were down and out… hopeless that tomorrow would bring nothing more but pain. Do you think you would have been born? You are the product of hope and a dream for tomorrow.

If you give others hope, the world will open its arms to you. But you have to be careful because Hope is a very powerful ‘secret weapon’and if you try to use hope dishonestly, or wrongly it can backfire on you in a very nasty way. If you are not truthful in your giving of hope, or if you somehow do not deliver, if you somehow end up taking hope away, the world will cast you down like so many demons to hell. Look what happened to Hitler. The Germans wanted a new Chancellor, and they found hope in the new guy Adolph Hitler – the thing is after he got into office he didn’t quite meet expectations. He gave hopelessness a new look and he lost big time.

Give hope and you’ll see your world change. Volunteer to be a mentor to a child; even if it’s in your son or daughters classroom or school yard. Give your time to men or women in prison. Volunteer at a hospital.

Give hope and the world will bloom at your feet.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Have you ever felt like what you are doing is just not good enough, or maybe it’s good, but just not enough? Do you seem to have this feeling a lot? If you do, I congratulate you, I think that is wonderful!

“What?!”, you say, “Richard has finally lost it!” How could self doubt be a good thing? I look at it this way… feeling like you’ve not done enough and feeling like you can’t do enough are two different things. I’m not talking about self doubt, I’m talking about awareness. If you feel you’ve not done enough then you are aware there is more that can be done. Look at it this way. If you say; “I’ve not done enough” you will be able to continue to move forward and accomplish more. If you say, “I’ve done everything I can do”, you stop – you will accomplish nothing more. Of course there will be those times where you have done everything you can do, but as Richard Bach wrote in his beautiful book illusions; “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’ll be yours”.

You see, this automatically gives you an edge in life. If you challenge yourself with this awareness that you’ve not done enough, then maybe you’ll do just a little bit more tomorrow. Trust me, every little bit counts. The greatest avalanche can be caused by the movement of the smallest pebble. How many millions of people are resigned to what it is they have, or accomplished. How many millions of people say every day; “this is as good as it gets”. I don’t believe that you are one of those millions. Only 5% of the population are the richest or most famous. You might not desire to be rich or to be famous, but if you are aware of the littlest things you are moving in that direction – like it or not.

So, the next time you are feeling down because you think you’ve not done well enough, or not done enough remember that you did something, and that’s a thousand times better than doing nothing!

Keep moving your pebbles, one by one… your avalanche will happen!

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

Are you a mind reader? Do you know any mind readers? No? Then why is it we expect so many people around us to know what we want of them? How many times have you experienced the hurt of not fulfilling someone else’s wishes, and you didn’t have a clue as to what it is they wanted.

Is this a guy thing? I don’t know, but it sure seems that way to me at least in terms of relationships. I can’t tell you how many women I’ve heard say; “… but I shouldn’t have to tell you that!” I have NEVER heard a guy say that to his wife or girlfriend. OK, OK, ladies you know it’s true, but I’ll stop the sexist stuff, because the truth of it is, us guys do it to - just in a different way. That’s right Bob… you sure do!

We’ve been raised to be courteous, and many of us were taught it was impolite to make direct requests. Debbie Ford points this out and further says because of this we make subtle hints, beat around the bush and plain old manipulate the subject (not to mention the old mind reading act). It’s all part of the people-pleasing epidemic we are facing. We don’t want to offend anyone, we don’t want to step on anyone toes, we don’t want to cross the line. But what are we REALLY saying? – “We don’t deserve what we want”.

Is that true? You don’t deserve anything? I personally don’t don’t think that’s true. You deserve a great many things. The fact that you are reading this blog shows me that you are seeking to better yourself. That fact alone means you deserve a great deal – SO ASK FOR IT. Jesus taught us, “Ask and you shall receive”, and Gandhi said, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get” If you find yourself not asking for what you want or need, you really have to take a look at why. Why would you do this to yourself? Are you embarrassed? Are you afraid, lacking self confidence? What is it that you have to overcome in order to make a powerful direct request?

Figure out why you don’t ask, and I promise you, you’ll be able to ask next time.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard