Being Thankful

In these days of economic downturn, job loss, disappearances of investments & funds, foreclosures & loss of faith, the common question I hear is "Why is this happening?" Well allow me to say that it is a useless question. And if I stay there then all I will be doing is wasting my days trying to "figure out why!" What is gone is gone!

The only really valuable question is:

"What Can I learn from it?"

Because this question then leads me to ask "What do I choose to do now?" Now this question is really empowering and worthwhile asking!!

The "why" question simply perplexes, leaves me disempowered - that I might never get out of - and hardly ever leaves me satisfied. It never gives a good answer just more why's.

So don't try to "figure it out." Do as Bob Newhart says and just "Stop it!" Stop wasting energy & just focus on what you now wish to create. There is now a clean slate in front of you where you can create a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g!!

Keep moving forward!!
There is nothing behind you - it is all gone & done! Focusing on how it worked or did not work won't change a darn thing! The future is not guaranteed for any of us. Just focusing on what is possible right now is what best serves you. Being your highest thoughts & your highest self right now is all there really is.

So on this day of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for having you in my life; I am thankful for the life that God grants me; I am thankful for the freedoms we have; Thnakful for the ability to let go of the past & for the will to make life work - right now!- no matter what shows up!

I'm Human Too...

i found myself at the foot of the I-95 off ramp & I am debating giving a homeless man some money. I immediately thought he's a wino, a bum - he's going to waste it on whatever BS - I think. So I said God - no judgement. I will give just because.

So the test I gave God was : if the light turns red then I will give him money. If not - then oh well... So of course! the light turns red & I stop. I open the window & call this guy over to give him a buck.

He comes over with a big smile on his face & humbly says thank you. He immediately changed my mood. He also tells me "God bless you" and says that his sign got ruined.

"I need it to tell my story." he adds.

So I asked him what is your story. "I am just a homeless man" he says "you could even call me a bum. I drink, yes I may be a wino, but I am also human. Your dollar will help me to stay alive another day. Thanks Lord."

This was a sobering thought. He was repeating the words I was using to judge him & he reminded that God does listen & talks with us! Only we choose when we want to listen to Him.

Today is the Day

Today is the day!! TR called me and requested time to speak with me about SM. I am a little nervous now but it is time to "face the music" (as the saying goes) and deliver to her, the message entrusted in me.

TR is a friend with whom I have shared about my 'abilities' She knows what it is I do and her first question was: "Did SM communicate with you?"

"Oh-boy" was my first thought, but this is what my dream w/SM said would happen. I shared with her that yes, I have seen him prior to his passing. "Was he wearing a dark shirt w/stripes & a Khaki slacks that night?" was her next question. "Yes, I seem to remember he was..." I replied wondering - that's an odd question. But accepted that this gave her a sense of peace in knowing the answer.

"I ask only because I have not seem SM in a few weeks and the night of his accident he was on his way to my house to spend the weekend with me..." She paused for a minute & I asked her what she was thinking. "I gave him that clothes and that night, I woke up at 1am because I dreamt he was waving goodbye - wearing that clothes." As she said these words she broke down crying. "It's my fault! If he wasn't on his way to see me he would not have died..."

"Don't say that TR, don't you ever believe that! It was his time to go..." I consoled her with a firm tone of voice. "It was the way it needed to be and there is nothing you nor I could have done to have it be different!"

"How can you be sure of that?" She questioned me as she stopped crying.
She asked me to tell her what I saw. As I'm telling her this, she stops me. "No, tell me what else did you see?" So I shared with her the experience I had of SM that night and I shared how I saw him. That his spirit started to leave his body during the middle of the seminar. I saw his spirit ascended and finally leave as he was being acknowledged in front of his peers and how he left complete, that moment, even before the accident.

"He was gone even before the accident?"

"Yes TR," I assured her "his spirit had to go & all that was left was for his physicality to complete & go to rest." This seemed to put her at ease a bit.

Well, showtime is here! this is the moment SM spoke about and I could feel her hurting heart yearning for peace. I relayed the message I got from SM:

That because of her love, he can go complete. She fulfills and completes what was not there for him. It was her love for him that allowed him to be fulfilled."

Having been loved and being 'love' was important for him in order to complete. And she gave him that.

This seemed to calm her soul and seemed to put her at ease. We continued to talk for hours and now her tone of voice was peaceful. She needs to grieve, but can now do so knowing that it was his time. Not worrying, that the accident took his life before he was ready.

We will never be ready to go, but our soul knows when our time comes.

Perception is Key

For the last few days I've been wondering why SM's visitation was so different. I've never experienced a spirit present itself like that. In the past they show up in my dreams - never in real life.

But in analyzing this visitation, what I saw that was different is only how I choose to pereceive it. See in the previous visits I've choosen to call then dreams or visions, never choosing to consider them to be my reality. I guess you could say that I was in denial that this is my gift. But SM's visitation was real!

I realized that this is not the first time that the spirit presents itself in a phusical way during waking moments. For example Valmi's Visit was a light energy (aura) in the corner of my room.

Im my mother-in-law's visit, the spirit was a physical breeze and the scent of her favorite flower, the violet, showing up in the middle of the day.

So SM's visit, what I experienced was a light energy.

I'm starting to accept that it will present itself in so many different unexpected ways. What there is to do - just accept it!

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the 'all seeing eye' pierces through, and reads the heart and the soul, finding there capacities which the outside didn't indicate or promise, and which the other kind couldn't detect.
--Mark Twain

Today I got really bad news. SM, a friend & mentor passed away! He is a powerhouse & an inspiration for me and many other people with whom he had contact. I could not accept this news so I called a friend we had in common and I asked her... "Tell me it isn't so!"

She replied "I can't do that - it is so..."

This news hit me extremely hard & I broke down and cried. I don't know why it hit me so hard. Maybe because I just saw him last night. Or maybe because it confirmed what I knew last night. I knew he was leaving.

You've heard of the expression "The eyes are the windows of the soul.." Well last night, SM's soul was exiting out thru his windows! His soul would no longer be contained within the smallness of his human package and the light could not be contained. A bright light started emanating from his collar, his eyes and from the top of his head. I knew last night, in the middle of the event, that SM's soul was departing but i did not want to acknowledge it.

SM shined last night, both literally & figuratively. See he managed the production of the event and was in charge of anything that happened with the facility and equipment. Well both the facility and the equipment acted up and of course SM took care of it. The evening was his and he shined. And I had the great honor to see him shine.

First when the lights started to flicker, SM runs out the door to manage it. I was sitting in the front row & saw his light leaving for the first time. I tried connecting with his eyes but could not see them. The light was more like a dim glow & some glare on his glasses. The building lights flickered, then shut off and then a few minutes latter they came on. When SM walked back in, he looked normal so I thought nothing of it.

Then the lights decided to alternate - one row on & nothing else, then another section & nothing else. Again SM left the room & again I tried to connect with his eyes. The glare was much stronger and looked like it was spilling around the rim. When he came back in, he looked normal again.

The third event was the building's fire alarm going off. this time it was a strong and beautiful light. I could see the light emanating from his eyes and reflected off his glasses. It was so consistent that it blocked me from seeing his eyes. All I could see is a shine around his eyes, a reflected back image on the lens and a halo around his head. Wow!

Finally, at the end of the evening SM & his crew were called to the front to be acknowledged and in that moment, before he stood up, the halo pulled off towards the ceiling. The glow left him. He was now complete as he was being acknowledged. He was free to go and left completely fulfilled.

Within hours his body completed it's purpose and at 10:15pm, SM was no longer on this earth. That evening SM's life was completed in a fatal car accident. He went on to shine on out in the universe...

He was an amazing powerhouse & a beautiful soul shining and giving love to everyone he met. Shine on you crazy diamond...

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Yesterday my wife's car was hit as it was parked next to my house. It just sat there innocently waiting for me to take it for a ride when a young girl sideswiped it and shoved it 5' onto the sidewalk.

Sure enough the car is totalled. Broken rear axle and the front transaxle is also damaged.

Needless to say, the day did not starting out well and it just went south from there.

Two of my work computers freak out and I spent 6 hrs trying to fix them. My office VOIP phone system stopped working - but no worry it will forward to my cell phone.

And today I showed a sign of weakness. I allowed myself to think "Well, it can't get any worse then this." No sooner that the words left my mouth and...

As soon as I said that my cell phone would not work. I leave for a client meeting in a state of disempowerment. What a way to start day two of breakdowns!! On my way, about 2 miles from my destination, my car's air suspension system freaks out! Fu€k!!

"EAS Failure - Warning Do Not Drive Over 35MPH!!" The dashboard kept warning me.

I was in Ft. Lauderdale (more then 40 miles from home) and I find myself like a 'vato' driving my 'low rider machine' and hip-hopping all the way home. I was determined not to let this setback stop me! No way!!

Anyway two hours later, I made it there. I started the trip back pissed and cursing everything and everyone. But I arrived with a smile on my face and a new found peace. As I'm driving and the car hops at every bump, I find myself thinking of a skit on the "Whose Line is it Anyway Show."

Have you seen this show? It stars four comedians who are put into odd situations and they must improvise a skit on the spur of the moment. Not only do they improvise, but they make me laugh at whatever situation they are in. It's really funny to see Colin Mochrie, Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady pick up on something unexpected and just play with it.

So I see myself in this disempowered state and I see Colin making believe that he is riding in a car, sitting really low to the ground and his arm resting on the imaginary window ledge. He is going down the road without a care in the world while in the green screen behind him chaos ensues. The dichotomy and contrast is just funny. I can imagine Colin's silly smile when he finally realizes what is happening behind him.

What I saw available for me:

Well I say the question "Whose life is it anyway?" Just because circumstances are NOT what I was expecting in life, it does not mean that it’s time to freak out and let the world fall apart! In fact, it’s an opportunity to deal with the bad things in a way that empowers me.

Sure I have every right to be pissed, angry and overwhelmed - but why?? Yes, bad things happen, but I have the choice of who I am going to be in the face of chaos. Do I let that piss me off and leave me disempowered - OR - to I choose to be empowered no matter the circumstance.

I choose to empower myself and overcome the circumstances! This leaves a space available for me to take action about it anyway.

Love Now

I have been getting very frustrated with the political/economic environment in this country. The level of fear is incredible! I am concerned by the conspiracy theories, fear-mongering and the doomsday stories that are supposedly out to cause the end of the world as we know it.

The real estate market taking a dump; foreclosures at an all time hi; banks falling apart and failing; the declaration of Marshall Law in the USA.

Did you know that as of Oct 1st Marshall Law was enacted???

The eminent collapse of the Dollar and the possible introduction of the Amero. Have you heard of the Amero? It is the new coinage that will replace the Dollar. It is where our money, investments, 401K's, OUR savings! ALL will be worthless - at best only pennies on the Dollar.

The thought of all this scared the shit out of me! And left me disempowered and in a swirl.

So what is there to do??

Well, just be present to the fact that "Its all a choice between Fear and Love!" When I get overwhelmed with negative stories, I forget that life is just a ride and that I have a choice!

Just listen to this video. Bill Hicks has an explanation to What the Point of our Lives is. It is an inspiring perspective!

It's that simple, someone might even call it simplistic, but I'm standing for it:

"Choose Love. It is and has always been the only answer!"

This is only a ride! We can change it anytime, it's our choice - Fear or Love!

"The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors and buy guns! Close yourself off."

Choosing fear only lets the demons run amok. Fear will lead us to shut ourselves off and hide out.

Here is what we can do to change the world!

Choosing Love will allow us to explore space together (both inner and outer) forever in peace! - The eyes of Love see all of us as One...

Turn off the chatter of the main stream media and....
Choose for yourself!

What is Your Life About?

What is it that I want in my life? All these years I have been striving for financial well being. Building up properties so that I can have a nice nest egg for my family's future. Now that the economy took a dive, it smashed that nest egg and turned it into scrambled eggs.

So this video asks a poignant question "what is YOUR life about?"

Is it really about bigger bank accounts... while obtaining less fulfillment.
Maybe a larger nest egg to retire with... while taking time away from the family.
How about more options... while having less patience to deal with them.
Even technology promised to make life better by eliminating the drudgery. But what did it give us - less human touch.

So what is My life about?

You may say that the most important resource in life is more time or more money. But all that can be taken away or even be viewed as not enough.

So what do we really live for?

How about a life of love? Giving it, taking it, enjoying it, BEING it!!!

Without it we can have every THING we want, but life means nothing.

So what is Your life about???

I can have any THING and every THING, so what choices do I make? With the economy the way it is, we can easily get stuck in our head about the choices we have made in our lives. Waiting for the right moment for life to get better; or the right job to make our lives better; Should I have brought that property?; or what is it going to take to make me really happy.

Well all this time "right in front of you is a living expression of Divinity. Take a look!!!!"

"When you dare open up your heart and love, you are free. This is living in Divinity." So the real question "is there really anything else to do?"

Except Live a life of Love....

God Speaks in Unexpected Ways

Believe it or not - yesterday God spoke to me in a way that I would have never imagined. I find myself actually preparing to give God the tithing (the actual 10%) for the first time in more then 20 yrs AND this was not my reality a few hours ago!

I started going to church about 8 months ago and have started praying as well. And for the same number of months I have been asking God to help me resolve outstanding money that people owe me for more then a year. For the past year, I have been pissed off that they do not pay & do not return my phone calls. Well to make a long story short, I finally gave up expecting God to resolve this for me & pissed when he does not reply. I gave up the need to be right (making them wrong) & ultimately I gave up expecting God to solve this for me.

What I really gave up is any attachments to the money, to being right & to needing an answer to my prayers.

The moment I gave this up, I get a call from one of the persons that owes me money. She calls apologizing for letting if go for more then a year & asking me to help them complete their project. Yesterday I met with her & her husband & walked out with a long-overdue check. I even took a chance & contacted the other person as well & sure enough we completed what was outstanding & I walked out with another check.

Now I want you to get that nothing I was doing previously was working (collection calls, nice letters, nasty letters, threats of lawyers, nothing!)

Call it luck, chance, perseverance. What I like to call it is God answering my call, since I was going to hire a lawyer (& paying a 30% fee) to deal with these bad debts today. Sure enough it would have been drawn out even longer & I would have made enemies of them.

So if this is not big/miraculous enough, I am sitting here separating the money. I am figuring what I am giving as tithing (actual 10%), using to pay my own debts & what I have left to pay bills. I take the money for tithing's and fold it up in my pocket. Out loud I ask "so what should I do with Your money, God?" and I hear a voice from the left side, over my shoulder. "Share it!" a voice said. "With whom?" I reply AND in that instant I get a chime from my email that a friend's message arrived. She was replying with a "LOL! [love what you said.]" to another message I sent her.

The reason this is significant is that two days and a few message ago, she very humbly and almost apologetic & embarrassed asked to borrow money. She was about to get kicked out of her apartment & her car repossessed. "No way!" I thought "I don't even have it for my needs." I made believe I didn't get that message. But that was two days ago & today this money shows up when I least expected it.

I'm sitting here feeling bad that I did not reply to her with even a "no-sorry" respond. AND a chime sounded the moment I asked God "with whom to share it with?" But that is what my heart is telling me is right now! Share God's tithings with those in need.

I question myself if I should do this. I have other people whom I owe money to, but I am being drawn to follow the word of God & do his wishes with a part of the tithing I was going to give him. Call this irresponsible, naive, or anything you like, but for the first time in more then 20 years I am closer to God & I am actually feeling in communication with him. So I must do what I feel is right.

The Trivia of Life Keeps us from Experiencing our Greatness

I love music! but specially I love the lyrics. I love to understand what the lyrics of songs mean - or at least what the lyrics mean to me.

Here is another song that I like:

I look around at other people
I brush their shoulders at the corner of the street
But all they notice is their feet
It wasn't meant this way
Their minds have gone astray

If they could lift their eyes they'd see
There's people smiling just like me and I'll agree
It's not their fault because it's raining
It's all work and no play, it's just another day

Love and beauty
Love and beauty
Should be everybody's duty
To welcome every man as a friend

I wish that I could change the world
For every boy there'd be a girl for him to know
And maybe people would look up
Then they might realise they're not the only ones alive"

-- Love and Beauty by Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues

"I brush their shoulders..." tells me that he wants to connect/interact with them but they are too self absorbed to notice (all they notice is their feet). What he is describing makes me feel like an elevator moment. You know, that moment of awkward silence where nobody wants to even look into each other's eyes. What are we avoiding? what are we afraid of?

"It's not their fault because it's raining. It's all work and no play, it's just another day..." continues by justifying those actions and giving us permission to keep it just that way. But what we do not realize is that this mechanism is what we all use to keep us from experiencing the greatness of other and our own greatness. We keep ourselves in our shells to avoid the other.

The everyday 'trivia' (as Monty Python calls it in Meaning of Life)is our circumstances, our problems, our human condition, our little voice in our head - that keeps us from experiencing who we really are and keeps us from experiencing the other. We keep ourselves in a state of being that is ordinary - never living our dreams.

We live a life of always wishing that "I could change the world" and the only hope we have is to live with the expectation that the other "might realise they're not the only ones alive."

The "mind fake" of it all is that most of us live our lives like those silent moment in the elevator. No one dares to look up because of the overwhelming subconcious fear that runs us. So therefore no one will ever notice. And if no one notices there is no desire to look up.

This loop of doubt and self-imposed isolation is intended by the 'trivia' to keep us from realizing our greatness. Oblivious to the fact that "Love and Beauty" is all that God has intended for us.

Like my favorite movie, the Matrix, suggest: "Take the red pill, Neo, and I'll show you how deep the rabbit role goes..."

Do you live on in ignorance (and potentially bliss) by taking the blue pill - OR - do you lead what Aristotle called 'the examined life' and take the red pill?"
-- Matrix Philosophy

What do you think? Which pill would you choose?

Detachment is Being Comfortable with the Ambiguities of Life

"Detachment is not a physical thing; it's a mental phenomenon. Attachment could be said to be the same thing as fear and insecurity. Detachment is the same thing as being comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty, which are facts of life."

- Deepak Chopra

A friend was sharing about his girlfriend and how - even knowing better - she still choose NOT to do what he considers to be the 'right thing.' He shared how when he asked why she would do that, she replied "leave me alone. Let me do what I want to do." He was very upset & just continued to argue with her. He wanted some advise on how to convince her to do what he considered to be the 'right' thing.

I shared with him that people do what they will do and we cannot judge, dictate or even coach them into doing the 'right' thing - when they do not want to hear it. That is a choice they need to reach on their own & we need to be fine with their choice.

He was visibly very upset at her choice & asked me "so what should I do?" I responded "give up your attachment to needing to be right!" He paused for a bit & then said "What the f^*k are you talking about! She is the one not making the right choice. What do you mean - me - giving up my attachment!??"

No matter how much I tried to explain or get him to see that it is him that needs to accept and be detached from the upset, he would not hear of it.

So I shared with him this Zen Buddhist story:

Two monks are walking down a country road when they come upon a river. Suddenly a young girl, partially naked from her struggle with the river, runs up to them. She says, "The river flooded away everything I have and my family is on the other side. Can you help me get across to find them?"

The younger monk is flustered, a naked girl! He felt he needed to avoid the temptations of the flesh. But the older one picks up the naked girl, throws her over his shoulder and walks across the river. When he reaches the shore he puts her down, and without a word, walks on. The younger monk follows, but his mind is not at rest. How could his brother have touched a naked girl?

After a couple of hours he stops his brother and says, "Brother, we are supposed to be above things of the flesh! And yet you picked that girl up and carried her across the river." The older monk replies, "Yes, you're right and when I got to the other side I put her down. You have been carrying her ever since."

The young monk carried the worry and the upset for the sins of the flesh, and could not let it go. He lived with the burden and the anguish of what he considered to be a 'wrong' doing much longer then the older monk did.

I explained the the moral of the story is that worrying of the burden of living into the considerations of right/wrong is more of a burden then the act itself!

Do you think I gave him the right advice?

I see it that the story is the same about everything in our lives. Once something is complete and we have fulfilled it's purpose, we can choose to drop it from our minds. Holding it and wondering and questioning the right/wrong-ness of it ceases us from being who we really are in the moment. There is no reason to look back upon our choices.

What we have chosen to leave in the past ceases to be ours. Let it go & detach your 'self' from it Now & Forever!

Lessons Learned from Randy

Tribute to Randy Pausch on Google

I, like millions of people have watched Randy Pausch's Last Lecture on YouTube. This lecture is extremely powerful, empowering and has been impactful in my life. I developed a great appreciation for Randy's wisdom and the lessons this Carnegie Mellon professor had for us. This talk is meant to teach life's lessons as his legacy in life.

Now that Randy has past away, how can his legacy live on in me? I am a firm believer in that everything that is put before me, there's a lesson to be learned. So what are my, as Randy puts it, "Lessons learned..." What lessons can I get out of Randy's life experiences, and his passing, to "achieve my dreams and enable the dreams of other."

I thought about that a little bit more and went back to listen to the lecture. This is what I came up with - my list of 10 things I've learned from Randy's lecture (in no particular order):

1. The Brick Walls are there for a Reason: Walls are there to separate those who do not want it bad enough from those with the dedication and commitment to live their lives to the fullest. It is there to allow us to climb over them and get to the other side even when we do not know what is on the other side. Reaching for what you want requires work - so work hard. Scale those walls and show that you have the desire.

Everyday life has a way of putting hurdles in our path. Some may seem insurmountable, but it is in my passion for life that I can overcome them. It is in me to excel and jump over those hurdles.

2. Disney Imagineering - The Nicest "Go to Hell Letters": Anybody can get chewed out and rejected. It is in how you receive & accept the feedback (even just seeing it as feedback). Learning from the rejections & the failures is one of the biggest lessons in life. At the end of the lecture Randy says it is the rare person that can "cherish it and use it" to grow as a person.

3. Wait Long Enough & People Will Surprise & Impress You : Perseverance is the key. Give people the time & the space they need to find their own greatness. Guide them along their paths so they can get themselves to where they want to be. As Randy says, "Find the best in everybody; no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it."

Give up whatever impression you may have of them. Don't make them wrong and allow them to be themselves. You may be surprised!

4. Good Way & Bad Way of Saying 'NO' : It is in the attitude & in the words I use that I can influence/ get people to do what I want from them. It is a way of being that I can create for myself. I can have something worth saying but saying it to empower others (not to disempower them) is where the powers lies.

At the end of the lecture he shares something Andy Van Dam told him. "It's such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant, because it's going to limit what you are going to be able to accomplish in life." Randy continues with "What a hell of a good way to word - you're being a jerk!" It was in the positive nature of the wording that this became a constructive conversation.

5. The Next Star Wars Film :When Tommy shared his dreams, Randy said "You know they are probably not going to make those next movies..." and Tommy said "No they are!" This shows me that no matter what people say or think, just live your dreams. Don't let people dissuade you from living & achieving them.

6. You Obviously Don't Know Where the Bar Should Be - You're Only Going To Do Them a Disservice by Putting it Anywhere : Dream Big!! Randy was amazed that his students did not stop and "just kept going!!" Do not sell people short by my own limits and perceptions. Encourage people to give their best & they will surely do so. See people bigger then they see themselves and they will live into who you make them out to be. Create an energy where greatness comes from believing one is great!

7. My Favorite Moment in 10 Years is a Brilliant Ad Lib : "He pulls out his ninja sword and says - 'I am dishonored!' and just drops." What I got from this moment is that the best part of life are the moments that are unplanned and are true and honest from the heart.

This is where we get to live our life to the fullest and where I can create a great bond with people. Being authentic, honest & real with myself will allow me to be just that with others.

8. The Yin and the Yang : The left and right side of the brain are essential for the success out of anything I do. The Geek and the Artist in me / the Good & the Bad are both necessary for being complete. One cannot live without sharing with the other.

9. Paint My Bedroom : Let your kids paint their bedroom. Allow them to flourish & encourage them to be self-expressed. His parents may have been reluctant, but they saw the spark in his eye and encouraged him to express his creativity. They allowed him to express himself - even if it was unconventional art.

As an architect, I know the value the environment can cause to spark the creative flame in people. And I also know the value I can create in my son by giving him the space to express his artistic flare.

10. Are You a Tigger or an Eeyore? : Are you going to live your life having FUN or not? You get to choose. Like Randy says, it is not only a choice but its a requirement. "I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it." There really is no other option. We will all die and at the end of our lives, do we want to be remembered, like Randy, "as a person who had fun" or as a person who never allowed himself to enjoy his life. You choose!

OK, so getting ten powerful tenets from Randy's lecture is incredible and an amazing contribution, on Randy's part! And then I get to the end of his lecture and he throws out "How to get people to help you?" This hit home because it has been a big one in my life. Inspiring & enrolling others to follow me has been challenging. So what is the "lesson learned?"

You Can't Get There Alone : Acknowledge the people in your life. Tell the truth to others & to yourself. Show gratitude & appreciation. Have an intention or purpose in your life to live for and share that with others. Live for others and they will give you your dreams.

Inspire in them their dreams & they will be inspired by your dreams.

Lastly Randy reveals the great "head fake," the lesson we did not know we were meant to learn -

It is not about how to achieve your dreams, but how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the Karma will take care of itself.

"The dreams will come to you."

So at the end of Randy's lecture, I realize that in our daily life, we get caught up in the circumstances, the daily challenges and the hurdles we have to jump. Constantly bumping into the proverbial "brick wall" of life and constantly staying stuck inside my head. It is about getting outside of your 'self' & contributing to others. Being with others and giving of yourself to others. This is where life fulfills your dreams.

I have only one choice! I cannot stay wallowing in my junk. I must allow myself to experience life and to have fun while living it. There really is no other way to play it!

Thank you Randy for who you were. Your legacy lives on!

Music & Life - An Epiphany!

Today the most commonplace video allowed me to have an epiphany. I never in a million years could have imagined that Tray & Matt of South Park fame would be the cause of it. Granted it's the words of Alan Watts that did it but it was thru Tray & Matt's video that I was exposed to those words.

As Alan Watts explains it, the idea that "reaching for success is the purpose of life" is a great big hoax! I have missed the music along the way.

Like most I have worked hard to be successful and missed what the real purpose was. Acquired the houses I've wanted and even created the type of business I've wanted. I design multi-million dollar waterfront homes where money is everything. Sure I've sacrificed a few birthday parties because meeting the client's deadline was more important but hey, the family will understand. What's the problem - there will be many more birthdays to come!

I have fallen for the peer pressure that having a nice car, a nice house & great financial Independence were the symbols of success. See I had what I thought would be my nice nest egg. Sure, I planned that I would sell it all and retire when I'm 55. But now with the economy the way it is, well that nest egg is now more like scrambled eggs.

Over the last year or so, I've come to realize that I've wasted so much time, effort, and affinity to acquire those things. I've realized that I've never sang or danced to the music. I've never allow myself to be free of the need to have material success.

Manchester Craftsman Guild High School

You must be prepared to act on your dreams...
just in case they do come true."
- Bill Strickland

"Its all in the way you think about people that often determines their behaviour."

This is truly an inspiring video! I have to change the way I see people in order for their behaviour to change. It is all in who I am being that defines who people are for me.

Connection to the Divine

True test of being human is just Being.

Human existence w/needs, concerns & desires while still choosing to be connected to the Divine.

So what do I mean by Being? So consider for a moment that at every moment we choose to BE who we say we are. So here's an example of what happened today. Life is not working the way that I want it to right now. The economy is slow & business has dropped of significantly. Bill are adding up & employees need to be paid.

I have a choice of who I am going to be in this circumstance. I can be angry and blame the whole thing on a bad economy. Upset that there is nothing I can do about it. This is perfectly fine and many people would agree with me, but at the end of the day I would be angry, upset, a victim of my circumstances and nothing has happened to improve the situation.

OR

I can choose to be peaceful, in action to change my circumstances, and connected to the power of the Divine (God, source, the universe - call it what you will).

The first option gives me an upset stomach, a nervous twitch & anxiety attacks, all the while feeling disempowered. The second option gives me peace, power and the complete feeling that everything will be alright. No upset stomach & my cardiogram still shows normal.

I choose to BE who I say I am. I get to live another day at peace with my circumstances (I didn't say ignore my responsibilities) but knowing that I am not a victim to them and the money to pay the bills just gets generated.

So who do you choose to BE?

Pathways to Mastery

I've been listening to Wayne Dyer being interviewed by Michael Toms of New
Dimensions. The thing that interested me the most is the 4 pathways to mastery which are Discipline, Wisdom, Unconditional Love and Surrender.

As he explains it, traditional education only involves the first two, Discipline & Wisdom. To reach mastery requires to reach beyond "Knowing & Doing" into the realm of "Being." I was surprised to hear that reaching the level of mastery involves surrendering. Surrendering myself to accepting that I am one with the universe and one with all.

When Dr. Dyer quotes Michelangelo's famous quote, it makes perfect sense
-

"David was already in there I just chipped away the excess."

So to relate this to my life. When I'm designing & I have an urgency or 'need' to get the design done nothing happens. I just can't do it - I could be sitting there for hours and the design just does not flow.

But when I 'let go' of the need - I put loud music and just let my hand sketch away & not force an outcome - The ideas flows and the design just comes out. Surrendering to what is inside of me and letting it flow out is what I am getting from Dr. Dyer's words.

Not forcing it out but just letting it be what it needs to be.

Everything & Nothing!

Lots of stuff going on in my life. I find myself just swirling in the fog. I am traveling thru unknown roads, once in a while getting off at the wrong exit in life. And even though I have to find my way back onto the path intended, sometimes it feels that I am not getting anywhere. That is until I saw this video!

Very inspiring and uplifting video!. Its called "My stroke of insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor.

Every road traveled in life is a choice - every moment I have the choice of how my day will go. I can choose to be down and blame my circumstances OR I can choose to live my life empowered.

So I choosing an enpowering life. Accepting it how it is and how it is not.

Which choice are you going to make?

The Legacy of Peace & Unity

I would like to share with you what I've been feeling now that my mother has passed away. I have had the story that I need to be 'strong' for my family. It's been many years that I have not allowed myself to freely show fear, joy, anger, excitement, disappointment, grief - forget being vulnerable! I've dealt with a lot of death in the recent years and I 'had' to be strong. I do not let anyone know that I am fearful of death & that I'm afraid that one day you too will leave me.

When Pipo & Mima died I 'had' to be strong for my wife & son. Mima was ill for many years with Alzheimer's. She no longer knew who her family was. She did not know that she had a daughter, a son-in-law & grandson. I remember the day my wife asked her "I am your daughter, do you remember me?" and Mima replied "I don't have a daughter!" She cried for days! I tried to protect my son from that. What would it feel like for him to hear that she has no clue of who he is. He can't comprehend what is happening to her. I don't know why I did not cry at her funeral - maybe to protect him or actually to protect me from feeling that pain.

When Pipo died, I promised Pipo that I would take care of my family. I promised him that I would not let anything happen to them. The seven months we took care of Pipo in our home, I protected my son from Pipo's hollers of pain. I would create distractions so that he would not have to 'deal' with that & looking back - so that I can escape that pain.

Now fast forward to today. Again I pretended that I would be alright. My 'strong suit' really has me believing that I can deal with the death of mom. All this time I have been 'strong' & I can deal with death. BUT really I was pretending that I am OK. All this time I have been hiding the fact that I am afraid, feel vulnerable & alone. I kept myself busy so that I would not have to see mom wither away like a wilted rose. How that leaves me feeling is closed off from my own feelings.

So when I interact with friends and family, I am really hiding out. Hiding my feelings. I did not want to get too close because you too will leave me & I am going to hurt all over again! I would not tell you about my life, because of the fear that you may find me out or you may judge me. I get the feeling that I leave them in a funk trying to deal with my disconnect. For that I apologize.

So what you can count on from me is that I will be free to express my feelings, will no longer pretend to be strong & will be present to your (& my own) greatness. I promise to be there to hear you and to listen without judgement; I promise that I will be with you when you need me; I promise I will be free to be me.

What I ask of you is that when I leave you in a funk, that you stop and ask me "what just happened?" I know that these promises are big & I may falter sometimes. I ask that you not judge it, but stretch out a hand and help me up. I will not always get it right, but know that I will try.

Tomorrow is mom's funeral service & I do not have to be 'strong' anymore. I do not need to pretend that I have it all together. I will be free to be me and free to be with you.

God has blessed our family with a great mother, but even more so with the legacy she created - a united family.

I love you all.

First Visitation - the One

I need to share with you what just happened to me.

I've shared memories from my past, that were previously hidden, but that have been popping up for me. One of them is from Carteret, NJ.

It's Friday night and I'm 12 years old. Dad is gathering us together for the sunset 'culto.' I am running away from him because he just turned off my favorite TV show. I am so mad and cursing at him and at God. Why does dad have to do this to start the Sabbath sunset service.

While I'm waiting, I demand of God that if this really was that important then why isn't he present instead of just a vague, vengeful concept. See I was making God wrong for the way religion was represented to me. I was making him wrong for the way that the SDA religion requires that we deprive ourselves of the 'worldly' pleasures.

At that moment the image of Jesus Christ presented himself as an aura and relayed the message of peace and love to me. My life changed! Ever since then I have received that same message from many persons as they are leaving this earth to be with God.

I always feared getting the message - because of our religious beliefs. The messages always scared me since I was being visited by people as they are leaving their human form and dying. I always took this encounter to mean that I was weird, freaky or ungodly. The SDA religion says that this not of god, so I was not a 'son of God' worthy of his love.

So tonite I became present that God had chosen me to give the message to - but most importantly - to relay that message to others.

So I need to share a breakthru with you. Tonite I created the possibility of "Being the One" accountable for delivering God's message of Love Peace and Fulfilment so the whole world can experience life as One!

I am no longer bound by the fear and vengeful God image that was present to me by my religion. I now know that God is Love. True unconditional Love. Agape love - a love that is overwhelming and over consuming. A Love that takes over and surrounds me completely.

God is love - and all there is, is Love.

Peace & Serenity

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." -- Confucius

A time existed when I
needed to always be right.
I needed to impose that
on you.

A time existed when I
made you wrong & that I
needed to fix you.

A time existed when I
blew you off simply
because you did not
agree with me.

That time seems to have
occupied an eternity.
It seems to have taken you
from me. It seems to
have defined me.

So now I want to live
a time where judgements
are non-existant.

A time where I don't
need to make things right.

I want a time where life is
lived to the fullest with you.

Reaching enlightenment

"..Now, when you have so much happiness, peace, wisdom, and joy that you spend your life sharing it with everyone else, no matter what your predicament, that's enlightenment. You have become a master.

When your life is no longer about you, has nothing to do with you, but is about everyone else whose life you touch, you have become a master.

In the end, that is why you came here. You did not come here to somehow ‘get better,’ or to ‘work on your stuff.’ Consider the possibility that all the work you will ever need to do is finished. All you have to do now is know that.

...Enlightenment, when it is all said and done, has nothing to do with what you do with your body or your mind. It has to do with what you do with your soul.

Now that’s a wonderful insight. Just the way you put that opens up the space for clarity. Nice.

Thank you. I want to share that if you simply love everyone whose life you touch endlessly, unconditionally, with nothing needed or wanted in return, you have become enlightened and you have shown everyone how they may be enlightened as well. As fast as any other system that exists, like that."

- Neale Donald Walsch - Tomorrow's God

Now that thanksgiving is approaching, reading this statement makes me aware what thanksgiving is about for me. Giving without expecting anything in return - just giving - does wonders in fulfilling our souls. But giving to your loved ones is easy - you love them already. I am taking on giving to others outside of my circle.

I give to you of myself, so that you may be yourself - and by doing so, you allow me to create myself - thank you.

Thought, Word & Action

"Thoughts are like magnets drawing effects to you..."
Conversations With God - Neale Donald Walsch (pages 188-189)

It's truly amazing how our thoughts can be made real just by our intention.
Consider this : First you think a thought, then you state that thought and solely by expressing it you have made it real! It is out there so it realy does exist - now you have to live it!

Just yesterday, my brother-in-law & I were driving back from Orlando (We took our family there to get away from the after effects of Wilma). He was making phone calls to see if electric was back at his house (my house had it back). After driving for 3 hours, he was not getting the answer he wanted. I told him he can stay with me until he gets it back, but that did not satisfy him. He looks at me and says "I create the possibility that I will have electricity when I get home!" He said it emphatically & with such clear intention. I blew it off as wishful thinking, when no more than 10 minutes had gone by & he gets a call from his neighbor saying - "the power just came back!" Now call this pure luck or coincidences, but I do'nt know if that is all there is to it.

Here's another example of why. A client was withholding paying me $18K for services provided. Now months have passed & I tried letters, follow up calls & even nasty calls from "my lawyer" nothing was getting him to pay. He would call me to do more work & my withholding doing more work for him did nothing, but get him pissed off. I tried everything. I was totally fustrated, since he is no longer returning phone calls, & saw suing him the only option. Then I thought - "I will will him to pay me!" Funny ha! Will him to pay, but sure enough! Within 1/2 hr I get a call from him. I firmly tell him that he is not getting anything until we resolve the outstanding matter & that I need a check in hand - this afternoon. By the end of day the check was in my hand.

As Dr. Wayne Dyer says

"view intention - not as something you do - but as an energy you're a part of."

Whatever you call it, luck; coincidence; wishful thinking; I choose to see it as intending my reality. This way I have 100% responsibility of the outcome. This is exciting & empowering since nothing 'just happens' to us but we have the ability to define an outcome. If I want a positive result I just intend it to be positive & as this theory goes - it will become a positive effect. So now I intend to be it.

Think it -Believe it - Live it!

Om Nama Shivaya

Om Nama Shivaya, Om Nama Shivaya, Om Nama Shivaya

This gentle ancient chant, the primal seed sound that is attributed as the initiating sound of creation, has become my soothing chant.

The sound of the soundless. Absolute is chanted here.

The lovliest explanation of OM is found within the ancient Vedic and Sanskrit traditions. We can read about AUM in the marvelous Manduka Upanishad, which explains the four elements of AUM as an allegory of the four planes of consciousness.

"A" (pronounced "AH" as in "father") resonates in the center of the mouth. It represents normal waking consciousness, in which subject and object exist as separate entities. This is the level of mechanics, science, logical reason, the lower three chakras. Matter exists on a gross level, is stable and slow to change.

Then the sound "U" (pronounced as in "who") transfers the sense of vibration to the back of the mouth, and shifts the allegory to the level of dream consciousness. Here, object and subject become intertwined in awareness. Both are contained within us. Matter becomes subtle, more fluid, rapidly changing. This is the realm of dreams, divinities, imagination, the inner world.

"M" is the third element, humming with lips gently closed. This sound resonates forward in the mouth and buzzes throughout the head. (Try it.) This sound represents the realm of deep, dreamless sleep. There is neither observing subject nor observed object. All are one, and nothing. Only pure consciousness exists, unseen, pristine, latent, covered with darkness. This is the cosmic night, the interval between cycles of creation, the womb of the divine Mother.

An Extract of "A-U-M-Silence ... the ancient sound of "OM"
by David Gordon

I will allow this chant to help deepen my existance. It will bring peace and calmness to my being.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts mind there are few."

--Shunryu Suzuki

In life's journey we need to see with the beginner's eye. Allow for many possibilities to exist within you. Do not limit yourself to be what you were taught to be - just be.

"People only see what they are prepared to see."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

See not with your eyes, but with your mind's eye - for it will not deceive you...

Notice that deception is only what we allow it to be. So why allow it to be.

Finding Strength

"Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient." [6:24]

- Sun Tzu's Art of War

This quote is very appropriate today. Business is always very exciting and challenging, but on days where clients start to challenge me (price, schedules) it almost feels like we are at war. They tend to belief that my work is a click-of-the-mouse away. They say "doesn't AutoCad do that automatically for you anyway? So this change should be a piece of cake!"

I have to analyze the situation & see where its coming from. I know that when money is involved, nobody wants to let it go - that's the reason they are well-off and can afford to have me design a multi-million dollar house for them. But the challenges need to be met not with confrontation but with strength and valor.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its easy & that the challenges will go away. I'm just saying "deal with it as it comes." It is what it is. Don't make it personal but take it as Sun Tzu's quote says: analyze the situation for what it is, & act so that it does not become what it is not.

Hi, my name is - what, my name is - who??

Original Date : August 12, 1997)

Usually I cannot recall any of my dreams, except last night I remembered one.

I dreamt that I was confined to a wheelchair and I remember the feeling of helplessness. It was the most pitiful situation, but I do remember being too self-consumed with my situation. All I think about and all I talk about is my pain and my anger for being in this chair. I am soooo wrapped in self-pity that I could not focus of the face of the woman who was doing everything for me. She was helping me around and felt to be very familiar, but I could not make out a face because of my inability to see beyond my problems. She was very warm, helpful, and most of all I got the feeling that she cared more about helping me than her own needs. Lots like Mercy, but I could not feel her presence. I took her for granted and never cared how she was doing - and all she would do or say were words of support and concern for me. Such a selfless person in sharp contrast to a self-involved me.

---

Ok, now how do I interprete this one! My son is due to be born in 2 months; my job is doing ok, but I cannot wait till I get out of work to get on with my life; I want this I want that... where's my wife?? I guess I should see how she is doing, bye.

---

Thank You Lord!

(Original Date: Oct 8, 1997)
Thank you Lord for allowing us to
Experience the true meaning of life.

By bringing forth our first born, you have sent
An angel from heaven to usher in happiness
A newborn life is truly a gift from heaven

We praise you Lord for this momentary glimpse
Of heaven on earth, for he is truly an angel
Heaven-sent to guide us in our journey through life.

---

This dream was a vivid glimpse at the birth of my son (actually my son is not born yet). In this dream I see a child birth & am rejoicing at the miricle that it is

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