Surprise Payoffs

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In almost every journey there comes a surprise payoff. A surprise payoff is a bonus because it is something positive that happens because of our thoughts and actions that we did not anticipate. In other words, something positive happens that was not part of our original intention.

These surprise payoffs within a journey are part of what makes our journey exciting and what helps us to stay motivated to keep moving in a positive direction.

Many great discovery’s and inventions were surprise payoffs, they were outcroppings of some other intention and then, surprise we received a bonus that we did not expect. We have all heard stories of someone doing a good deed for a stranger with no expectation of reward to discover some time later that they are the benefactor of some great fortune because they extended their kindness to a stranger.

Surprise payoffs come in many forms, some surprise payoffs are very obvious and some are subtle and require a keener sense of awareness to appreciate. I believe that by increasing our awareness, we also increase the opportunity to receive and recognize the surprise payoffs which happen along our journey. Sometime the surprise payoff comes in the guise of what at first may seem like a negative. For instance, last night I had to run an errand. I had to travel to another town about 17 miles down the road. I had a number of choices on how I could get there. I had some extra time before I had to be at my designation, so before I left the house I decided I would take the long way to get there because I wanted a Starbucks Latte and the way that I chose had a Starbucks kind of on the way. I hopped in my car and headed towards my route, a route which I have taken many times before. As I traveled down the road for a few minutes I began to enter the next town, which was strange because I wanted to make a turn a couple of miles back. I couldn’t imagine why I had missed my turn and I was bothered with myself for a moment because now I was not headed on the route that had the Starbucks. I quickly thought to myself, everything happens for a reason and there must have been a reason that I did not take the route I had originally planned. What was the surprise payoff? Did I avoid an accident, did I avoid construction? I don’t yet know what my surprise payoff was, yet I am certain there was one.

This year, like last year the company that I work for asked for me to be Santa Claus for an hour and half on the public square, which is in the town center where I work. The purpose was simple; to be part of the holiday celebration the city had planned for this past Saturday. I was to go out, sit on my throne and greet and receive the children as they came to visit Santa Claus. I agreed to do this because it is a wonderful opportunity to serve the community in a small way and to also serve the company for which I work. The surprise payoff is that even though I thought I was doing something nice for the community and for the children, I was really the person who received so much more than I could ever give. The children, who sat upon my lap, told me their age and what they wanted for Christmas and were so genuine they asked for nothing more than a doll, a truck, a football or something simple like that. These children where not from homes which had an abundance of material things and they did not really ask for material things. These children were so happy just to talk with Santa for a brief moment and to be loved. I was showered with the positive energy that these children radiated and I ensured each child knew that they were loved as they step down off my lap. The surprise payoff was that I am certain that I walked away with so much more than the children did. They did me the honor and favor of being there and in doing so showered me with love and positive energy.

What I have found to be true for me is that when I am being true to my path, when I accept and trust my intuition and go with my natural flow is that I do receive many surprise payoffs along the way.

When we do not follow our path, when we ignore our intuition we almost always get another type of surprise, which in retrospect is no surprise at all as we say “I knew I should have listened to my instincts and not have done that”.

Be true to yourself and you will receive much more that you ever intended, you will find that you are often surprised by a something that you did not intend, however manifested itself because you were being true to your purpose and listening to your true self. The key is to live from love, which is your core being, be aware, accept and trust your inner voice.

Consider the surprise payoffs have you had happen in your life.

Be aware of and acknowledge your surprise payoffs and give thanks.

Giving Thanks – Raising Awareness

When we are in a state of heightened awareness we are more thankful. When we are more thankful we raise our state of awareness.

This is the week in the United States where we celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a truly wonderful holiday because the intent of the holiday is so very simple and that is to give thanks. This is a holiday which crosses all boundaries, political, religious, gender, etc. It is a holiday which brings people to the table to share a meal and put aside differences. This is a holiday which often brings together disjointed families and even tables of strangers who share in the family of man.

This is a day where there is no expectation of gifts, there is only an expectation of community, an expectation of giving thanks for those things that we may forget to give thanks for during our day to day life and for some a day to share a meal with those we love and those who may be strangers to us.

Thanksgiving and the day’s leading up to Thanksgiving are a time of heightened awareness and this is in itself makes this a wonderful time. During this time we are prompted to stop and consider all that we are thankful for and in doing so we often realize how abundant our life is which leads us to share what we have with others who may not have the abundance which we enjoy.

When we stop to consider what we are thankful for it doesn’t take long to realize that we are thankful for so very much in our life. Set aside the material things which we may be thankful for and we quickly begin to become aware of all the non-material things which we are thankful for, such as our health, our family, the love that we have in our life, the sunshine which warms our back and the rain which feeds the earth and us; the list of what we our thankful for goes on and on. The more we think about what we are thankful for, the more granular those things we are thankful for become; in other words the more we raise our awareness of being thankful the more our heart opens and the more we desire to give and share what we have.

The more aware we are of being thankful the more we desire to share what we have with others. Even those who may not have much materially will give what little they have and in turn give more than many who have such greater abundance in their life.

The wonderful thing about creating a heightened state of awareness is that being thankful is a natural outcome, for as we become more aware, we have a greater realization of who we are and what our purpose is.

At the core of each of our purposes is love. When we our full of love, when we our love we realize that we have much to give thanks for and as we develop gratitude for all that is we give our light, our energy freely to others. Our thanks giving energizes all whom we touch and we perpetuate a better state of being within the Universe.

Take a moment this week, wherever you may be in this world and give thanks for all that is and openly express your thanks to yourself, those in your life and to the universe and in doing so you will raise your state of awareness and the awareness of others!

I am thankful for so very much, most of all I am thankful for you and for all that you share and for the love that I receive and in turn the love you inspire me to give.

The Influence of Your Thoughts and Emotions on Your Seperated DNA

What if your thoughts and emotions had an effect on your DNA that you had left in your trail of travels? Consider the fact that you leave your DNA all over the place, you leave your DNA when you sneeze, when you spit, when you shed skin, when you shake hands, give someone a kiss, etc. Our DNA is all over the place, it is on the airline seat we sat in for two hours, it is on the movie theater seat, it is at the water fountain, it is in the taxi we took across town.

Think about the implications of our DNA that is in contact with someone else and what the impact would be if our separated DNA continued to respond to our thoughts and emotions. Consider the impact that our thoughts and emotions are having on the world!

When we are feeling great, thinking positive thoughts are DNA and our separated DNA react in kind and when we are moody, depressed and feeling bad and we have negative thoughts our DNA reflects that as well.

Pretty wild stuff right? What if are separated DNA did react to the changes in our thoughts and emotions and therefore had influence on the rest of the world that our DNA comes in contact with? The implications are immense!

The thought that our separated DNA reacts to the changes in our thoughts and emotions seems very far fetched. It brings to mind the “B” horror flicks where a person receives the arm of an evil person as part of a transplant operation and the arm does evil things that are beyond the control of the transplant recipient.

Interesting enough I recently read about a scientific study where scientists studied the DNA of a person and the separated DNA of that person and came to the realization if they moved the separated DNA to a room down the hall and had the person change their emotional state that the separated DNA down the hall reacted to the change in the state of its original host and as they moved the DNA further and further away they discovered that even miles away the separated DNA still reacted to the change in the person’s emotional state identical to the way the connected DNA reacted. This is mind blowing stuff and if it is true, which I have no reason to doubt, then our energy has more strength and power then most of us have ever imagined!

If this is true, consider the impact that you are having on everything that you come in contact with and the influence that everything you come in contact with is having on you. This thought can be overwhelming in a way, however the real key here is that you are who have control over and you have so much more influence than you may have ever considered. Knowing that your thoughts and emotions have so much power and influence should have two primary meanings for you. One, that you are never truly alone because we are all ultimately connected on so many different levels and two that you have the ability to positively or negatively affect this universe in which we live.

You make a difference! More importantly you make a difference weather you want to or not. The only question you have to ask yourself is what kind of difference do you choose to make?

Wisdom & Knowledge

I love knowledge, the obvious, the enlightening, and the obscure. I love facts and history; my brain is a repository of much useless, yet entertaining information. The knowledge that I have collected this lifetime has often been useful yet more often then not most of what I have holed away in the catacombs of my grey matter are facts that are only good for playing Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit or for entertaining people with obscure stories of why things are as they are.

I was in the book store today browsing as I am known to do when I need a small break from my desk and as I marveled at all there is to know I heard a voice politely inform me “The wisdom which you seek can not be found in these books” to which I replied, “Yes, this I know, the wisdom which I seek I already have within me, these may not contain the wisdom which I seek however they often do act as a catalyst to help me find the wisdom which lies somewhat dormant within me”. I then felt the energy of a pleased acknowledgement that I “got it”.

While I love to gain knowledge, it is very true that there is a big difference between knowledge and wisdom. One does not to have a high degree of knowledge to be wise. Wisdom is innate. Some may say that wisdom is knowing how and when to use the knowledge which we gain along our journey and I would agree with this statement. Truth is we often have much wisdom before we have very much human knowledge.

Consider if you will a three year old child. A three year old child is often very wise, yet they can’t do basic math, read or write and they are just beginning to get a grip on the use of language. We often hear people say “out of the mouths of babes”, what they are saying is that often a child will say the wisest of things, say what should have been obvious to all or be willing to state the truth as the child did in the fable “The Emperors New Clothes”.

Where does the wisdom that a child possesses come from and where does it go as they grow up? The answer to where does our wisdom originate is a curious question? No doubt in my mind that we are born into this world with innate wisdom. Does it come from that which is our source and is bestowed upon us when incarnated or do we possess the wisdom which we have acquired in previous lifetimes or is the wisdom which lies within us there because we are all connected and we share a universal wisdom? I don’t yet know the answer to this question. What I do know is that all that we seek lies within and that we all are very wise people. I also believe that as we are exposed to this world our wisdom tends to get buried by a well meaning society. Within the context of our society, knowledge becomes king and it is thought that with more knowledge will come more wisdom. While knowledge is a beautiful thing to possess, knowledge is not wisdom, knowledge will not make us love more, it will not make us grow in a spiritual sense. The very knowledge which we gather and store away sometimes can dull our intuition, our wisdom.

There is a great line in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” where the main character John Nash is chided by his classmates that he is going to fail his studies because he never attends his assigned classes, to which John Nash replies, and I paraphrase from memory “Education will dull your mind”! What John Nash was saying was that all of the knowledge they were learning in class in his case would stunt his wisdom, his innate ability to create.

I stated earlier that I do love knowledge, I love education, I love learning, yet I freely acknowledge for all the facts and figures that I know and have carefully filed away in my brain that all of that which I have learned means nothing compared to the wisdom which I have and that which is yet to be unlocked from my being.

At the end of the day, it is wisdom which I desire most and that wisdom exists within me now as it always has and reveals itself to my conscious as I am ready. The wisdom which I have will manifest itself as I travel along my journey and I must be aware to know when it reveals itself, therefore I must listen with diligence to that which I already know.

If the choice was given to be wise or to be smart, I choose wisdom every time.

May your wisdom be revealed to you by you and may you be aware and listen.

Active or Oberverer – How We Process the Energy of Thoughts

Economic crisis, war, foreclosures, violence, rising unemployment and political scandals are all topics that dominate the news in our world. All of these subjects and the thoughts associated with them are energy, an energy which permeates our society.

If we are in a passive observer mode, which many are, then we tend to absorb the energy that comes with all of this “bad” news and in turn it becomes a integral part of the energy which we emit and therefore we perpetuate the negative energy and the impact this energy has on us individually and as a society.

When we are aware of the power of our personal energy and the power of all of the energy of the Universe, both which we perceive as good or bad energy then we are no longer passive observers, we can choose to be active in regards to our energy and how we process the energy which we receive from other sources.

All thoughts are energy, the more we think about something the more energy that thought has and the more likely that thought will manifest into our reality. When we are passive and receiving energy in the form of thoughts about the state of the world and how it could possibly impact us, we begin to worry. When we worry, we give more energy to these negative thoughts, possibilities and in turn we manifest the very thing that we don’t want to manifest; why, simply because through what we call worry or even gossip we increase the energy of these thoughts and in turn these thoughts become our reality.

Individually the impact of giving increasing the energy of negative thoughts is obvious, more importantly we must consider the global energy that our thoughts have and what happens when a community of people is all focusing on the same thoughts. Powerful manifestation happens and we can easily get caught in a downward spiral of negative energy.

Now, I am not saying that you should turn off the news or not read the newspaper, what I am saying is that we must be aware of the energy that these thoughts have and we must choose, through our awareness what to do with these thoughts and what we can do to reduce the energy of these thoughts and increase the energy of the positive thoughts which we desire to manifest.

Our thoughts, our energy, our vibrations are very powerful and define our reality and impact the reality of everyone and everything in the universe.

Consider today that every thought you have is impactful and that you have the ability to choose the level of impact by the level of energy which you apply to each thought.

If you understand the power of your thoughts and the power of the thoughts of other people you will quickly realize that you must be active in your being and not a passive observer.

Something to think about!

Connections & Attractions – Entering Into Relationships

 

Why are we attracted to some people and not others? On the surface many believe that physical attraction is the catalyst for a relationship, however as we look around at who we are attracted to we soon realize that physical attraction may play a part in our attraction to another, however it is far from the sole reason for attraction. The physical attraction we may feel from across the room when we first see someone can quickly fade as we come closer to a person or hear them speak. We experience this because sometimes as we move to explore our physical attraction we realize there is no “spark”, no connection that is there is no vibrational connection which pulls us towards each other.

When a real connection is made with someone it is unmistakable so why do so many end up in relationships which don’t work? How is it that we are able to make what seem to be not the best choices of people for us to enter a relationship with?

There are many reasons. The number one reason is that we don’t truly listen to what we intuitively know, instead we allow ourselves to be driven by other factors that are sometimes culturally based and sometimes part of our physical and emotional makeup.

When we are young and our hormones are racing and our physical body is at its peak the physical and hormonally driven body is designed to procreate and we are therefore physically attracted to people who exhibit attributes that tell us that we could produce healthy off spring with them. Consciously we are not considering the benefits of procreating with this person, however unconsciously this is often what is going on at a primal level. As I write this, I believe this explains heterosexual attraction to some extent, however does the same thought apply to same sex attraction? Physical attraction is very strong when we are young and of an age where it is optimum for us to procreate, I would have to assume that even though procreation cannot happen between same sex partners that this  is still a primal force which contributes to attraction at this phase of life.

As we mature, we may find another person attractive because of what they can offer from a perspective of lifestyle, that is, they may be educated, gamefully employed, have the ability to provide a desired lifestyle, support a family, etc. Not a recipe for a successful relationship on it’s own, however for many, an attraction none the less.

The attraction of opposites is also another factor that draws people together. Opposites attract because we see the other person as being able to provide something that we feel is missing in our life; for example maybe a shy person is attracted to someone because they are outgoing, adventurous, maybe even a hint of danger exists and they feel an attraction to this person because they have something that seems to missing in their life. It works the other way as well, maybe someone who is a little wild and their life is a mess is attracted to a more settled person who can offer some stability. In the end, opposites often attract however very few can go the distance. The very things which seemed attractive in the beginning of the relationship are the things that tear the relationship apart in the end.

Another form of attraction is not truly attraction at all, it is the attraction based on fear. The fear is that a person’s biological clock is ticking or that they will grow old alone and they must find someone to hook-up with before it’s too late and enter into a relationship and settle rather then wait to find a person they truly connect with.

One other reason people enter into a relationship is peer pressure. Often times as we see the single people within our social circle become people in a relationship we feel left out and our newly coupled friends feel it is their duty to help the single person out and push and prod the single friend to enter into a relationship which inadvertently pushes people into relationships which are not true connections.

In our culture it takes fortitude and courage to wait for the person whom we truly will connect with, the person whose soul can truly link with our soul, the person who transcends the cultural norms of a relationship. It takes great personal integrity to be able to enter into relationships with eyes wide open and to be able to spot the red flags and recognize the attraction to the relationship for what it truly is.

When you truly connect with another person, a person who we can truly share each others journey with and support each other along your individual journey, you will KNOW.  You will know, because you will not be pushing any doubts aside. You will know because you will be able to step outside of yourself as the observer and know there are not any red flags that you are ignoring. You will simply know.

Be aware of the vibrations and you will find the connections that you seek. Note, we connect with many people in many ways, not all connections that we make are connections which are meant for long term relationships.

The burning question that we must now ask is, what is the purpose of the person whom I connect with and enter into a relationship with and is this relationship supposed to be the “perfect” (perfect being defined by our expectations)  relationship or is there some other purpose for which this connection exists.

 

 

 

 

 

Good, Good, Good Vibrations!

A young girl was saying mean things to the dog, using hurtful language. I said, “Please don’t say mean things to the dog” to which she replied, “The dog doesn’t understand what I am saying”. I then tried to explain to her how even though the dog may not understand the words you use; the dog does understand the intent of the words. I asked her, can you tell if someone is angry with you even though they have not said anything? She said “Well, yes”. I asked, “can you let your Mom know that you are sad without saying any words to her by the way you look?” She agreed that she could. I said, “We communicate in many ways, using words is only one way of communicating, do you understand?” She then petted and apologized to the dog.

The reality is that we communicate in many ways, language, physically through are body language, the position of our eyes, our actions and we even communicate and often very strongly through silence. No matter what way we communicate it all breaks down to one way of communication and that is that we communicate through vibrations.

Every thought we have, every word we utter has a vibration and it is often that vibration which communicates the loudest. This is why it is so difficult for someone to successfully lie or to disguise their true feelings.

When we learn to tune in and trust these vibrations, we become more connected with the true intention of what is being felt and how it aligns with what is being communicated. Often people refer to “trusting their gut feeling”. This could easily be translated to say trust the vibe that you are getting. Back in the 1960’s people often referred to having a good or bad vibe about something which referred to the vibration that they were feeling. Learning to tune into vibrations which we and others emit is key to understanding each other.

We feel vibrations from people all day long. This is often how we determine if someone is being honest with us of if we can trust someone and that is how other people tune into and react to us. For instance, if we are walking down the street and a person approaches us, how they act towards us if often a reflection of the vibration we are emitting. Say for instance someone approached you with the intent of asking you for directions, however as they approached they picked up on your vibration of fear and distrust, they unconsciously may change the way they approach you and become defensive and agitated because their intent was simply to ask directions and not cause harm however the vibrations which you send out are that of fear which is not aligned with their expectation and all of a sudden other actions are manifested that were not the original intent.

Vibrations are why we intuitively trust some people when we first meet them and why we distrust others.

I have often heard that animals smell fear on us, it is not that fear has an odor, it is that fear has a distinct vibration and when the animal feels the vibration of fear, they believe there is something to fear and go into a defensive mode or a fear based mode which may tell them to attack before they are attacked.

We cannot fake it, our vibrations give us away! You may think you are hiding your true feelings behind political correctness or you may believe that you are fooling your spouse that you are not cheating or that you can put on a poker face and fool the world, however trust me, the only person you are fooling is yourself. Your vibrations of what you truly feel and what you truly think are always there and anyone who desires to tune in will learn the truth.

What does this mean to you and me, it means that we must live in love and emit vibrations of love and know that when we choose to veer from our course of overflowing love that it will be no secret to the world and that every vibration which we emit has an affect on everything and everyone, including ourselves. Knowing this, we have to know that there is only room for good, good, good vibrations!

What are your vibrations today, are you spreading the love or are you vibrating fear, distrust, anxiety, hate, etc.

You and you alone are in control of your vibrations and it is only you who can choose to make a difference by the vibrations which you emit.

 

A Joyful Trick and Treat

Trick or Treat! We celebrated Halloween this past Friday and I must say that this was one of my most memorable Halloween’s ever. In the area where I live, “trick or treat” should really be “trick and treat” because when the children disguised as ghosts, witches, princesses, mummies and pop culture icons come to your door in my neighborhood they are asked to perform a “trick” to get their bounty of candy. They are invited into the home and asked to perform a trick. Now the “trick” can be a silly joke, sing a song, do a dance or anything else which might serve to entertain.
Our house was blessed with a steady string of trick or treaters and I must say it was a very entertaining night. There were many silly jokes told, some sang a little song or gave us a little dance, however there were a few that were simply outstanding. One girl dressed as Marilyn Monroe came in with tap shoes on. She gave a great tap dance on our hardwood floors in the front room. There was a group of young boys, six of them I believe, dressed in different costumes who sang us a beautiful song, all in tune, all together and very moving. They seemed as if they had been practicing together for weeks. It was pure magic to sit and watch and listen to each child as they entertained us for a handful of sweets.
As if this wasn’t enough to put a smile on ones face, I was in for an even greater treat. Everyone was hungry so we went down the road to a local pizza shop and sat down to eat. Now the restaurant wasn’t very crowded, maybe four tables were full, most people I am sure were busy with their Halloween celebrations. Where we sat, my back was to the register and where people pick up their pizza to go, so when a man’s voice asked everyone for their attention I had to spin around in my seat to see who this was. There stood an elderly man and his wife. They looked to be in their late sixties, early seventies. The man wore an old cap, the kind that you might have seen on a golfer fifty years ago. He was old; however you could see that he was still strong, barrel chested with a face that was wrinkled by years of being happy. On his left was his wife, thin, a little frail looking, her silver strands of hair tucked neatly in a bun. She had a half smile on her face as if to say, “here we go again”, however happy, not irritated.
Once the man felt that he had everyone’s attention he began to speak in a gentle yet strong voice as he told us that in honor of Halloween he was going to perform for us. He went on to say that he was going to sing an old Italian song about and dedicated to St. Lucia. He went on to explain that he would be singing this acapello, then explained that acapello meant without accompaniment and that the literal translation was without a hat. With his loving wife at his side, holding his right hand, he began to sing this beautiful song with a voice which had seen many years, however was full of joy, love and gratefulness. He sung the song in Italian, a language which I am familiar with enough to understand the words, however understanding the words was not necessary to enjoy the beauty of the moment. As he sang, tears ran down my cheeks. I was overwhelmed with the joy that this simple song and simple gesture brought to all who were in ear shot. I don’t think there was a person in that restaurant who was not moved by the way this man shared his joy with all of us. He gave me a gift Friday night that I will never forget. He finished his song and we all applauded. The owner of the restaurant gave this man and his wife their pizza at no charge. He tipped his hat to us as he bid us farewell and a happy Halloween.
The greatest joys in my life are precious moments such as these. May we all experience being touched in this way and may we all find our own way of expressing our joy so that others may bask in its warmth.