Energy of Heart

 Quantum leaps require energy. Not necessarily what we might see as "hard work" but they require an energetic state to enable us to jump from where we are now to a higher level. Our emotions are the key to our energy. The energetic vibrations go from low, cold emotions that are considered at the alpha end and range up to the high, hot emotions at the omega side of the spectrum. Doubt, uncertainty, failure are some of the cold emotions. They don't elicit much in the way of energy. Passion is towards the hot side. It energizes the heart and mind. It gives us the drive to keep going, to push through uncertainty and problems. However, passion itself needs fuel. That is where our vision comes into play. The more dramatic, clear, compelling, and emotional the vision, the easier it can be to feed that passion. Passion is fed by deep desire and longing. It is the flame that refuses to die...or if it happens to get snuffed out briefly you can quickly ignite back into the fire. To ...

Like most people, I grew up with the idea that we should focus on our weaknesses and make them stronger. I've wondered about whether that idea was sound, and the last few years has poked serious holes in that philosophy. Most people are taught to look at weaknesses and focus efforts to develop those into strengths.  But there's a major issue with that. For some people certain weaknesses may never become a real gift. For others weaknesses will only become strengths (new gifts) after other requirements are met. Some people who focus on their weaknesses may develop resentment towards others. They may feel inferior or untalented. With constant focus on where they are weak, self confidence usually lags and deteriorates.  Kids whose strengths are set aside to work instead on weaknesses may become unfocused, unwilling, and uncooperative. Some may act out or act up.  Focusing your strength, efforts, and energy on your weaknesses tends to weaken self-esteem, courage, confidence, a...

 Several years ago I was reading someone's dream and while the details have been forgotten the basic idea stuck with me. In the dream the person was taken to heaven and met by an angelic guide. The guide took the person to a beautiful building. The person's name was on the door of the building. The guide led the person inside and upon entering the person saw endless shelves filled with beautifully wrapped gifts of every size, shape, and color. There were a few shelves which were empty, but the remainder of the building was full of gifts. The person examined some of the gifts and discovered that each had his name on it. He asked his guide and was told that these gifts were ones he had failed to receive. On further inquiry the guide informed him the empty shelves were those gifts that God gave him which required no effort or work on the man's part. The guide told the man the remaining gifts had some requirement that needed to be met before they could be given. The man examine...

 Most people have a natural aversion to change. It's part of our survival system: predictability is comfortable and safe. We want to know when the sabertooth is likely to pass so we can avoid it. Venturing out into the dark unknown is likely to be hazardous to our health. One of our fundamental needs is to avoid uncertainty. Yet, while we don't like uncertainty most people want at least some in their life. Being 100% certain can mean a boring, exceptionally predictable life. The test of life is how far we will push ourselves through uncertainty to reach a new level, to get the jump on life and experience the quantum leap. Taking steps towards what we desire practically guarantees uncertainty. It will be uncomfortable. It will most certainly make you want to turn back to what you know, to what is comfortable. It's not easy. But the truth is, it's not hard either. It's just different. We need to let go of our expectations of comfort and safety because those are based ...

 The fear of failure is common. It's a fear I have. But we need to see failure differently. So called failure is actually a key to success, to arriving at your destination. An airplane flight is off-course for the majority of it's flight from one destination to another. The reason it doesn't end up off course is because its flight path is continuously checked and corrected. Among the many factors that affect change are winds, temperature, fuel consumption, weather, aircraft weight. Add unexpected delays like a an ATC direction to change altitude, fly a holding pattern, etc. Imagine the enormous amount of pre-planning a rocket flight to the moon entails. Yet, even with all that planning the flight itself is off-course most of the time. The rocket (and mission control) is constantly monitoring the progress and making corrections. Small corrections are easier and faster to make than waiting until something big needs to be fixed. Life tests us. Frequently it seems things get ha...

 As adults we have a really difficult time making any serious change, quantum leaps, in our lives. Children easily do it, especially young children. Why is that? It's all about where the energy is focused. Children aren't concerned about technique. They're not worried about the "right" way or best way to do something. It's rare you get a parent coaching a child on "proper" and socially acceptable walking techniques. And most little children care little about what others think, they just see what they want--that end result--and they go for it. On the other hand, most adults are fearful about not "doing" something "right". Not to mention most of us want to do something right the first time. Wow! Do we have it backwards. How often does anything happen right the first time we try it? Probably never. When a child does do something for the first time (which "first time" is usually after many attempts), the child discovers some...

 What happens when you forget to add a leavener to your cake ingredients? It doesn't rise. There are two types of leavening agents, chemical (such as baking soda or baking powder) or biological (like yeast). If you forget to add the leavening agent, the end result will be much flatter than expected. And they often don't taste as good. Leaven is an action ingredient. It reacts with other ingredients as well as with moisture and temperature to transform the batter. To transform our lives requires an essential ingredient that raises us to success. This ingredient is action. We need to do.  We need to pursue. We need to actively seek. Positive thinking, wishing, dreaming, desiring, wanting, longing are all great, but they don't raise our lives to new levels.  Wanting is vital. We really need to desire what it is we want in our lives or else we're not likely to pursue it. If we really want and desire the result, that should move us to action. It should spur us into pursuit o...

 While there are lots of emotions, there are, when you boil things down to the basic essence, two that do the most to drive us towards or away from action. These are pain and pleasure. Most of the pain that keeps me from acting I generally refer to as fears. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of what others might think about me. But, all of these fears are just different forms of pain. Making a change, or even just thinking about a change, begins to stir up these types of painful imaginations. And that brings to mind the question, do I want to take the risk? By default most people are wired for survival. We try to avoid what we perceive as risky, those things which we believe may hurt us. We "play it safe" by trying to maintain the status quo, because we believe it that is less painful and will maintain comfort, security, and familiarity. Still, if most of us are truly honest with ourselves, we feel that we're meant for more. We feel the call to...

 It can be really hard to put faith in the unknown, to trust that things will happen as you step forward into the apparent darkness. There are unseen forces that operate continuously, following laws of the universe. Among those laws is the law of attraction, where like attracts like. As we become more clear in our vision, the picture of where we imagine ourselves becomes more real in our mind where we can feel what it's like to be at that place, the more these unseen forces begin to align. When our subconscious mind finally accepts something as real, things start to happen. We get sparks of intuition, imagery, thoughts, inspiration...whatever they might be to help propel us forward. For some people these flashes of inspiration might come through a dream. Or maybe they come seemingly randomly when we're thinking about something else (but in the background our subconscious is working on options, solutions, and possibilities). Maybe something happens, or something comes your way, ...

Part of my typical morning time includes 15-20 minutes reading scriptures, split between different books including the Old and New Testaments. God has imparted great wisdom but most of us tend to overlook it, overthink it, or think it's religious in nature. One of those gems of wisdom is found in Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." For most people, vision is equivalent to sight. But it's much more than that. In a religious viewpoint, a vision could be equivalent to a waking dream. There are many prophets who had visions that provided guidance for them and those who follow. In a business perspective, executives might have a vision of where they see the company at the end of a period of time. The good executives then work to get their associates, employees, staff, etc. to "buy into" the vision to make it a reality. With self-improvement, vision is equally important. And every person I've listened to or read in the s...