Like any good mother, her desire was to have her child grow bright and bold, and to be full of good humor and wit, and to be generous and courageous and kind.
For, being such, how could anyone not have the most beautiful story?
After all, what is the code and concept of life, of living, of humanity, if it is not to find one's calling and to have that calling be greater than one's self; if it is not to pursue that calling and complete it with joyous self-respect?
Wherever you go, whatever you do, you take yourself with you. Everything else is dressing.
Beyond The Hero, those engaged are graduates of their hero's journey, leveled up, equipped to learn, wantng to learn, learning how better to learn, ever ready to make use of what they are learning. They learn, refresh, refuel, repurpose, apply and go on, willfully engaged, and growing. So too their world.
How do you approach leveling-up engaged, moving on, and growing with your world?
Beyond The Hero, lights from a hero's journey ignite new lights. These here go, not necessarily because they totally know the way; ignited lights reveal it continuoulsy, and ever more brilliantly. Such lights are felt near and far, melding with other meaningful lights. The ignition may well have been activated by a switch a traveler was gifted along the hero's journey, a clicker he or she had no idea was a switch nor that it was of means to ignite a light as bright and revealing as it did. An example celebratory of this moment may well be as follows.
Others of many kinds would come time and again to visit with mom, verily, as if on some divine mission. Time and again I'd hear her say to this one then to that one, "Don't cut your nose to spite your face."
Merely a boy, I wasn't much into talking then. Thinking? That was an entirely different affair! Life, I've since learned, has a few peculiar necessities. So I oblige it. Happily. Generously. Yes, we are all each built with guts, heart, and brain!
On this particular occasion, after mom was done pressing her visitor's hair, and that one had left, I braved the question. "Mommy, why would anyone want to cut their nose to spoil their face?"
"Heaven knows, son. I certainly don't. But they are doing it every darn day."
I tried to imagine what these spite-faced people looked like. Hmm? I finally decided that if nothing else they've got to be short of senses! Back then I did not readily see what my mother was seeing. Bloody faces, yes! I saw those. Broken noses, yes. I saw those. Spoiled faces, yes! Those too. Plenty. But not the spite-faced my mother was seeing. Today that's different, so different that for a while I was wishing these sightings wouldn't be so vivid. And I might have easily concluded our world holds hordes rich enough to afford such graphic disfigurements, so I confessed, "Mom, you are awesome. You are wise. It takes some of us a while, but we eventually get it." Her Mona Lisa smile and motherly wink were enough to hint that my learning was only just beginning. I'll spare the details. You see, such ignition switches do not shine lights of judgment; they light up keys to the better way; their lights provide warmth, inside and out; that energy is materially useful, emotionally beneficial, spiritually enlightening, and ever so practical! Don't cut your nose to spite your face!
Welcome to episode five of BEYOND THE HERO - centered - curated by Neville DeAngelou, highlighting skills these learned and honed during their hero's journey. Sooner or later, invariably one would face a choice: to prove them wrong or to show yourself strong. Those two efforts consume energy quite differently in the process of producing an outcome. Choose wisely.
"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." Sun Tzu
Enjoy actionable discoveries continuously shared - smartly - particularly those that uplift, inspire, promote harmony, expand opportunities, exemplify beauty, and reveal wonder, in other words, those proven to strengthen our emboldened exercise of genuine love through all of love's fertile dimensions, supplying those of us who are blessed and inspired to take action with necessary skillsets to be awesome in our real world. Namaste. Share.
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BE SMART
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Miracles of mind-over-matter and follies of matterless minds are enormously edifying.
There exists amongst us a breed BEYOND THE HERO - not some sort of stereotype. Time and again, we have leaned on brilliant examples from amongst our Wonder Women to facilitate transformation and growth and achievement. This will continue to be so in this segment. Learning never stops. Beyond where growth stops, the news is not good.
In our new segment, however, we will primarily be highlighting four critical elements of the RyoMale, which we will use to explore, examine, exemplify, and work out in order to expand amongst our ranks a) more of our brand new breed BEYOND THE HERO and b) effective emergent leaders (of all stripes) apopros to the better values of our times.
We are OPEN - Our World Needs Each Of Us, that much better at our best!
Today's pivot QUESTION: you are wise, you are smart; you've taken deep breaths and centered yourself; you reflected, re-evaluated and recalibrated; you're refueled; you've come to an awakened realization: alas, it has come to your knowledge that a thing here traveling there is no longer the same thing there, it morphs, it adapts in accordance with suitability, it transforms, and now it is your turn for ACTION in a new and different environment
- how do you decide whether (and how) it is wiser to adapt or better to circle back to your familiarcry?
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The Hero's 2nd Quadrant
This week, one of our producers left for boot camp. He has left his ordinary world. He entered a special world - knowingly - cut off from friends and family, separated from his familiar, submitted and subjected to the forces of a new environment. It is a place where for a time he will be forced - that is, his body, soul, spirit, and mind - to endure trials and face fears, perhaps even pushed or pressed into a crisis, whether that be physical, emotional, spiritual or mental. He might be broken. He could be destroyed. He is, as it were, in the second quadrant of a hero's journey. One does not get through by happenstance. No one but he can guarantee himself the outcome he prefers. Were it to be otherwise guaranteed, this would not be duly required, except by fraud or in masochistic pleasure.
Every journeyman and every journeywoman of significance - throughout history - has faced this battle and won this war. Or is a fraud! This time, he has made the choice to cross that threshold, and for a reason! That reason is his power. He has answered his call. His mission is transformation. Ultimately, he anticipates acquiring what he needs or wants to propel him, happily, successfully, beyond that journey and onto a journey of significance. He made the choice. We had a long talk wee into the night before that knock on his door to escort him to that special world. I asked him a vital question. Then I wished him well.
Are you on your hero's journey? How are you progressing? What skills, etc., are you seeking to acquire? What have you learned? The second quadrant is a battle; it tests mettle at a concomitant level necessitated by the quality of one's current mission. Have you completed your hero's journey? Are you transformed? What's next? Are you still sidelined or waiting to be carried? What is your hope hanging around? In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
BEYOND THE HERO, the skills used along each journey of signifcance were honed from the hero's journey where no hero can go it alone or come through without being transformed.
"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny." _ Mohandas Gandhi
Perspective matters.
"Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances." _ Sun Tzu
Have you a cause so compelling your being exists precisely for it? Is your cause SO JUST it is worthy of the time, space, and efforts required to achieve it? Does your cause keep you fired up, does it give you a reason to rise into every fresh new day grateful? How battle ready are you? This requires you being centered in the truth of what is, rendering to it no more power than it deserves, and no less. No more! And no less! Meet it exactly where it is.
Learn something new - maybe a new language / an online course
Re-acquaint yourself with nature - bird-watching - hiking - gardening
Make that new recipe or invent one
Do puzzles / board games for families (or homies)
Call that person! Call that person! Call that person!
Drop a dish / Leave a note / Let someone know you're available (if you are)
Count blessings
Remember: this is YOUR LIFE; only you can live it.Live purposefully; that is profitable.
Take Action
"Know what you own. Understand what you claim. Believe you can achieve what you conceive then call it by its name. Mine! The extent to which you have this clarity of mind, this purity of understanding, this strength of belief, you have the fire, the fuel, the impetus, the passion, the determination, the willpower you require to pursue and retrieve your truest desire. But do not claim what does not belong to you. It will not keep you . . . it will suffer you but for only so long."
You are valued. You are important. What you experience is important. Your intention matters. You are a whole being. You are a true wonder. You diminish yourself whenever you pit valued elements of who you are against vital elements of who you are: your intuitive self against your intellectual self, your rational self against your emotional self, your gut against your heart against your head. Don't be put at war against yourself: you are a masterpiece. An intricate being. Human!
Character Is Key
mentor
coach
advocate
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Life: it is a dance. It gets better with practice; its music is in your heart and in your soul and in your blood and in your bones. Life; it is a dance. It gets better with practice. You have a partner – your spirit. You can have a party if you like, but choose smartly who you invite, for life – your life – is a dance. It gets better with practice, unless you stop the music or so crowd your dance floor there is no space to move or be moved within it. Explore. Yes, life; it is a dance. It gets better with practice until the dance becomes the dancer and the dancer becomes the dance and life and all of existence becomes a singular flow. Yes, life; it is a dance. It gets better with practice. Dance.
Masterpiece
a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.
tour de force
Weary is as Wounded is
Home is a special place. Love resides there. The best journeys take you there. Hope lives there. Home leaves no question about belonging. Friends belong there. Dreams thrive there. Home is a place of forgiveness. There is no rejection there. Home is a place of rest and recuperation and rejuvination. There is laughter there. Life takes you to unexpected places; love brings you home. At home you are free to flourish. It is where you birthed your wings. Are you there yet? Good rest is as essential as proper nourishment.
Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.
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live laugh love
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let your light shine
Come, let us all be friends for once,
Let us make life easy on us,
Let us be lovers and loved ones,
The earth shall be left to no one.
Across the nation and around the world there is a long rumble.
It is a rumble so loud it strikes ready ears as a distant clap of a fierce thunder. It is a rumble so low, it rides beneath the noise of a thousand human fears; it can no longer be heard. Fear of flight, fear of heights, fear of sand, fear of snow, fear of monsters in the closet, fear of bugs in the pillow, fear of cats, fear of bats, fear of strangers at the door, fear of being lost, fear of being laughed at, fear of being stuck in the toilet bowl, fear of whites, fear of blacks, fear of browns, blues and yellows, fear of nakedness, fear of the unknown, fear of being hurt.
Smile. Live. Love. Laugh. Look. Listen. Learn. Be awesome. You are powerful beyond measure. You are not alone. You can do all things. I am you. You are me. We are one. Keep Sharing.
May our light shine on sprinkled seeds along The Journey.
"Live Your Life - Live it well. You are worth it."
Listen. Learn. Lead.
"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up." Martin Luther King Jr.Look. Listen. Learn. STRETCH & SAVE! (A Place Called Ah.)
Breathe.
We are accompanied.
Balance - Focus - Rhythm
BE EVER REMINDED:the life you are living is YOUR life; ONLY YOU can live it!
The Journey - Your Voice Illuminated - Our Global Digital Radio Show & Podcast. We stop at exotic places, meet fascinating folks with intriguing stories and novel solutions to some of life's tricky problems. We play a few games too, and track remarkable characters of three classics: ILICET - A Time To Begin Again (True Story) SBL Series: 2:26 AM, The Gathering (Matchbox Mystery) and Flight Of The Fused Monkeys (5-Star Series). Life is beautiful and full of surprises. Breathe! Along our journey of life and learning we challenge ourselves toward the reaches of our highest ideals: to be our best, do our utmost, achieve our finest, wherever necessary and practicable redesigning the contours of possibility, reshaping human capability. Join our posse. We are changing the game! We welcome your perspective. Enjoy top dramatic, inspirational, mystery, scifi, and true stories. Live. Love. Laugh. Look. Listen. Lead. Learn with us. Get your FREE AUDIO of 'Sven: The High Achiever's Journey'. You'll be glad you did. Share the experience.
ILICET - A Time To Begin Again (True Story) 
