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?
Are you a living-breathing IOU? As it turns out, there may be a brilliant side to your epic story. Promise? Breathe. Let's take a fresh look.
First, check these. Banks. Businesses. Cellphones. Doctors. Employers. Educators. Enterprises. Laptops. Scam-artists. Entities and institutions of all kinds. To each and all you are ipso facto not a name but a number. No revelation there. The big news is this: that number is not the one you suspect.
Hello! Do you know your number?
Add this. Many of us are just as eager, even hustling desperately, to earn ourselves our own equvalent unique number. Highly favored! Top of the rock! No? Cozy-in-the-middle? Safe-at-the-back? I don't know. Our exploration uncovered a hidden truth. But just how indebted are you? What is your story?
We initiated this series by ripping four essential concepts - balance, surplus, deficitand debt - from mammon's clutches, and by sorting out their true meaning in the context of individual and communal lives, i.e, the process of being authentic; the pursuit of just cause; and our moment-by-moment living out of dreams designed to fullfill purpose and divest passion. Rather than talking dollars we are making SENSE of true value. So far it's been awesome. We are learning gobs from highly engaged experts. Our discoveries are facilitating dynamic changes. And we've moved into a brand new realm. What about you?
There is no need to separate debt from the dollar in order to appreciate debt's inert nature. Individuals have a visceral sense that debt materially impacts all areas of life, in particular, financial, psychological, spiritual, intellectual, physical and social. Experiences of debt fall broadly under two categories: a) burden and b) boost. Exploring deeper, we unearthed two vital life-markers: debt's kill-zone (there, you are done for) and growth's fertile zone - wholeness (which sages speak of wherever great stories unfold). What did you uncover?
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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Where are you? Look around! What do you see, hear, feel? Pause. What's that? How did that come to be? Who did that? Creativity! Adaptability! What about you? What's on your agenda?
SCENARIO: Papa Brown's berry farm paid for Gerard's college - lock, stock and barrel. Gerard graduated Cum Laude then proceeded onto his current fast-pace to finish his Masters, thereupon, offers to his dream would be dangling for his snatch.
Trees across the farm mark significant accomplishments in this family, and a location is already selected in anticipation of early graduation, but Gerard's mother has settled her mind on giving him 'her talk' when he returns home for thanksgiving.
You see, Papa Brown and Mama Brown started this berry farm from scratch and raised their only son, Roland, on it, and built themselves a nice home working from sun-up to sun-down, everyday but Sundays and four holidays per year. And when Roland married Rita, a social worker, the farm afforded them a nice house for starters, and when Gerard was born, the celebratory tree-planting tradition began, and Gerard grew up helping out in the farm now and then during summers, but his father wanted him to aspire higher and move on, which was a good thing because Gerard didn't take much to farming, except as an outing for friends and a playground with his sister, Geneva, three years younger. But Papa Brown died before she was born.
Roland and his Mama worked their tails off to keep that farm going, and more and more as the years climbed, Roland pressed his children, Gerard and Geneva, to put in a little more muscle and sweat into the farm. And Gerard obliged, as much as youth obliges. And despite the troubles of the world things were humming along until the Mall Massacre. Roland was killed in the crossfire. He had gone there to pick up a birthday present for his wife, Rita.
Rita tried her heart and soul to keep things humming, as such women try to do when the world turns sour, but none of her hired help was worth a dime over their troubles; Mama Brown's knees were not holding up - two buckets of berries, that's all she could manage in a week; and Mama Brown's house was on the down slide. Rita needed to give Gerard the talk: We need you, son! We need you back here! We can't last another two months to graduation; debt will bury us before God calls us home.
Thanksgiving a month away, Gerard could read the tea leaves, as it were. It is not so hard for some 'good' sons to miss their mother's not-so-subtle hints. Nevertheless, Gerard suspected the talk was on his mother's tongue.
During this series we are getting things done in fresh new ways with fresh new applications using solid working principles and employing exciting innovations.
In a remarkably innovative way you've not experienced before, each episode will transform one of the seven deadly sins into a fresh new lens and a BS Meter that will further enhance our abilites to get things done superbly well.
Enjoy.
Today's pivot QUESTION: if profitable exchanges or transactions iinclude these three value considerations: 1) percieved usefulness (need-satisfaction); 2) brand value (percieved virtue or likeability); and 3) ability / willingness to pay
- what practical steps are you currently taking to establish and increase your brand value?
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What Is In Your Personal Toolkit?
Another tool quite handy alongside one's awesome array of SDS lenses is the AI Back Hand Cheek Warmer. The supreme high-power model comes highly recommended. Quality branding. Back in the day some of our parents had a more cracking name for the old-fashion version. Though this tool has many applications, it is especially useful for - well - let me not be indelicate. You've probably received a certain wise counsel dozens of times, which within two breaths promptly vanishes from the brain, especially when one is discomforted by depressing circumstances, chronic anxiety, or floundering pride. Permit me please, if you will, to rephrase this eye-twirling admonition in a manner that will capture its breadth and depth in full HD. 'We acquire things we do not need with means we do not have to impress folks who do not like us in the hope that the future from which we begged, borrowed or stole to attain them will look kindly upon us, only to arrive there to discover someone we do not like now owns us lock, stock and barrel, and stands bracingly ready with a drill in one hand and a compounding bill in the next. Checkmate.' A supreme AI Back Hand Cheek Warmer interrupts this chronic disorder. In my childhood days, this very tool was called Aunty Ivy Back Hand. Six-foot-three with piercing golden eyes, rumor had it that if she got but a whiff of your 'things we do not need' intention, she would call out to you in her endaringly sweet way. "Come my child." Then slap you, then back slap you, then slap you so giddy, Einstien would come and sit at your feet for answers to universal mysteries. However, not being of such a masochistic bent, my personal recommendation for your toolkit is a handy bag of fertile seeds. Yes. Anytime a thought of borrowing from the future to fatten the present invades your mind, pick a seed, sow that seed, then count to ten. Repeat until the thought stops harassing you. If any thought of begging, borrowing or stealing from your future to impress your present returns again, plant a tree, watch it grow, then sell its fruits and use the proceeds to buy a brain-scanner. It might just turn out far more profitable to you. For sure our world will breathe that much better, and that is awesome for us, and each of us will owe our thanks to you! What else is in your toolkit? What tools do you use frequently? What are you discovering from peering through your new array of SDS lenses?
To further enhance your toolklt, to be more proficient with your toolset, or to create tools uniquely suitable to your tasks and needs, you are welcome to consult freely with our regularly updated PERSONAL DEVELOPMENTand associated playlists - styled for your convenience. Click. Take. Peruse. Use freely.
This episode's fresh new lens is gluttony: def - "overconsumption; habitual greed or excessive eating." (Which of LIFE'S virtues would you consider a counterpoint to gluttony? 100 points. To compare your answer see Flight Of The Fused Monkeys - Listen to it - Read It.)
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a Fresh New Lens:
G-L-U-T-T-O-N-Y : brain, belly & blood out-a-whack; mental & emotional states cloudy; lacking balance; absence of wholeness.
Hope
"An infinity of forests lies dormant in the dream of an accorn."
If you had never arrived here on earth in this time, what might the world of our time and-or our human family have missed or discover in itself lacking? What of and about you should we offer our sincere thanks?
Does time-and-space experience you substantially as consumer, conserver, critic, creator, or complainer? Does it matter?
Of course, there are many narratives of the whys, hows and wherefores of this magnificent creation we consider home and of the masterpiece that is human.
One enduringly powerful metaphor is that we are athletes - runners in a race toward The Prize.
To some that prize is no metaphor! To some it is a source of inspiration; it is a call, a pull, a drive. Regardless, runner seems a uniquely revealing metaphor whose many narratives expose us to a throve of better understanding about the human condition, and about individual experience engaged in this process of pursuing, and about life: wholeness, freedom, lightness, flow, and the like. Wouldn't you say?
How do you see it? How does that image inform the activities with which you are engaged? Does the metaphor clarify anything you find murky about your process?
We are not all athletes in the strictest sense, but we've probably all been on a run or been made to run or dream of running. Running requires energy and effort. It is easy to presume it requires ability - and yes, that is so - but more so it requires capacity. Capacity! (Let that stay with you a little while - see how much more opens up to you!) In that newer understanding there is a great lot.
True, running in pursuit of a prize requires stamina and endurance, that much better for the one with a synchronous brain-belly-blood connection, and better knowledge, and better training, and smarter practice, and so on. Ah, but there is lots more: your mind, the elements, your sustenance, the terrain, your narrative, the obstacles, your desire - all of which are vital parts of the process of getting to your destination.
Joy. Peace. Growth. Harmony. Good neighborliness. One might see these as vital elements of a lightness-of-being, or as feathers on the wings of freedom, or perhaps even as attributes of a proficient runner in pursuit of The Prize, and perhaps then discover 'running toward the prize' to be beyond being a metaphor, rather it is a revelation that there is much more in the process than in the prize. What did you find?
The clock chimes. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes again. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes again. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes again. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes again. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes again. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes again. Then minutes tick away. The clock chimes.
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!
How do YOU do it when it requires being fit?
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
BS Meter: Pride
What does your BS meter reveal? There is pride and there is pride, and the two are not the same - fertile ground for the smooth criminal. Can we talk? Now I am going to try to not say, Oh Boy! And I am going to try not to laugh! But no promises. You see, one day it dawned on me - like a an angel shining onto me from my ceiling (I'm not laughing) - that good folks around our tumultuous world have grown up or are growing up through a system where pride and shame are ideal bargaining chips! Case in point: YOUR CREDIT SCORE! Think about that! Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Your ability to borrow (ahem, steal) from your future to exist in your today is being sold to you as one of the most marvelous privileges on earth! Rich! Now I am going to stop right there and let you think for yourself. (And I am still not laughing, or am I?). Darn it! But I got to say just two words: SMOOTH CRIMINAL. Did I laugh? Let's live and learn, and eschew pride and shame. As I said, there is pride and there is pride. Indeed, dollars & cents is a powerful means of negotiable exchange, but a poor metric of pure value. What is your meter reading today? How good is your gut?
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.
Standard problem-solving steps repeated: 1) Understand the problem. 2) Devise a workable plan to solve the problem. 3) Test your plan where applicable. 4) Implement the plan. 5) Interpret the results. 6) Use that feedback.
Something to Consider: We owe a gargantuan debt of gratitude to many who have gone before us (and our many gathered in the cloud cheering us forward) whose resourcefulness is evident in the protections and the passing-on of rights, privileges and freedoms that are the birthright of every blood-born human, and upon whose shoulders we stand, while never forgetting that their stalwartness and stewardship make it that much more incumbent upon each of us who are not bent on destruction and oppression to rise - steady, sturdy and strong - fully prepared for those upcoming who will need our shoulders as well. With these in miind, what life elements justly constitute your fertile zone - your personal goldilocks region - where you are profitably productive, creative and recuperative, and how do you sustain it? In atomic figures, at what number are you whole, beneath which you are not wholly your own able to wisely fulfill your purpose? One of the best set of advice coming our way in this new realm is that we are by far the better for considering these elements before, not after, the fact, in order to be healthily resourceful, resilient and reciprocal over the longrun, and that while sensible metrics are a necessity for evaluating personal and communal progress along our journey, dollars and cents are insufficient calibrators of equivalence or pure value but proficient instruments of influence and exchange. - (A Place Called Ah.)
Breathe.
We are accompanied.
Balance - Focus - Rhythm
Love is alive in fertile dimensions, where it lifts you up, never puts you down, and is always real! Love heals.
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) 
