Power of Choice

Just a few days ago I came across a copy of this book from 1979. It is very timely for the end of the year and especially, the economic times we are living in right now.

Despite world wars, depression and other "bad times," Americans discovered more technologies and inventions during the past century, created more wealth and leisure time, and reorganized their institutions more times than any country has ever done before. With the advent of the Internet and more young people being interested in entrepreneurship, big companies loosing their market is not so much a thread anymore.
Here is an interesting link to Milton Friedman's TV series/
"Free To Choose." He has an interesting take on freedom and the economy.

J. Martin Kohe discovered that the greatest power is the POWER OF CHOICE. Mr. Kohe suggests that we were given that power by our creator regardless of our religious beliefs. We can choose to believe in goodness and abundance or we can believe in evil and scarcity.

By believing that GOD LOVES US, we have a greater power available than when we doubt that love. The power of choice (free will) is given to us at birth, it is part of our human make-up. Animals don't have choices only instinct.

We didn't decide to be born and we weren't given an owner's manual on how to conduct our lives. None-the-less, we all recognize sooner or later that we have that power of choice.

• Be aware of the power of choice - we can run our lives on auto-pilot or make conscious choices. By learning about the law of attraction, we discover that when we have positive thoughts, surround ourselves with beautiful things, listen to harmonious music, and eat good food, we have a greater chance to lead a healthy and happy life.
  
• Analyze the choices - even if we make a mistake at times, we always have another chance to do better next time. Many of our choices become habits. Habits create certain outcomes. If I don't like the outcome, I can change my thoughts and eventually my actions.
  
• Act on the choices - don't just think about possibilities, just do it. Based on the outcome we can adjust and grow.
  
• Learn from other people's experiences - As Victor Frankl discovered in Man's Search For Meaning, we always have a choice between stimulus and response.
  
• Live by the conscious choices - once we figure out what works for us, continue them until they become good habits.

Many of us are making New Year's resolutions. Here are a few suggestions:

* Focus and expect positive outcomes.

* Instead of being afraid, be courageous (absence of fear).

* Admit when wrong and do better next time.

* Let go of yesterday's mistakes, wrong-doings, self-centered thinking. Learn from the past.

* Live in the NOW to make better choices for the future.

* Focus on dreams, ideals, possibilities and live with compassion.

Joy To The World

The Lord is come,

let earth receive her King,

Let every heart prepare Him room, and

heaven and nature sing, and

heaven and nature sing, and

heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

The radio has been playing Christmas songs for weeks. Most of the time I don't even pay attention, they are just in the background. One morning I was driving to work in the dark. The song resounded deeply in my heart.

We celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birthday. Heaven and nature never stopped to praise and glorify his presence here on earth. For two thousand years men have been fighting wars, suffering diseases and sorrows, arguing with their neighbors, doubting and criticizing themselves, and are waiting for Jesus to return. Heaven and nature knows that He is here, showing off the most beautiful sunsets, giving us abundant harvests, blessing us with forgiveness and mercy.

We are all seeking and praying for peace. Especially, during the Christmas season, we wish each other peace on earth and good will to all. Were does peace start? In the politicians offices? Within the community of business men? With a family praying together? With an individual attending church?

These are all important places to start peace. I believe though, that real peace starts within the individual. Jesus told us: "Love your enemies." When we think of enemies, we usually think of outsiders. Isn't that where all the conflicts happen?

I am suggesting that the human conflict is happening within each individual. We haven't really known what our true purpose of life is and more so, that we are hard-wired to be with God. It says in Genesis, that man was created in the image of God. Do we accept that? Do we really believe that we have the same qualities as God, being absolute, eternal, unique, and divine?

By accepting our "internal enemies" such as negative emotions we must not hate ourselves. Feelings like doubt, hate, fear, anger and resentment don't make us "bad" people. They are there along with many other habits which we have adapted either from our families, ancestors, or throughout our own lives. This is not our struggle to fight.

The true meaning of Christmas is that the Messiah was born to help us surrender our troubles to him and clearly see who we really are: true, original, illuminated and authentic selves who resemble the Father. Jesus wanted so much for us to understand our true identity. He also wanted to show us what the Father's plan was for him. Could it be that there was more to his life than being humbly born in a manger?

Here is my Christmas present to you:

Merry Christmas and May God's Blessings be with you always.

Do you get your 5?

The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.
Anthony Robbins

We all know we are supposed to eat at least 5 servings (9 for men) of fruits and vegetables a day.
Most people’s excuse is that it is difficult to have them available.

Most supermarkets have the produce department right by the door. Fruits are pretty much ready to eat (except for washing). Recently, I have been cutting up about 4-6 different fruits (like bananas, apples, oranges, pears, grapes, craisins (dried cranberries) and pomegranates in season and create a salad by adding some nuts like almonds or sunflower seeds. Sometimes I add a couple of table spoons vanilla yogurt. A bowl of this salad can be a healthy breakfast or a healthy dessert.

With vegetables it is the same, have them handy. Cut up raw carrots and celery, peppers, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. With some dip, it is not only a wonderful snack, it is easy to pack up for lunches or on the go.
Most supermarkets sell ready to serve salad mixes, or even cut up veggies.
This time of the year I love to cook cabbages, Brussels sprouts, make soups from potatoes, broccoli, corn chowders, etc.

What are the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables each day? Fresh produce contains the life energy, enzymes and vitamins and minerals which our body needs to renew the cells every day and to give us energy.
Most packaged foods are processed and even though they fill us up, they don't give us the nutrients we need. Some people suggest that we can spread our choices over a week. I find myself craving fresh fruits after a few days.

I subscribe to the sparkpeople website and get all kinds of good information every day, including recipes, fitness advice, and even motivation to stay on track.

What is considered a serving? One serving equals:
1 medium piece of fruit
1/2 cup fruit (raw, canned, or frozen)
1/2 cup cooked vegetables (canned or frozen)
1 cup raw vegetables
1/4 cup dried fruit
4-6 oz. of 100% juice (serving size depends on the type of juice)
1/2 cup cooked peas or beans

If you still have a hard time to get your fruits and vegetables, you may want to get a hold of the MonaVie juice. It is powered with nutrients like antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, etc.

Good Samaritan from Kentucky

"Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind."
- Buddha


We had just left St. John's arena in Columbus, Ohio, where our son had a scrimmage in volleyball.

The snow was coming down steadily and the roads were icy. Something didn't feel right, there came much noise and resistance from around the front right tire of the van. My husband pulled around the corner away from the busy road. We checked and sure enough, we had a flat tire on the right front wheel.
Paul used his cell phone to call information for some help. Call a towtruck? He was not able to take off the injured tire and put on the spare. He talked to some helpline after waiting for 5 minutes. There must have been a lot of requests like ours because of the weather. He finally got hold of our daughter who is also a student at Ohio State University and learned that her husband was on the way to help us.
In the meantime, a young man stopped, offering his help. He said that he was waiting for a bus which was supposed to come in about 10 minutes and he wanted to help while waiting.
I showed him where the tools were and he went right to work. I learned that Matt (our good samaritan) was from Kentucky, and in Columbus for continuing education.
He lowered the spare tire, got the car jacked up and was loosening the bolts on the tire when our son-in-law showed up. Together they changed the tire and had everything back in the van in no time flat. Our son-in-law offered Matt a ride since the bus still hadn't come yet.
In the meantime, Paul found a place where we could get the tire fixed before the end of the day.

Talking about changing plans fast. Well, I never made it to the TEAM seminar that night (that's where we were heading from St. John's arena), but we certainly had a rewarding experience that night. We drove into Midas parking lot at about 5:30 PM and got a new tire before closing time at 6:00 PM.
What's the lesson in all this? Don't panic! Paul said, that this incidence restored his belief in people. Wasn't that worth it?

Thanks, Matt and Garrun.

Law of Receptivity

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving. We all heard, the saying: it’s better to give than receive. The giving part seams alright but like with everything in life there is always another side to the same coin.

Our book of the month November through the TEAM was the “The Go-giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann. It is an easy read since it is written in story form. The last of the five principles, the authors describe, is the law of receptivity.

The law of receptivity states: The Key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

In the book, Pindar has his young protégée exhale, while he was attempting to count to thirty. He didn’t even get past twelve, and young Joe started making funny noises. He protests to Pindar that he can’t continue to only breathe out, disregarding the fact that he took a very deep breath in.
Our body is a great testimony to the functions of giving and receiving. All these functions like breathing in and out, the heart muscles contract and relax, etc. take place without our doing. Pindar is making the point that it is insane to believe that it is better to give than receive all the time. After some contemplating, they both agree that: every giving can happen only because it is also a receiving.
Joe comes to understand that the secret to success is giving in order to get.
We all have had experience where we wanted to give someone a gift, a complement or just any other kind of attention, only to find the receiver rejecting or ignoring our gesture. That can be very disappointing and frustrating. By being more aware of the spiritual laws, we can achieve more enjoyment and satisfaction.
Give and receive seams to be a law of the universe. God created the whole universe including man for only one purpose: to receive love back from his children. There is a hierarchy of giving and receiving throughout creation. Every entity from the smallest atom to the solar system is involved in giving and receiving. The base of existence is the give and take between positivity and negativity, male and female, etc. Each individual existence has a life of its own and lives for a “higher purpose.” The food chain is a good example of this. Man’s breathing in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide while the plant kingdom lives on CO2 and gives us back oxygen is another. That’s the very base of the ecosystem.

Another very important aspect of the law of receptivity is staying open to new information. It is normal that we scan any news and often compare to past experiences. None-the-less, there is always room to learn something new and trusting that whatever idea comes to us, can be the source of important knowledge we need to continue our journey of life.


The Go-Giver can be purchased at bookstores nationwide or ordered to through the TEAM website, it can also be found by logging on to Bob Burg's website at http://www.thegogiver.com/.