9/11 Reflections

Fourteen years ago I was getting ready for store opening. I was working in the Jewelry department of JC Penny's in the Orange Park Mall. My register phone rang as I was setting out the diamonds. I usually ignore the store phone when we are still closed but that I day I answered it.

"They're gone." My wife was crying. "Your Towers are gone."

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Your Towers. They are gone."

"What do you mean gone?"

"Turn on the news."

Suicide Prevention Week

Yesterday was National Suicide Prevention Day. In fact, this whole week (September 7 - 13, 2015) is National Suicide Prevention Week in the United States (my friends Down Under have a similar Awareness Day on September 10 named RU OK?). 

I could use this space and quote numbers and statistics. You know the kind. According to the CDC, every 12.95 minutes an American dies of suicide. 41,149 people committed suicide in 2013 making it the 10th leading cause of death in the US. 22.2% of those deaths were veterans. And over 1,000,000 people attempt suicide annually.

Brain Freeze

As many of you know I am an avid member of Toastmasters International. I enjoy Toastmasters because they grow communication and leadership skills.  I have been a member for a almost three years now. One of my favorite parts of being a Toastmaster are the semi-annual contests. There are four major contests that are held twice a year. The Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest held in the Fall and the International Speech and Speech Evaluation contests held each Spring.

I have entered all of these contests every year and have won each of them at least once, making it as high as the Divisional Contest on three separate occasions.

Rest in Peace Dr. Wayne Dyer (15 Quotes)

Dr. Wayne Dyer (5/10/1940 - 8/29/2015)

A few days ago news came down that Dr. Wayne Dyer had died. When I first heard the news I felt emptier inside and the world was larger in that way when there is not enough stuff to fill a room and make it feel cozy.

Dr. Dyer was one of my mentors and an inspiration to me on who to live my life. He was the first person to introduce me to the idea of living with the Dao.

He published many books that helped shape the personal development landscape. One of his first, and perhaps his most famous, is Your Erroneous Zones. My personal favorites of his books are Wishes Fulfilled and The Power of Intention, which has helped shape my beliefs and life.

Dr. Dyer's philosophy combined New Thought self-actualization with non denominational Spirituality. That appealed to me when I first discovered him because it allows all of us to love and worship and believe in our own way. The only rule was Love above all. Dr. Dyer believed that we are all Divine creatures of pure love. His writings and PBS specials influenced me a great day and I will sorely miss him.

Although he has gone on to his next great adventure, he is still with us in the wisdom he imparted. Here are 15 of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes. I hope they inspire and empower you as they did me.

1. Believing is Seeing.
2. Isn’t it hard to follow the Tao and try to be independent of the good opinion of others? people ask. Actually, it’s much harder to struggle with either seeking approval or trying to shake off disapproval. If everything you do must be measured against the good opinion of everyone else, what happens to your good opinion of yourself? Who’s looking out for the soul that is your connection to the Divine? You have to decide what your passion, your bliss, is calling you to do. When you’re following that call, your feelings of joy, contentment, and peace will be strong enough to keep you from worrying about pleasing all the people all the time—as if that is even possible.
3. Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.
4. You are not stuck where you are - unless you decide to be.
5. You can light up the whole world by giving without any expectation back.
6. I have absolutely no limits on what I intent to create.
7. What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.
8. The mere presence of passion within you is all you need to fulfill your dreams!
9. Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.
10. Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
11. A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe.
12. How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.
13. Happiness is something that you are, and it comes from the way you think.
14. Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.
15. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Why Forgiveness?

Yesterday was National Forgiveness Day. I know this because it came across my Facebook newsfeed and Twitter feed. I thought that would make a great idea for a blogpost and turned to Google to research it a bit more.

Getting Unstuck

Every so often I start to feel stuck, like I'm just spinning my wheels and making no progress. When I start to feel stuck old patterns reemerge. Negative self talk dominates my inner dialog. And the darkness starts to creep back in. At these times I like to mentally review everything I have done in my life.

The "…" Challenge.

Last weekend I had the good fortune to attend Orly Amor's Public Speaking Bootcamp. The weekend was filled with laughter, fun, and enough great information on becoming a paid speaker to fit a college level course.

I learned so much from the great speakers and presenters Orly brought in, but one speaker made a great impact on me. Mark E Sackett talked about a bunch of things but the one that stood out to me was his "…" challenge to us.