I was recently blog surfing and was pleased to encounter the blog of a very astute writer by the name of Allison Nazarian. She had a little challenge going on for someone to try and explain her post and get a shot at owning a copy of her new book.  Since the post looked like to me as something that was about belief I thought I’d tickle my keyboard a bit and give it a try.

The following is what I posted in her blog comments.

_________________________________________________________________________

Hi Allison. Just ran across your blog and I’m glad I did. Love your take on things.  It’s not just juicy medium-well done but it’s the tastiest outer cut of a human blog-experience I’ve had in a while, MMMMMMMMMM.

Ok, you asked for an explanation of your blog post and so here it is.

I’m not going to guess what exactly the hell you were thinking because I’m not a mind reader so how could I know anyway. That’s ok though because I don’t think that’s what you expected. You just want people who you don’t know and who you’ve maybe never met to just write… something.

That’s because that’s what you do and what we should all be doing. Write. Write. Write.

(Ok, False start there.)

Let’s try again shall we.

This post is just bleeding belief. Its belief-juice is running down the page so fully it’s fogged my screen and is threatening to spill out onto my freaking desk.  This belief stuff is of course invisible of but know it’s there because its stuff that’s written at midnight in the heart of one who just “gets it”.

Ok, the poetry is over. Now back to business.

Come back here and sit down. This is important shit. Took me a long time to figure out too so get comfortable.  (Here’s a fresh baked cookie for you ok? Good.)

BELIEF:

When a person’s belief is in stall mode they are truly on a path to anywhere. Problem is a destination like that is for hobos not great writers like you Allison (or even for some of us). Let’s look at this “train” of thought more closely in respect for the way in which belief is established.

Just two ways:

1.    Through argument ( Example: a story or discussion in a book or a live one between two or more people)

2.    Through hard evidence (Stepping on a tack is hard evidence containing most of the properties of that damn tack’s existence.  Impossible to refute.)

Just two ways. There is no third way to create belief that I know of.  It may be dualistic but it’s not simplistic so, let’s now take the train out of midnight and into the light of day.

Let’s look at the mechanics of belief through argument first:

If I could get you to expose yourself to enough material on a particular subject (through reading, TV, audio) that would inevitably create thought patterns to form. After a while these thought patterns would clump together and off of them would arise a type of heat-like energy.

That heat and its intensity is strictly in proportion to the complexity of the thought pattern clump.  Incidentally, we all know that clump quite well.  We call it our “attitude”.

Now let’s take this just a weeny bit further then we’ll be done.  I promise.

If the attitude is strong enough it will inevitably express itself in our performing some action in line with itself. (In this case even an act of  in-action could itself be counted as an action if it was dictated by the attitude.)

In other words: attitudes motivate us.

This, in my opinion, is the locomotive pulling the darkest train there is because “attitudes” are not the “life stuff” that naturally causes truly beneficial, creative and spontaneous actions. They are too often created through ques set up through someone else’s template.  Thus, you might possess the same attitudes about politics, for example, as your parents

Now let’s have a look at how belief is created through hard evidence:

Remember that tack?  That is hard evidence that stepping on tacks is not fun. It’s painful and you shouldn’t be doing it. Belief established like this is rock-solid and cannot ever be ignored. That’s the kind of rock-solid belief in ourselves it should be.

So, to sum up. This post and its metaphorical “train goin’ everywhere” is about the lack of a basis for usable self-belief.  This is a “lack-o-motive” that needs to get back in the station and be refitted with a real visceral self-belief based on hard evidence that reinforces one’s self-worth and life-direction. That is the potentiality that once located (clue: it’s felt in the gut area of the body) cannot ever be “missing” ever again.

More Power to you.

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When I was in high school I’d sometimes walk over to my dad’s office so I could catch a ride home with him.  Often I’d have to wait at least an hour. To pass the time I’d go across the street to the building that was the main library. I loved going there because there was so much to look at.

I’d look at books on business ideas mostly because I wanted to have the mindset of an entrepreneur when I grew up.

I’d examine the great stories of past successful businessmen and marvel at how rich they became. I was fascinated to learn about their stories of how they struggled to overcome difficulty and hardship.  Of course I did go on to become an entrepreneur myself and I too had to overcome many things in my efforts to get the job done.

My Private Library

But it wasn’t until I had stumbled upon what would become known as the H.E.R.O. eMachine, and used it myself, that I was to realize the importance of the hidden private libraries that people must be walking  around with every day. Within these are the forgotten stories of successes gone by.

Through my work with H.E.R.O. I am well aware of the power that they possess. Power to transform an ordinary life into an extraordinary one.

I’ve seen it first hand.

Entering these private libraries and helping their owners to Uncover these stories are one of the things that  H.E.R.O. is designed to do. The other is to form a connection to the root core energy that allowed them to form.

I am blessed indeed to now be able to help so many access their own private libraries. Help them to expose the hidden drive that all those stories link to and be a witnesses to the transformation that then occurs.

The shy become confident. The fearful daring. The directionless gain passion.

What libraries I’ve seen!

David

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Learn by doing

It’s an idea that was introduced and promoted by the American educator/philosopher John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952).

He was no slouch in the field of education. He was also a bit of a radical. He saw that education (which is from the Latin “educare” – to bring up, rear, educate) was not so much a thing that should necessarily be used to prepare us for a future life but “a process of living” in the present.

This is interesting because as they say “experience is the best teacher”.

In my life and in my work LBD is where it’s at. I see it as the best process by which our success history gets created then encoded in our memory.

The ability to recall specific success events and to use that to then visually observe the root source of our personal accomplishment is the advantage all humans have over all other creatures on Earth. To “see” our own persistence in living color may be a strange but a wonderful phenomenon.

It’s the basis of the old tenet: Success breeds more success.

The best we can do to get better at being good humans is to keep doing that which is beneficial to ourselves and to others because an action like that creates an absolute, and traceable, truth.

If you accomplished anything at all – tying you shoes, riding a bike, building a log house – you exercised a spark that get’s added to you as a person. It becomes a particle of that memory and it matters big time. Your immune system even works this way too. That’s how it get’s better at protecting you.

Once you know how to do something, because you had the courage to put fear aside and actually try and keep trying till you completed it, is something that no one can ever take away from you.

It’s at times like this you then “learn by doing” how to be become a hero… to yourself.

More power to you all.

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James Ray's organization is now a tumbling house of cards. Photo: Flickr

A few days ago I was watching the news on-line about the situation surrounding new age guru James Arthur Ray’s fouled up retreat experience that left three participants dead. I picked up on a post by an astute writer who happens to run a New Age type blog. So I checked it out.

While I was reading her post I learned that she knew one of Ray’s victims, a woman by the name of Liz Neuman. Seems that Ms. Newman had been a greeter at the door to the Unity church in Savage, MN. where they both attended. She apparently was heavily into the teachings of James Arthur Ray. So heavily in fact that she was downright effusive and giddy when she talked about him. One night the blog author decided to give in to Ms. Newman and attend one of Ray’s free presentations.

She reports that Ray made her feel herself questioning her own spiritual growth and how she wanted to attend his Retreat just to prove her “change-worthiness” to him. Luckily though, in the end, she felt there was something wrong. “He was just too smooth” she writes.

This blogger was indeed lucky and I told her so. Here’s how I ended my comment on her post:

“If your friend was into this (New Age) stuff, as you seem to be, you should thank your lucky stars that you missed (by a hair’s breath it seems) your chance to be with her and Mr. Ray in that sweaty stinky lodge out in the Arizona outback.”

It seems to me that to be a seeker can be good thing but these days, as the shortened life of Liz Neuman can attest to, it can also be deadly. You need to retain some street smarts. Although I suppose in the dreamy, drifty, air-headedness of the New Age thinking process that’s probably a tall order.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal Steve Salerno, author of “SHAM“, points out that the general attitude of Americans towards Self-help is fairly benign:

“OK, we all know this is a silly and sometimes expensive exercise in navel-gazing. But really, where’s the harm?”

The game has now changed. Three people are dead and many more are injured. The rope is tightening around James A. Ray’s neck. His organization, once worth millions  is now an unstable house of cards.  Police in Arizona are conducting a homicide investigation and by month’s end will announce whether charges will be laid in the case of the deaths at the “Spiritual Warrior Retreat”. At least two lawsuits have already been filed.

The media spotlight is already on James Ray.

But his colleagues, who appeared with him in the on-line movie “The Secret”, are running as fast as they can to distance themselves from him. According to Mr. Salerno they have even made a few quick  changes to some of their websites.

What Mr. Ray has wrought is financial turmoil in what is currently an 11 Billion Dollar industry. The other gurus fear that their own very profitable businesses could get hammered by these developments. It’s hard to put a good spin on death from Self-help.

Maybe now’s a good time for all of them to consider an extended retreat of their own  in some far-off island paradise. You know, take some time to mull over things.  Chill out and grab some rays… before the cops come calling.

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“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” – Henry Ford

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ijwEwAvdo[/youtube]

Belief is a powerful thing. It can define a life in either direction be it good or bad.

But belief is established two ways: via argument or hard evidence.

A really good argument could be made about the finding that fire burns. All sorts of facts could be brought to bear to reinforce the argument that if you put your finger near a lit match you’ll be burned by its heat.

But an argument, no matter how well it’s put together can’t hold a candle to hard evidence. I can tell you all sorts of things but it’s only if you try it yourself that it really hits home.

“I just burned my finger!” is the discovery of a fact that builds instant belief and nothing can change that. A belief like that will be there till the end of days because it’s tactile and sensory perception creates realness.

Mindset is trickier. It can build a seemingly credible belief even though the evidence to back it up is only imagined.  So, if you think you can’t do a thing you are right about that. Chances are you’ll unknowlingly conduct yourself in ways that only add to this belief  making it so strong that it seems to become  a part of who you are.

You probably won’t even try after that.

But, of course, there are rare exceptions. Eugene the 37 year old librarian is in the class of one or two percent that actually takes a chance to get their day in the sun.

He believed he could do it and he was right. It will be for him an unforgettable moment.

…More power to you my friends.

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“How the heck are you doing?”

I asked an acquaintance whom I hadn’t seen in a while.

He appeared outwardly optimistic but in a fatalist kind of way. Further discussion revealed that he was indeed somewhat worried about his job security with the local newspaper.

“They say it’s the worst economic downturn this generation has ever seen” he said, confirming my impression that he was preoccupied about something.

But this reaction was the exception. Often times if I meet someone and I introduce the subject of the current economic troubles they tend to clam up. It becomes obvious that they’d rather talk about something else.

Anything else. It’s making it difficult to get a good grasp on how people are coping.

Last week GM in Oshawa Ontario permanently closed its truck plant after 60 continuous years of operation. 2,500 workers
lost their jobs. Chrysler is set to axe a raft of dealerships in the US and GM will soon follow that action here in Canada.

GM was the largest company on the planet for a long time.

I can’t bring back GM or Chrysler but I think I can help those folks who need it most.

That’s why I’m offering the one-time use of my H.E.R.O. Personal Success Discovery Machine for free to a few of the many who may have recently been laid off and are feeling “uncertain” about their future. I will be screening candidates and selecting those who I feel could benefit the most.

But first I’d like to know what’s happening out there and how you’re feeling about your future.

Please take this poll:

Results will be posted here in my blog.

Please participate. It’ll only take a minute.

Thanks for your help

n

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