Adversity is tough to deal with when we’re very strong.  It can feel overwhelming when we’re weak and vulnerable.  Eleven days ago I received news that made me thankful that I had built-up a strong reserve of internal strength.

My mission is to give people the tools to develop their own internal strength – mentally, spiritually and physically – so that they’ll be able to live the best lives possible each and every day.

If I haven’t said this lately, if I had to choose one of the three – and I don’t – it would be spiritual strength.

The knowledge that God exists and is dwelling within our minds and spirits is the strongest support that we can have in dealing with our every day realities. It is my faith that gives me the power to remain strong and focused during my life’s challenging times.

Having strong mental health means creating and maintaining a positive, efficacious  mind. It means that you’ve intentionally built a very strong self-image and are great at noticing each of the strong qualities in the people around you.

Maintaining a healthy body provides a peaceful home in which our minds and spirits can dwell for as many days as we’re fortunate enough to live.

With positive minds, healthy bodies and the spirit of God alive and well in our being, we’re positioning ourselves to be constructive souls across the planet. We’re also better prepared to try and understand our setbacks and the setbacks of those around us.

On December 3rd, I started receiving news from people around me that I love which made me thankful for God and my internal strength: my great friend Tracy from high school called me that day to tell me that his sister, my 47 year old friend and first girlfriend, Leah, had succumbed to breast cancer. Leah was happily married and the mother of two beautiful children. She was part of a loving family who welcomed me into their world when I was 15 years old and kept me there in their minds forever. Although Leah and I dated for only about a year, she has maintained a place in my mind and heart and will be there forever. She gave me her gift that will last a lifetime.

You and I have the ability to positively, negatively or neutrally impact each person  we touch throughout our lives.  It’s not the length of time we’re with someone, it’s the impact we have during the time that we’re given. Leah was very high-impact.

When Tracy called me to tell me of his sister’s death, I had just returned home from a 3-day business trip and was scurrying around trying to play catch-up.  At that instant, all of the very important things that I had planned for that day suddenly seemed very unimportant.  As I was listening to Tracy speak, in the back of my mind I knew that I was leaving the following morning on a 6AM flight for another 4-day trip.  I was petrified that I would be out of town during the wake and funeral. Tracy, Leah and the entire family are all very dear to me.

Leah’s funeral was held last Saturday, December 12th.  She was all I could think of that morning at home and at the gym.  I left the gym at 8:40 to make sure that I arrived at the church early.  My brand new car doesn’t have GPS and I made every possible wrong turn imaginable. Was my mind elsewhere?  Yes.  Instead of arriving between 9:15 and 9:30 for the 10AM funeral and relaxing in the parking lot, I pulled into the parking lot perspiring at about 9:50.

My compassionate friend Tracy came out into the 19 degree parking lot without a jacket, scarf or hat to greet his old friend. After signing the guest book at the back of the church and winding around the perimeter of the church in a long line of people, I found myself at the side entrance to the church which is at its’ front. The hallways, choir loft and church were filled with family and friends and every seat and space appeared to be full with the exception of the front 2 pews which were reserved for the family. I did not want to miss a single word of this service!  Out of desperation, I asked an usher if she had any suggestions where one person could sit. She turned around and pointed to a single seat just to the right of the pulpit. Am I lucky or had that exact seat been reserved for me by someone very special?

I was thankful to be seated on time prior to the arrival of the family into the church.  Once the family was seated, I realized that I had a direct line of view to Leah’s mom and dad, so I knew that I couldn’t look in that direction unless I wanted to break down uncontrollably. I’ve loved her parents for almost 35 years and couldn’t imagine the sadness that they were feeling if I was feeling despair and emptiness over a person I hadn’t even seen in 14 years. The last time that I saw Leah was at my Dad’s wake.

Leah’s beautiful sister Heidi spoke on behalf of the family.  Heidi looked me right in the eyes and gave me a big, radiant smile as she climbed the steps into the pulpit. Heidi then gave an uplifting message of joy as she spoke to Leah’s husband, children, parents, brothers, family, neighbors and friends.  Heidi wasn’t speaking to have us feel sorry or sad, she spoke to remind us how Leah lived – with smiles, light and humor and to invite us to do the same. She was a very bright light in the world who loved her family, friends, strangers and God.

The Episcopal minister was phenomenal!  It was easy for her to speak because she really knew Leah and journeyed with her during her  two-year sickness. She spoke of Leah’s concern that her children knew that she hadn’t given up on them.  Leah loved in life and she loved at the time of her death. She knew that it was time for her to leave her family and friends and to go to God. She was at peace with her awareness.  Her faith had kept her strong in spirit.

After the 55 minute service, I waited in a 30-minute line in order to get into the church hall for the reception. There was no way I could leave without seeing the family that I’ve loved so much for such a long time.  When I finally saw Leah’s mom, she gave me what might be the best hug that I’ve ever had.  The barely 5-foot woman hugged me with tremendous strength and held on to me for what must’ve been 60 seconds. Neither one of us wanted to let go.

I’ve maintained my friendship with Tracy over the years and had dinner with him on November 17th. As always, I inquired about Leah, his Mom and Dad and the rest of his family. Neither one of us knew at that time that Leah would be leaving us this soon.  We never really know when will be the last time that we’ll see, talk with, hug or kiss someone.

Wakes and funerals are always tremendous reminders for me to do those things today. I’m sure that’s what Og Mandino meant when we wrote in his book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, “I will live this day as if it is my last”.   What would I say to you if this were my last day with you?  How would I hug you?  How would I kiss you?  How would I treat you?

My life has been filled with one blessing after another. In my life today is a fantastic wife of 25 years, two phenomenal children, a loving, generous mother, two great brothers, a caring sister, numerous cousins, uncles and aunts and many dear and great friends. Each one is irreplaceable.

I felt a sense of tremendous loss when my father and mentor died 14 years ago.  I’m feeling a very similar sense of loss today over the loss of Leah. I’ve come to realize that there wouldn’t be any feeling of loss if that individual had not given so deeply of themselves to me. This knowledge allows me to be unbelievably thankful for the special time that I did have with them.  Those are the thoughts and memories that will remain with me forever.

Special people provide us with something unique that can only be given to us by them. It’s the thought of his love, her smile, his hug, her giggle, his voice or her humor that brings smiles to our faces and stirs happy memories inside.  To say that each of us is  unique is an understatement of great magnitude.  When you and I give our unique gifts to the world every day with such effort that we drop into our beds each night with nothing left to give, it’s a tremendous feeling of knowing that you’ve given all that you could to the world.  It’s a feeling that although we were not perfect, we did the absolute best that we could in everything that we did.

Each night before falling asleep I review the activities of the day and ask myself that exact question: Did I do the best that I possibly could in every circumstance throughout this day?  When the answer is yes, I’m at peace.  If the answer is no, I’ve already begun my list for tomorrow.

Only you can provide the unique gift of yourself to the world.  Your smile is unique. Your eyes are unique.  Your voice is unique.  Your spirit is unique.  You are you-nique!  Please don’t hold back. We need you to share yourself with us – today.

You cannot be replaced.

Your job can be filled.

There is no one or thing that can ever replace you.

You are truly special.

I miss you Dad.  I miss you Leah.  I’m looking forward to seeing both of you in heaven.

Prior to the Fort Hood killings, Reverend David Rinas, a Lutheran Minister in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and Imam Hafiz Abdul Hannan from the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell (MA) had planned an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. The timing of their service could not have been any better. It was a great time for people within Massachusetts to learn more about Islam and other faiths different than their own.

When I saw the notice in my local paper announcing the service, I immediately tore the clipping out and entered the 7PM service into my Blackberry.  That slot was locked-in on my calendar for several days until I found out on Sunday morning that the New England Patriots-New York Jets games started at 4:15 (which meant it wouldn’t end until about 7:30PM)  The interfaith service would significantly cut-into an evening of relaxing football!

As it got to be about 5:30PM, it was pitch black, cold and raw in Massachusetts.  I was comfortably settled in front of the football game with the gas fireplace in our family room cranked to the temperature of a pizza oven. I had to decide whether to finish the football game while toasty warm, or change clothes, freshen-up and head-out into the dark, dreary night.

Why does doing the right think always make us feel good?

I strolled into the Trinity Lutheran Church at about 6:55PM after listening to the Patriots game on my car radio in the church parking lot up until the last minute.  Like most church services that I’ve ever been to, most of the people there were seated in the middle of the church toward the back.  There were plenty of seats available at the front on the left-hand side, so I headed in that direction so that I’d be able to see and have a little breathing room (H1N1 is everywhere!).

At about 6:58, about 6 people and an infant chose the row directly in front of my pew and settled-in comfortably making sure to completely obstruct this 5 foot 8 inch man’s perfect view of the lectern and altar.

After a short greeting by Rev. Rinas, John Kurland from Congregation Shalom lead us in this prayer:

God of all creation, we stand in awe before You, impelled by visions of the harmony of humanity.   We are children of many traditions–inheritors of shared wisdom and tragic misunderstandings, of proud hopes and humble successes.  Now it is time for us to meet and worship–in memory and truth, in courage and trust, in love and promise.

In that which we share, let us see the common prayer of humanity; in that which we differ, let us wonder at the freedom of all; in our unity and our differences, let us know the uniqueness that is God.

May our courage match our convictions, and our integrity match our hope. May our gratitude and thankfulness which brings us together today unite our hearts in love. May our faith in You bring us closer to each other.  May our meeting with past and present bring blessing for the future.

Amen.

What football game? At about 7:02, I knew that I had made the right decision to leave the pizza oven and venture into the cold church that was full of warmth.

The 80 minute service alternated between music and prayer. A member from each faith lead us in a prayer that was deemed appropriate by each of the clergy prior to the service.  They got together to decide how to focus on all that we had in common rather than focus on our differences.  I love that!

One of the guys in front of me who was obstructing my view had the red hymnal open but, was not singing.  It appeared as if he had a piece of paper in the hymnal that he was studying while pretending to be looking at the hymnal.

When it came time for the recitation from the Quran, that man got up and proceeded to the lectern. The most touching part of the evening for me was scripture sung from the Quran in Arabic.  His voice trembled from nerves at the beginning most likely because he was out of his comfort zone–I think that everyone else was too. He quickly settled in to singing the Word of Allah.  Muslims are serious about their faith.

Knowing the little that I do about meditation, the body is divided into 7-8 chakras (energy centers) that start from the base of the spine and proceed up to the tip of the head (the crown chakra). The chakras are called energy centers because these are the places where we have large collections of nerves that can frequently become stuck.  Yoga, meditation and chiropractic are all ways of making sure that these chakras are working properly. When each of them is working properly, our body is at ease and free from dis-ease.

Each of the chakras is related to a unique color and  note from the musical C-scale.  Having the scripture sung to me seemed to touch each of my chakras as his chanting resonated with each energy center from the base of my spine up to my crown.

What I now realized is that I had been lucky enough to sit in the section where the Muslims decided to sit.  In addition to the man who chanted from the Quran, the Imam’s wife was to my right and immediately in front of me was a young couple who had a 5-month old infant in a bassinet in-between them.  Amir (the Dad) could not have payed any more attention to his beautiful little daughter if he tried.  She was gorgeous as she sat there sleeping through most of the service waking up only to have the pacifier returned to her mouth or for a sip from the bottle. When Amir’s daughter occasionally woke up, her beautiful, sparkling eyes were looking directly into mine as if she were peering into my soul.  Her Dad turned around and looked at me for the first time to try and figure out who or what she was looking at so intently.

The keynote speaker was the Imam from the Islamic Society.  If I ever had a doubt about our ability to have Unity Consciousness become our collective reality across the globe, that thought was quickly removed. The Imam and each of the clergy from every faith focused on a common God and the common spirit present in every human.

While Imam Hannan was talking about Islam and how Muslims pray 5 times per day, he also told us how they are thankful for so many things including simple things like clothing.   He reminded us that each of us has so many things to be thankful for that we could never count all of Allah’s blessings bestowed upon us.  Well said.

He went on to say that although Thanksgiving is largely a North American tradition, we should include each member of our global family into our prayers of Thanksgiving and not restrict our thanks and blessings to the United States or Canada only.

The service ended with Rev. Rinas, suggesting that we introduce ourselves to each other before going into the hall for coffee and baked goods. Because of the H1N1 virus precaution, the Lutheran church members have stopped shaking hands and instead started touching each other’s wrists. Because Muslim women are prohibited from touching other men, we were asked to either bow or give a visual hello or sign of peace to each other.

I said hello to the man who had sung the Quran scriptures and told him what a great voice he had. He smiled with appreciation. Amir (the little girl’s Dad) had left the church for a few minutes when his daughter had started crying and didn’t hear the announcement about no hand shaking.   He gave me a big, bright smile that came close to matching the brightness of his daughter’s eyes as he extended his hand as a sign of peace. I ignored the no-hand-shaking rule and eagerly extended my hand to my new friend as I told him how lovely his daughter was.

I didn’t want to leave the football game and drive 15 minutes to get to get to the service. Amir and his wife got their 5-month old daughter bundled up and drove 45 minutes to get to the service to hear his friend – Imam Hannan – speak.  What was I thinking?

Our world is small.

We are all the same at our core.  We’re humans who fall in love with other humans.  We care deeply for our children.  Many of us have come to know God through the faith we learned as a child or deliberately chose as adults.  The more that we learn about each other, the more it becomes easy for us to love each other.

Knowledge brings us together, but it is knowledge of God’s love for us that makes it easy to love each other.

I thought that this might be fun break for a week of thankfulness.  Someone special gave me this, and I had to share it, as in its humor, it shares much wisdom.

A man is praying to God says  “Lord, I would like to ask you a question”

To his surprise and amazement the Lord responds, “No problem. Go ahead.”

The man then asks “Lord, is it true that a million years to you is but a second?”

To which the Lord responds “Yes, that is true.”

The Man goes on to further ask “Well, then, what is a million dollars to you?”

To which the Lord replies “A  million dollars to me is but a penny.”

“Ah, then, Lord,” says the man, “may I have a penny?”

“Sure,” says the Lord.  “Just a second.”

What do you think the moral of this story is?

Do you believe in miracles?

They were only capable of being performed by Jesus correct?

The stories that we read and heard about these miracles were pretty cool.  Jesus did amazing things like give sight to the blind, raise people from the dead, cure the sick and multiply a few loaves and fishes to feed hundreds.

Okay, it was fun thinking about what some guy did 2000 years ago but, it’s time to get back to the reality of our every day lives – unfulfilled or no job, family issues, debt, health issues, wars.  You may be thinking something like, “I’m not capable of performing miracles and I’m not even sure that this guy Jesus ever existed”.

What would you say if I told you that most if not all of the problems that you’re facing in your life and that we’re facing in the world would be solved if we were to increase our wisdom (that’s a nice way of saying eliminate our ignorance!)?

How would you react if I said that the answers to our problems already exist but, many of us are blind, deaf or dead to the information?  Sometimes called sense-less.

Would it be easier if I took words like God and faith out of the equation and used another non-spiritual example?

I’ve have access to the information that will cure 99% of the obesity cases that exist in the world today. Through a friend, I have a piece of software (think spreadsheet) that gives every imaginable mix of an individual’s height, weight, body mass index and body fat percentage. The spreadsheet lists a variable such as whether the individual chooses to exercise on a daily basis (burn a minimum of 300 calories per day with exercise) or not.  All the user has to do is enter the information and a very simple two number answer would pop-up. One number would equate to the amount of calories that the individual could consume on a daily basis in order to get their weight to a healthy range when they choose to exercise.  The second lower number would be the number of calories consumable on days that the individual decides not to exercise. The document also contains the calories and serving sizes for every fresh and packaged food available on the market today.

The information already exists. Anyone choosing to get that information can have access to it and solve the problem.  Are people unaware that the information exists or would they prefer to live an unhealthy lifestyle?  There are people who fall into each category.

What would happen if everyone who was struggling with his or her weight followed that simple plan? Obesity would be eliminated.  Are you with me?

Why hasn’t it happened yet?  In some cases it’s lack of wisdom (ignorance). I have immense compassion for people who have not received access to knowledge and information. I was one of the people who had a problem with his weight since childhood who did not get access to the recipe until much later in life. Once I gained access to the wisdom, my weight problem miraculously disappeared.

In other instances, very good people choose to ignore the information and decide not to follow the simple recipe for success.  There are always good reasons (in their minds) why they can’t.

My great friend Greg has a fantastic personal training business that is built upon a recipe for guaranteed success.  Each of his clients receives a team of personal trainers who act as accountability buddies. Each client receives an exact number of calories that they can consume on days that they exercise and another lower number of calories to be consumed on the days that they don’t exercise (what a great incentive to exercise regularly).  Each client receives a handy journal to track the number of calories consumed at each meal throughout the day, a recipe book full of healthy meals and a menu of foods that is customized for them with portions and calories.

If you can read, follow instructions and show up, you will get results.

Have faith in the trainer, follow the process and expect great results.

During the 1:1 sessions, the trainers provide feedback to the clients, give the clients world-class knowledge on exercise safety and proper form with the equipment, offer daily encouragement and make slight modifications to the recipe that will allow the client to reach his goal. Greg has an unbelievably high success rate because there is a recipe for success and because his clients have faith in Greg and his team of physical health experts. The client must have the discipline to track food consumed and stay within the prescribed calorie range.

The process is  foolproof.  It’s 100%  customizable based upon any and every variable that a client might bring .  It doesn’t matter what business were in, every client thinks that he or she is unique.  Any guesses what might cause the process to fail? Yes.  Failure to follow the recipe. Once the wisdom is provided to the individual and the person chooses not to implement, it has become a rejection of the knowledge.

What are the key ingredients to Greg’s recipe for success?

• Faith in the provider of the wisdom and the recipe: lower your ego enough to listen to the expert; if your way was working, you wouldn’t need the trainer
• Accountability to yourself and to someone else: when changing, many of us need to be accountable to another person; the ultimate goal is accountability to self
• Access to world-class knowledge
• Daily encouragement
• Discipline to follow the process: show up for scheduled sessions with trainers; exercise in-between sessions without your trainer; track food consumed (calories) at every meal

Okay, now let’s go back to the original premise that we could eliminate all of our problems as individuals and all the problems facing the world if we were to increase our wisdom.

Let’s apply Greg’s process to the elimination of fear, worry, doubt, anger, anxiety, stress, hatred, war, homelessness and every other feeling and problem you can imagine.

Faith in the provider of the wisdom – God

• God says, “Have faith in me, talk to me”
• “If I take care of the birds and animals, surely I’ll take care of you.”
• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as your self.”

Accountability to yourself and to someone else

• We’re accountable to ourselves, to God and to our neighbors
• We have a daily check-in conversation where we assess our progress toward our goals
• Our ultimate accountability partner is open 24 hours per day – including Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Access to world-class knowledge

Scripture – It’s in writing in black and white

Daily encouragement

• Scripture reading – Learning
• Meditation – Listening
• Prayer Talking: ask, and it will be given; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

Discipline to follow the process

• Invite God’s mind into every part of your life
• Prayer on a daily basis
• Talk and listen to God
• Love and serve others

Just like Greg’s process is fool proof for losing weight, God’s process is 100% guaranteed to provide feelings of joy, tranquility, love, peace and serenity for you and for each person in the world.

Inviting God to be a part of every second of our lives because we welcome and want His help is very similar to admitting that we need the help from other experts – personal trainer, psychologist, marriage counselor, accountant, etc.

When Jesus came to show us a better way to live, he provided words that allowed the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the lame to get up and walk.  Those exact words will do the same thing for us today if we’ll follow the process.

The radiance of his personal presence, his loving, positive vibration and profound words of love and peace allowed the blind to open their eyes and the deaf to hear and become aware. For many, it was the first time that they could truly see and hear – even if they were not deaf.

Because of the faith shown in Jesus by the relatives of the dead, the blind and the deaf each of the individuals was healed. What was their real sickness? Confusion, apathy and ignorance.  We all know the truth when we hear it.

The truth spoken by Jesus literally caused people to believe that he was powerful enough to make them see, hear and live.  It was their faith that healed them.

It’s our faith that will heal us.  It is the same faith that will eliminate our confusion, apathy and ignorance.

What type of healing do you need?  What type of healing does our world need?

Faith in God and belief that through Him, all things are possible is the miracle.  When we align God’s mind with our mind we engage in the process of co-creation.  When our thoughts and actions are in alignment with God’s will, miracles do happen.

Miracles are everyday happenings for people who believe in God and the power that is present in themselves and others who choose to align their minds with the mind of God.

When we begin living our life based upon love of God, love of self and love of our neighbors, we bring God to the God-less and make his presence known wherever we’re present.

When we share this wisdom with people who are ignorant through no fault of their own, the outcome will be our actions mirroring the mind of God so our outsides will match our insides and that will result in the earth looking like heaven.

Jesus came to make our insides – our minds and souls – be as clean and pure as our bodies are on the outside after a hot, soapy shower.  When our insides are as clean our skin, then earth will become heaven.

Is this possible?  Yes it is.  All change manifests itself one mind at a time. You create miracles when you welcome God to take permanent residence inside of you.

The knowledge exists.  Will you use it?  Ask and it will be given.

Listen to this post!
 

Beliefs are amazingly powerful. They cause us to fail or succeed.  They cause us to be healed. They cause us to stay sick. They cause us to endure. They cause us to give up. They can make us Royalty.

We’ve all read stories about individuals whose health improves as the result of their belief that they were taking a new wonder drug.  Just believing that we’ll get better as a result of inserting this magic pill into our mouths and swallowing it will cause us to get better. Frequently, the same number of people taking the placebo will experience the same levels of healing as those taking the pills with actual medicine in them.

The best way to heal each of life’s wounds is by adopting newer, more powerful beliefs.

How is this possible?  Just the thought of consuming food that you believe to be spoiled or poisoned will cause you to become physically sick.  If I drink 2 tablespoons of  a thick green substance that I believe to be Nyquil, I’ll magically become drowsy because I know that Nyquil makes me sleepy.

In every aspect of our life, we receive based upon the beliefs and expectations that we hold in our minds about what we’re worthy or capable of receiving.

Whoever cannot receive surely will be unable to give. What does this mean? It means that we must be capable of receiving money if we want to be able to give some away.  We must be willing to receive love, if we desire to love others. We must be capable of being forgiven if we want to forgive others.  We must be accepting of wisdom if we desire to give it others. We must be willing to receive the gift of faith if we’d like to pass it on to others.

Are you willing to receive so that you will be able to give?  Who will become your source of love, wisdom and optimism?

Outside influences can  frequently cause  undesirable feelings on our insides. Despair, fear, insecurity, guilt and powerlessness are just a few of the emotions that can result from real life situations such as the sickness or death of a loved one, loss of a job, worry about bills and debt or a separation or divorce.

James Allen said something that has caused me to give serious thought to my self-identity. Allen said, “We do not attract that which we want but that which we are.” I translated that to mean that we must change our beliefs about ourselves so that we’ll be worthy of receiving what we truly desire.  Our beliefs must change in order for us to be willing and worthy of receiving. We must become open and aware of new possibilities.

What is your real identity?  Who are you? Are the beliefs that you have about yourself consistent with your real value?

Children of royalty are treated royally by their families and by everyone else. They learned early on in life that they should expect to be treated royally because of who they are, which is why their famously known for using the “Don’t you know who I am?” tactic to get by in the world.

Remembering that we get what we expect, how do you expect to be treated?  How do you treat yourself?

I am the son of a Yellow Pages (AT&T) advertising salesperson and a stay-at-home Mom. Should I expect to be treated like the son of a salesperson and housewife forever?  I hope not because we all know how most people treat salespeople.

Have you been told lately that you’re a child of God?  Have you been told that you were created in the image and likeness of God? Are you aware that the spirit of God has been inside of you since your birth and is like a big, beautiful candle that is just waiting to be lit?  Once lit, that candle will proclaim your true identity.

Do you know that because of your very high status as a unique child of God, you should be treating yourself as the offspring of the King of Kings? How are you feeling my fellow Princes and Princesses?  I’m assuming that you’re experiencing feelings of joy, love, happiness and optimism.  Get used to these feelings.  They’re granted as a result of your acknowledgment of your prince/princess status and are guaranteed to last forever.

Are there additional benefits that come along with your royal status as a child of God?  Yes.

Your faith and belief in God the Father entitles you to the following:

You receive unconditional love on a daily basis from your spiritual Father in heaven.

You always have someone who will listen to you for as long as you’d like to speak who promises to never interrupt.

You receive the gift of hope on a daily basis because you trust that God is always watching over you and has a plan for you.

You receive faith in one who speaks the truth and who has given us the keys to His estate. We know that upon our retirement from earth, we have a heavenly place to live in peace forever.

You receive your share in His trust fund. The gift of life everlasting is granted as a result of living and serving based upon His words and welcoming His spirit to be your daily guardian.

You’ve been granted the power to perform miracles. Nothing is impossible when done with your Father’s assistance and blessing. He is THE GodFather! He has connections everywhere.

You were born into a large, loving family that currently includes 6.7 billion brothers and sisters. Each one of your siblings expects to receive your gift of love and prayer on a regular basis. This is a requirement to maintain your princely status.

You are granted a Fun Trust within your trust fund. You are granted the ability to laugh at all of the silly things that used to cause you fear, despair and insecurity. Concern over bills, jobs, property, cars, fashion and all other worldly concerns have been replaced with love, faith and trust in your Father. You are conscious of the fact that all that is truly important – your spirit – is always in good hands.

These entitlements take effect immediately upon confirmation of your new beliefs and faith in your Father.

Daily communication with your Father is expected. Because of your enrollment in The Royal Family Plan, you’re entitled to 1440 minutes of communication with Him on a daily basis.

Be sure to use your minutes.  You always feel better when calling home.

Welcome to the family, my brothers and sisters.

Please repeat after me:  “Don’t you know who I am.  I am part of a royal family.  I am a child of God!”

Have you lost your wisdom teaching?

Listen to this Post!
 

Many people have completely thrown away the teachings of the most important knowledge in the world because of alienation with the institutions associated with the teachings.

At this time of year, many parents of high school juniors and seniors and their children are traveling around the world looking at colleges and universities to receive higher education. If scholarships are not involved, many families consider spending 20, 30, 40 or $50,000+ per year for this education.

What type of education and degrees are we willing to spend this kind of money on?  Law, Engineering, Pre-med, Business, Liberal Arts, Art, Music, Psychology, etc.

Will you please answer these questions?

If you wanted to eliminate war from the face of the earth and instruct people how to peacefully co-exist, what type of education would you give to people?

If you wanted to eliminate hunger and homelessness forever, what would be the types of courses you’d make mandatory?

If you wanted to educate individuals on their power to cause the changes that they desire for themselves, their families and the world, what would you teach?

If you wanted drug and alcohol abuse to become a thing of the past, what would we teach people?

If you wanted each person in the world to have equally high self-esteem, what would we teach?

If you wanted to reduce or eliminate our dependance upon counselors, psychiatrists and psychologists, what would we have people learn?

What did you come up with?

I came-up with a self-study program that would either be free or cost less than $100. The education that I’m talking about which would solve each of these problems is available in a book or two for free at any library or for less than $100 at a bookstore.

Most of us had parents who raised us by bringing us to a religious service on a weekly or very frequent basis.  Are you aware that today 17% of people go to religious services on a regular basis (more than 3 times per year)?

One of the reasons that our parents or grandparents attended services on a regular basis is that this service was the primary form of education within many faiths.

Did the education and knowledge that people found to be the foundation of their values for the last 2000+ years suddenly become irrelevant with my generation and by default for our children?

Do we really think that sports practice, dance lessons and Xbox 360 and Nintendo are really better uses of our time than developing our spiritual health?

I understand that many people have become alienated with the institutions themselves and/or with the fighting going on in the world which frequently seems to have religious ties.

If you’re unhappy with your particular house of worship, I’ll encourage you to do one of the following:

• Ask yourself if you’re letting the messenger get in the way of the message. The message is always good.
• If you can’t get past the messenger, search for a new house of worship whose messenger is more consistent with your personality.
• If that doesn’t work, create a home-study program for yourself and your family that allows you to spend time weekly (or daily) studying your faith and/or multiple faiths. In addition, meditation and prayer are habits that can be conducted anywhere at any time.

I don’t know of any God or any faith that promotes war.  Do you?  Any person that is using God as an excuse for war has corrupted the message that Allah, Jesus, Buddha and all of the spiritual teachings that I’m aware of.

The education that I believe each of us should receive, which would serve as the foundation for the education that we’ll need for our vocation, is an education on how to live with God-like qualities.

• Unconditional Love
• Integrity
• Service to others
• Kindness

Yesterday’s topic on BlogTalkRadio was God.  Greg Stewart and I talked about some definitions of, perceptions of and reasons for believing in God.

A lot of people fight against the idea of God being real because they’ve never shaken God’s hand or been able to pull up any of God’s clips on YouTube.

I admit that going from a position of “I don’t believe in God” to “God is the center of my life and basis for each of my thoughts and actions” is a drastic jump. What I’ve recommended to many people who are interested in understanding and developing a relationship with God or living with God-like qualities on a daily basis is the following two-step process.

Here’s the first step.  Read the teachings of  people like Jesus and Buddha like you were reading any other book that you had to read while in high school or college. While reading the teachings, ask yourself the following types of questions:

• Do I agree with this principle?
• Do I incorporate this teaching into how I run my life today?
  • If I agree with it and am not living it, why not?
• Would I be a better person if I practiced what this teacher taught?
• What type of person would I be if I began thinking, believing and behaving in this manner?
  • Do I like what I’m capable of becoming?
• What would my community (or the world) be like if others lived their lives in this fashion?
• Could we eliminate each of the problems listed above if others were educated and lived with this knowledge?

This first step allows us to come to know how the world’s greatest teachers of truth have advised us to proceed towards enlightenment.

The second step is for you to decide how you want to proceed based upon 3 possible outcomes.

The first possible outcome (I don’t believe in these teachings)

After reading these teachings, you might decide that you absolutely disagree with these concepts.  I doubt it but, it’s a possibility. If you do, you’ve made an educated decision.

The second possible outcome (I believe in these teachings and commit to living them but, I still don’t believe in God)

A second possible outcome would be that you’ve decided that this teacher or these teachers were very wise and that you and I would have happier lives and live in a peaceful world if each of us truly implemented the teachings.

I’ve thought about what the world would be like if each of us were educated in these principles and implemented them – even if we still didn’t believe in God.

We’d have a world without weapons -assault weapons, tanks, fighter jets – because there would be no need for them.

We’d have a world where people were better at listening to and understanding each other than ordering around and giving ultimatums.  If we had disagreements – and we would – we would engage in conversation with the expectation of coming to peaceful outcomes.

We would have a world that treats every person on the planet with dignity and respect.

We would allocate our tax dollars toward education and solving the hunger and homeless issues instead of funding war with and security from our family members.

The third possible outcome (I believe in God)

A third possible outcome would be that you would come to believe that these teachings could have only come from someone with much higher thoughts about love, peace and compassion than any human you’ve ever met. That these thoughts were designed to have us works toward perfect love.

You might come to believe that there is tremendous causative, creative power that exists within you that manifests itself when aligned with the teachings that you’ve learned and implemented. You might come to believe that you have the ability to co-create solutions to every problem that exists when you combine your consciousness with that of God.

You might come to believe that the life that exists within you was created by and comes from the spirit of God that is dwelling within you and I and within every person in the world.

You might come to develop faith in a spiritual power that created the world and everything in it that you’ve never physically seen or touched.

We can’t ask others to do what we’re not willing to do ourselves.

Are you willing to make an educated decision for yourself?

Are you willing to discover  whether or not you believe in and are willing to implement what the teachers of truth have taught us?

A WORD of CAUTION: These principles when acted upon will cause you to change and could possibly result in Sainthood and Enlightenment.

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This Thursday, Bob and Greg tackle the idea of the divine, what is it, how do we interact with it.  Can we manifest it, and what it means to us on a spiritual and physical level? The God concept, is it more than just an idea?

We record live at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST. If you have questions for Bob, or would like to join the conversation, you can phone in with your questions at 646-378-0660

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This weekend, I attended a wake and funeral for a long-time friend’s Dad. Funerals and wakes are great places of unity because people of all backgrounds, faiths and incomes come together in one place to pray for and respect the deceased and to support those who are living.

Because the services were on Cape Cod in Massachusetts (about 2 hours from my home), I had the chance to spend Friday afternoon and evening after the wake and Saturday morning prior to the funeral with my in-laws.  During several hours of conversation over dinner, they asked me about one of my recent posts about Unity Consciousness. When I started engaging them on this topic, it brought back memories from 26 years ago for the three of us.

That was when I asked their daughter to marry me.  They were petrified because their 20-year-old Congregationalist (Protestant denomination) daughter was engaged to a 23-year-old Catholic. Beyond the usual parental sentiment that no one would ever be good enough for their daughter, my in-laws had several fears based on this inter-faith match:

• Catholicism teaches that our faith is the right faith and everyone else’s is wrong. | Fear #1: we would be married in a Catholic church and they would feel uncomfortable to the point of not attending their own daughter’s wedding.
• Catholics have traditionally not treated Protestants well. | Fear #2: my future bride would not be seen by me and my family as an equal in our marriage because she didn’t share our faith.
• Catholicism teaches against birth control. | Fear #3: Carolyn would become pregnant and be unable to earn her college degree and unable to support the baby should we get divorced.

I give you that background because fear is a very strong emotion that gets in the way of our ability to love and our ability to learn. Fear frequently puts up an artificial barrier which prevents us from hearing, seeing and learning the truth.  Fear inhibits our senses and ability to receive new, helpful and valuable information (fear causes us to act sense-less).

A natural instinct for many of us is to focus on the differences which exist between people rather than focus on and appreciate all that we have in common. After 25 years of marriage, my in-laws and I laugh at the fear that wasn’t funny for any of us at the time. Not only do we attend each other’s church services when visiting each other, my fantastic father-in-law sings with our choir on Christmas eve each year.  Each of the fears has been transformed into tremendous love and understanding.

My basic definition of Unity Consciousness is an awareness that each person in the world is our brother and sister and is connected to us and to God by the spirit of God that resides in each of us.

Each of us was born innocent and good.  For a variety of external reasons, some of us have turned away from good and hold bitterness, hatred and fear in our minds and souls. Ignorance, hatred and fear are signs of an absence of God.

An awareness of Unity Consciousness, allows us to look at each person with God-sense.  God-sense is perceiving humans with God’s senses of love, understanding and compassion.

It’s through a conversion of mind and soul that disenfranchised people will come together and live in happiness and peace with all humans.

As I began thinking about states of mind and faith that each of the 6.7 billion people in the world might fall into, I came up with the following categories:

People of differing faiths who believe in God, whatever his name may be

People of differing faiths who don’t believe in a God, but practice actions that are similar: love, compassion, wisdom

People who were raised within a faith community who do not make their faith – God or Spirituality – a part of their daily lives

People who have been raised without any practical knowledge of God, spirituality or religion

In my opinion, there is a huge overlap between the first two categories. What I mean by that is people of faith – whether they worship a God or not – display many of the same characteristics.  The faith that they follow allows them to pursue a life that is led with love, compassion, wisdom and a pursuit of peace (internal first, external after that).

Are there gaps that exist between different faiths? Yes.

Are the gaps easily filled in as a result of conversation and understanding? Yes.

Can each of us learn from faiths that are different than ours? Yes - once we are open to expansion of thought.

In every relationship that we have, we have to choose whether we want to focus on all that we have in common and on all of the good that exists within the other person or whether we’d like to focus on the thing(s) that we don’t have in common or that we don’t like about this individual.

If we chose to distance ourselves from people who are different than we are or from people who display traits that we don’t find attractive, we’d all be hermits. When we choose to focus on all things that unite us, we’re able to surround ourselves with friends from every nation, faith and socio-economic class. We become full of love and compassion and absent of fear.

The third and fourth categories have much in common too. These two categories also have people with gaps in their potential. In these cases, the gaps exist because of religion gone bad or because of a gap in knowledge – education.

I define religion gone bad as when an individual becomes turned-off to faith because of an interaction or incident with a relative (parent, grandparent, sibling), or clergy that has caused them to divorce themselves from that faith, and frequently from all organized religion.

I love this passage from James (1:27): Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Religion in and of itself is good. It can be abused and misused by people.  The tongue is a very useful and helpful body part.  It too can be misused and become an instrument that harms rather than heals.  I choose to keep religion and my tongue but, endeavor to use both as tools of love and peace.

I would say that the gaps in knowledge that exist in each of us can be easily filled-in with education. When one becomes exposed to the words of Jesus by reading the new testament or to Buddhism by reading the writings of the Dalai Lama, how could anyone not embrace these ways of thinking, acting and living?

Until each of us reaches perfection and comes into perfect truth, fullness and knowledge of God, gaps exist in each of us. Those gaps are filled through a daily practice that is designed to close the gaps (distance) that exist between us and God.

Buddhists have created the antidotes to the afflictive emotions of lust, hatred and ignorance.  The antidotes are love, compassion and wisdom.

Enlightenment comes as a result of a daily pursuit of faith, hope, love and knowledge.  It comes to us via prayer, meditation, reading, service to others and worship. It’s an environment where everyone is welcomed and appreciated. The more that we serve God and others and come to understand God and others, the more we come to know and understand ourselves.

At wakes and funerals, everyone is welcomed and appreciated. They are a time to focus on our spiritual life on earth and our spiritual life after the death of our earthly bodies. We go to wakes and funerals out of service to others and end up reflecting on our own lives and our own spirituality.

Unity Consciousness is our united relationship with God and with all humans.

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What is heaven on earth? It is when the people on earth start thinking like our creator and acting in concert with those thoughts. It’s living happily and peacefully on earth while having incorporated heavenly thoughts into all that we’re doing.  Essentially, creating a God (Unity) consciousness and awareness.

It’s making the things below, match the things above.

When our  minds are filled with a God (Unity) consciousness and awareness, we become absent of fear and filled with love and inner peace. There is no fear in heaven because we’re home where we belong. Although our earthly bodies can be hurt, our spirits can not.

Once we’ve left our earthly bodies and returned home, we will be joined with God and each of our brother and sister spirits. Can you picture everyone together with God in one place and being totally absent of fear?

Heaven on earth is when we’re aware of our heavenly roots and we’ve created a permanent spiritual lifeline which feeds and nourishes us continuously.

Heaven on earth is when we’re actively living our lives on earth with at least one eye (our third eye?) always focused on our ultimate destination.

Do you and I wait for peace to come before we start acting peacefully? No.

Live |  Expect |  Receive

PEACE

Do we wait for people to start loving us before we start giving love to others?

No. Live lovingly. Expect love. Receive love.

We only receive what we’re worthy of receiving.  You’re a child of God. You are very worthy!

Our mind is a very powerful computer. Our thoughts are transformed into our beliefs.  Our actions follow the beliefs that we hold in our minds whether they’re correct or not. Our beliefs are the software code (program) which instructs the  computer how to function.  In the computer world, programmers talk about GIGO – garbage in, garbage out.  It’s the same process with our minds. I’ve found that too often, I was receiving garbage in my life because I had allowed garbage to enter into my mind.

I now know better than to let that happen.

Are you running your life based upon the truth?  Or, are you running your life based upon how you were brought up by your caregiver(s), what you learned from teachers, and what you heard and learned from bosses and managers?

Did each one of those people give you the absolute 100% truth?  Or, have you been under living your life based upon false beliefs that you mistakenly took as the absolute truth?

It’s your responsibility to determine how many of those beliefs are in fact viruses that are infecting your mind and preventing the release of your potential and remove them immediately.

Starting today, give thought to the beliefs that your holding in your mind with which you’re using to set the parameters of your life. Ask yourself where each of these beliefs came from. Are they the beliefs of God who tells us that all things are possible when done in conjunction with His thoughts or are they the beliefs of well-intentioned , but small thinking humans who were raised with small and sometimes destructive beliefs that they’re more than happy to share with you and everyone else?

Do the current and sometimes old beliefs still serve you today?

If you were to insert the highest, most powerful, God-like thoughts that you could imagine or read about into your mind and soul, what would they be?

Give it real thought. What would they be – really?  Do it!

Some of the best minds from heaven and earth have spoken and written on this topic for thousands of years. If you spend some time reading, you’ll find remarkably consistent themes:

Unconditional love of self and others

Respect for others

Service to others

Honesty to self and others

Kindness to self and others

Compassion

Patience

Love of God and love of your divinity within

Once you determine what the new beliefs are that are consistent with the heavenly thoughts that you’d like to use to guide your life, it’s necessary to assimilate those thoughts into your mind so that they’re now part of your operating system.

The best practice is to focus on what you do want, not what you’re trying to avoid. It’s critical that we know where we’re going and what we’ll feel like and be like when we get there.

What our minds and souls see as |  Comes out of our minds and mouths as

Love   |    Loving thoughts, words and actions

Compassion   |   Compassionate thoughts, words and actions

Peaceful thoughts   |   Peaceful thoughts, words and actions

Truth   |   Truthful thoughts and words

Understanding in   |   Understanding thoughts and words

We’re making the outside match the inside. What we experience outside of our bodies is a reflection of what’s going on inside of our bodies – mentally and spiritually.  Our lives are a reflection of our thoughts and souls.

The changes that we want to make in life all begin from inside of us first. This is a conscious process of deliberately updating our minds and souls with newer, higher thoughts.

Think of it as a periodic software update from Apple or Microsoft only this is the update for your head that comes from a place with the highest True Net Worth. The more we know God, the higher our thoughts.  When we’re getting daily updates from the best Source possible, we’re always up-to-date and protected.

In the spiritual world from which we came and to where we’ll return, there are no differences.  We are all created from the same spirit in the image and likeness of the same God. We are all on the same team.  Heaven on earth manifests itself because we’re thinking and acting from a common ground – our spirit. Because there is only one team across the world, it’s now within our power to co-create, co-exist, and cooperate as one. One what?

One in the Spirit – of God. The Source who created each of us.

This one-ness causes us to think and act differently. We develop an abundance mentality in which there is plenty of food, plenty of water, plenty of kindness and plenty of love to share with each person around the world when we’re cooperating with each other and cooperating with God.

We’re creating an environment (a culture) in which people share, build and nurture as opposed to one in which people are selfish, destructive and critical. We’re building a Global Culture.

The boundaries that we put around us are what separate us and keep us isolated from our neighbors, other cities, other faiths, other nationalities and other countries.

Sometimes the boundaries are physical: walls, fences and waterways.  The tougher fences to tear down are the internal boundaries based upon our lower levels of thought – fear, scarcity, hatred and ignorance.

Heaven on earth – our Global Culture – is created one mind and soul at a time and one thought at a time.

The world is reflecting your thoughts. Heaven on earth begins in your own mind.

Missed the Live program?  Listen Now!
 

Today, Bob and Greg explore the ideas of Unity Consciousness, what it is, why its relevant, and how to understand it in our day to day lives.

We record live at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST. If you have questions for Bob, or would like to join the conversation, you can phone in with your questions at 646-378-0660

Listen to Bobgregoire on Blog Talk Radio