It’s fitting given the situation I am in the middle of right now. It really would be horribly inappropriate to discuss it here. But for those who know what’s going on you’ll get it. For those who don’t know what’s going on, you only need to know that the ‘pain’ is not mine and I am proud of myself for how I have handled being forced in the middle. I may discuss this issue at a later date when things have cooled off. There are many lessons to learn from what is happening. Right now the situation is too raw. But consider this:

All pain is self-inflicted, Brian.

Which, quite frankly, Brian, is fantastic news, since it means you needn’t feel any at all once you stop choosing to hurt.

Ouch…
The Universe

Today, I was cleaning up one of my e-mail inboxes and found this note that I had saved but haven’t read in a while. It was nice to read it again and serve as a gentle reminder of the power of our thoughts. Here is the note I received on Jan 3, 2008:

Don’t worry about your “negative” thoughts, Brian. They’re par for the course in the jungles of time and space. Change them when you can, but when they overrun you, let them run. Because no matter how persistent they are, you can always spend just 5 minutes a day, in a quiet place, doing your best to imagine your dreams as if they’ve already come true; seeing yourself happy, laughing, smiling from ear to ear. This will be enough, it’s always enough, even if while you’re imagining, the negative thoughts creep in. After 5 minutes, leave it alone.

You’re in time and space for one reason: to thrive. There’s no 50/50 about it.

You are OF the Creator, BY the Creator, and now a Creator yourself, alive on a stage YOU designed for your own adventures. You were not an afterthought and you didn’t design it to just eek by. All of the elements are beholden to you; you summoned them, you dreamed them into place, and now they conspire endlessly in your favor. “On a dime” your life can improve for the better with the slightest effort on your part, no matter how insurmountable the odds, nor how futile your thoughts and deeds may seem. You are “the prodigal child.” In a heartbeat you’re welcomed back into the fold. In an instant you can be carried along by life’s current once you stop struggling against it. And for all of these reasons, and more, it’s therefore as if your positive thoughts are 10,000 times more powerful than your negative thoughts. 10,000 times more in alignment with the magnificent tidal wave of energy that you are. 10,000 times more likely to become the things you want than the things you don’t want, when you know these truths and you act on them.

Yeah, coolness.

The Universe

The body is the shore on the ocean of being

-Sufi (anonymous)

Neurons at the injection site—the whisker muscles—absorbed some of the toxin and passed it along to other neurons they connected to, the researchers report this month in The Journal of Neuroscience. Within three days, the toxin had migrated from the whisker muscles to the brainstem, where it disrupted neuronal activity.

Super! Not to mention the unapproved (but legal?!?!?) use of Botox injections for children with cerebral palsy to decrease muscle spasms.

An analysis of the FDA’s database by the advocacy group Public Citizen found 16 deaths from Botox or Myobloc. Most involved children with serious diseases like cerebral palsy, who got the injections for muscle spasms (an unapproved, though legal, use).

As stated in one of my all time favorite (and most watched) movies, Connie and Carla:

Let your eyes crinkle, let your skin wrinkle. Our lines show that we’ve lived.
If he doesn’t love you when you look like a map, tell him to hit the road.

Read the full article in Newsweek here

Your destiny is to merge with infinity.

Q: Who is one of your personal heroes?

A: Mahatma Gandhi. Let me read you his personal mission statement:

“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:
* I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
* I shall fear only God.
* I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
* I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
* I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

Ghandhi changes the lives of hundreds of millions of people by working on his own personal moral victory. He created the alternative of non-violent action. He did not run away and he did not fight.

Do you have a personal mission statement? Do you use ‘I’ statements on a daily basis? Remember that we can not change others, but we can change ourselves and our perceptions of others.

“You’ve got an interesting past ahead of you.”