Success Magazine publisher Darren Hardy explains why happiness is a choice

As I head to Florida for the long Memorial Day weekend, I'd like to remind you that happiness is very often a choice. The following is a piece on this very subject from the Success Magazine blog. See you next Tuesday!

Roll on!

Dr. Wayne Dyer gives five foundations for manifesting your biggest wishes

Dr. Dyer's latest book

Ladies and gents, as most of you know I'm a huge proponent of creative visualization and affirmation: the idea that thoughts are the beginning of all action and therefore they are not as benign as some of us may have been conditioned to believe by the world around us.  Dr. Wayne Dyer in his new book, Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting, the good doc lays out five foundational principles for getting the things, the outcomes, and in the general, the life we most desire. He draws from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, Albert Einstein and many other wise teachers, sages and philosophers for living your greatest wishes as if they have already come true. (Reference: Mark 11:23-24).

A New Day and a New Me (Original article)    

“FIVE WISHES FULFILLED FOUNDATIONS”

• FOUNDATION ONE – Imagination.  Many great thinkers have spoken about the power of imagination. William Bligh said “what is now proved, was once only imagined.” Einstein said “imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” If you want something to show up in your life, manifest something new into your life, be the kind of person you would like to become, you must first be able to imagine it. Independent of what anyone else says about it, independent of what your senses tell you, independent of all the evidence that may be to the contrary, you can place into your imagination an “I AM” that represents what you would like to attract into your life and make it come into fruition. “I am strong”, “I am healthy”, “I am kind”, “I am prosperous”, “I am getting the job I want.” Never let other people’s ideas about what is possible or what is not possible to occupy your imagination. Your imagination is yours! Remember, “With God, all things are possible.”
• FOUNDATION TWO – Living from the End.  Romans 4:17 “in the presence of Him, whom he believed God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Dr. Dyer says ‘living from the end’ means that you call the things that do not exist as if they did. The “I AM’s that you put in your imagination, you have to treat them as if they exist. From Neville..”Disregard appearances, conditions, in fact all evidence of your senses that deny the fulfillment of your desire. Rest in the assumption that you are already what you want to be, for in that determined assumption you and your Infinite Being are merged in creative unity, and with your Infinite Being (God) all things are possible. God never fails.”
• FOUNDATION THREE – Assume The Feeling Of The Wish Fulfilled.  Dr. Dyer offers this explanation from Neville…”that which you feel yourself to be, you are. And you are given that which you are. So assume the feeling that would be yours were you already in possession of your wish. And your wish must be realized. So live in the feeling of being the one you want to be and that you shall be. Every feeling makes a subconscious impression and unless it is counter acted by a more powerful feeling of an opposite nature, it must be expressed. Your feelings are different from your thoughts. Your feelings are what you experienced in your body. The dominate of two feelings is the one expressed. “I am healthy” is a stronger feeling then “I will be healthy”. Dr. Dyer says assuming the feeling of your wish as if it has already been filled is not just something you say. It is not an affirmation. An affirmation is an intellectual exercise. What you are feeling is a spiritual knowing from within that “I am well” that “I am content” that “I am prosperous.” 
  Every feeling that you have makes a subconscious impression upon your body and upon your awareness.
  Your subconscious mind rules your life. 96 to 97% of everything that you do is done as a result of your subconscious mind. And when your subconscious mind gets programmed it goes ahead and responds to whatever your conscious mind has placed into it. But Dr. Dyer warns if you keep telling yourself “I can’t do that”, “I can’t make things happen”, “I am not ever going to lose weight”, you are programming your subconscious mind with this awareness to respond to.
  So practice putting into your subconscious mind the practice of assuming the feeling of what it is you would like to attract into your life as if it already existed. Feel it , not just think it!
• FOUNDATION FOUR -Attention. Your imagination is able to do all that you asked in proportion to the degree of your attention. So what kind of attention do you place on your desires? Dr. Dyer says according to Neville there are two kinds of attentions.
  Objective (facts, concrete and solid objects ) and Subjective (subject to feelings and emotions).
  We want to use Subjective Attention. Why Subjective? Because what we place in our Imagination does not have to be based on concrete, solid facts. Because what we place in our imagination is anything that we want to “call that which does not exist as if it did.” Because what we place in our imagination is whatever we want to wish for and to live and feel as if our wish is already fullfilled. Dr. Dyer says with objective attention, you become the objectified result of other people telling you what you can do and what you can’t do, what’s possible and what’s not possible. Take Dr. Dyer’s suggestion and put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your imagination. Do not allow anyone else’s opinions, do not allow what it says on the Internet, do not allow the cost, or the difficulty to distract your attention from the burning desires you place in your imagination. “
• FOUNDATION FIVE -Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.  Dr. Dyer calls the last five minutes of your day very important. Why so important? He offers this explantion from Job 33:15-16…”In a dream, in a vision of the night. When deep sleep falls upon men while slumbering in their beds, then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction.”… Now Dr. Dyer asks “…how do you want to prepare yourself for having your instructions sealed?”
  Most people use their last five minutes of the day as they are about to go to sleep reviewing all the things that they don’t like. And all the things that didn’t work and all the people that hurt their feelings. And all the stuff that is going on in their life that they wish were not happening. This is their worry time. Then you go to sleep and “He opens your ears and seals your instructions” while you are slumbering.
  What you want to do is reverse this practice because your subconscious mind is listening to how you are asking the universe to provide for you what it is that you would like to attract or manifest into your life. Here you are suggesting to your subconscious mind all the things “you don’t want”, “you don’t like”, “that make you unhappy.” You want to shift from that way of thinking and use the last five minutes of your day to program your subconscious mind with what you have placed in your imagination with your “I am’s”, “I am well”, “I am happy”, “I am prosperous.” etc. You don’t want your instructions sealed with everything that you don’t like, that makes you depressed, that makes you unhappy.

Dr. Dyer points out that there are two things that will interfere with attracting a desire into your life.

1. It must feel natural to you. You have to be able to say to yourself ” Even if I don’t know how to do it, even if I have no experience, even if everyone has told me I can’t do it, my wish fulfilled feels natural to me!”
2. You cannot have any thoughts of condemnation, criticism, or judgment towards any of God’s children. We are all just doing what we know how to do and you cannot ask anymore of anyone. As long as you are having these thoughts of condemnation, criticism, or judgment, you are throttling the great “I AM” presence within you, that is God. Read more about the “I AM” Presence Within You.

To see Dr. Wayne Dyer’s  special program “Wishes Fulfilled” in it’s entirety, contact your local Public Broadcasting Station.  The PBS Special also offers Donor Supporter Packages of books, DVDs and CDs containing exclusive bonus material related to his broadcast and teachings.

Roll on!

Help Jamie Oliver celebrate Food Revolution Day on May 19

Even in my own life, I find that junk food and fast food are much more accessible than whole foods, organic choices and the like. But thanks to the efforts of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and others, many of these popular restaurants, schools and stores have made a genuine effort to make healthier food options available!





Roll on... in good health!

Art teacher Abby Escobal explains how to inspire creative confidence

My original digital painting Colour de Noise, 2005

Today, I wanted to re-address the issue of "creative confidence" which I addressed in my previous post about my 10th grade Studio Art teacher Ms. Wheeler. (Read that post here). This very well articulated post by artist and educator Abby Escobal on her WordPress blog explains the concept likely far better than I would. Her recent post on David Kelley's TED Talk on how to build creative confidence in both children and adults as told from Abby's perspective as an art teacher is quite inspiring!

So I encourage you to read it, enjoy it, be inspired and of course, roll on!

Read Abby Escobal's blog post at the link below: 

Building Creative Confidence: Thoughts on David Kelley’s TED Talk

The Charlie Rose Brain Series presents a full hour on autism

Charlie Rose and guests discuss autism: its considered causes, remedies, particular incidents and what can be learned from the disorder with regard to the general workings of the human brain and specific recent wondrous discoveries that have been made concerning the brain's larger spectrum of potential.

Watch here and comment below this post after you watch: http://www.charlierose.com/view/content/12354

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WWE's John Cena: 'Wishing is Powerful Stuff'

WWE Entertainer and athlete John Cena describes his motivation for being one of Make-A-Wish Foundation's top wish granters in this video  which is based  on his recent USA Today piece. 





 Get the text of the article here.




Live with hope and roll on!

Esther Hicks gives her unique view of the special nature of autism

In this short clip, author and self-help counselor Esther Hicks gives her uniquely optimistic view of autism - a disorder that is most often characterized by a lack of both non-verbal and social commutation skills. Hicks believes the disorder to be a unique form of expression in which the autistic person has the distinct advantage of being able to be happy without the need for approval from others. Please watch. Feel free to leave a comment. Do you agree with Hicks' assessment? Or, on the other hand, do you believe she is off base with her views?

Disclaimer: The views of Ms. Hicks do not necessarily correlate to my own in all cases. However, her ability to make the listener think deeply about the way in which he or she may view the circumstances and events of life makes Hicks someone who I believe can shed light on new ways to engage in critical thinking and imaginative creativity regarding those things we may take for granted as "everyday life."

From estherhicksbiography.com:

Hay House, Inc. published the Hicks’ best-selling book, Ask and It is Given, in 2004. Since then, they have also published four more New York Times Best-sellers:

• Money, and The Law of Attraction (made #1 on New York Times Best Sellers List)
• The Law of Attraction
• The Astonishing Power of Emotions
• The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent
• as well as the fictional children’s series of Sara books.

Esther was born in Coalville, Utah. She married her current husband, Jerry Hicks, in 1980 and has one daughter by her former marriage. Currently, Esther travels the world with Jerry, speaking and teaching and writing.

Think. Roll on!

What will you do with your story?

 In this clip from X Factor's UK version, a young man named Emmanuel tells the story of how he was found in an Iraqi war zone with his brother and himself in a shoebox with his and his brother's limbs severed for the two brother's later to be adopted by a loving Australian woman nearly 20 years ago. Please watch this video and ask yourself, "What will I do with my story?"

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Tony Robbins shares three ways to effect success

Tony Robbins' 3 Ways to Effect Success

"Tony Robbins, a self-help author and motivational speaker, reveals three ways you can effect success: have a strategy, change your story and develop a quality state. Plus, find out why he says some people need to divorce their stories so they can marry the truth."  - Oprah's Lifeclass


Always remember the fact that you are not in your past and the future has not come yet. You are NOW!

Roll on!

Let me tell you a story about moving past limitations (Revised 5/3/12)

 This image of rapper-singer Drake is taken from an anonymous source on Facebook. Copyright is granted in full to the original owner of the image.

How many times in our lives have we intended to do something? We say, "I meant to do this, but I didn't because…." We make excuses as to why we can't accomplish a given goal or why it'll just be too hard to complete or even try to do that which we always wanted to do. I am no exception to this rule. For years, I never tried drawing or painting because I assumed my hands were too spastic from my Cerebral palsy. For the same reason, I never learned to play Jazz piano, or how to rock on the guitar.

But one day, at the age of 15 in the 10th grade, fate would seem to strike me the face with an opportunity. You see, for some odd reason, my guidance counselor thought it would be prudent judgment to put me in a technical drawing class rather than an art class because of my disability. Somehow she seemed to think that rigid rules, rulers, wedges, compasses, lined graph paper and the rest would be easier for me to handle than a basic studio art class.  So, after about a week of being bored by drawing straight lines with rulers, I opted instead to take Studio Art with Ms. Wheeler -- a choice I credit with encouraging me to explore my creativity more than I ever had in the past. I had written poetry and short stories, tinkered with computers and all that. But in my mind, I was limited by something I had no control over. But as I would later discover, I was, in truth, very literally "disabled" by my own thinking.

When I first entered the class I felt immediately at ease with Ms. Wheeler. She was an upbeat, jovial woman seemingly in her late 20s who told us all that she didn't believe in people who couldn't be creative. So she started us out randomly enough by drawing tree bark. She told us to look at the lines and contours and to carefully examine each bit of the tree and really pay attention to the tinniest details. Somehow by doing this, breaking down the lines into smaller, more manageable pieces, the lines seemed so much more accessible, even easy for me. Ms. Wheeler would then send us all home with a sketchbook to draw everything from telephones, pets and simple versions of human faces for the entire school year. I went on that year to draw monochromatic still lifes, to create abstract tissue paper tapestries and even create one watercolor painting that seemed to remind one administrator of a Salvador Dali piece. I went on even further in my remaining high school years to take up courses in black-and-white photography, drama/improvisational acting and even international cooking. But none of this would've been possible without someone like Ms. Wheeler to show me how to think beyond my limitations. For this much I say thank you to Ms. Wheeler, wherever she may be now.

Today, I take that creativity with me and so many lessons learned from people like Ms. Wheeler. Since graduating over a decade ago, I've discovered several hobbies and abilities. I stuck with my poetry and have expanded it into new forms and I'm now writing with greater depth and intensity at 31 and I ever thought I could at the green and often unripened age of 15. I began taking on music in the form of DJing in my early undergraduate years for friends, relatives and neighbors. For a moment I tinkered with the idea of doing Hip Hop mixtape of my original raps; and I only stopped because I realized that the life of a rapper was not something I wanted. But, as funny as it may seem, I am absolutely convinced beyond all doubt that had I pursued it, rapping could've taken me to some very interesting places in my life.

In the same creative vein so to speak, I began thinking of a screenplay idea and eventually  would become fleshed out more and more in a screenwriting class in 2006. I'm still working on this. I also began a freelance writing career in 2007, built a portfolio by 2009 and by 2011, I moved into the realm of promotional work for everything from a performing arts studio to an interior design blog. At present, I'm still freelancing and promoting while being 25% owner of the novelty store LoveList.com. Also, my recent editing adventure with author Andre Burrell, The Fight Versus Reality, is now available at Amazon.

The moral: You are not as limited as you might think you are.

Roll on!

Karly Fesolowich performs "A Letter to Alexander Graham Bell from His Deaf Wife Mabel"

The following spoken-word poem is a narrative retelling of the story of Mabel Hubbard Bell, wife of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell by SUNY New Paltz student and Slam Team member Karly Fesolwich. 

In the piece entitled "A Letter to Alexander Graham Bell from His Deaf Wife Mabel," the character of Mrs. Bell speaks candidly and unabashedly about her feelings toward her curious relationship with her husband and touches with a firm thumb on what may have been the prevailing stereotype regarding deafness and disability in the late Nineteenth Century with a poignancy and potency that shakes the hearer of the poem  into a vivid imagining of the almost cruel paradox of Mrs. Bell's role as her husband's public touter  -- and the poem does all of this not withstanding the irony of an auditory poem being performed from the perspective a deaf person.

MABEL HUBBARD BELL
by Stan Griffin, Deaf Friends International Special Contributor 

Before teacher and inventor Alexander Graham Bell married Mabel Hubbard, he described her voice as " ... naturally sweet ... (having a) beautiful quality ..." Unfortunately, she was never able to hear it herself because Mabel was deaf. And when Bell's most famous invention (the telephone) became extremely popular throughout the world, Mabel was unable to use it for the same reason.

Source material here

Roll on!