This is better than meditation. This is one step I recently incorporated into my ebook on living that I use and is the step that I teach others the most. The reason it is so successful is because it is so doggone easy and everybody can easily relate to it.

If you’ve ever been to a convention or around a group of people with a common cause, you know how easy it is to get pumped up and feel like you’re walking on clouds - invincible! And that can last anywhere from a day to a lifetime, depending on you. The biggest challenge is that “life gets in the way” and you don’t know how to defuse that so you slowly give in to the path of least resistance.

We are wired that way because I suppose God wants us to work to succeed. Like seeds struggling to break through the hard topsoil, not all is without effort.

People get confused when they hear that living in the zone, or on your path, or doing your purpose, that the journey is easy. That is true in part. It is smooth and natural and life expands to bring you more in tune to your calling. But like the seed, even though there is a purpose and direction and the knowledge of where to go, it doesn’t mean it’s without effort. So when there is pressure in life, don’t give up. Don’t think you’re suddenly on the wrong path. Check yourself, your thoughts – it is probably you growing through experience to get to the next level where God wants you.

Here’s how to fight feeling down or depressed, and how to turn things around when you feel hopeless, or when a bad thought seems to perpetuate in your mind:

Grab a 3″ x 5″ card and sit at table with no distractions and grab your pencil. This exercise should take only a few moments, but will benefit you the rest of your life.

Now I want you to think back on times in your life when you had huge success. Can you see that? Perhaps when you won a challenge because you were the best, or when you got up and spoke to a group and they cheered you because you were so inspiring. Maybe it was helping someone overcome their fears. Or it could be how you put together a totally cool business model that made you a bunch of money. It can be anything that made you feel on top of the world and you remember how you walked differently, carried yourself differently and could take on anything.

Write that moment down on your card. In fact, try real hard to think of a few of these grand moments in your life. You at the top of your game, where everything you did worked out right. You were in sync with it, harmony.

See these moments in your mind and feel the way you felt when they were taking place. People smiling at you, congratulating you, calling you. See where you were, the lighting, the sounds, the smells. Think of what you did later to celebrate yourself. Jot down a few of these points on your card so you can easily recall them.

By now you know what the card is for. That’s right – it’s to pull out and look at when you’re feeling at the bottom of your game. This really works as it tells the mind that you CAN do it, you HAVE done it and YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN!

You have greatness within you. You have Deity in you. So take the card and fold it over and carry it with you. If it’s too big for your purse or wallet, simply write this out on paper. This is what you will use when those thoughts come creeping into your mind. You will relive these events and your mind will instantly be taken there.

And guess what? Your subconscious doesn’t know the difference between feeling it in your mind and actually experiencing it, so the more you dwell on your success, the better. You will start attracting greatness simply by reliving something in your past, and you’ll stop attracting depressing thoughts.

Let me know if you’re on board with this and start using it immediately!

Well, I’m sure I’m not going to get all of the story in one post tonight. What I learned at American Airlines was more than a book full. In fact, I’ve often thought about writing about the whole episode of my life there. It was perfect timing and I learned exactly what I needed to. It’s amazing how that when the student is ready…the teacher will appear. Thank God for that.

Let me tell you briefly, since I need to get some rest (and you might, too) that the biggest thing I learned there is how the whole operation of flight can be applied to life. I don’t know how many times I’ve looked back at my experiences there and said wow… that is exactly what I need to be doing right now.

You see, to fly a commercial route, like American Airlines does hundreds of times a day, you need a flight plan. And in life, in order to get where you’re going – if you’re even headed somewhere – you need some sort of plan.

There are SO many facets of getting one flight from point A to point B, and almost all of them have something very vital and similar in our daily lives. What I’m going to be doing over the next few weeks is showing you how the two are similar and how the flying can help the living. Let me tell you, it has helped me so much – this is something you can use everyday.

An ebook I am almost finished with is largely taken from experience I learned at AA. Basically, I knew my destination, I just had no clue how to get there with what I had. Thankfully the airline biz helped me with all the answers and I am positive it can help you.

Did you know that each aircraft that flies in the fleet for an airline is constantly being maintained and is scheduled through a maintenance base a few times a year? It’s sorta like a checkup really. There are a few flavors. Think of them like going to your doctor. You know, you might just need an adjustment, so you go to the chiropractor. And if you need something more you’d go for a scan or have tests done. And finally, once a year, you have a major “physical” done.

It’s the same with that 767 you just flew (or the 737, too.) They go in for light checkups, medium checks and a full-blown, take the airplane apart check about once a year.

With an aircraft, you can’t mess around. But what I do is make my health just as important. It’s serious stuff and the checks should be as routine and planned as that 737. You see, if an airline treated their fleet like a lot of people treat their health, they would soon be out of business.

How do you schedule your checkups? Well. the airline business does this by counting rotations. A rotation is when the nose wheel leaves the ground and the aircraft begins to be airborne. That’s one rotation. The engines are clocked by how many hours they run, but are also checked during the checkups done after so many rotations. So you need to figure out how to incorporate this “counting” system into your schedule. For me, I get a minor tweak each week at a chiropractor who is also a naturopath. Semi annually I get a blood test and annually, the full physical.

Aircraft are bound by a myriad of rules and regulations, most by the FAA, but a bunch by the airline itself. For example, if something important breaks, they may not be able to fly. Other items can be placarded, which means they are written up as not working and fixed as soon as the airplane gets to a base that has parts.

For you, there should be certain items set that you will not continue, like when you go over a certain weight, you won’t eat like a pig and will start jogging immediately. Other things can be taken care of as soon as you possibly can, like getting all the amalgam out of your mouth, or getting your eyes checked.

Finally, know that just like an aircraft, your body – as wonderful as it is – replaces cells by the millions all the time. How the cells know to do this is crazy fascinating. (Thank you, God!) Most aircraft (airframe) parts can be replaced. You’d be amazed what that 737 looks like with no outside skin or without one of the engines. Yet those parts wear out. The airline makes sure over the life of the plane that it gets the best they can afford. You, too, should eat the best you can so that your body has a fighting chance to repair what it needs and change out the cells that need to be changed.

When you tax your body with foods that make it work extra hard to filter poisons, like sugars, colors, fat, it doesn’t have much of an opportunity to repair itself. And repairing takes a lot of energy, which many times is used up in fighting our poor diet. Think about that the next time you eat.

Well, there are other similarities, but you get the point. Value what you’ve got. If you knew how good it could be there would be no question about maintaining your health. And on this last note, today my 9 year old had her end of the year party at school. And I noticed one of the classmates who has a very serious disease. She takes heavy medication for it. But the family is oblivious to how diet affects the body because this person was downing pizza and chocolate like nobody’s business. It’s sad, really, that people misuse what God has given them.

We have all we need to be cured, to live large, to live wealthy. Share what you learn with others and it will come back to you. I promise. And don’t forget to read more about my parallels to American Airlines this month. Take care!

I don’t care how you put it, sugar in almost any form does a number on my body. And maybe you’re not at the point with your system (body, organism) where high sugar content makes you “feel” different, but I can almost guarantee that long term it is doing something negative.

So why did God make it taste so good and why is it so hard to stop eating it?

Honestly, I think that if we didn’t have the challenges of doing right, making the right choices, we’d never grow spiritually. So the sugar thing is just one more choice, even though it’s a real hard one.

At first I thought, OK, I’ll Google a few resources to back up my claim that sugar is killing me, but then I thought that this is one thing you already know and simply choose not to think about much. So Google away if you want, just be aware of the source. The Sugar industry is not in business to make you healthier, and is not responsible for taking care of you.

Here’s what I do and suggest to people who ask.

We have a bad habit of not listening. We have people talking around us, to us, right at us, and we’re not “really” listening. I know I find my mind drifting off easily if I am not disciplined about listening. Listening is hearing what is being said and then questioning in your mind what is that person or thing trying to tell me?

Your body talks. You’ve heard that and you know where I’m going with this. When you eat, you almost immediately “feel” different. You can either choose to let your mind wander off, or you can question in your mind what your body is trying to tell you.

Some people (I did at one time and it’s a pretty cool exercise) keep diet diaries. This is good because we simply forget about 80% of things we don’t take time to note. So we eat again and the effect or feeling becomes part of the exercise. In other words, we almost expect to feel a certain way when we eat a certain food. And we don’t care why, we don’t know why.

When you feel sluggish or weird or light headed, that is not normal. It normally means, according to the dozens of health gurus and publications I’ve read (again, Google it if you want the references – OK, just this once – click Science Daily) that the body is using up tons of energy to fight and process what you’ve introduced.

Next time you eat, take time to listen to your body. Is your stomach bloated? Is your mind clear or fuzzy? Is your energy level high or low? These are just a few of the things you can feel almost immediately.

Of course the goal in all of this is to feel good and have a very clear mind, unless you decide that’s not for you. Become aware that almost all of vitality comes from diet and living and feeling great from a clean diet.

Want to learn more? Just get on my mailing list – you can unsubscribe if you find I’m tooooo weird.

Now that I’ve made you feel guilty about your diet, go make yourself a cup of tea and think about how you can make the decision to treat your body better while here on this planet. You were given this body because Someone trusted you enough and knew you had the potential to do greatness. If fact, the very fact that you are reading this is proof that God wants you alive! So let’s live well together, OK?

Till next time,
Dave

It’s just the way we’re wired, I suppose. Trying from birth to figure out what God did and does, and crack open a clue to the big picture. All to later die still wondering if we even scratched the surface.

Dogs are an interesting bunch. Like most animals, they can’t communicate the way you and I communicate – with complexity. Or do they? I find it interesting that God put a barrier between us and most of the animals; well, all of them, I suppose. I don’t know of any species we communicate with as easy as picking up the phone or reading an email.

And in there I believe is a purpose. Something that keeps us separate on a relationship level. Yes, I love when I come home and Ginger jumps all over me to say welcome home. Few strings attached. And if I neglect her for a bit, she doesn’t hold that against me. We don’t connect the way I would with you. If she does have “feelings” of some sort, and I think she does on some level, she doesn’t spend hours wondering if I am going to pet her the next time.

If we could communicate with animals, I’m pretty sure we’d be overwhelmed with the work in keeping up all the relationships. It’s difficult enough with people. Maybe that’s why God made it so they don’t ask 100 questions at the door when we arrive. Remember Dr. Doolittle?

When you do take time to figure out a dog’s feelings, you’ll find that they have similar ones to ours. They can be sad, happy, excited, down. The problem is in the communication. When you spend time figuring out how to “whisper” to a dog, or “dog whispering”, you’ll see that they do respond. Still, it’s a long road and frustrating. We don’t speak their language.

What you CAN do is communicate clearly with humans. Most of us don’t, and should. Some of us feel we do, but really are poor “communicators.” In other words, we get all the words right, we just don’t do a good job of communicating them to others. Case in point is correcting someone. Often we simply put someone down, for the sake of looking better than them, while correcting a mistake.

Other times it is a barrage of words that are hurtful. Remember what Mom said about words. You can’t take them back. Even the Bible says they are worse than weapons. So I guess a course on people skills is in order for most of us.

Before you open your mouth, think about your people skills. Are you going to be hurtful, or helpful – to the point you will be liked? People are people – not animals. You can’t say just anything and not expect to have repercussions. Words are the most powerful things humans have, and yet, sadly, they are most undervalued. People divorce over words.

Be good and we’ll catch up with you next time. It’s late and a friend is coming in the morning to pick up a rare Brazilwood tree in my front yard. And I do want to get some yard work done before it’s 90 degrees F out there. Till next time.

I can’t lie to you.  I wake up and confront life just like you.  Yes, I put my pants on one leg at a time and brush my teeth like the masses.  And that means that I’m faced with the same temptations inside this same old body that we have been given.

And once in a while, you get a hankering for something radically off your clean diet, and wow – it hits the spot for as long as a quickie does – a few doggone minutes, and then you’re spiraling out of control toward a sugar coma – followed by days of beating yourself up.

But once you’ve done it, almost like anything forbidden in life, it comes easier the next time.

What separates the men from the boys in these instances is the level of determination not to “go there.”  And again, like anything in life – once we’ve tasted it – and have been away from it for a long time – and see how pleasurable it can be – we stick our toes in the water and before we know it, we’re up to our necks in it.

We’re wired this way for several reasons, the main one, I believe, is to be as far from robots as God could possibly make us.  We have “free will” and free choice and we can choose whatever path we want to blaze.  I would never tell you to fore go the pleasures of this world.  They’re not all bad.  You wouldn’t be here if they were.

But knowing your limits before you embark on the journey is smart.  Most don’t consider how much or how far they can go.  They just go and enjoy the tumble.

For some, it ruins their lives.  Again, a choice.  For others, it makes them stronger.  And yet others see that they have fallen and instead of getting up, they give in and say to hell with it all – I’ve done it – might as well enjoy it.

For those, it’s simply a matter of time before they crash and burn, or are hopefully rescued by a caring soul.

Interesting is what drives us there.

You’d think it’s pleasure – but it’s just the opposite.  Pain is the biggest motivator on the planet and pain will motivate you quickly – to falling off the wagon – or getting back in line.  You think you don’t want to miss out on something.  You’re looking to be fulfilled.

So my advice today is to use pain to get you where you need to be.  If you need to get back to exercising and eating right, use the pain of loss.  It’s a huge motivator – we don’t want to lose anything.  Write down things that you are losing or have a great potential of losing if you continue on your path.  Save it and read it at least once a day.  Put it in a place where you’ll see it – just you – once a day.  I can speak from personal experience that it will work.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

I don’t like the way that sounds – fake it until you make it – because it sounds like you’re trying to be dishonest about yourself.  But are you?  Can you be?

The answer to the second question is, Certainly!  It’s called acting!  And we ALL do it in some shape or form.  In everything we do when we are in the presence of another person, and when we feel we are communicating in some way with God or anything else, we put on a facade that allows us to project how we want the person or, funny in a way, God, to see us.

Many things make up the way we will change that “person” we become.  For example, if we’re trying to entice a neighbor to look at an opportunity we are in, we will treat them with respect and go overboard to be nice.  We will act different when they respond to our offer.

We strive to be cool, for the most part, but many times we just act acceptable only because we have no standard to live by, or to act by.

So when someone tells you to Fake It Till You Make It – you really need to know – Fake What?  What am I supposed to be living up to?  And this standard can be seen in all of the better corporations and families who take the time to teach their kids a mission statement to live by.  Two companies come to mind, both Apple Computers and Starbucks Coffee.  When you walk into an Apple store, you’re met by employees who stick to a high standard.  Same at Starbucks.  Their training is constant.

Are they like that at home?

No.  But the person they put on at work fits the workplace.  And that’s what you can do when you’re working your opportunity, too.  But where the Fake It part comes in is where you are told to act as if you’ve achieved a certain level in your business or in life.

I’ve heard this called “self-concept” or “ideal-self.”  And tomorrow I’m going to tell you how you can use this philosophy to your advantage.  So don’t miss that.  We’ll do a little dream work and an exercise in getting clarity.  And the timing in your life couldn’t be better, right?

See you then.

I am flabbergasted at the news.  CNN reporting some guy took the lives of his family and then himself because he couldn’t find work.  First, I think where our priorities are nowadays.  And then I think the guy could have possibly been mentally ill from any number of things.  There is enough toxin around us to affect our minds.  That, along with influence from media, friends, global events; it’s enough to give you the creeps that this could have happened.

And yet, I know it’s not the end of it.

Listen, people – life is precious – and even if you’re down to your last penny, know that there is someone somewhere who cares about your life.  My first thought would be to go to a local church – seek help from a pastor.

You can let this external drain on your mind drag you down to despair if you want to.  And you can also not buy into the fact that the world is going to h*ll in a hand basket.  It’s a choice.  Maybe you’re too attached to stuff to make it an easy choice.  I don’t expect you to be like Job in the Bible.  And believe me, this ain’t nothin’ like that was.

Still, at first glace, these are trying times.  My word to you is that you can get through this and it can be better than you think by simply believing you are going to be OK.  It is not as horrible as you may think and certainly, these cyclical things come and go.

Here are five tips that will help you make it:

1. Stay away from negative people.  This includes people who you get bad vibes from.
2. Pray.  Ask God to guide you through this time.  He will.
3. Begin a gratitude and abundance journal.  Each night write down what happened that day that you could either be thankful for, or that was abundance!
4. Become the world’s best money steward.  Be frugal and celebrate at your frugalness.
5. Set goals weekly to where you want to be in 6 months.

Take that and really do it.  Rewrite those items and then do them.  You will be SO surprised when you can actually see how things work.

Talk soon,
Dave

This morning was a little strange.  The south sky was clear, but there were gusts coming off the Everglades with a tinge of misty rain.  I knew we were seeing the effects of Hurricane Ike, which a week ago had me planning to spend tonight and Wednesday inland.  The beach on the Gulf of Mexico is a few minutes walk from the front door.  And I don’t own hurricane shutters.  So far, they haven’t been necessary.

But since God decided Ike should head further west, we were once again blessed.  And so tomorrow will be another great day in paradise with our beautiful home and wonderful daughter and pets.  By the way, Rachel has a few fun videos up at YouTube.  You can look for them here.

Now our dog, Ginger, (who stars in one of the videos), has become finicky lately.  And it’s all our fault.  We fall into the trap of looking into those begging eyes and know what we are eating just has to be better than dog food (even Life Abundance).  So every once in a while there goes an “accidental” scrap on the floor which Ginger quickly takes care of.

If we could get her to eat dust… well, that’s another story.

The dog food bowl in the kitchen that sits just to the left of the dishwasher is half full.  She doesn’t scoot it, or even visit it unless she is really hungry.  I wish I could go that long without food – and see it and not want it.  But we’re made differently.

So now it’s rough – we see the eyes, but know we’re not really doing the dog any good by giving her our food.  Sure she wants what tastes good, but the food created for her is designed to give her exactly what she needs.

But who wants exactly what they need?  The Isrealites had a tough time with it in the wilderness.  Many times in nature we find things are both good for us and taste good.  We think it’s rare, but what has really happened is that we’ve allowed ourselves to become accustomed to other tastes.  I’m sure you’ve run into this when you visit someone from another culture.  They have foods that they love and you can hardly gag it down.  Why is that?

It’s because they have developed a taste for those things.  I think back to the Garden of Eden and what it must have been like there.  But I also believe there is an evil side in this world who wants us to taste different things and get off the wagon.

Well, I could go on and on about what we really should be eating, and wouldn’t that create a healthy debate?  But I have planned a session on the Law of Attraction that I want you to have and I am anxious to get that to you.

Have a great day – remember to stay with things that are “long-term” good for you.  Stay away from the short term.  It can be a killer – long term.

Talk soon,
Dave

I don’t know how you were taught, but when I was a child, transported to and from church each time the doors were open, there were certain things the adults in my sphere of influence told me were simply from the devil.

If anything strange happened, it was either a miracle or something from the other side. This all depended on how the strange thing took place. If it benefited the church – for some reason it was a miracle. And if it didn’t – then it was straight from hades.

Do you think things are so cut and dried? Or maybe we’ve gotten more lax and have a more open mind about these things.

I believe that with age comes wisdom and when I was in my twenties, these things were more cut and dried. There was no gray area and if there were you couldn’t talk your way out of it, easily at least.

But now as I look back on all things I’ve experienced, I can see that everything God has created has some sort of very spiritual side which is deep and hard to understand. And I’m not sure why we are this way – or why things are this way. Perhaps when we all get to heaven we’ll only use that side and somehow it will all make sense.

I see this spiritual side in more than humans. I see it in other animals and even some plants. It’s as if they had feelings (plants) and could understand us on some spiritual wavelength. Some say when we communicate with plants, they do better. Or is it that when we communicate with them, God is really just eavesdropping and He cares for the plant?

Animals I’ve come to know have a spiritual side. They sense things somehow before they happen in ways that we cannot understand given our knowledge of their senses. They seem to be able to reason and there have been incidents of animals traveling cross-country back to their home – not that this is spiritual, but to me that is more than just being a pet.

So I believe that there is a spiritual side to us that most of us are afraid to use. I am one. It’s the fear of the unknown and the fear that you have always been told that any feeling like that is not Godly – so you best not wander there.

I remember being told that meditation was evil and was an easy way that satan could enter your mind. And yet, today – I know that multitasking and keeping our mind on overload is far from healthy – and that clearing our mind – thinking on Godly things in a peaceful environment is so beneficial to our productivity.

I wonder what you think. When the Secret came out a while back, were you confused? Did you think that part of it may be good, but that you felt it wrong to follow? Tell me where you stand – Don’t you think there is more to it than what we’ve been told?