The Best Years of Your Life… Now!

What does give your life real meaning?

Maybe you’ve asked yourself this same question.

I’m convinced those relationships, things and situations which gives meaning to your life ultimately comes down to your doing things which positively impact the lives of others. Something you do that inspires another person to trust their own potential. Rise above their environment. Become more than they once believed was possible. To not give up on their dreams.

I was recently reminded of how what we do can have an important affect on someone else’s life. It happened when I ran across a file I had from 26 years ago. You see, I had self-published a book. A book that sold 33,000 copies and Amway of Australia, called “the bible of multi-level-marketing”.

It was titled “Multi-Level Mastery” and basically contained what I had learned from the time I was still in college at the Indiana University School of Music and started a part-time income generating business. Which within two years had netted me 5 new cars and a new house! It was a book on how to build a multi-level marketing business using the universal principles of success. Believe it or not, at that point in time, the book was the first of it’s kind.

The file

Inside the file were letters from people who had read the book. Lot’s of “thank you, it helped me understand what to do” kinds of letters …and then there were a few “what you said changed my life” letters. The point is, I was 31 years old when I wrote the book. I put forth what I believed in my heart was a way to conduct a business and live your life that would result in success …and it made a difference in people’s lives.

At the time I made a lot of money. Bought my first Mercedes and so on.

That car now sits in a field (in Montana) slowly rusting away. All the money I made from the book was spent decades ago. Yet here were testimonials, still hanging around in a file. The file was full of real abundance that I didn’t fully appreciate as a young man. What I didn’t realize was that the trophies (car, money, stuff) was a by-product of doing something which made a difference in the lives of other people.

I was able to take some life and business lessons and turn them into something that benefited others… I was too immature to fully appreciate that the real purpose of the undertaking was to pass on knowledge. Make someone’s life a little easier. To be a source of inspiration.

26 years later …I get it.

I’ve lived a life with many adventures and operated several businesses. Sure I’ve won advertising awards, achieved national recognition and yes made money …but nothing has made me feel more gratitude for time well spent than that old file full of letters.

Proof that for at least a few moments in my life, what I had done with my time 26 years ago had real meaning.

-Bob Baran

I’ve lost count as to how many times I’ve watched the movie “Peaceful Warrior” since it was released in 2005. Based on Dan Millman’s novel “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” it’s a powerful and entertaining story about a young man’s spiritual awakening. It’s one of my most treasured dvd’s.

There are several powerful themes within the movie that ultimately converge to create a series of epiphanies which result in the main character’s transformation. I want to discuss one of those themes:

Getting the garbage out of your mind

I call the stuff in your conscious mind “gooble-di-gook”. Often a bunch of useless information that takes up space in your mind and draws your attention away from what’s really important.

For some, “gooble-di-gook” is a never ending series of opinions and beliefs (usually of other people) they hide behind. Then spit it out as a way of portraying themselves to be more than they really are. Bring up a subject and they start quoting authors you never heard of and aren’t really relevant to the conversation at hand. They start throwing mental garbage at you because, like a parrot, they have never actually internalized what they claim to know.

If they did, they would never have to point to any authority other than themselves in order to justify who they are and what they know.

Getting back to the garbage in your mind:

The mind has an infinite capacity to store information. The trouble is, that information takes energy to maintain. So we end up focusing our vital energy in the never ending rationalization process which is necessary to sift through all that mental stuff. In other words, we end up living in our mind instead in the present.

So over time life becomes little more than an angst-like sifting process. A never ending internal (and external) conversation that always has more questions than answers. You have to constantly work your way through a lot of gooble-di-gook. You can no longer see things as they really are because your energy and attention is focused on rationalizing and justifying all that stuff in your mind. Each one of those thoughts creating their own limitation, confusion, contradiction and conflict. This ultimately keeps you from recognizing and taking action on your true potential. In other words: You’re stuck.

Time for a mind-dump

Take all that stuff in your head that’s really someone else’s original thoughts and dump it. You know, delete it. Erase it. Stop using it as the reason why you think a certain way. Stop justifying and rationalizing who you are and what you believe using someone else’s attitudes, opinions and beliefs as your authority. Start trusting yourself.

Who you are and what you believe does not require “permission” from some outside source. No other person, institution or philosophy should be the foundation upon what your inner knowingness is based upon. It should be your experience.

Stop wasting your precious time sifting though gooble-di-gook. It’s keeping you from experiencing the moment because your attention is being placed on your memory.

Maybe we don’t have someone who can throw us off a bridge like in the movie, “Peaceful Warrior”. Suddenly and unexpectedly in a free-fall where we experience a mind-dump for a few seconds.

But we do have free-will and the ability to make choices:

Are you going to continue to live in your mind (and the mind’s of others) or are you ready to begin the process of becoming an “original”. Living life on your own terms. Making decisions for your own reasons and never again using someone else as an authority to justify your attitudes, opinions and beliefs?

Let the world know who you are and what you think. Your life experience is the only justification you will ever need…

-Bob Baran

Why Delay the inevitable?

Everything has its own time. Whatever your dream or desire may be, it will arrive at your doorstep only once in an ideal form. What I’m talking about is the combination of things, situations and relationships that align themselves in a “perfect storm”. In this case we’re talking about the elements necessary for you to make whatever it is you desire become a reality.

This perfect alignment only happens once.

Quite frankly, the majority of us never prepare ourselves to recognize the “perfect storm”. The time comes, the opportunity presents itself and then passes us by. Over time our dream or desire turns into a fantasy. An interesting story we tell others over tea and coffee…

Do you ever get a second chance?

Yes. But once you’ve turned your back knowingly or unknowingly on the ideal set of circumstances, you have short-circuited the process you initially set into motion. Keep trying from this perspective and you will end up with a second or third rate version of what you desired. It will be full of compromises, much more difficult, have many more unintended consequences and require an enormous amount of time and energy. It won’t be easy and the outcome won’t be the same.

This is how you grow.

It’s ironic that your inability to recognize when everything you want is being handed to you on a plate, actually triggers the inner-growth process. That is, as long as you don’t give up on your dream or desire. Now begins the inner growth which will one day allow you to recognize when everything you want is being handed to you on a plate! This time you’ll trust yourself and take action.

What I’m saying here is, sometimes you choose (consciously or unconsciously) to do things the hard way. You want something in life but your ego keeps getting in the way. “It’s my way or the highway!” happens to be the first rule of the ego. It’s the “my way” part that causes you to be blind to the obvious and then follow the path of the “hard way”.

Just remember: If you let yourself learn from your “hard way” experiences, it gets easier. You stop making the same mistakes over and over again. You begin to “see” more and you trust yourself to a greater degree.

You’ll never get the same “perfect storm” of an opportunity twice in your life for a given dream or desire. That’s impossible ..but you may be able to recognize a second chance that will still get you to where you want to be. With more time, effort and expense on your part. Yes, a second chance is always possible. It will be different than the original “perfect storm”.

It will appear to you in direct relation to the degree in which you allow yourself to recognize and act upon your truth. Getting yourself to the point to where you’ve evolved to where you can recognize the second chance is what’s going to be the challenge.

Your ability to see the truth of any situation, relationship or thing always mirrors the quality of your intent.

-Bob Baran

Especially when you tell someone you’re going to do something and you find some excuse to get yourself out of it…

There you were, eyeball to eyeball, making a commitment that you already knew you weren’t going to honor. Instead you chose to say and act in a manner which you thought would hide the lie you were telling.

But, this is nothing new is it?

You’ve had a lot of practice with your “outside face”. You’ve hidden what you really feel and what your true intent is behind your mask, your entire life. You then use your power to rationalize to justify how you acted. You rationalize telling a lie. Once again, nothing new.

Then you come face to face with the “real deal”

Someone who sees who you really are.

This person will appear to accept you at face value. He or she doesn’t judge you out of hand. This makes you feel comfortable. That’s when you let your guard down, just a little. Now you begin to set your own trap.

You see, the person operating from honesty and pure intent, who says what he or she means, and does what he or she says, will always lead you into a situation which forces you to make a commitment. This is how truth will always set you up …to redeem yourself or expose your lie.

The commitment is often a “put up or shut up” kind of situation. It requires, time, energy and money on your part. If you were actually honest the commitment would be second nature, a natural extension of who you claim to be. You would either do it, or not do it. You would never say one thing and do another.

The commitment forces an inner confrontation between who you wish you were (how you want the world to see you) and who you really are…

The good news

The person operating from honesty and with good intent will have rapidly eliminated you from his or her life. Ironically, you actually eliminate yourself through your actions. Allowing someone to create a situation which forces him or her to act on their real truth, is fastest way to find out if they are “the real deal”.

From the perspective of the individual who is operating from good intent, many time wasting and distracting relationships, situations and things are avoided. Honesty and commitment are the most powerful tools an individual has to recognize and avoid energy wasting distractions.

The funny thing, is that the fear, uncertainty and doubt which the dishonest person has to confront as they begin to rationalize their lack of honesty, is all self induced.

The person operating from good intent will always have something good come from the relationship, situation or thing. Not counting the knowledge that he or she has once again avoided and prevented yet another “empty suit” from taking up space in their day-to-day reality…

In my case it’s often a great idea for a blog or article!

Next!

Bob Baran

I’ve talked about gratitude before and I’ll talk about it again. It’s one thing you can always do. If you’re looking to improve your life, your outlook or even someone else’s attitude toward you.

Yesterday, I said I was grateful for the life I live and asked if you were grateful for yours. Well, are you? Have you tried being grateful for your life?

Gratitude! Such a simple and yet effective tool. It is one that you can easily use everyday. All it takes is a moment to stop and say to yourself, “I am grateful.”

Make a list.

• I am grateful for a sunny day.
• I am grateful for the rain.
• I am grateful for (blank).
• I am grateful for (so and so).

You get the picture.

Or you can just look around you and exclaim your gratitude for what you see that maybe you didn’t notice before.

• I’m grateful for that tree.
• I’m grateful I made that traffic light.
• I’m grateful I didn’t get in a wreck.
• I’m grateful I got to see the sunset.

Again, you get the picture.

The power of gratitude is in recognizing that your life isn’t all doom and gloom. There are many things to be grateful for. Look around your life and see what you haven’t noticed lately. Recognize and be grateful for the good in your life or your challenges.

Just be grateful. I’ll bet you’ll have a different outlook on your life after a few days of consciously being grateful and really looking at what is good about your life. The strange thing is… You may even find the people around you responding to you in a different way.  You will feel differently about your life.

If you’d like more details about gratitude you can go to an article that Bob wrote located on our site at: http://www.intentionalprosperity.com/gratitude.html

Take care and have a grateful day,

Gwen Baran