Always the best Medicine

"Don't take yourself too seriously; no one else does! Find reasons to smile and laugh often. Create opportunities to laugh. When others amuse you, laugh with them, not at them. Laugh as often as possible every day." Tamara Gerlach


The best tension reliever is a good laugh, and it's usually free! What's not to like about laughter?

Well, sometimes we just get convinced that our life, our problems, are so serious and important that laughter would be sacriligious.

That's a shame. As our quote says, taking ourselves too seriously just makes us look foolish. How many people that are wrapped up in their own self importance do you want to hang out with?

Yeah, I thought so. I don't want to do that either.

In even better news, science has now shown that laughter is amazingly healing and healthy, too. When we laugh we release a boatload of endorphins in our brain that make us feel good and supports brain health, too.

Being relaxed allows our creativity to flow and we become more productive while we're feeding our mind and body with healthy natural chemicals.

As our quote cautions us, we should remember to laugh with people, not at them. We want everyone to join in the fun, and not be the object of the joke.

That's not hard to do, if we're paying attention. Laughter draws people together, building team spirit and productivity.

So if you're stopped up with seriousness, take a dose of some laughsitive!

All the best

These are my people

"Insecure people have to make excuses and put others down to feel confident. Confidence isn't walking into a room with your nose in the air, and thinking you are better than everyone else, it's walking into a room and not having to compare yourself to anyone in the first place." Author Unknown


I fell in love with this quote the minute I saw it! It manages to take so much wisdom and put it into one simple and memorable statement.

What we are challenged to do is give up measuring our worth by comparing ourselves to others. This is hard, because when we see people with more of the trappings of success than we have, our mind immediately rates us as "less than."

Now that kind of ranking only works if we start out from the same place at the same time to accomplish the same end result.

If you change any of the major parameters, you can't make the comparison. As it is said in the USA, you can't compare apples and oranges.

So our self confidence stems from our belief that we can handle anything that comes up, on our unique path. No comparison with anyone else is required.

In fact, we can celebrate the successes of others, because they are proof that people can succeed. And if they can, with their unique set of skills and problems, so can we.

So we can walk into the room and not compare ourselves to the others there. We can simply look around and say, "These are my people!"

Because they are.

All the best,
Wes

How To Eat Healthy Foods | BlackDoctor

How To Eat Healthy Foods | BlackDoctor

Three Steps To A Great Year

"Although Spirit is the very essence of your being, it will never move into form without your assistance. You must always do your part to start the creative process in motion." Bob Proctor

As we're getting ready to begin a new year let's start by asking how we did with our goals this past year.

Well? How did you do?

OK, so you don't have to answer. that. But I suspect that you, like me, have plans to do even better in 2013.

So here are the three simple steps to achieving goals. Note: I said simple, I didn't say easy. If it was simple AND easy I wouldn't be writing this newsletter.

First, get very clear about what you want, and what area of your life you want the goal to apply to.

Second, meditate on the goal until you can see it as accomplished and really feel the certainty of the fact that it's a done deal. That is, take possession of it in your mind and heart.

Third, take bold and decisive action toward bringing that goal to life.

Oh, and step 3 1/2 is important: don't quit!

As Bob says in our quote, goals do not achieve themselves. They require our assistance. Do the inner work, and then do the outer work.

Many people have found the How To Create Success program is a big help in doing this work.

Make 2013 your best year ever!

All the best

Go From Ordinary to Extraordinary

"And she gave birth to her firs born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room fo them in the inn."Luke 2:7
                     
There are often powerful lessons contained in the writings of the world's great spiritual traditions that we can appreciate whether we're part of that tradition or not.

I particularly like this one - from the Christian tradition about
the birth of Jesus.

The lesson for us in this story is simple - great things can come
from very humble beginnings.

Often we discount ourselves and minimize what we can
accomplish because we feel so ordinary. We're just a regular
person from a regular family doing regular stuff.

Or perhaps our family was, shall we say, a little less than ordinary? How could we expect to do great things? No one in our family ever did great things!
Good. You get to be first.

I'm pretty sure you got a better start than being wrapped in
rags in a stable. It's not where you came from, but where you're going that counts.

No excuses. We need you. Go change the world.

Merry Christmas,
Wes

What do you do when you hear voices

"There are no misfits in the Universe. All notes are
necessary for the symphony. You are unique. There is
nothing useless other than your belief and concept that
you're useless." Dr Robert Anthony

One of the beliefs that keeps us from doing great things is
our belief that only great people, special people, can do
great things.

A brief look at world history and spiritual writings will
quickly disprove that notion. The most enduring tale in
literature and real life is the ordinary person who is called
to do great things.

A skinny little guy from India got treated badly on a train
in South Africa one day. He decided he couldn't ignore
racist discrimination any more. So Gandhi went back to
India and when he was done the British were out and India
was free. Just an ordinary guy.

One of my favorite stories in the spiritual literature is in the
Hebrew scriptures. A young kid is apprenticed to a priest in
the Temple. He's doing OK, until he starts hearing a voice
calling his name.

He goes to Eli, the priest, several times to find out what he
wants, but Eli finally figures it out and says, "Samuel, that's
not me, that's God talking. Go listen!"

How many times has that happened to us? We don't hear
what we're being called to do because we are trapped in
our ordinary-ness.

Every special person is an ordinary person who listened to
the call and said "Yes!" The next time you find yourself
thinking that "somebody should do something with or about
that" just stop, take a deep breath, and like Samuel, say, "OK,
I'm listening."

We'll all appreciate it.

All the best,
Wes

"Letting go means to come to the realization that
some people are a part of your history, but not a
part of your destiny." ~ Steve Maraboli


We've all had a lot of people that have helped us along the
path to where we are today. Some of those people were
obviously positive influences, and some of the others were
not so obviously positive influences.


They all contributed to our growth and development in one
way or another. We can be grateful for them.
I know, it's a lot easier to be grateful for some people than
it is for others, because the help we got from some people
was more pleasant than others. But they all helped.


That doesn't mean that we need to carry them around with
us for the rest of our lives, however.
When our lives take different paths, and our relationships
change, there's a tendency to feel like we must stay in touch.

We can, if we choose, but we don't have to. It's OK to let
that person go. If we feel guilty about doing that, we should
look at the situation and ask our #1 question - is that true?

Do we really have unfinished business, do we really owe
that person something? Or do we just have a "guilty" tape
running?
As our quote says, people can be a valuable part of our
past without needing to be part of our present. We can be
grateful and move on. They can do the same.

We'll be a lot freer without the guilt that comes from putting
unreasonable restrictions on our choices. We'll make room
for new people, to help and be helped.

That would be good.

All the best,
Wes Hopper