Do You!

That’s powerful.

This entire Note could be on the first chapter alone where Russell establishes “Law Number One: See Your Vision and Stick with It.” Discovering your vision is Law Number One for a reason. We’ve gotta have a vision that drives us.

So…

What’s YOUR vision?!?

“Focus on your vision and keep going until you hit the finish line. Don’t be one of the people who believe in their vision at first but then give up. See it through, no matter how long it takes. Understand that obstacles are just part of the game. Whatever you imagine, you can achieve. Once you realize this truth, no one is going to be able to stop you.”

Mantra. “A tool of thought.”

Have you used mantras before? Powerful stuff.

One of my favorites over the years includes repeating “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…” again and again. I did that so much that when my mind was silent this little voice would pop up out of nowhere and say, “Thank you!” :)

Three more of my favorites came from Deepak Chopra’s brilliant book The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire. (See Notes for a bunch of other big ideas.) They were:

• I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.
• I am beneath no one.
• I fearlessly handle any and all challenges in my life.

I’ve said those (tens of!) thousands of times. Powerful tools.

So…

What tools of thought will you introduce into your life starting… Now?!!?

“A clear and focused mind will last a lifetime. Getting your mind in shape is nothing less than the key to sustainable success in the world.”

…

And, speaking of “thank you!” … how ‘bout a big bowl of gratitude?!?

Wow. There’s a powerful way to start your day. In our Notes on Positive Psychology, we often talk about the scientific FACT that gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to boost our levels of happiness.

My (strong) recommendation (if you aren’t already doing this): Start your day thinking about all of the things for which you’re grateful. And end your day the same way. And sneak in as many other instances as you can. (Especially thank the annoying things/people who are teaching/challenging you to embody your highest self even when you don’t feel like it. :)

So… For what are you grateful?!?

I’m grateful for:

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Feed yourself like a champ in the morning! :)

Love that.

Don’t believe Simmons?

How about Joseph Campbell?

—> “To refuse the call means stagnation. What you don’t experience positively you will experience negatively.”

Not good enough? How about Abraham Maslow?

—> “What one can be, one must be!”

Still not enough? What about Jesus?

—> “If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is inside you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you.”

You have gifts to give to the world. Give them.

And, please:

So many great teachers remind us of our need to just do it—to just take the next step in this precious hero’s journey of ours.

Russell brilliantly articulates the pain we’ll experience if we DON’T. It’s subtle but so powerful.

It’s almost like there’s this internal, subconscious computer that’s keeping track of our every action—giving us a point for every time we step forward into growth and subtracting a point every time we step back into safety or fear or laziness.

Imagine that.

Let’s say you start this morning at Zero. (Which, thankfully, we’re blessed with the ability to do.)

So, it’s first thing in the morning. Alarm goes off. Do you do what you’ve committed to doing—whether that’s getting up and out immediately or silently breathing, thinking about your ideal day and everything you’re grateful for? Or, do you roll over and pull the pillow over your head and think about all that’s wrong in your world?

You get +1 if you stepped forward. -1 if you went backward.

Then let’s assume you said you’d work out this morning. Do you? +1 or -1.

And you can keep track moment to moment to moment.

+1 or -1. +1 or -1. +1 or -1.

At the end of the day, how do you think you’ll feel if you’re subconscious mathematician comes back to you with a report of -8,549?

You’ll want to turn on the TV and zone out. Or drink a beer (or ten). Or yell at your spouse and/or kids.

So…

Quit stalling and start taking the baby steps and always remember, the pain of not doing your best is ALWAYS greater than the pain of stepping forward.

Who would have thought a hip-hop mogul would be teaching us so much Sanskrit?!?

Tapas.

The word literally means “heat” or “essential energy” and, as Simmons brilliantly articulates, as we live our life with discipline, passion and integrity, we burn thru the negativity that can separate us from God.

And that’s a straight line to bliss.

My recommendation? Burn, baby, burn.

…

“The person who understands Dharma will have the opposite reaction to a ‘hard’ job. That person will be eager to get started, no matter what kind of work is in front of her, because she understands that she’s doing God’s work. And when you’re working for God, nothing is too hard.”

How often do you make excuses for why you can’t do something because of your age?

You too old to start something? Too young to go for it?

Ridiculous.

As Simmons advises: “Age ain’t nothing but a number.”

And, in the words of Satchel Paige: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”

What’ve you been holding back on?

Get out and rock it.

How do you respond to obstacles?

Next time you face one imagine that it’s really just God asking you: “Well, do you really want to make it or not?!?”

(And, answer, “YES!!!” as you get back to work with a smile. :)

I love that.

And Russell follows it up with “Always focus on your effort, instead of the results of that effort.”

Brilliant 21st century application of the classic Bhagavad Gita (see Notes) wisdom: “The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results.”

How about you? Once you’ve frozen your ideal vision in your mind, do you obsess about the results or do you put yourself on “super pilot” (as John Eliot would say in his great book Overachievement (see Notes)) and completely immerse yourself in doing your best moment to moment?

Brilliant.

Again, we’ve heard this before. It’s simple.

But… are you embodying this ideal?

Let’s wake up every morning striving to find more and more powerful ways to give ourselves to the world, shall we?!?)

It’s Law Number Eight (in Russell’s 12 Laws of Success): “The Science of Success: Plant the Good Seeds.”

We’ve all heard this one before.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us: “When we do wrong, we come to suffering. When we do good in the world, we come to happiness.”

The Bible teaches: “You reap what you sow.”

Eric Butterworth in Spiritual Economics (see Notes): “The law is exact: If you give, really work in a giving consciousness, you must receive.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay, Compensation (see Notes): “Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed.”

Esther & Jerry Hicks describe the Law of Attraction in Ask and It Is Given (see Notes): “Every thought vibrates, every thought radiates a signal, and every thought attracts a matching signal back. We call that process the Law of Attraction… The Law of Attraction says: That which is like unto itself is drawn. And so, you might see the powerful Law of Attraction as a sort of Universal Manager that sees to it that all thoughts that match one another line up.”

And countless others.

So, what seeds are you planting? Are you looking forward to their harvest? If not, what’s one thing you need to STOP doing right now that’s no longer serving you? If you’re giddy about the seeds you’re planting coming to fruition, right on! What else can you do?

And, in any case, what’s the #1 thing you KNOW you should be doing that you’re not currently doing? Make it a habit. Plant the seeds. Now.

What’s your voice telling you?

Are you taking the time everyday to get quiet and tune into that deep intuition that’s guiding you to your Highest Self? Whether it’s turning off the radio while you’re in traffic and quietly breathing and/or going on hikes and/or sitting in meditation—make sure you’re finding the time to chat with God.