The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe

Wow.

“Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed.”

So, uh… Which one are you choosing? :)

That’s so great. :)

As I write this I’m approaching my 35th birthday and I’m giddy about the truth of this statement. I can feel my power coalescing and I’m excited to see what the decades have in store. Fun!

The good news is that regardless of where we are in our life journey, the fact remains that our power grows as WE grow. As we become more and more aware of the Divine Intelligence flowing through us and make a conscious effort to plug into it more and more consistently, our mojo builds and our creative output builds with us!

Let’s check out some Big Ideas on how to make that so. :)

Alexander Graham Bell says it this way: “Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

While Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.”

How about you? Do you consciously focus your energy on your core intentions, that which matters most to you? Or, are you dissipating your energy on the things which matter least?

Become aware. Focus. Create!

Amen.

How’s your trust in the unlimited help of the Universal Intelligence within?

And, are you living your highest truths? Giving to others more than they expect?! (That one’s particularly fun I think! :) And doing it with a smile?

Sweet.

Let the good times roll! :)

Russell was a painter who had never touched clay until he was 56 when, for various reasons, he found himself in a position where he needed to sculpt a bust of Thomas Edison.

He continues describing his drive from New York to Florida where he did his work:

“I spent the entire time absorbed in inspirational meditation with the Universal Source of all inspiration, in order to fully realize the omnipotence of the Self within me as a preparation for doing in a masterly way what I would otherwise be unable to do…

If I had followed the usual procedure of the superficially-minded man and played bridge all the way down to Florida, or otherwise enslaved my mind by sidetracking it from its creative purpose… I would have failed. In fact, I knew in advance, from long experience in trying to achieve the unachievable, that meditation and communion between my Self and the Universal Self was the only way to achieve that impossibility. ”

The resulting sculpture is stunning—one of the greatest achievements of his career.

There’s so much I love here. First, the fact that he took inspiration from his belief that he should do great work as a DEMONSTRATION of his belief in man’s unlimited power.

That’s just cool. And totally resonant with the Wallace Wattles adage I’m embracing these days: “The world needs demonstration more than it needs instruction.”

It’s so easy to *talk* about these great, noble truths. It’s an entirely different thing to not only embody them but do so as a demonstration of what humanity is capable of. Powerful.

Of course, I also dig the idea that he chose to insulate himself from the normal superficial distractions so that he could commune with the Universal Source of inspiration—without which he would have failed.

I think it’s simply impossible to create anything really interesting/meaningful if we’re *constantly* bombarding ourselves with this distraction and that distraction—whether it’s vegging out in front of the TV or drinking (another) glass of wine or beer or whatever. If we’re committed to expressing our genius with the world, we’ve gotta invest the one-on-one time with the Divine, eh?

(Soooo… how’re you doing with that? :)

Brilliant. How do we team up with God to take that one inch journey together? Stillness.

In Russell’s words: “If you are alone long enough to get thoroughly acquainted with yourself, you will hear whisperings from the universal source of all consciousness which will inspire you.”

Another way to embrace stillness:

Have you locked yourself up in a room lately? :)

I do it every morning now and I *know* that my hour of silence is one of my most powerful ways to plug into Source!!

*hands you key* *points to room* *smiles*

Reminds me of Kahlil Gibran: “Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”

How do you approach your work?

In a masterly manner?

And with love?

(Good. :)

“With an overwhelming desire for intensive expression, a love of all tasks of every nature, and a deep love of life and of all people and things in life, he believes that every person can remain vital and effervescent throughout one’s entire life.”

Let’s check out some more mojo on this:

Magical. Seneca and the Buddha (and many others) say the same thing.

Seneca: “There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly.”

Buddha: “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.”

Is there something you must do that you’re doing with ickness? How you can bring love to it? (Starting now?)

And, while you’re at, see if you can take it this far: “A menial task which must be mine, that shall I glorify and make an art of it.”

That reminds me of George Leonard’s brilliant book Mastery (see Notes) where he says: “Could all of us reclaim lost hours of our lives by making everything—the commonplace along with the extraordinary—a part of our practice?”

As they say, how we do anything is how we do everything. The fact is, if we’re *truly* committed to living a life less ordinary, we’ve GOTTA embrace the moment to moment to moment opportunities to bring our best to the world. It’s the aggregate of those little things that make the great and there’s simply no way we’re going to do the big things well if we only give part of ourselves to the mundane.

Can I get another “Amen,” please?!? (Thank you. :)

Marcus Aurelius, the 2nd century Roman Emperor/Stoic Philosopher (see Notes on Meditations) said pretty much the same thing: “So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, ‘This is a misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is a good fortune.’”

Back to you (again!).

Are you seeing “defeats” as nothing more than interesting experiences of life that are, in fact, valuable stepping stones to success?

Or, are you not only recognizing them as defeats but replaying them over and over and over again, essentially cutting yourself off from the opportunity to alchemize the experiences into future success?!?

Tony Robbins (see Notes) likes to say: “Success is the result of good judgment, good judgment is a result of experience, experience is often the result of bad judgment.”

So, quite simply, if you want the good judgment that produces success you’ve gotta be willing to have bad judgment! And, if that’s the case, you might as well accelerate the process of “failing” so you can learn what you need to learn, eh?!?

Change your perception and KNOW that your “defeats” are springboards to your greatest success!!!

Me likes.

Imagine a mechanic incredibly familiar with his machine. The machine has a familiar hum to it such that if that hum changes he knows immediately.

Now imagine you’re the mechanic and the machine.

The hum that you, in your properly functioning state exude, is a state of joy and happiness. In fact, according to Russell, you should be listening for an inner joyousness amounting to ECSTASY as the natural rhythm of your life.

This is pretty much *exactly* what Esther and Jerry Hicks describe in all their books—especially The Astonishing Power of Emotions where they go off on the idea that our emotions are a sixth sense, providing us with what they call an “Emotional Guidance System” that gives us moment to moment feedback on whether we’re in tune with the Divine.

So, what hum shall we listen for?

Joy, Love, Appreciation, Enthusiasm and all that goodness, of course!

Interestingly, the Buddha talks about a “hum” of his own when he says: “Life is suffering.” The word used to describe our suffering state is “Dukkha”—which represents the screeching hum of a potter’s wheel that’s a little stuck and no longer spinning freely.

Fascinating…

(Check out the Note on Big Mind Big Heart for more on that!)

Nietzsche (see Notes on Thus Spoke Zarathustra) says something similar: “This is the manner of noble souls: they do not want to have anything for nothing; least of all, life. Whoever is of the mob wants to live for nothing; we others, however, to whom life gave itself, we always think about what we might best give in return… One should not wish to enjoy where one does not give joy.”

Imagine that… seeking to always GIVE more in our creative acts than we receive in the creation from others. Amazing.

What would your life look like if you lived with that intention? How would you show up in your life? In your work? In your relationships with your spouse or kids or friends or colleagues?

Let’s imagine walking through every experience of our lives with the intention to give more than we receive…

To The Life Triumphant, my friend.