The Science of Being Great

Emerson says the same thing in his genius essay Self-Reliance. (I’ve read it dozens of times. It’s hot. And you can download the PDF and an MP3 recording of it on the site! :)

“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. No man yet knows what it is, nor can, till that person has exhibited it. Where is the master who could have taught Shakspeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? Every great man is a unique. The Scipionism of Scipio is precisely that part he could not borrow. Shakspeare will never be made by the study of Shakspeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much… Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart, and thou shalt reproduce the Foreworld again.”

So, remember: you will be made great by what you receive FROM GOD, not from your teachers.

That doesn’t mean that our teachers don’t offer assistance in our paths, but it DOES mean that WE need to take the final step alone, hand-in-hand with God.

We need to have the courage to go beyond the books and fully express our own unique manifestation of the Divine within us.

Fun. :)

Ah. I love that.

So, if you want to become great, you need to become *really* good at reading the Mind of God so you can fully connect and then express Her goodness.

Now, if you’re stressed or anxious or worried or fearful, you’re screwed.

Why? Because having any of those emotions is kinda like ripping the plug out of the God socket in the wall. Imagine trying to turn on your refrigerator without plugging it in! You *need* that energy supply. Even your computer, left unplugged for too long, will run out of juice. Then whaddya do? You plug it back in.

Same thing here.

If you want to experience your greatness, you’ve gotta plug into Source and you can’t do that when you’re anxious/worried/afraid.

So, next time you’re feelin’ those emotions, know you just unplugged.

And do something to plug back in. Whether that’s running/smiling/laughing/petting your poochie/going for a walk/meditating/taking a bath or any of the infinite # of ways you can plug in!!

How do you see yourself?

As a great advancing soul? Awesome. Hone that image even more and envision the *next* greatest manifestation of your advancing soul!

As something less than a great advancing soul? Eek! Time to exercise your “seeing myself as a great advancing soul muscles”! Worry not. If you’ve mastered the art of seeing yourself as a limited being, you can take those same skills of imagination and apply them to seeing yourself as a great, advancing soul. It just takes practice. (You practicing? :)

That’s strong.

Do you still have distrustful fears that things will go wrong or people won’t treat you the way you want?

Get above ALL of them. NOW.

Just start noticing more and more how often little doubts/fears creep in and politely escort them out the door.

Then what?

Then: “Fix upon your ideal of what you wish to make yourself.”

Wow. I’m learning to take these guys literally. So, let’s break that one down. Notice the important use of the word “never.”

“NEVER think of yourself with doubt or distrust, or as one who makes mistakes.”

So, quick quiz: When is it OK to think of yourself with doubt or as someone who makes mistakes?

Bingo! That would be *never*. :)

Again, start noticing how often you fall into doubt and resolve to switch your focus to what you want/who you’re becoming/what your highest Self is evolving into!

Did you know the guy who invented the radio (Marconi) was thrown into an insane asylum when he told his “friends” that he could harness sound and transmit it from one place to another without anything in between. They thought he was nuts. (It IS kind of nutty when you think about it! You can listen to a radio station while driving your car or talk to your friends on a little piece of plastic with NOTHING (visible, anyway) there.)

Imagine if the people we admire so much decided they’d only do what the people around them thought was reasonable/possible/appropriate. Our world would be kinda boring. We owe all the great advances of our civilization to people who were brave enough to close their ears to all adverse suggestions, eh?!?

As Harry Truman says: “How far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus Christ have preached if he had taken a poll in the land of Israel? What would have happened to the Reformation if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn’t polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It’s right and wrong and leadership.”

George Bernard Shaw says it beautifully as well: “Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”

So how about you? You need to close your ears a bit (a lot?) more?!?

DREAM ON!!!

Genius.

Are you rushing? In a hurry to get your goals done already?

Well, there’s fear wherever hurry lurks. So, be on the look-out. What’s the rush? If you KNOW everything’s working out just perfectly, why would you ever need to rush? (Hint: you wouldn’t. ;)

Relax. Enjoy the journey. Give your best. Smile. Breathe. SEE the beauty of your dreams as manifest and KNOW that it’s all in escrow waiting for you to take one inspired step after the next—with no anxiety, tension, hurry or any of that business.

One blissful step at a time. That’s how we manifest our destiny and LOVE the process.

“So surely as you find yourself in the mental attitude of haste, just so surely may you know that you are out of the mental attitude of greatness. Hurry and fear will instantly cut your connection with the universal mind.”

What are you HABITUALLY thinking?

What’s the DOMINANT thought pattern you have toward yourself?

We’ve gotta know that it’s not the occasional “Check me out, I rock!” thought that’ll get the job done. That’s like someone going to church and then yelling at people on the way out of the parking lot. (My dad actually did that! Rest your soul, pops! Love you! :)

Our destiny is decided by our *habitual* thoughts! (Yes, there’s an echo in here.)

We MUST get great at holding the vision of our highest Selves and then LIVING from that fantastic place.

I love it when I repeat the obvious. Again and again and again. Question is: Are you LIVING these truths?!? (Don’t worry, I’ll keep repeating myself till we all do. :)

Do you think you can become great?

Coupla things on that:

1) EVERYONE can become great; and,

2) As per Ford: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Too often we look at those we admire and think it must have been their destiny to achieve greatness. Something in their genes or astrological chart or just sheer luck. Huh? That’s just a REALLY weak excuse for us failing to step up to our own greatness.

As Wattles says: “It is within the power of every man to become great.”

And the great Paulo Coelho echoes that when he says: “I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the divinity of God.”

YOU HAVE SEEDS OF GREATNESS IN YOU!

I hope you already know that and I hope you have enough strength to work on yourself till you manifest it and most fully give yourself to the world. Why? Well, we need it. But, more importantly, YOU need it! As Abraham Maslow states: “If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.”

You might be thinking, “Oh, but me? I can’t possibly be great. You should have seen how I was raised.” Or, “Not for me. I’m in prison.” Or, “Me? blah blah blah blah boring story blah.”

Whatever. You only need to look at so many people like Oprah or Malcolm X or 50 Cent (OMG. Former thug drug dealer turned artist turned future billionaire simply rockin’ his greatness!) to anyone else you wanna pick who had way worse circumstances than you and turned it around.

Of course, the STATISTICS will tell you that you won’t do it. But who gives a *%$# about statistics? If one in a million make it, those are great odds. How many of you are there? Just do it. :)

So, I’ll pick up my megaphone one more time: “IT IS WITHIN YOUR POWER TO BECOME GREAT!!!”

*stops yelling and sets the megaphone down* :)

Now a good time to think you’re great? Sweet! :)

And, very importantly, now’s also a good time to start ACTING like it as well.

Imagine your most incredible self right now. Come on, really get a picture of your greatest self in your mind. How do you look? How do you feel? What are you doing with your life? Who are you around? How are you acting?

Now, BE that person now! Any time you feel yourself acting small, bring that ultimate vision of your Great self into your mind and ask yourself, “How would THEY act right now?”

Then act that greatly NOW!

Reading’s great. Thinking about what we read, and then living according to what we find true? Much better.

Wattles quotes a few other luminaries to bring home his point that we need to think! Here are a couple of ‘em:

Schopenhauer: “We may divide thinkers into those who think for themselves and those who think through others. The latter are the rule and the former the exception. The first are original thinkers in a double sense, and egotists in the noblest meaning of the word.”

Goethe: “All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them really ours we must think them over again honestly till they take root in our personal expression.”

So whaddya think?

Are you more interested in BEING served than in serving?

Note Nietzsche’s wisdom here as well and then go give joy: “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.”

Brilliant.

Again, it’s not enough to go to church on Sunday’s or sit in meditation for a few minutes (or even hours) a day.

If you are *truly* committed to serving God, remember: “The only service you can render God is to make the very most of yourself in order that God may live in you to the utmost of your possibilities.”

That’s one of my absolute favorite lines these days.

I repeat: “The world needs demonstration more than it needs teaching.”

So many of us are eager to “teach” but how many of us are *demonstrating* what a human being looks like who’s embodying his/her truths?!?

And one final question: What’s ONE thing you can start doing today to align yourself even more with your Greatest Self?