The Quiet Time of Day

I depend on G-d‘s guidance. It is the only guidance that has ever worked for me. But there’s a catch. In my experience, G-d depends on the silence of the morning to transmit his guidance. My mind must be quiet in order to catch the hunches and nudges that come from Him.

I reflect back on that daily quiet time as a reference point—I return to that peaceful time when I find myself stressed or worried about something in the future. What is the future I am talking about? Anything outside of the 24 hours of the day. The quiet time prepares me for the day ahead. It reminds me how it feels to be peaceful and what inspiration I might experience when I still my mind.

Isn’t most worry about something that hasn’t happened, but might? Good things might happen in the future as well, but it seems we are programmed to think of the bad things that might occur and perhaps what we think we need to do to avoid those things.

I have found that as long as I live within the confines of the day, and one day at a time, I can keep my mind at ease. Worry doesn't live within today’s 24 hours. Worry lives elsewhere—in a future we can’t control.

As long as the future seems rosy, my mind can stay easily within the next 24 hours. A little meditation in the morning, and writing down what that which I am grateful, helps my mind stays focused on today.

But wow, with any potential cloud on the horizon and my mind immediately attaches to it. The cloud turns black and the rain begins to pour. All kinds of catastrophic events emerge from that cloud. My mind re-focuses on every possible negative angle. With each angle comes another, and another. My mind goes off its 24-hour rails. My self-will is at it again—and it is up to no good. I can’t begin to hear G-d's guidance through all the racket inside my head. My self-will has taken over. I need to find, and I search for, that peaceful quiet and serene time I experience in the morning.

Ask Me About My Humility

Where does anger come from? I think its close companion is a lack of humility. When do we get angry? When we are convinced that it is our position that is right (and just?)-- and someone dares to disagree with us. How could they? How can they disagree with us when it is so obvious (to us) that the basis of our beliefs and our conclusions are correct? And that we who profess these notions are so upright and moral?

Our anger stemming from the outrage of someone disagreeing with us is antithetical to the idea of humility. How to combat this? How to make our anger vanish and humility return? I focus on my morning meditations when I recount that for which I am grateful. Not what I am grateful for earning or achieving (through self-will), but what I am grateful for receiving—all of which emanates from God. 

Many disagree. They say that if you don’t embrace anger—acknowledge and express it—if you instead repress it, you will suffer psychological problems.

I beg to disagree. When we feel anger well up what do we do?  If that anger is driven by fear it can be destructive. When it is, we call it rage. Rage is not productive. So what is anger driven by fear? When we are afraid we might cower in a corner or become combative. Good results come from neither.

While it is not up to God to remove our anger, we can ask Him to remove our fear. And when our fear—usually related to the loss of something related to our ego or self-importance—is lifted from us, we can recapture the serenity we feel in the morning.

My mantra today is "I am strong, calm, and kind. At all costs”.

Seventh Day Dogs

I've heard it said that for every human year a dog lives seven years. It could then follow that for every month a dog lives seven months. And for every day a dog lives seven days.

Genesis 2:2 states "on the seventh day G-d finished the work which he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day for all the work which he had done. And G-d blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it G-d ceased from all the work of creation which he had done."

Could it be that one reason our dogs are so dear to us is because of what they show us? For them, each day is the seventh day. They embody a life in a perpetual state of holiness--the Sabbath. G-d blessed the Seventh Day as an example for us to follow. Is there a better example of love on earth as what we receive and learn from our canine companions?

As We Grow Older…

As we grow older, we must get smaller. In all ways. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, and materially. Let's break that down.

Spiritually/Emotionally

The spiritual journey takes time. Years.  I have found that as I have focused on spiritual growth, my sense of self-importance lessens. My ego is smaller. I have become rearranged emotionally.

Thoreau said that “man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest." I add that a person is happiest when their ego is smallest.

Mentally

We enjoy new luxuries—the luxury of time. Now that we need not concern ourselves with professional advancement, we can read and socialize exclusively for pleasure.

Physically

Smaller is better. Better for our knees and back and hips and for our general health. Blood pressure improves, sugars are lower, heart attack is lessened. And cigarettes? None.

Walking is exercise. Gardening is exercise. Housework is exercise. One may reconsider the definition of exercise as one gets older. Fewer calories equals less weight. (fc=lw).

Materially

Thoreau’s wisdom bears repeating: “Man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."

The Deal Flow. Pathway to the Stars.

In 1975 I asked a man to mentor me—to help me become successful. His instruction? "Get a job." When I asked him what kind of job, all he did was to repeat his original directive.  "Get a job. Any job. Jobs are where the deals flow."

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I got a job--sweeping a factory floor. That led me to making pizzas, which led me to pounding nails, which led me to an apprenticeship as a union carpenter. Five years in the construction business in the Texas summer heat made any work inside an air-conditioned building very attractive. So I asked another successful man if he would meet with me for 15 minutes. He did. That meeting led to a job in financial sales—and that man later became my partner.

Financial sales require many certifications, which I obtained, sometimes after multiple efforts to pass the exams. With those certifications I started another company. This one I designed at the onset to be sold to my employees. It worked.

What was my most important job?

Sweeping a factory floor. Jobs are where the deals flow.

In March 2022 there were 11,550,000 job openings in America. Many include sweeping floors.

Grab onto that opportunity so that dynamism and movement can begin to take hold.

Success or failure – the results are up to you. Go find a broom.

Dynamism and the Deal Flow

This morning’s exercise of placing pen to paper is an example of the workings of this title: "Dynamism and The Deal Flow."

Dr. Matthew Hinsley explains dynamism this way: "Life is a journey. Life is change. Humans crave progress no matter where they are, or what they've achieved."

Beginning is the hardest part of writing a song. I've heard it said that the hardest part of exercise is putting on your running shoes. Beginning is the hardest part of blogging. Applying for a job is the hardest part of getting employment. But beginning is what it is all about.

Getting into the mix, whatever that mix is, is called a deal flow. Why flow? Because one leads to an untold number of opportunities.

Dynamism drives us forward or pushes us back. It opens the door to our next opportunity and our next opportunity and our next…

I sold a company in 2014 that I started with $500 in 1986. For 28 years I dreamed and designed a path that would lead that company to be purchased by the employees who became shareholders.

That $500 brought me, and many others a great deal of satisfaction and success.

D+V+P=US

Dynamism and visualization, combined with persistence, lead to ultimate success.

Next week: The Deal Flow – Pathway to the Stars.

Happiness is Not Where You Are. Happiness is Who You Are.

My wife, Louise, asked me the other night if I was happy here in Georgetown, Texas, a town we had recently moved to from Rogers, Arkansas. She also asked me if I had been miserable in Arkansas. I answered "I'm not happy because of where I am, I am happy because of who I am."There were parts of Arkansas that I absolutely adored. The community we had lived in is one of the best in the world. 

But my music was in Austin and I traveled there a couple of times a year… That was just fine, and I was happy despite having been taken away from my audience and my community in Austin, Texas. A place I had lived for 42 years.

This brings to mind a story that was told by a lady named Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch lady who was interned by the Nazis as a child. While in the concentration camp, she and her fellow inmates were placed in a part of the camp that was filled with fleas-clouds of biting fleas. And she was smiling. Her fellow inmates asked: "why on earth are you smiling?" And she responded thusly: "have you seen any guards around here?" The answer was "no, there are no guards around here". She smiled and noted  "that's because of the fleas."

That my friend is creation at its best. She created a separate environment by changing her mind about the one she was in.

Just Like Night and Day

G-d made man in His own image, in the image of G-d. He created him; male and female. He created them.

God said let there be light. And there was light… And there was evening, and there was morning. And it was good.

From nothing there came something. 

And we can do that too. Because after all, we have been created in His own image.

When I write a song, I sit back in amazement as I realize what I have done. That from nothing came something.

I built a company once. From a simple idea came a place for people to work. From nothing came something.

Just like night and day.