Wise Observer

I recently received a phone call from a gentleman from California by the name of Bob. Bob’s elderly voice was electrified with passion as he thanked me for a short piece of writing that he had recently read in Science of Mind Magazine that included the paragraph:

“If you have a dream to make a difference with other people, even if it’s off the beaten track of mainstream acceptability, go for it with purposeful patience and perseverance. Follow the breadcrumbs of your passion, and even if you don’t know exactly where they are leading you, you will never be disappointed by where you end up. Living in faith can balance the odds even when it appears you’re going against all the odds.”

Bob went on to say that those words spoke directly to him. Bob told me that he’d been in the trucking industry for the past 40 years and had recently had the thought that he’d like to write something for his fellow truckers but hadn’t felt that anyone would want to read what he wrote. When he read my passage, he knew that he had to follow his own ‘breadcrumbs of passion’ even though he didn’t know where they were leading him.

So, truckers, watch out. Passion-filled Bob is coming your way.

Bob’s call has led me to my own new Purpose Project that I’m calling the Purposeful Praise Project. Bob’s call made my day as a writer. To know that my words could make such a difference in a 76-year-old man’s life is very satisfying. It got me to thinking, how many people have made a similar contribution to my life and how many of them have I missed acknowledging and appreciating? Too many to count, but not too many to start ‘purposefully praising’ through phone calls, letters or emails.

I can’t really claim the project as original to me. One of my clients who is also a dear friend of many years, recently created Project Pen Pal. He’s writing hand written letters to the people in his life that have made a significant contribution to him. I’m the proud recipient of one of his letters. It’s tucked away in my special notebook where I keep such treasures.

And so it goes. Purpose, passion and play shared among each other and in the sharing it multiplies and from such multiplication comes our World On Purpose. Thank you Bob and Eric for keeping the flow flowing.

And that’s my life on purpose from the paradise found of Flat Rock NC.

Dr. Brad Swift founded Life On Purpose Institute in 1996 with the vision of creating a World On Purpose by assisting people like yourself to clarify their life purpose & live true to it. Determine how on or off purpose your life is with the fun & insightful Self Test at:
http://lifeonpurpose.com/_forms/self-test.php?source=ezart
Inspire yourself with a fr.ee subscription to Purposeful Pondering Ezine:
http://lifeonpurpose.com/index.php?dir=_ezines&task=view-ezines

Did you learn to cater to others to win approval and validation? Did you find that once you learned that pattern, it was like a vicious cycle? I did. No matter how much I gave and did, I still never felt validated. I still searched for approval.

The traits that you have learned to disown within yourself are the very traits that will set you free to be all of who you truly areonce you own them.

You, just like me,
Must face your truth at all times and in every area of your life. It is only by living out your truth, when your mind, heart, words, and actions are all congruent, all perfectly aligned, that you will begin to feel whole. And as a result, your self-esteem is going to skyrocket.

Many times
we strive for acceptance at the expense of the higher knowing in our heart, our truth, and what we genuinely believe is good for us. We sacrifice it all for the sake of acceptance.
There is no thing you can gain on the outside that will make you more worthy, lovable, or accepted.

It is also pivotal for you to understand that the goal of knowing yourself has nothing to do with material gain; the goal is to express that which brings you profound joy. That expression is the reason you came into this life to begin with.

You have a purpose.
It is called service. Service is not servitude. The service I am speaking of comes from within your heart. The joy you feel from authentically serving cannot ever be taken away from you because its expression is you!
Many people I have met are just like you and me: our greatest adversities in life became our greatest teachers once we decided to seek a higher perspective rather than remaining stuck, feeling victimized. Once we took personal responsibility to create new circumstances from our truth, we began to create a new life.

What you feel passionate about matters. It is your individual expression of the divine within that cannot ever be duplicated.

It is paramount
that you release all self-judgment. The voice of the critical parent in your mind must be transformed into the voice of your dearest and best friendand that friend must be you.
You cannot be effective, take risks, and expose your authentic purpose when you have much self-doubt and criticism blocking the divine flow of your energy. You can only create and give birth to your greatest self when you accept all of yourself from this momentnowexactly as you are.

Never put anyone above or below you.
Release all judgment of yourself and others.
Release all false beliefs that anything outside of you will bring you permanent peace of mind and joy.
Realize that expressing your joy in whatever capacity you can and giving from your heart whatever you are able to give are virtues that will reward you.

When you begin to feel miserable
No matter what you have or don’t have on the outside, examine the storm clouds in your mind and notice how they have gathered so much momentum by unconsciously following the ego’s direction that you find yourself feeling anxious, worried, and in deep pain.
To train your mind is simply a matter of becoming aware of exactly what is going through it, a matter of noticing it and acknowledging it just as you would a passing cloud, and then consciously redirecting your focus to something beneficial and positive.

This does not mean that you ignore or disregard a negative situation. It means that you turn the negative around to find the gifts within it and ask yourself what you can do now to improve your feelings and situation.

One thing you must always remember: there is an indwelling divine spirit within you that no condition can ever extinguish.

Excerpt © Copyright by Barbara Rose, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. from Know Yourself: A Woman’s Guide to Wholeness, Radiance & Supreme Confidence. Published by The Rose Group (January 2005) ISBN: 0974145742 Available on Amazon.Com and through New Leaf Distributors.

Barbara Rose, PhD. most widely known as “Born To Inspire” is the best selling author of “Know Yourself“, “If God Hears Me, I Want an Answer!“, “Stop Being the String Along“, “If God Was Like Man” and Individual Power. She is an internationally recognized expert in the field of personal transformation, relationships and spiritual awakening. Barbara is a pioneering force in incorporating Higher Self Communication, the study and integration of humanity’s God-Nature into modern personal growth and spiritual evolution. Her highly acclaimed books, public speaking events, tele-seminars, widely published articles, and intensives have transformed the lives of thousands across the globe. She is the founder of IHSC -Institute of Higher Self Communication, inspire! Magazine and Rose Humanitarian Alliance.
Barbara holds a Ph.D. in Metaphysics and works in cooperation with some of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time, to uplift the spiritual consciousness of humanity. Visit her website http://www.borntoinspire.com

Many people in life feel that they have a lack of confidence or that they have a low self esteem. In this article, I give free tips on how to imporove your self-confidence and how to increase your self-esteem. I myself have managed to change my whole life by using the information below which I am going to share with you. I hope it also proves beneficial for you.

I am Stephen Hill from Birmingham in England. I was always somebody who had many confidence issues as I grew up, from a child, through to adulthood. I would feel very sorry for myself and would often be down and depressed. The issues that I had in my life were:

A bald patch the size of a ten pence piece on my head

A problem with my speech known as a stutter

A weight problem, I was quite fat for my height

I am quite short for a male at five-foot-four

Certain people would take the mickey out of me, and their comments would hurt. I would always make sure they did not see my anger but inside I was crying.

These people were making my life a misery and by the age of twenty-two I had had enough. I decided I needed a big change in attitude and started to read books about life and about positive thinking etc.

These were the things I had to take on board:

It is not important what other people think of you, it is what you think that counts

You need to start to like yourself

There are various things about your person, you do not like but which you can not change. You therefore have to start accepting these things and realising that maybe there are other people in life who are more unfortunate than you.

You need to have respect for yourself

Do not accept second best in life

Be happy

Learn to relax

Treat yourself to some pleasures. Like a regular massage or reflexology

The above tips helped me to become more positive and happier in life.

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
stuttering treatment
botox treatment
bipolar information

The physics professor with the unruly shock of white hair strolls up to the blackboard, picks up the chalk, and writes a big tilde, then below it an equally large equal signthus creating the symbol for “approximately equals.”

Turning to the amphitheater full of eager students and pointing to the board, he smiles, “Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one ting dot is certain in zee known universe. Und do you know vot it is?”

He waits as he scans from side to side and up and down. No one replies.

“Zee one ting dot is certain in zee universe, zee one thing you can depend on, is dot nothing, absolutely nothing, is certain.”

The hand of the smart-aleck senior in the back row shoots up. “Sir, are you sure about that?”

The prof replies, “I am… POSITIVE!”

Would you agree with me that change is one of the only constants in the business world and in our personal lives as well? A fundamental principle of the 21st century is “T.C.” (Things Change).

You get promoted, and suddenly you face challenges you never knew existed. You struggle to tread water until you finally adapt. Then you get a new assignment and start the process all over again. New equipment makes its appearance in your workplace, equipment no one really knows how to operate efficiently. A merger and acquisition takes place, and all of the management structure above you suddenly rearranges itself into a Gordian knot of direct reports and dotted-line relationships.

Change is happening, and more change is coming. The sooner we accept this fundamental principle and the sooner we learn how to use it to our advantage rather than fighting it or trying to avoid it, the more successful we will become.

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles on subjects of interest to Bible students. He has been a book editor, newspaper reporter, news editor, and public relations consultant. He has taught Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses Bible college, university, and adult education programs. He has taught seminars and workshops in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.org for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore “The Shallows,” plumb “The Depths,” or use the well-organized “Study Links” for original sources in English translation. Sign up for Steve’s free “DeeperStudy Newsletter.”