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If everyone believed in themselves the way I believe in myself, the world would definitely be a better place. People would be happier – more focused on their goals and dreams and less focused on their problems. I would show you how I do it, but it has to come from the inside. You find it by searching fearlessly. When you do find “it” you know because you unlock the most incredible passion inside and you recognize that nothing can stop you now from reaching your goals. It doesn’t matter anymore when people tell you how difficult it will be. Those words have no meaning. It’s as if there is no longer room in my life for that kind of vocabulary. It has no place inside of me or around me and I even find myself removing myself from people who show any signs of a lack of faith in me. It doesn’t make any sense to engage with people like that. I want people who encourage and excite me. I want people who want what I want – to be free from the bondage that most people have imposed on themselves by labeling themselves with all kinds of limitations. A thousand versions of “oh I’ll never be able to do that” or worse “oh you’ll never be able to do that”. Those kinds of words are like spiritual poison. The other day I was talking with someone who said to me,

“..but Seth you have to be realistic!”

My response was “what does realistic look like?” Your reality is whatever you create. If we area created in G-d’s image then we all have the power to create. We create our own reality based on what we believe we are capable of doing and stopping exactly where we believe we are limited. So what does YOUR reality look like? What can you accomplish? Is there anything you can’t accomplish if you put your whole entire mind and heart into it? You owe it to yourself to find out who you really are as defined by what you really want to be doing with your time and your life. It makes me so sad when I speak to people who are admittedly unsatisfied with their lives yet they won’t do anything to change things because they think they can’t. They think it’s unrealistic. What’s unrealistic is to think that anyone or anything in this universe could possibly have intended for me to do or be anything other than what and who I have the potential to be. What and who I love to be.

Some people tell us that we have to do what they do – that we have to go according to their plan in order to achieve their kind of success. They’re wrong. You have to go according to your plan – you have to be dong what YOU love to do and what you want to be doing more than anything else in the world because when you are doing what you love to do that much, then no one and nothing can possibly stop you. Nothing can come between you and your ultimate success – there’s no room for obstacles, only ways to get around and over them. You can’t help but become the best at it because you love it more than anyone else. No one can possibly compete with you. There really is no competition because there is plenty to go around and your version of it is unique – no one else can possibly duplicate it because it has your own unique blend of spices added to it based on your own unique experience. This can never be duplicated. It can be mimicked, but never duplicated.

So to me, at this stage of my life it would be insane to be spending my time doing anything other than all of the things I love and none of the things I don’t love, and yes if I had it my way, everyone and I do mean EVERYONE would be in business for themselves. There would be no more employees – just people contracting to help other people and getting paid to live a life they love.

Imagine a world like this where everyone is so happy and grateful for the life they have that they can’t help but constantly look for more and more ways to help and give back. No one is bitter and no one is every telling anyone else that they can’t accomplish anything they want in their lives.

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Every day you come into contact with people and every time that happens you make a difference in someone’s life. Remember that and you are bound to make even more of a difference in the lives of everyone you come into contact with. It’s true that you cannot fail at anything you want to succeed in and the best way to get there is to help others. Encourage others to chase their dreams. Ever tell someone about a dream of yours? A fantasy that you want to see come to life and they respond negatively telling you why it won’t work? Those people are dream crushers. Find out what other people dream about, it may give you some ideas and it puts you in a position to help them realize their dreams. Even by encouraging them and telling them how great it is that they have a dream you help them get closer to it. Every time you do that for someone, you’ve just taken a step closer to realizing your own dreams, whatever they are. I know this because that is how the Universe works. The more you give, the more you have. Beat people to the chase! Don’t make them tell you what they want, find out and then think of ways you can help them get it. Offer them words of encouragement. Let them know that you are there waiting for them at the finish line because it has happened already simply because they desire it. Everyone else just has to catch up! Tell people that it’s important to you simply because it is important to them. This reminds people that they are not alone. It makes them feel good, and that will make you feel good. How many people did you smile at today? Did you smile at them or did you just walk by them without acknowledging them. I’ve tried both and I promise the smile always feels better and it definitely looks better. Doesn’t it feel good when someone smiles at you? As long as it’s not one of those creepy I want to take you home and lock you up kind of smiles J.

When you start your day ask God to help you to know what kind of man or woman you should be today. Ask how God would have you be in this moment. Then a moment later ask again. And Again. Keep doing that all day and you will find that you are developing a relationship with your creator. You will find that this relationship with your creator brings you peace, encouragement, passion, and you will find that this relationship eliminates fear. Fear is not real – it is based on things that we make up in our minds. I got a big bill the other day and I had to remind myself that it was just a piece of paper with a number on it. It can’t hurt me. I’ll pay it and I’ll move on. You have a power greater than any human power in your life, a power that lives within you. A power that is greater than any obstacle that will ever be placed in front of you. Remember that. You have nothing to fear. You will not lose as long as you keep giving. You will keep gaining and gaining. Life is good, even when you can’t see the good in it!

Faults are easy to find if you look for them. Look for people’s Assets – I guarantee you’ll find yourself surrounded by them!

Have you ever known a person who spent or seemed to spend most or all of their time gossiping? Most of that time is spent finding fault with people and then sharing with others of course while the person is not there to defend himself or herself. This is the lowest form of conversation – vexatious to the spirit; this person will suck the life out of you almost every time you speak to them.

Try spending the whole day finding and talking about the assets you can see in a person. Make a point of greeting every person with a warm and friendly smile, even if you don’t like them. Yes this is fake – but just because you don’t like a person doesn’t mean you have to rob them of their happiness by letting them know it. Of course it also means you don’t pursue a relationship with them unless you are sincerely trying to find out more about them for yourself so that you can understand them better and then by seeing their assets you might come to like them. They might just become your best friend. When you pray for someone you don’t like to become a better person that prayer might just be answered. That person may go from being an enemy to a friend – a double win for you!

With the right outlook on life you can really accomplish anything you want to. You can be unstoppable. Nothing can stand in your way. Every dream, hope and vision of yours can become a reality. So what blocks us from these things? Anger, Jealousy, gossip – nothing is more of a waste of time than gossip. Always keeping my mind’s eye on the image of what I want my life to look like, inside and out it becomes easier and easier to see which things help me get closer to that picture, which things take me away from it, and which things don’t really get me anywhere. Then as I see things through this filter it is a simple matter of choice – which direction do I want to go in today. The more often I chose to do things that take me in the direction of my image, my “Whale” as I put it in a recent Daily Motivator, the faster I get there. It’s that simple.

So what about people? Again it’s simple – each and every person I spend time with falls into 1 of 3 camps – they either motivate and inspire me to reach my goals, or they drag me down – away from my goals, or they don’t move me one way or the other. Another simple choice, really – who do I want to be around? Which camp do I want to be in today?

You’re A Miracle! Get Excited about today!


Motivation:

I read an article yesterday on the internet that actually put me off a bit. That’s my motivation for this video, so I am actually grateful that I read it even thought it put me off because it motivated me to write this and to record another video.

Clarification:

I want to clarify a few things based on this article about “Positive Thinking”. Positive thinking does not mean I ignore my problems and pretend that everything is ok when it isn’t. It means I confront my problems head on and address them in a positive manner. It means that instead of talking about how “Fat” I am, I talk about how I am not happy with the shape I’m and then immediately place and keep my focus on what great shape I want to be in. These are the positive thoughts that will take me into the next right action.

Negative vs. Positive thinking:

Positive thinking means I don’t wallow in self pity and suck the life out of the people around me. It means I have people in my life that I can lean on for help. It means recognizing the difference between leaning on someone and seeking help and simply dumping my problems on someone. To clarify, simply talking about my problems doesn’t get me anywhere in the long run. It helps me for a few moments, but unless I am prepared to do something about it – unless I am prepared to take suggestions and take action I am wasting my time and the time of the person I am talking to. We all know at least one person in our lives who sits around complaining constantly about their problems but never actually getting off their butts and doing something about it.

Finding Fault:

In my experience and in all of the literature I’ve read, positive thinking doesn’t mean that I can simply think my way into being what and who I want. The thoughts must be followed up by actions. It starts with a thought though so I need to be practiced in positive thinking so that the action I take is a good one. So that the action I take will help me in the direction of making my life a little better. If I find a flaw like this I have a choice – I can take a negative tack and throw it all aside, or I can say the overall message is a good one and I will put things in their proper context so that I can benefit instead of excluding myself from it.

Take what you need and leave what you don’t:

I did read one section in the secret where a woman suggests that you can simply think about being thin and still eat whatever you want and be in good shape. Sorry but that just defies the laws of physics, so I am not going to hold with that theory. Sometimes I think people will stretch the truth to make a point. It is important when I am reading literature or listening to someone speak that I take it all in and then decide what works for me. Myself I am going to think this year in terms of how I want to be in good health and good shape and I am going to follow that up by eating a healthier diet and exercising more consistently.

Ask yourself if you are doing at this very moment the same thing you would be doing if you knew you couldn’t fail. Then start doing that or taking steps in that direction immediately because the truth is you cannot fail so long as you don’t give up. The moment we give up is the only time we ever fail and even then, that is only if we never again choose to pick up the pieces we dropped and start at it again. We move on, no matter what and we never do anything alone. We must find the right mentors in our lives and lean on them for guidance. These are the people who have walked down the roads we are now walking on before us. They will let us know where we can avoid bumps. They will guide us so that we can achieve success with less strife than they had to go through. Then the real kicker comes in. The final and ultimate success only comes when we each turn around and look for the next person who needs to lean on us as a mentor and a guide. It is only then that we become an integrated part of the Universe – A part of the ultimate solution – to be a person among persons and to reach out and help others achieve their own successes. Become a teacher. Not necessarily in the vocational sense, but in the whole life sense. It works on every level – the classes I got the best grades in when I was in school were the ones where I was teaching the material to a classmate. This was the greatest reinforcement of what I was learning myself. Life is like this. Learn a lesson then find someone else to pass that lesson along to as soon as you can – before you forget so that the knowledge becomes a part of you. If you can live according to these kinds of principals – spiritual principals then success is inevitable. In fact it is as instant as when you choose to live this way. In a moment.. in this moment you are an incredible success just because you can read this and decide.. this is how I want to live my life. Then all you have to do is practice what you preach and remember that you are not going to do it perfectly. That’s why we all need to have mentors and be a mentor at all times.

One of the greatest things about living a life based on spiritual principals is that you develop a support system. A network of people who care about you and who are there for you no matter what. Sometimes they are simply there to lend an ear. Other times they can be there to offer their time and even financial assistance if you need it. These are the kinds of relationship building experiences that we need to have. People say that lending money destroys relationships. It depends. If there is mutual respect then the person who borrowed the money will not wait for the person who loaned it to ask for it to be returned. They will be forthcoming and if for some reason they cannot pay it back, they let the person know that they can’t pay it back and when they think they can. As long as these dynamics are honored then it is not only not a bad thing, it can build the relationship. It builds trust and it gives the people involved the confidence that they have someone in their lives who can be trusted and relied upon to be there for them and to be responsible.

I often like to think along these lines. If everyone in my life knew what I was doing or saying at this moment, would I be ok with it? Would I still be doing or saying that thing? If I have to answer no at any point then I probably should reconsider doing this. One of the great things about living this way is that I never have to worry about remembering what I did or said. So if I find I am talking to someone and the subject of a third person comes up I need to ask myself if I would still be holding this conversation with that person here. If not, I need to change the subject. I have a good friend who loves talking about other people and taking guesses as to what their motives are about certain things. Usually I find that the best way to diffuse this is to change the subject by asking him a question about himself. In fact what is really perfect is that I can take the subject being discussed about the other person and turn it over to the person talking. So if he is telling me about how he thinks someone is ripping someone else off, I can turn that around by asking him if he’s every ripped anyone off. See how that works? Usually we have at least at one time been the things we judge. That’s why we judge them. If not, be careful you may be on the way to becoming the things you judge today.

I read once somewhere (I honestly can’t remember where) that there are 3 forms of conversation. The LOWEST form of conversation is conversation about the topic of other people (Gossip). The next level up of conversation is the discussion of events. The highest level of conversation is the discussion of ideas & philosophies. This is why I love “self help” type discussion, reading, and writing. It actually helps people – it certainly never tears anyone down. The discussion of events is ok and often times interesting. The lowest form of conversation (Gossip) only ever has the effect of hurting someone. It is often disguised as an attempt to inform, or warn a person. I’m going to guess that in 99% of those cases the person being warned really doesn’t need the warning. If anything I always become weary of the person doing the “warning”. What’s their motive? Are they warning people about me when they are talking to them? I usually stay away from people like that. My friend mentioned about is sort of an exception. I honestly feel that he has a good heart deep down inside, I just think he lacks the confidence that his own life is interesting enough to talk about. This is kind of a funny story – you talk about denial. I remember that for a time I was sort of forced to have dialogue with a person who I can’t recall ever really speaking about herself. In fact it was usually the same 2 or 3 other people she would always talk about. I would be so turned off any time I had to listen to her. Then one day while she is in the midst of gossiping to me about someone (I hadn’t had the chance yet to re-direct the conversation) and she was one of those people who would go on and on – it was actually very difficult to get her to stop) she explained to me that she had a conversation with one of the very people that she would frequently gossip about. Apparently during this conversation she was describing she had with him the subject of gossip had come up. It was hard to hold back from laughing when I heard this, but she described how she told him she never gossiped about him.

 

So there is really no point in my experience in pointing it out to people. The best thing to do is focus on the people who do appear to enjoy the “level” of conversation that I enjoy. As long as I focus on that, this is what I should attract in my life. Occasionally other types slip in!

Imagine for a minute that your primary purpose in life is to help other people achieve their goals and dreams. That actually is your sole purpose on this planet. Well then you might think the answer is not thinking of yourself. Now think about this. What good are you to anyone if you don’t take care of yourself first? If you aren’t taking care of yourself then you won’t be able to maximize your ability to help others. So you are the most important person in the world around you. Take care of yourself so that you are better able to take care of others. Help others achieve their dreams and you will find yourself somehow achieving yours in the process. This is happening to me. I see it around me every day. In fact I see very immediate results. On days when I am consumed by myself and what I want for myself I don’t feel so good and of course when I think back to what I accomplished that day it usually isn’t much. On the days when I am entirely focused on helping others somehow I find my world feels like it is in perfect order! I don’t know how it works, but I know that it works! How can I be of service to you today?

My wife and I like to watch the show million dollar listing. It’s about these young guys who work as real estate agents and they represent some of the wealthiest people in Los Angeles selling homes in the 5 million dollar range and earning commissions of around $125,000 per sale. One of the families on the show was forced to sell their home, which they had built themselves and put some real creative genius into it. It was so sad especially when the agent had to ask them to reduce the already reduced price because it wasn’t selling. I told my wife this was god (or the universe if you prefer) doing for them what they could not do for themselves. She didn’t understand me – why would god not help them get out of this situation and I said somehow they are going to be able to stay in that house. Sure enough in the next episode it turned out they were able to get a loan modification enabling them to stay.

I recently had a similar type of experience. Going into December I was a little worried. November was a little slow for me and before I sat down to plan December it was looking like more of the same. In fact thanksgiving weekend I had not yet scheduled a thing for the first week in December and usually I am scheduled 2 weeks out. So after a little bit of panicking I remembered all of the things I’ve learned and talked about over the years – that I don’t need to panic – I didn’t come this far just to have it all fall apart on me and that ultimately I needed to have faith that everything was happening exactly as it should be happening right at this very moment. So I sat down to plan the month and within an hour the first week was scheduled and I was happy. I had a couple of scattered appointments for week 2. I wasn’t worried anymore – I had just been shown what I have seen over and over again – it always works out somehow. Then the week began and I got into a project that wound up taking so many hours it filled the week’s time way beyond what I expected pushing other projects aside. Then the calls start coming in from people looking for yearend help. Now I am completely inundated and in fact the first week of December was a record week for me business-wise.

So remember this – as bad as things ever get – you have nothing to worry about because you have no idea what is right around the corner. You might just win the lottery. But you have to play it to win it – life is like that too!

  • I am thankful first and foremost for G-d, my higher power, the spirit of the Universe, or whatever you would like to call him/her.
  • I am second thankful for my sobriety because that is literally what has enabled me to have this amazing life I have today.
  • I am Third thankful for my parents who have shown me unconditional love throughout my entire life. Even when I couldn’t see it because I was a bratty, spoiled teenager, they were always there – loving me, guiding me, and ready to give me the help I needed when I was ready to have it. Mother and Father are “God” in the eyes of a child. Remember that the next time you want to yell at your kids.
  • I am fourth thankful for my wife, who loves me unconditionally, guides me, makes sure I take care of myself, and most importantly she is ALWAYS there for me. I am also grateful that she is an AMAZING cook 🙂
  • I am fifth thankful for the rest of my family. I would and do go to great lengths to spend time with them. I love them, and I miss them (they are all on the east coast or in other countries).
  • I am sixth thankful for all of my friends. Friends are people I really think of as family. They are the people I speak with on a weekly basis if not daily. They are the ones who form my surroundings. Surroundings I have worked hard to create based on everything I love, and none of the things I don’t absolutely love
  • I am seventh thankful for everything that has been given to me. All of the material things that make life comfortable. These are the things that enable me to be free to help those that I love because I am not worried about the material things I do not have – I am instead grateful for the things I do have, and I can be an example of this.
  • I am eighth grateful for the things which have been taken away from me. How does the saying go? Thank you for that which you’ve taken away, it frees my hands for the next gift i will receive? Something like that – You get the point!
  • I am ninth grateful for that which has been left behind. Everything I still have after everything that has been given to me, and everything that has been taken away.
  • I am tenth grateful for my awareness. The opportunity to pay attention to the people and the things around me. When you point out my mistakes, you help me grow. When you point out my successes, you encourage me to continue.
  • I am eleventh grateful for my ability to further develop my relationships with people, with God, and with myself. This opportunity gives my life REAL meaning.
  • I am twelfth grateful for the incredible opportunity I have to give back to people. To listen when someone needs an ear, to guide when someone asks for advice, to know when I am not knowledgeable enuogh to give advice, and to be humble enough to admit that. Generally being able to be there for others gives my life true purpose and meaning. It is those acts that will be left behind when I am gone more than anything else!

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone! I love you!


 

 

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