“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” ~Oprah Winfrey
Inspiration is all around us. To experience it though, we must be willing to give ourselves permission to slow down, to focus, to breathe. With so many shiny objects vying for our attention, it’s quite easy to become distracted.
One of the best ways to come back to our center is to breathe. We have this underlying belief that somehow, probably because we are human and capable of amazing things, that we can multitask our way to success.
After all, if doing one thing is good, then doing several things must be better, right?
WRONG!
An old memory of a book title came knocking and it got me thinking about multitasking or focusing on multiple projects at the same time and in breaking down the title of the book, I realized it would be impossible to do the two tasks of the title at the same time.
The book title is Chop Wood, Carry Water.
As I tried to picture myself chopping wood and carrying water, it was immediately apparent that it would be impossible to do both at the same time. Can you imagine the chaotic scene of a character attempting to both chop wood and carry water at the same time?
It made me laugh!
Well, for a moment anyway… Then I paused long enough to take a breath as I reflected on how as human beings, we are continuously trying to chop wood and carry water at the same time. My mind quickly shifted to an image of an entertainer on stage spinning plates. As we watch the show, we are mesmerized as the entertainer adds more and more plates until the inevitable crash brings that segment of the show to a conclusion.
How many plates are you spinning? How many tasks are you managing? How many jobs are you doing? How many hats are you wearing?
If you are like me in any way, shape, or form, you probably believe you are a better multitasker than you actually are.
It wasn’t until I recently slowed down long enough to enjoy a vacation to Maine that I realized I was trying to do too many things at a time. I have been writing a weekly article for over a year now while I have simultaneously been working on my second book and trying to create a small business and create an online course to help people turn their dreams and aspirations into a tangible outcome by designing a course that would systematically and logically take them on a journey of discovery, opportunity, and action, a QUEST. And, I have been trying to do all of this while also working a full-time job…
When I finally came back to my breath, opened up my shirt and found there indeed was no large “S” emblazoned on my chest, I realized it was time for a change. Perhaps it was the changing of the seasons that prompted this idea of a need for a change. The trip to Maine was all about taking time to “enjoy” the changing of the season from Summer to Fall.
To enjoy the trip, I had written my weekly article ahead of time and had it prepared and ready to send out on time which is normally Wednesday. Today is Friday and I am only just now writing my weekly article as it finally came to me in my sleep. Yes, I awoke with the idea of this article in my mind and arose from bed before the alarm went off because I knew there was something profound that needed to be captured and that something is the words now methodically materializing on the page.
The profundity remains to be seen…
The reality is far more striking than anything remotely close to profound. I have simply been trying too hard to do too much and watering down and fragmenting my results in the process.
My mind has been silently working on a way to present this idea to my ego for some time now and it took me slowing down long enough for a vacation to begin to listen.
In the silence of the woods, surrounded by beauty, I found my mind wandering away from where I was and onto each of the various projects I have ongoing in different states of completion and I remember thinking to myself, this is crazy, look around you, this is where you need to be right now, all of your projects will be waiting for you when you get back, FOCUS and enjoy the moment…
As I processed that thought, I came back to my breath and I came back to the moment and as I became fully present, I was in awe of my surroundings. If I hadn’t given myself permission to be present, to be in the moment, I would have missed it!
What would I have missed? I would have missed the mushrooms growing in places we wouldn’t expect to see them.
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the fallen leaves laying on the ground in all their majesty, a tapestry that became natures carpet…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the trees that held the leaves until they were reluctantly released…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the stunning reflection of two hills majestically resolute and unmoving…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed all the different colors of green, a monochrome rainbow of tone and texture, from the moss, to the lichens, to the ferns, to the trees…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the sound of the babbling brook and the raging waterfall, one subtle, one not…
Photo from Author’s collection.Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed seeing natures finest example of resilience, determination, and persistence…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed all these things and so much more and thinking about this got me thinking about how many other things I have been missing… It inspires me now to ask the question about how many things you might be missing too?
What have you been missing?
I know I have been missing golf and it wasn’t until I gave myself permission to watch some of the Ryder Cup matches that I realized just how much I miss playing and isn’t it interesting how the world will make us even more aware of what we are missing once we finally realize we are missing it. Like this article from my friend and fellow writer Billie for example who wrote an article about golf (it’s more than just another article on golf).
It’s not necessarily the game itself that I miss, its what happens to me as I play. When I play golf, I slow down and as mentioned at the beginning of this article, as my friend and mentor Michael constantly reminds me, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. When I combine the intentionality of the awareness of my breath with the understanding that golf is a game that can only be played and never won, I give myself the permission to enjoy being outside and at one with my surroundings.
Breathing is a huge part of golf because there is no way to make a smooth swing if you are not relaxed. We tend to hold on to our breath and the club too tight, and it is actually the relaxed grip that better serves the swing. Loose muscles flow, and golf, although a sport of speed when it comes to striking the ball, is also a sport of opposites. A great example is for the ball to go up, you must hit down on the ball. It is the descending blow in combination with the loft of the club that gets the ball into the air. It’s counterintuitive. You might think that swinging harder might give you a better result and I can assure you the exact opposite is true.
Ok, enough about golf and back to the article at hand.
Before I left to go on vacation, I discovered an article by Darius Foroux that got me thinking about this idea of trying to do too much. There were many other elements equally as influential as the article, but for some reason, the words of the article really resonated with me and I believe before I ever got on the plane, I knew that Fall would have a special significance for me this year, one well beyond the splendid colors and the experience of being away would afford me…
I will continue to Advance Confidently, but the advance will be in the direction of my highest calling NOW which is to fulfill my desire of completing my Create Your QUEST™ course, designed for anyone who has struggled with making a commitment to their ideal highest expression of themselves.
With so many demands, and so many distractions, it’s easy to get off course and find ourselves deeply involved in great work that’s unfortunately not moving us in the direction of where we most choose to go right NOW!
Create Your QUEST™ has been formulated to help YOU focus on what’s most important to you not only now, but also in the future. It’s a framework that was designed to take you from where you are to exactly where you choose to be, not overnight, but one step at a time, one moment at a time, one day at a time, one breath at a time!
It’s called Create Your QUEST™ because I believe each of us has the potential to be the hero of our own story and I knew I could create a compelling framework to guide individuals through the arduous process of making a commitment to their dream and the future they desire to create for themselves and their families.
Therefore, I decided to put my next book on the back burner and will instead focus all my efforts on the completion of the project I am most excited about which is Create Your QUEST™!
It’s my intention to have the course ready for release by the end of October with a soft launch and a beta group to make sure it’s ready for prime time in the coming new year when most people are struggling with what to do next and how to make sure next year is different than last year.
If you are interested in potentially being part of my beta group, send an email to bkountz15@gmail.com with BETA in the subject line.
I know the course I’m creating and the book I will still eventually release, will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, enjoy this special audio short story I originally released on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
Will you seek it out? Can you quiet your voice of judgment long enough to embrace the infinite power of curiosity and imagination? Can you quell the desire to be right over the desire to learn and grow? Can you hold two opposing ideas and maintain the ability to function effectively?
Listen to understand rather than listening to reply
Let the other person finish expressing themselves completely and then instead of adding to the conversation, ask if they have anything else to share before you reply.
I will be the first one to tell you that this is a real challenge for me. It is something I find myself working on continuously. All change comes through awareness. Now that I’m aware of my propensity to interject what I have to say into a conversation, I am intentionally trying to focus on letting the other person finish completely before I say anything.
Sometimes I do well, and other times not so much… Like most human beings, I am a work in process. However, it is only through my awareness of this behavior I have chosen to change that I can make progress. It is also only by being willing and vulnerable enough to talk about it that it will become something my mind is more focused on and when the temptation to speak without letting someone else finish, or the temptation to interrupt, or the temptation to express my opinion, particularly when it is uninvited, will I be able to control the urge!
Since this is something I have identified as an opportunity rather than labeling it as a shortcoming, I would ask all those engaged in conversation with me to be patient as I work through this process. Also, if you read this article then you’re a follower of my writing, or a friend, and I hope to empower you to be an even better friend by gently reminding me when I am not taking my own advice.
It is my intention to let the natural design of our communication system be what guides me as I work through this process. We were given two ears and one mouth and that might be a great indicator that communication might be better if it occurs in a 2:1 ratio by listening twice as much as we speak.
My new mantra when listening is: “Be curious!”
By listening with curiosity, I will be listening with the intention to understand rather than with the intention of preparing my reply. I will be listening from a place of presence, from a place of interest, from a place of curiosity for what the other person wants to share.
Embrace knowledge over achievement
Instead of being so focused on your goals, focus instead to acquire knowledge for what it will make of you in the process. Some of the greatest gifts are missed when we’re over focused on the outcome of our goals. When we’re only focused on achievement, we miss many of the lessons to be discovered along the way.
One of my mentors, Jim Rohn, always encouraged his audiences to ask better questions. What better questions can we be asking about our goals? Jim also encouraged us when communicating to be inclusive and one of the ways we can do that is by using the word “we” rather than “you.”
If you go back and read the previous paragraph you will see that I used the word we in reference to how it is easy to miss out on the potential lessons awaiting us while pursuing our goals.
Mr. Rohn also had another unique way of describing success that I am rather fond of. He said, “Success is not something to be pursued, it’s something we attract by the person we become.”
Is the person you’ve become a person that attracts success? If not, why not? What would you need to change to become a person who continually attracts more success?
When we pause long enough to ask ourselves empowering questions, the answers are sure to emerge.
Stop seeking approval
There is nothing wrong with approval as long as you don’t “need” it to validate whatever it is you are contributing to the betterment of society. If you are working within whatever it is that you have discovered as your gift, no approval will be required. It will be enjoyed, but it is not required. My friend and Author Larry G, Maguire has written extensively on this topic and it’s all about creating your “Art” whatever that is, not for a specific desired outcome, but instead for the sake of it. Creating art just for the sake of it is one of the purest forms of expression available.
For those of you reading this thinking I’m not an artist so this doesn’t apply to me, please allow me to clarify.
Your “Art” is whatever you do, whatever you make, or whatever you create. When you are in your gift, your “Art” almost oozes out of you without any effort the same way appreciation and gratitude oozes from a crowd at their favorite live performance.
The music artists don’t need the appreciation of the crowd, but they love and enjoy it and their passion for what they do fuels both their desire and the crowd’s desire to reciprocate equally. It’s a truly symbiotic experience.
At a live performance, there is a different vibe because the performers get to feed off the energy of the appreciative audience. And, the audience gets to reciprocate by expressing their gratitude and appreciation for the “Art” and they do so freely even though they may have paid handsomely for the opportunity. Remember, there is no requirement to applaud. It may be inherently understood that it’s appropriate, but the level of the applause will usually match the energy of the performers.
Here’s an interesting side note on needing approval. The less you “need” it, the more it will naturally flow your way. Think about it, the people who least need approval are often the ones who receive the most. If you can find a way to stay in your gift before the payoff makes its way to you, then eventually, you will receive praise for whatever difference it is you are committed to creating.
Be willing to begin at the bottom
Talking about the performers everyone was cheering for in the previous paragraph is a great transition to the topic of being willing to begin at the bottom.
Most performers didn’t start out with standing ovations. Most Artists spend countless hours working on their craft, often in the face of massive scrutiny and at the mercy of those around them who don’t understand their commitment. Instead of support and praise for following their gift, they get comments like, “You might want to consider getting a ‘real job’ if you ever hope to make anything of your life.”
The artist or writer everyone is talking about today, most likely came from humble beginnings and had a ton of courage and conviction along with a powerfully passionate level of persistence that no amount of negativity or adversity could ever extinguish!
Breaking through, is what happens when an artist, an actor, an entrepreneur, a writer, or speaker finally makes it in public, but long before they ever made it, they made a commitment to just make their art until they succeeded, no matter what.
Success is available to all of us, but just like the touchdown that is scored on any given Saturday or Sunday, it wouldn’t have any significance if adversity weren’t involved, if the defense weren’t doing their best to keep the offense from scoring. It is often the team with the deepest level of reserves that wins the game. The most talented team does not always win.
This is why many teams play like champions and practice like underdogs!
This is the same reason the Artist who knows their ability needs no recognition yet basks in the glory of it when it comes as a result of them sharing their gift!
Treat others the way you wish to be treated
Put yourself in the position of the struggling writer or artist who is passionately committed to their craft and ask yourself how you would like to be treated if you were the one performing? If you were the one who felt like they were always writing and never knowing whether they were hitting the mark with readers because no one could be bothered to slow down long enough to provide some feedback, how would that make you feel?
Questions like these ground us in the importance of making time to tell someone that whatever they did that made your day, or your experience a little better, it might just be worthy of praise. When we express our gratitude for what we appreciate we are creating a gratitude experience for both the giver and the receiver.
I find inspiration everywhere and Wayne Dyer has been a huge influence in my life. One of the best stories ever offered on the importance of guarding against things like hatred, bitterness, anger, and resentment is easily understood as Dr. Dyer speaks to the audience about what happens and what comes out when you squeeze an orange. When an orange is squeezed, the only thing that will come out is orange juice and not because it’s an orange, but because that’s what’s inside.
When we are squeezed by the challenges and difficulties of life, and make no mistake, we will be squeezed, what will come out, is what’s inside… If you harbor anger, anger will come out. If you harbor hatred, hatred will come out. If it is jealousy, jealousy will come out. If it be envy, then envy will come out… Guard your heart!
Guard your heart. Don’t harbor the things that will come out when you are squeezed. Because like toothpaste squeezed from the tube, it is impossible to put back once squeezed out… And once out, then you might have to add regret to your list, and no one wants that.
Guard your heart. Be curious, not judgmental.
Advance Confidently is the title of my next book, you will have to wait to celebrate its release as I celebrate my 60th birthday. I have concluded the world doesn’t need another self-help book from me right now, so I am listening to my muse and will write a sci fi personal growth story of self-discovery instead. Hmmm? Almost sounds like a QUEST, right? I believe you will be INSPIRED with the story that chose me to write it! I never saw it coming but now that it’s here, I can’t wait to share it with all of YOU! I know it will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, I released a special audio short story on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen to the story here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” ~My mother’s favorite scripture, Steve Harvey
As an Inspirationalist, I am an Architect of Light.
What does that mean?
It means that most of what I have stumbled upon, learned, and built, was discovered in darkness. As stated in the quote above opening this article, I have found that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. My translation is faith is belief without proof. Faith is listening to your intuition, your inner coach. Faith is commitment and belief in an outcome you have yet to experience in the physical realm.
Whether you attribute these words to Steve Harvey or to the Bible where they came from makes no difference. What Steve Harvey says after he utters these words is what’s important to me.
Quoting Albert Einstein he says, “Imagination is everything. Imagination is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
What does that mean?
In its full context as stated in an interview from the Saturday Evening Post in 1929, Einstein said, “I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. When two expeditions of scientists, financed by the Royal Academy, went forth to test my theory of relativity, I was convinced that their conclusions would tally with my hypothesis. I was not surprised when the eclipse of May 29th, 1919, confirmed my intuitions. I would have been surprised if I had been wrong.”
He was then asked the following question: You trust more to your imagination than to your knowledge?
His answer was as follows:
“I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Source for the above: Quote Investigator
In other words, imagination is infinite!
Here is another quote many people are not familiar with also attributed to Albert Einstein and whether he’s the one who actually said it or not is immaterial because the message is pure and in my mind that’s all that matters.
“I see a pattern, but my imagination cannot picture the maker of the pattern. I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker. The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God, before for whom 1000 years and 1000 dimensions are as one?” ~Albert Einstein
If you know God, you don’t need me to tell you what God is; you already know! If you don’t know God, all you have to do is open your heart whenever you are ready, and God will be there waiting for you!
The God of YOUR understanding is waiting for YOU!
There’s a new publication on Medium and the creator is Melanie J. and she encourages us to share our unpopular opinions with her publication. I will submit a short version of this article over there because she has asked us to keep our submissions under 500 words.
Growing up, my grandparents didn’t make it their business to introduce me to God. So, as I grew up, I didn’t know God. I wish I could tell you it was different, but then I wouldn’t be telling the truth. I discovered the God of my understanding the same way that many who are like me find God, not as God, but at least initially, as their Higher Power. Let’s be real, if you’ve never known God, it makes the concept of God just a little bit easier to accept.
When I was finally ready to get clean and sober and at my absolute bottom, I reached out to this “God” and made a promise. Now I’ll be the first one to tell you that this is probably not the best way to reach out to God, but it didn’t seem to make a difference because when I asked, God was there for me.
When I made the commitment to get clean and sober, I asked God for one thing and one thing only. I asked God to take away my desire for drugs and alcohol and I can happily report to you that the overwhelming desire that I had for years to take things into my body that I knew were not good for me all but vanished after I asked.
I’m not to hear to tell you that I didn’t still have the same cravings and the same desires that all Alcoholics and Addicts have when they attempt to get clean and sober, I did. However, I didn’t have the same kind of uncontrollable urge that others in meetings talked about, it was more of a missing the familiarity of what I knew as I was learning to be a productive member of society. The overwhelming urge and craving that most Addicts and Alcoholics deal with, I never experienced after asking for my desire to be removed. I credit the God of my understanding for taking away the desire because that is exactly what I asked for. Prior to asking, I failed miserably with every attempt to get clean and sober!
I am also not here to tell you that if you suffer from addiction that simply asking will take away your desire. I asked God first and then I was led to and got involved with the Grapevine Fellowship, AA, NA, the VA, and I had a counselor at the VA by the name of Ted who became my best friend because he was the one person, I could tell everything. As I was emotionally liberated from all my guilt and shame, all the things I had done while I was drinking and drugging, I was also spiritually liberated, and behind all that was my family and God, my Higher Power.
Fast forward to now and what guides me still to this day is the commitment I made over 31 years ago that if God would take away my desire, I would spend the rest of my life in the service of others making whatever difference I could along the way for those who were afflicted the same as I was, or for those who were struggling with just understanding who they are as human beings and why they are here…
As I have grown and evolved, so have my beliefs, and so has my knowledge. I am insatiably curious and a voracious reader. Because of my curiosity and my willingness to reserve judgment, I have learned more about myself and about humanity than I could have ever possibly imagined. It’s interesting to reflect that at one time, I wasn’t even interested in thinking about picking up a book, let alone picking one up and reading it cover to cover in one sitting.
As the cobwebs cleared, I realized the best thing for me to do was to get busy learning everything I could about myself so I could better understand why I did the things I did and why I behaved in a manner that was incongruent and inconsistent with all the values that had been instilled in me by my grandparents. The more I learned about addiction and more importantly about psychology and philosophy, the more I understood how my anger had taken over my life and caused me to make irrational decisions that were incongruent with my values.
The Alcoholic and the Addict that are actively using and drinking do not have the ability to rationally discern the difference between right and wrong. I’m not here to tell you that they don’t know the difference, they do, but the urge to drink or use is so strong that it overpowers one’s ability to make intelligent decisions about one’s own life.
Had it not been for the intervention of God as I understand God, my Higher Power, I wouldn’t be here writing this article now. The words you are now reading wouldn’t be on this page because they would have never been written…
So why did I change? What led me to God?
A college professor, a Psychology Professor, a History of Rock and Roll teacher, a musician, Ray Rich. A man who saw something in me that I could not see in myself. A man who for whatever reason took an interest in me and my wellbeing and changed my life by doing so.
One day he asked me to stay after class. He asked me a bunch of questions and then gave me a piece of parchment paper he pulled from a filing cabinet that had the following words on it:
“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes to make them possible.” ~T. E. Lawrence
He asked me to read the paper and then asked if I understood the words. Not wanting to appear stupid, I of course said yes. When pressed to explain, I lashed out and asked, “Why do you care?”
“I care because beyond the black leather jacket and rage, I see a bright young man with a promising future,” he said. “What are your goals, your dreams, why are you here in my class?” “What do you want out of life, who are you so angry at, and who do you think you’re hurting with your behavior, and how do you expect to learn when coming to my class smashed?” He asked me a lot of questions that day. I could tell he really cared… Unfortunately, I didn’t have any good answers and I embarrassingly left, but I left with that paper and the words of T. E. Lawrence to ponder…
Awakening from a blackout, covered in my own vomit, with my failed report card next to me, I picked up that piece of parchment paper, read it again, looked down at myself and began to weep… It was then that I felt compelled to reach out to God even though I had no real idea how to pray and instead of praying, like any resourceful addict or alcoholic will do, I tried to cut a deal.
I made a promise that day that if God would take away my desire, I would never drink again and I would commit my life to the service of others and I would learn to be a dreamer of the day. I also called my sister and asked her to help me and fortunately she said yes. She said there was something different in my voice this time and she would help but there would be rules and that was the best thing that ever happened to me! She helped me get into the VA program, and so many other things!
I asked, God answered! Maybe God whispered to my sister too… Who knows? All I know is that once I asked for help, I got all the help I needed.
Today, 31 years later, my life is as different from those early days as night itself is from day! Today, I am surrounded by abundance and gratitude. I have one of the best jobs in the world and a passion to help others. I went on to become a nurse and then went into pharmaceutical sales and have been a mufti-award-winning sales professional for the past 21 years and even won a global award for encouragement.
And now, I am building a foundation for the work I will do in retirement. I am a passionately inspired writer committed to empowering other writers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners to embrace the challenges and struggles of life as a personal quest to achieve and attain whatever they desire as long as it’s in the service of others and done with integrity and commitment to delivering whatever results are promised.
I asked for guidance as to my purpose and this is my calling. The accumulation of lessons over 31 years of sobriety has given me a wealth of knowledge and experience. Over the past 31 years I have studied the habits of the successful, invested continuously in coaching and training and applied what I’ve learned in my own life and over the last several years I have been learning how to effectively transfer what I have learned to others.
I credit God as my guide. Every time I show up to the keyboard, God is with me. I never write alone. I don’t believe I’ve ever had an original thought because everything comes through me.
That doesn’t mean my thoughts don’t pass through the filter of my lived experience. My ego, my shadow, my fear, my uncertainty, and my doubts are as real as ever, because each of these elements are always at play. However, as I become more aware and become more purposeful in the way I choose to show up in life, these elements have been forced into a secondary position behind the dominant thoughts that bring me to the keyboard to write!
Whenever I struggle, I know I can always come back to my breath. I know the God of my understanding will be here waiting for me. When I am present, when I am aware, when I am in the NOW, there is nothing to worry about and nothing to fear.
For years I have struggled with calling God by name and have used many other names to describe what I believe God to be. I have used the Universe, I have used my Creator, I have used Mother Nature, I’ve used just about every phrase you can think of, including “The Force.” My personal belief is that God is not unlike “The Force” the way that Yoda described it to Luke:
“Hear you nothing that I say…” “Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter” he says as he touches Luke on the arm. “You must feel ‘The Force’ around you, here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes!”
I do believe God is everywhere and in everything, except my vocabulary in public, that is until NOW! I will no longer be hesitant or apologize for using the word “God.”
I don’t believe I’m alone in this struggle to declare the God of my understanding God. There is often a hesitancy now to call God, God. Since I’m not part of any specific organized religion and have a broad-based understanding of spirituality and am accepting of all belief systems and particularly fond of the Tao, I have hesitated to use the word God.
Consider this article my “God” coming out party. Consider this me no longer being afraid to use the word God out of fear it might offend someone else, because if it does, then that’s not my issue but theirs. My understanding of God is a universal loving presence that is non-denominational and only cares about one thing and that is love, unconditional love of the human being.
Call me naive, but that’s what I believe. I believe the words that were uttered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so many years ago when he said, “I choose love because hate is too great a burden to bear.” I choose to believe the words of all those who are committed to the betterment of humanity. I choose to believe in the inherent goodness of mankind. And because of what I’ve learned from the Tao, I also know that man is capable of unthinkable things.
So as naive as I am in my belief about what I believe is possible for the world, I also understand that sometimes we must stand up and protect what others might try to steal from us particularly when it relates to our freedom. I also understand from the lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and of Gandhi that violence will never be the way and I refuse to be a part of that.
I can’t pretend that because the problems of the world are so great that there’s nothing, I can do about them. I may not be able to solve the problems of the world, but I can do my small part and I believe that’s enough and that’s why I show up every day the way I do in service of the rest of humanity, and I am committed to continue for the rest of my life.
One of the greatest shifts in my life has been from scarcity to abundance. When we move from scarcity to abundance, we experience a Mind Shift. I believe life will always provide MORE than I need and because it does, it gives me the opportunity and the liberty to be able to share some of what I have with some of those much needier than myself.
If you don’t have money to share, you can share your time. You can also share your wisdom. You can share kindness. Many of the things we can give are much more valuable than money. If you take the time to share your wisdom with another human being, or inspiration, or encouragement, or whatever it is you have to give, whatever it is that’s your gift, if you share your gift, your gift will make room for you.
“Your gift is the thing you do the absolute best with the least amount of effort.” ~Steve Harvey
It is my intention to continue to share my gift with as many people as I possibly can, to serve as many people as I possibly can, for as long as I possibly can, because when I am in my gift, I am UNSTOPPABLE!
You have not because you ask not.
I ask regularly and I have never come to the keyboard without assistance. When I get up in front of an audience to speak, just like Maya Angelou, I never go alone. God is always with me when I ask. If you find yourself struggling, I can make one suggestion and that is to ask for guidance and then find a way to get silent and listen for an answer and in the space between the space, an answer will emerge if you are prepared to receive it.
You have not because you ask not.
At a seminar I attended 30 years ago I met the great Jim Rohn. At that seminar he shared more value in the half-day I was with him than most of the other teachers I’ve experienced throughout my entire lifetime. One of the key lessons that day was an amazingly simple lesson and the simplest of lessons are ones that are often missed. In my notes from 30 years ago is the word ask. And after the word ask and the humor that was only possible because of the man known as Jim Rohn with the words, that’s it, seminar over, you can go home now. Ask!
Ask, that’s it!
You have not because you ask not.
Stop trying to do everything on your own, make peace with whoever it is, or whatever it is that you call your Higher Power, and ASK!
My recommendation is to ask God. Ask the God of YOUR understanding and then do the hardest part, listen…
One of the best ways to listen is to meditate. All you have to do to meditate is Pause, Breathe, and Reflect. If you struggle with meditation, check out the PBR Movement at pausebreathereflect.com or go to Insight Timer and check out the Pause Breathe Reflect Sangha “Circle.” You can also follow meditation instructor and Executive Coach, Michael O’Brien on Insight Timer or at michaelobrienshift.com — Pause, Breathe, Reflect…
I will pick this article up in the next session where I will talk about why it’s so important to commit to whatever is important to you and the importance of creating your own individual ripple “One Day At A Time.”
In the next article I will also talk about why I believe it’s so important to discover your gift and create your quest!
Advance Confidently is the title of my next book, you will have to wait to celebrate its release as I celebrate my 60th birthday. I have concluded the world doesn’t need another self-help book from me right now, so I am listening to my muse and will write a sci fi personal growth story of self-discovery instead. Hmmm? Almost sounds like a QUEST, right? I believe you will be INSPIRED with the story that chose me to write it! I never saw it coming but now that it’s here, I can’t wait to share it with all of YOU! I know it will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, I released a special audio short story on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen to the story here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” ~Helen Keller
If ever there was a phrase that captured the essence of what was the year 2020, I believe this might be it. As we look back, as we reflect on everything that happened since March of 2020, there is an underlying feeling that all of the things that were always in plain sight, people either simply ignored, or refused to pay attention to.
It’s not until something begins to affect the greater numbers of our society that people start to notice things, that people start to actually see. Prior to the pandemic, poverty was in plain sight. Prior to the pandemic, there existed an epidemic of underlying illiteracy in the richest country in the world.
How is it possible that in the year 2021 we still have schools across this country that don’t have the necessary resources they need to serve the students of their respective communities.
The children of this crisis are the ones who will be responsible for the future of the world. There is an incumbent responsibility amongst all adults to come together and make sure that these children have everything they need to make sure that in time, their children have a world to grow up in that’s better than it currently is.
We can continue to pretend that there are no major challenges facing our future or we can start asking better questions. What kinds of better questions could we ask? What if we started by asking the individuals in charge of all the schools across the country about what their number one unmet need is as it relates to providing inspirational education to the children?
Teaching children the basic fundamentals of reading, writing, science, and arithmetic, will only ever take us so far. How different would things be if we were also able to teach them lessons of compassion, understanding, curiosity, confidence, empathy, and so many other lessons that we currently are not taking the time to show them.
If thinking is what separates us from all the rest of the animal kingdom, then maybe we should spend some more time teaching children who are incredibly resilient and much brighter than we give them credit for, how their brains actually work. Operating from a place of fear or a predetermined curriculum about what we can and can’t teach kids is what’s keeping us from making any major advances with the very kids we claim we want to educate.
Education isn’t about facts and figures and taking tests and memorizing things. Education is about teaching problem solving. Education is about providing the tools children need to take on the challenges of the next century.
Clearly, we know that the level of thinking that led to the place that we currently are is not the level of thinking that will create a different place for the children to grow up in. With the population of the world rising at an alarming rate, children must be educated in the process of creative problem solving. As a matter of fact, maybe we should change the language around the word problem because when we label something we negate it.
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” ~Voltaire
What if we started calling what are perceived problems, opportunities instead? For example, if there’s not enough food to feed everybody, that simply means there’s an opportunity to find a better way. What if we empowered the children with the ability to create solutions where it seems none exist? And where do these solutions come from? We need only look to the great minds that have produced some of the major advancements in our world to know that it comes from creative capacity, from the ability to think outside the box, from the ability to imagine solutions for challenges that don’t yet exist.
The word imagine, in and of itself is a unique expression. The word translated in a literal sense simply means, to bring an image in. It’s an expression of how as human beings we think in pictures yet use words to describe what we see. And therein lies the conundrum. We can’t describe what we are unwilling to see…
Would there be anything wrong with teaching children that their world doesn’t have to be completely full every single moment of the day, that it’s OK for them to take a pause, to breathe, to reflect on the experience of their day. Are children educated in matters such as these? Is anyone talking to the children about the importance of self-care, of taking time to focus on or think about the things that most excite them? Or to just sit silently in a park and listen to the birds, watch the squirrels play, or to see the colors that emerge when winter turns to spring?
Mary Oliver once wrote a poem about a grasshopper. Most people know the most famous line from the poem, but I don’t believe the majority of people understand the nature of the poem, what the poem was really written about… Because of the profound nature of the final line, the message of the rest of the poem is often missed.
The quote everyone is familiar with is about what we will or won’t do with our one wild and precious life. The unknown part of the poem is a conversation with a grasshopper. Questions are asked. Questions that don’t necessarily have an answer, but we’re contemplated anyway for the purpose of contemplation, for the purpose of observation in a moment of presence free from distraction, focused only on the subject at hand, the grasshopper. Here are the other lines from a poem that was so richly written.
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver.
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Let’s take the time to teach our children about what it means to put words together in a sentence written to evoke the senses instead of proper syntax and grammar, better yet, let’s do both.
Imagine a world where we teach children the importance of silence. The power of affirmations, of using language with purpose and intention to invite more of what we want into our lives. What if we could teach children to see what does not yet exist and because we taught them this skill, they created a future better and brighter than the one we currently live in. What if children understood the physiological reasons for exercise and that because we empowered them to understand this, we ended the current obesity crisis prevalent throughout America and many other parts of the world. What if we taught children not just how to read but how to tell a great story and why that’s important to the future of the world. And what if we taught them to write down the reflections from their day so they could have a written record of all the things they were able to experience. What if they were afforded an opportunity to also reflect on the impact of their decisions with the understanding that they never had to repeat an undesired action again if they chose not to, because being aware of it gave them another choice?
What if we taught them that every day is a blank canvas, an opportunity to write a fresh new script for how they choose to experience the day? What if we grounded them in the understanding that the one and only thing we have control over, is our thinking and how we choose to respond to the events unfolding around us?
And what if we taught them that choosing to see, or choosing not to see, sight or no sight, is a choice?
If we chose to do this, then I think we could end blindness and there’s no telling what kind of world our children might create.
Wouldn’t it be great if we taught our children how to both see and then say, I see you! And even better, wouldn’t it be great if they understood why that’s important…
Let’s end blindness. Let’s do it together!
Let’s empower our children to understand that they are the change agents of the future, the stewards of the Universe!
Written in honor of my grandchildren…
By the way, if you enjoyed this article, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy my next book, Advance Confidently. I look forward to sharing it with you on the 4th of July.
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
Learning To Practice Radical
Gratitude “One Day At A Time”
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
ADVANCE CONFIDENTLY!
“One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.” ~Albert Schweitzer
What kind of strength is
gained in the overcoming of obstacles? What obstacles have you overcome and
what did you find on the other side of the conquered obstacle? What is that
feeling called? Is it pride? Is it satisfaction?
Perhaps it’s a new sense of confidence, or even better, a renewed sense of confidence… Maybe, just maybe, in the process of pushing past the obstacle, by simply becoming curious, you discovered something about yourself you didn’t even know existed… Self-confidence!
Just like curiosity, gratitude
is a superpower!
When we consciously express gratitude for the difficulties and challenges we face, we give ourselves permission to see the obstacles and adversity from a different perspective. I have come to understand over time and from the experiences of others, all events in life are neutral until we label them.
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” ~Epictetus
Instead of asking why something happens to us, we ask instead, what’s the lesson here? What is this experience trying to show me? What’s trying to emerge? This simple reframe changes everything. Then, once we have given ourselves permission to see the experience for what it is, we can authentically express our gratitude for both the experience and the lesson.
Radical gratitude is the
understanding that we are responsible for how we react to whatever happens in
our lives. Our response can be one of gratitude or blame. Choosing gratitude
gives us the power of choice. If we blame others or circumstances, we are, in
essence, giving our power away.
What is inner strength? Ah, now we’re on to something. Inner strength is the internal resolve where we move from the small “c” of contemplation, to the CAPITAL “C” of commitment!
Commitment is where an idea meets RESOLVE. When we combine commitment, resolve, persistence, determination, dedication, patience, and hard work, the outcome is a steppingstone on the path of achievement! And what might the name of that steppingstone be you ask? It’s the “steppingstone” of ADVERSITY now reduced to its actual size (adversity) and true functionality. It’s the first and most important step on your path to freedom…
Freedom is gaining the self-confidence
to believe you can accomplish almost anything you previously thought
impossible. Freedom comes from the act of commitment! Freedom is found in the
ability to commit, then figure it out! Freedom comes from knowing that
if our WHY is big enough, HOW will always materialize in support of WHY!
History is the teacher here…
A kite and a key, manned flight, harnessed electricity, a trip to the moon and back, telecommunications, computers, and now, multiple trips to a distant red planet that was once thought unreachable…
Impossible?
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.” ~Muhammad Ali
What are you ready to change?
Embrace adversity for the
teacher it is and express gratitude for the lesson adversity offers. See
obstacles as a natural part of the process of becoming whoever you choose to
be. And finally, remember, a kite rises against not with the wind.
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going,
Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it 🙂
In Gratitude,
Bobby-
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” -Johannes A. Gaertner
What does it mean to move from speaking gratitude to
enacting gratitude to living gratitude? When we speak gratitude, we are engaged
in the act of expressing our thanks or thankfulness to another. Speaking
gratitude is the simplest and most common form of everyday gratitude.
When you expressed thanks to your Barista this morning
for your grande, extra shot, non-fat, no whip, extra caramel, caramel brûlée latte, you were speaking gratitude. When I
ordered my simple grande Christmas blend, and said thank you as it was handed
to me through the window, I did the same.
Enacting gratitude is where we consciously decide to
do something that involves some form of gratitude action. A great example most
everyone understands and can relate to is the simple act of giving a gift. The
gift can be something as small as a thank you card, a more robust message in a
card or letter, buying a meal or a cup of coffee for a friend or stranger, or
an even bigger gift for a birthday or special occasion.
When
we begin to live gratitude, it shifts from being something we do sometimes or
on a special occasion, to becoming a way of life. We gradually learn to live
from gratitude, from the space of gratitude, and for gratitude. Gratitude as a
way of life is a reframing of both our outlook and our perception. We move from
taking life for granted to an inner awareness that suddenly expresses itself in
everything we see, everything we do, and everything we are.
Gratitude can even be viewed as a state of
consciousness. It involves opening your heart to the abundance of love and
splendor that surrounds us in our earthly world every day.
When I watched the sun rise above the horizon this
morning I was once again in awe of the splendor of the sun. This life-giving
orb is taken for granted by countless thousands of individuals every day and
for many years I was one of those individuals. I never really gave the sun much
thought. Once I did, my perception changed and that’s the power of gratitude.
Sunsets are an easier grasp for most people because
almost everyone has at one time or another experienced a cinematic sunset ablaze
with the hues of burnt orange or crimson red against the backdrop of wispy
cotton balls splashed across the sky.
The saying or phrase of “stop and smell the
roses” suddenly derives new meaning when we realize the world is full of
fragrance, and roses are just one simple yet beautiful element that
demonstrates this fact.
When we live gratitude, we discover people have a
fragrance as well…
It is the essence of their being, how they make us
feel when we’re around them, what they have us thinking about and considering,
the ideas and inspiration they openly share with those who are willing to
listen can be life-changing!
My friend Chris Palmore from www.GratitudeSpace.com is one of those people. He is just one of many. His most recent book, Dear Gratitude is full of stories reflecting the lives and experiences of people who have embraced gratitude as a way of life.
His
next endeavor is a bold one!
Dear 2020, his second Anthology, will give people an
opportunity to reflect on this most challenging year to see if they can find
the silver lining in what we are all painfully aware has been an incredibly difficult
time in our history.
His hope is that gratitude can serve as a powerful
elixir to ease some of that suffering by engaging in the cathartic practice of writing
about the 2020 experience.
Chris knows all too well the pain of loss and grief
and understands the difficulty of this experience. He also knows from his own
experience just how much gratitude helped him process his own grief, pain,
loss, and adversity. His only wish as a dedicated gratitude conductor is to
create a safe space for potential healing with the life-altering power of
gratitude.
The link below will give you an opportunity to express
yourself in a way that just might be the beginning of a life-changing process
for those not regularly accustomed to focusing on gratitude. Submissions are
being accepted thru January 10th, but my suggestion is to submit
your story or essay while you are inspired because if you say you’ll do it Someday,
it will most likely never happen…
One of the most talked about and probably
misunderstood ways of embracing gratitude as a way of life is some form of a
gratitude practice. Having a gratitude practice is a great way to develop a
gratitude lifestyle, but it’s also easy to get caught up in the practice and to
begin to see it as more of a check the box kind of activity rather than a true
lifestyle change.
Exercise is an activity that often gets a check the
box approach rather than embracing movement and resistance training as a part
of daily lifestyle. It’s a mindset shift. It’s the difference between asking
did I get my 30 minutes in and checking the box if the answer is yes to, did I find
a way to incorporate movement and activity into my life today?
I hope you can see the difference.
If you’re interested in embracing gratitude as a way
of life, there are several practical methods you can use to begin the
process. We can ask ourselves empowering questions and we can create
activities that raise our level of gratitude awareness.
Here are a handful of easy to implement suggestions.
Begin each day thinking of what we both are and can be grateful for!
List at least 3 things we are grateful for!
Imagine your life without some of the things we take for granted…
Use a gratitude journal to capture all that we are grateful for…
Use who, what, where and why to ask empowering questions of gratitude.
Examples:
Who inspired me today? Who provides small kind
opportunities for interactions that lift my spirits or brighten my mood? What
made me smile today? What touched me today? Where can I make a difference
today? When did I feel gratitude today?
As a bonus, and to go a little deeper, you can also ask
“how” questions.
Examples:
How can I experience more gratitude in my life? How
can I be thankful for the struggles and challenges I’m currently facing? How
fortunate am I?
There are hundreds of others… You get the idea, be
creative, let’s commit today to living lives of GRATITUDE!
Here’s an additional resource to help with your
gratitude questions as part of your daily gratitude practice. And remember, it’s
a practice. Gratitude isn’t done with perfection; it’s about making a conscious
commitment to think about ways of being grateful, expressing, and living
gratitude.
