The Special Birthday Edition

Mountains of Arizona
Cloudy 44 Degrees
8:17 a.m.

Today’s my birthday. 42 times around the sun.

I’ve learned a few things over the years. And I use opportunities like this to remind myself about some of them. The list of things I’ve learned is nothing compared with the list of things still left to learn, but it’s a journey that I enjoy. What a gift.

I’ve listed 42 of the items below. Maybe some will speak to you.

  1. Business is a powerful and direct route to dealing with everything that keeps you from being the best version of you. You can either choose to acknowledge the lessons and opportunities for growth that come or you can ignore them until they come around again.
  2. Beliefs are an abdication of responsibility. Beliefs begin at the point where critical thinking and critical intuition end. Are those beliefs you have REALLY yours? Figure it out.
  3. The only path to freedom is the radical acceptance of WHAT IS.
  4. Running after goals and achievements that do not speak to your heart is slavery by your own consent.
  5. If clients annoy you, the problem is you. Grow up.
  6. EVERYONE is doing the best they can.
  7. The extent to which you develop the ability to be grateful in all things is the extent to which you will give yourself the keys to control your own happiness.
  8. If you are looking for the world to validate your value before you accept your value, you are doing it backwards.
  9. Anything that divides people from one another is WRONG.
  10. You have a choice in life: you can either choose to be YOU or not.
  11. If all you are focusing on is money, you might consider changing that. It’s not because money is wrong but it is because you are so much bigger.
  12. Us vs. Them is an outward projection of the internal separation you feel from yourself. When you become whole on the inside, the world will respond. There is no enemy.
  13. Do things that make you feel alive. Ignore the lie that you are here to do otherwise.
  14. Be LOVE.
  15. When you realize that no one certified the certifier, you realize that certification and authority are all made up. Be your own authority. Make no apologies for leading yourself.
  16. If you need people to know how great you are, you have just found your next opportunity for growth. Give up the need you feel for them to know.
  17. Deal with any dissatisfaction you have about where you’re at now. Deal with it now or it will forever be your companion.
  18. Your job as a father/mother is not to pass your wounds onto your children. YOU can change the future by dealing with your own shit. Your kids chose you. Show them they made a good choice.
  19. Everything you think you “can’t” do is something you’ve been trained to think you can’t do. Have the guts to step beyond the training and you will discover the truth.
  20. Stop looking to others for permission to walk your path. You don’t have to “find yourself,” you just have to accept yourself.
  21. Any being who would judge you is not one worth listening to or following. JUDGEMENT is not love. You’ve been lied to.
  22. “That’s the way things are” is a phrase used by people who are too scared to embrace their creative capacity.
  23. Your work on this plane is to find your gift, master your gift, give your gift and appreciate all that comes in return.
  24. Give without want. (HT MD)
  25. When it comes to kids, there’s no such thing as quality time. Stop lying to yourself.
  26. You do not help people by making yourself LESS, you help people by raising them up to become MORE.
  27. You are here to sing your song. There are others walking a path where part of that journey includes LISTENING to it. When will you start singing?
  28. Stop trying to get things. Start trying to give at every opportunity and you will shift the flow of energy from lack to abundance. Realize this is in your control.
  29. Success in business is not about controlling others, it is about aligning your gifts with the needs and wants of the world.
  30. Genius is as common as dirt. (HT JTG)
  31. The secret of life is to allow it to move through you with as little resistance as possible. (HT MS)
  32. The only way out is through.
  33. Fear is not an appropriate color (HT RK)
  34. Everything is a lesson.
  35. Business is a reflection of life. Everything is personal. Humans are all that are here.
  36. Don’t treat kids like kids. Treat them like sacred spiritual beings in small physical forms. If you wouldn’t treat your friends the way you treat your kids, then you should change that.
  37. Your world is governed by your consent. Withdraw your consent and the world no longer has power over you.
  38. Guilt and shame are a waste of energy. Accept responsibility for yourself and choose to be a better version of yourself tomorrow.
  39. No one is coming to save you. Save yourself. (HT MB)
  40. If you ever come up against the fear of being YOU in life, simply imagine having to tell your child some day that THEY should go out and live life fully even though YOU didn’t have the courage to do it yourself.
  41. No one knows what they are doing. Everyone is making it up. Join in on the fun. You can’t lose.
  42. That which is broken can never be fixed; that which is Real can never be broken. (HT KS)