I love this story, it is about courage and choice. At this time many people are making new choices in many areas of their lives. Some of these choices have been forced because of the present state of the economy and some just look at the world differently now. Whatever the reason, it takes courage to change, and change we must. I hope you enjoy this simple story with a powerful message.
A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long
white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize
them.
She said “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry.
Please come in and have something to eat.” Is the man of the
house home?”, they asked.
“No”, she said. “He’s out.” “Then we cannot come in,” they
replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what
had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in!” The
woman went out and invited the men in.
“We do not go into a house together,” they replied.
“Why is that?” she wanted to know.
One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said
pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another
one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go
in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in
your home.”
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her
husband was overjoyed. “How nice!!,” he said. “Since that is
the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home
with wealth!”
His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?”
Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of
the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it
not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled
with love!”
“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband
to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”
The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, “Which one of you
is Love? Please come in and be our guest.”
Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2
also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth
and Success:
“I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?” The old men
replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the
other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited
Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love,
there is also Wealth and Success!”
I have a friend Jenny who found the courage to heal herself of chronic pain. Here is a small bio on Jenny and an article from Jenny’s website that I know you will enjoy, about a blind boy who can see, in some ways better than you and I. Jenny represents Living in Courage to me, so I am excited and grateful to share her blog, Heal Pain Naturally with you.
Thank you Jenny for sharing with us here.
Debra Oakland@LivinginCourage
Jenny Mannion, after having chronic pain for 5 years and being diagnosed with several diseases was told she would always be ill and to prepare for feeling worse. She did not want to be on pain medications at 35 for the rest of her life with 2 young children to take care of. When she saw the movie, “The Secret” her life changed. She learned all she could about the Law of Attraction and the mind/body connection and healed herself of all illnesses and pain. Jenny wrote an e-book on the methods she adopted to heal and maintains a blog on natural ways to heal emotional and physical pain. She is a mind/body mentor and believes everyone can find powers within to heal parts if not all of their life.
Here is an article with a video of Ben Underwood’s amazing journey. Ben and his family are people who Live in Courage, and they encourage all of us to reach deep inside to find and use the full potential and courage of who we are in our every day lives.
Video Continues:
Ben Underwood’s mother is a perfect example of how to encourage your children and I am sure a big part of the reason Ben developed his incredible gift. She told him he could see. She told him he was normal. She did not let him see her upset or ever feel sorry for him. One year after his eyes were removed Ben could see (some might say better than the rest of us with eyes).
I healed myself of some very bad illnesses so I KNOW how strong the mind is. Nevertheless this story amazed me and proved further what I already knew. “Your thoughts become things” and “You need to believe to achieve” — Ben was told repeatedly he could see, believed it and MADE seeing possible. This showed me again how important it is to share these messages with your children.
When I showed the video to my 8 year old son I prefaced it with, “this shows you can do anything you set your mind to.” He is currently studying sound at school and sat utterly shocked as he watched Ben “see” with his ears, much the way dolphins do with echolocation. I could tell it helped him that day as he was about to set out on ice skates for the first time. He is usually cautious and instead was looking forward to it tremendously and he KNEW he would be able to do it. He did in fact discover a new love and I have reaffirmed the power of inspiration.
There are a few books I use to teach my children about the Law of Attraction and to know no limits that are VERY valuable. “Incredible You” and “Unstoppable Me” by Wayne Dyer and “How to Talk to Your Kids about the Law of Attraction E-book” by Robin Hoch with Rich German. “Incredible You” is my children’s favorite bedtime story and the first time I read it my son said to me, “You know mommy — this guy thinks a lot like you — you should call him”. WHAT a compliment — and I am so grateful my children now see me AS thinking like the great Dr. Dyer because for the first 6 years of my son’s life I definitely did not.
Share stories of inspiration with your children and tell them there are no limits to what they can achieve. Can you imagine how great a world it would be if all kids grew up KNOWING this?!
I enjoyed this video on Daily Motivation ( click on read more below to see video.)
The message on this video is that every problem has an opportunity in it. When you have the courage to motivate yourself into action, it is easier to see the solutions.
* Think big. When a challenge arrives, turn it into a possibility. See the potential in front of you. If you think small, you will get small results. Step up to the plate with the intention of winning. Study successful people you admire. If you need a mentor or coach, find one that you enjoy working with.
* Create new habits for your home based business. Take a bigger bite. Act as if. Conduct yourself with the confidence people will expect when doing business with you. Participate, read, talk, learn and grow. Study the habits of highly successful people.
* Expand your consciousness. Think outside the box. Find new and exciting ways to expand your mind and the ideas you have for your business. Look at the tried and true, then add a twist or new spin that works for you and your customers.
* Stop the practice of procrastination. This will make you less productive. Understand what stops you and eliminate it. Learn to manage your time, as this will cut down dramatically on stress, freeing you up to be more productive. Self-discipline is key to success.
* Set goals that you can reach. Think big, but make sure it does not overwhelm you. Each time you step further than before, will assure your growth, expansion and confidence. No one can more forward while they are standing still. That is a good way to get run over!
* Improve your people skills. Communication with your customers plays a very important part of any business relationship. Make sure they know, like and trust you.
* Keep growing and never stagnate. Keep your interest in your business alive and fresh. Motivation is hard to achieve if you are not excited about what you are doing. When people can feel your excitement, they may want to get involved or contribute to your business in some way. Your excitement and belief in what you do will make all the difference in your success. Do something new and unfamiliar.
* Contribute to others. This is a great way to feel good about yourself and your business. It is also way to give back for all the help others have given you. Pay it forward. You will be rewarded in ways you can’t imagine. What would our world be like if no one had thought and acted BIG? The big thinkers have paved the way and delivered great things to the world. They were motivated and took action, many in the face of all odds. We should all challenge each other to think bigger, act bigger, dream bigger. Unlock your dreams and let’s see all you have to offer yourself and others.
Hi all, it is Sunday in beautiful Laguna Beach, California.
I was thinking about my life, about you who visit my website on Living in Courage. BE HAPPY flooded my mind. Try this fun way to have a better week. Start on Sunday every week and make the decision to be happy all week. Choose one thing each day to concentrate on without distraction. Maybe Monday you compliment people on their smile, kindness, courage, grace, patience, attitude, etc. Tuesday can be a day of gratitude – all day remind yourself to be grateful for everything in your life. Wednesday you could call a friend or family member to connect. Thursday do something for another out of the kindness of your heart. It could change their day or their direction in life. Never forget the impact you can have in another persons life. Friday do something fun to celebrate your great week and to pat yourself on the back for all your accomplishments. Saturday, have a self-indulgent day for just you or a day with he family or friends. Sunday, start the whole process over and please relax – it’s Happy Sunday.
As I sit here pondering Courage and Love, I have to ask some questions about love. What kind of love do we indulge in? Love that is scintillating, ecstatic in its newness and grows like the sands of time. Love that leaves you sad, empty, lonely, jealous or grieving. All human love is based on positive and negative. Then I began to think about a different kind of love. An all encompassing pure, true love that is the essence of who we are when we are not in duality (positive or negative).
This kind of love can seem impossible to acquire, yet it exists in each one of us. It seems to me that we are all one mind, one heart that has fragmented into thousands, millions of languages and skin color. Yet we are all one, all connected. People around the world talk about the connection we all have with each other.
In situations of your life, whether you are trying to create, accomplish, correct, start new, leave behind, overcome or anything you can throw out there, it seems that there is so much resistance acting. When there is not enough love, resistance acts. I am not talking about human love, I am talking about a love that is our core..that we have been disconnected with as a human race. This love holds the Unity of Light ( masculine, the mind) and Love (feminine, the heart) and holds all the powers of the Universe. It has intelligence, will, power and everything in it. There is not one thing missing. Have you thought about this? I really want to anchor some key ideas about this and let it integrate deep into the soul, the heart, where love is.
Love loves to fulfill, to make things happen. It is part of the Earth, a force that gives life to everything. My best thinking tells me that when we disconnect from the mass collective consciousness of fear, there is a much higher consciousness to tap into. When you tap into pure love, one of the effects is that the mass consciousness has less power over your mind, feelings and body. We all want miracles in our lives, where are they going to come from? Can you carry a different kind of love?. Are you ready for it? I know I am. There is a better way. Use the courage you came into this world with and make some powerful decisions about how you want to live your life. Love or Fear. You have free will and you get to choose. Our free will is what sets us apart from other life forms on earth.
There is a magnetic force in the atmosphere that assists us to manifest. This magnetic force is compromised because of the free will people have used for good and evil. Our energy is tapped, we get tired, sometimes the clarity is not there. When we move towards pure love that is timeless and selfless, there is this great storehouse of love waiting to broadcast out to the world, bringing into reality our purpose for this life on earth. I wish you great success in your life’s journey.
Do you have the courage to let go of resistance in your life? I think we all want to live as our authentic courageous self. We all have areas of our lives where we feel challenged daily. Ultimately there is a knowing as to where the resistance is, and how it is acting up in our lives. Take a look at it – go deep inside and really look at what holds you back. Walk with it, be with it. This is something you can take your time with. Don’t seek to measure this as something outside yourself, maybe the effect is something outside of yourself, but the resistance creating the condition is inside you. When you find it, do you have the courage to let the resistance go? When there is resistance to anything, there is not enough love. If you are choosing something, yet day after day you are challenged, there is not enough love. Instead of feeding the resistance, teach yourself to surrender, and watch it turn into something beautiful.
Take the journey back to who you truly are. Are you ready to know that miracles, or what the world calls miracles, are the natural way of living life and they unfold naturally when you are in your higher power of love? Ask yourself, is there anything in me that can interfere with the unfoldment of my miracles? Ultimately the only thing that can interfere with a miracle is fear. What is this fear specializing in? Is it one of the children of fear, such as hatred, revenge, jealousy, judgment, doubt? Resistance is fear. Miracles are a higher power that have an opportunity to act in our lives. When you use your free will to fear, then that is a force in which the miracle coming to you, must stand aside and wait. The miracle of you is waiting.
Trust your life, keep choosing love and you will experience what love – loves to fulfill. This planet is craving beauty, magnificence, restoration of her elements and perfection. When will the nonsense of destructive human free will stop? When enough humans come back to their hearts and into love, this planet will change. The 4 elements ( fire, air, earth and water) will respond to this love. Restoration will begin. This planet desperately needs to heal, just as we do.
Thanks to the power of the internet, destructive individuals are being exposed.
Around the world people are connecting on common ground, even though many in positions of power have tried to separate and control us through fear. Keep your eye on love and peace, not just for yourself and your family, but for our world family. Look at the bigger picture instead of the small details. It is our job to turn and face the light and have the courage to turn our backs on all that is destructive. When people of the world come together in peace and those we place in positions of power direct their influence for the highest and greatest good for all, the healing will begin on a global level.
H. Les Brown wrote and article on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 on Courage. This article is also about Inertia, which is critical to your success in moving forward. Enjoy and have a great day.
The Courage to Change the Things I Can
Why does change (both creating it and dealing with it) take courage? It’s certain that change requires courage, but we’re not always certain about why that should be so. To be frank, the cause can be traced back to the fundamental stopper: inertia. Whether change in movement takes place in the physical or intellectual and emotional realms remains incidental, the process is the same: it takes energy to overcome inertia. Whether it be a change in velocity or a change in direction, change requires energy and we have innumerable excuses for why we need to conserve our energy (excuses that have nothing whatever to do with the price of oil.
The cost to an individual to expend energy for change must be enormous — or at least it must be perceived that way. In the May, 2005 edition of Fast Company magazine, it was reported that over 90% of all people who have been told that their medical condition requires them to change their personal habits — or else — either fail to change them at all, or, within a short time, revert back to their old habits. Human inertia exerts a kind of extreme resistance to moving out of our comfort zone and, in many case, to moving at all. We feel much saver when we don’t need to make decisions, let alone take action. Shifting our minds and our behaviors, putting our free will into gear (and keeping it there in life’s uphill climbs) requires genuine courage.
Living a full, purposeful, inner-directed life requires — as a bare minimum — the courage to change the things you can (to paraphrase the Serenity Prayer). I often compare living a meaningful life to riding a bicycle uphill. You’ve got to peddle! If you should get tired and stop peddling, you won’t just stop, you’ll roll backwards. There are constant challenges that arise along the way for anyone who wants to live a life beyond the TV, the recliner, and the can of beer. Even then, challenges (like puberty and the midlife transition) come at you regardless of whether or not you’ve chosen to take an active role in your own life. ‘Stuff,’ as they say, ‘happens!’ How well prepared you are for those moments may well determine what kinds of ethical standards you live by, not in theory, but in fact.
You and I tend to be morally indignant and outraged when people act inhumanely to one another. And yet, chances are we’d indulge in exactly the same behavior if we were ever in those circumstances. You may remember the case of the woman in the Brooklyn, NY psychiatric hospital who collapsed on the floor of the waiting room and was stared at by almost a dozen people (including a doctor) for over an hour before anyone did anything. The woman died of a seizure. And, last month, A 78 year old man was stuck by a car crossing a busy street in Hartford, CT. He lay in the street alone and unattended while cars drove around him. Four people dialed 911 on their cell phones to report the accident, but no one stopped to check on the man until the police arrived. No one.
Indifference is a perfect example of human inertia in action. That’s what happens when we — you and I — fail to exercise our ‘courage muscles.’ If you can’t choose to make a difference for yourself, and then take action on that choice, how could you ever expect to take action on behalf of someone else? Here are five ‘reasons’ why psychologists say that you would predictably join a group of observers and fail to come to the aid of someone in need:
* Bystander Effect: “If others aren’t doing anything, I shouldn’t either (the person must not need help)” * “If something happens, I am not really responsible for it (it’s not my responsibility)” * “Others will take care of it (I have to take care of me)” * “It’s not going to make any difference anyway (there’s nothing I can do)” * Culture of indifference: “That’s not the way we do it here”
That’s why it takes real courage to extend yourself, to put yourself out for the sake of someone else. This lack of courage also explains why so many people would rather suffer than change their attitudes and behaviors. Making different choices begins with shifting your awareness. It means asking yourself the all-important question, “Why am I here?” And then, when you start to have the answer (which has to include taking care of yourself and one another), the Serenity Prayer will have even greater meaning for you:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. . . . Amen.
How committed are you to reaching your Goals? This quote came to me today from Bob Proctor. I had just finished some writing for Guide to Home Based Business, where I post blogs on utilizing courage in business. This quote is so true. With courage, combined with commitment, you will find a way and the power to do almost anything you set your mind and heart to.
If you make the unconditional commitment to reach your most important goals, if the strength of your decision is sufficient, you will find the way and the power to achieve your goals.”
My friend John Maguire sent me this quote on staying young. Youth lives inside and never fades in the young at heart. Every cell of our body holds the perfection and memory of youth. Life is a stage for children, where imagination and creativity hold each one enthralled, waiting for the next moment of discovery. There is a small child in each of us that has much to teach.
Youth at any age is a gift to combine perfectly with wisdom that is gained through the passing years. Never ever grow old or out of touch with the perfection and beauty you are. Now come outside and play with all the world as your stage, where you direct, create, design and make choices that bring the majesty of life to your doorstep.
Stay Young:
Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair, these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.
Whether seventy or seventeen there is in every beings heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement of the stars and the starlight things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events and the childlike appetite for what’s next, and the joy and the game of life.
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear. So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man, and from the infinite, so long you are young.
Everyone wants success, to be distinguished as authentic. I think it is easier for us to give up on starting many things, because we get so excited to start something and then look to the right, there is something to start, look to the left, oh wow, there is a new thing to start. Overwhelm slides around and a great idea is forgotten. The wisest choice is to pick one thing. Stay with it until it is a success – in any way that looks to you. Be determined, use courage to go the extra mile, over and above the average bear. Be the example of what you want to reflect to the world. Charles Kendall Adams talks about success in this quote:
“No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.”
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