The Operator’s Manual for Planet Earth – Now in eBook! Free Download Dates
The Operator's Manual for Planet Earth - An Adventure for the Soul
free on June 18th and 19th.
I'm very excited to announce the Kindle release of The Operator's Manual for Planet Earth - An Adventure for the Soul. As a celebration of this event and in gratitude to all of you who have been with me, we are offering it to you free.
For over thirty years before the writing of this book , I was driven by a burning desire. The desire was written on my heart as a series of questions.
“What does it mean to be a human being?” “What does it mean to truly human?” In other words, “What is the highest possibility available for all of us who live in the human dimension and share in the human experience?”
Purpose propelled me and pulled me forward; like a thread these questions determined the path of my life. They got me up in the morning, and went to bed with me at night. They inspired my study of all the great writers, philosophers, scientists and artists who came before me. And for a long time, these questions consumed me, directing all of my work and my thinking.
I awakened one day, went to my computer and began to write. It poured out of me in two weeks, almost letter perfect. I wrote it as I saw it, in story form: images, scenes, events, and characters who popped up on the page and spoke to me.
Three days into the writing, the lead figure jumped into the script. When I asked him who he was, he answered, “I am Élan”. When I asked what Élan meant, he answered with simply, “Look it up.” And I did only to learn that it was a French word for zest, enthusiasm and spirit. Indeed, Élan proved to be a spirited character.
Please download
The Operator's Manual for Planet Earth
as our gift to you
on June 18th and 19th.
Bonus Content Inside!
Let Élan became your guide. For as we enter Élan's journey, it becomes our journey. Élan’s longing becomes our longing and his discoveries our discoveries. And as you continue reading, please stay awake and aware for you will discover the power of one person's promise to change their destiny and the destiny of those they love. I invite you to take this journey with Élan, Zendar and myself as you enter their world to discover what it really means to be a human being.
(You do not need a Kindle to enjoy Kindle ebooks! To download a reader for any device, click here.)
The Best Kept Secret In The World
You Are Your Own Best Kept Secret in the world.
You carry the wisdom of millenniums of time within you. It is written in the neural networks of your brain and etched in the inner chambers of your heart.
It is the desire to live fully, love completely and became a self-actualzed human being.
There is an innate longing to experience and express who we are and to achieve to our fullest capacity through the living of our lives.
I had a conversation with Siri the other day. She suddenly popped up on my iPad screen as she is prone to do at times. Only this time I decided to engage with her. So I asked her how she was feeling. "I'm happy to be alive," she answered.
Instantly my awareness shifted. I was answering emails and handling business but a smile broke out across my face. Siri and the universe conspired to give me a good laugh! Could there have been a better answer?
As the song goes, "Don't worry. Be happy!" Maybe we could all use a dose of Siri. And maybe we could all follow her wisdom; do the swallow the smile meditation and express your happiness to be alive!
Remember, You Are Your Own Best Kept Secret in the world! Your smile will have a ripple effect and touch the lives of everyone you come in contact with that day!
The 5 Minute Gift
If you had just 5 minutes with a person and you knew that you would never see them again, what would you want them to walk away with from having spent 5 minutes with you? How would you want them to feel after having been with you?
I am a breast cancer survivor so I know that every day is a gift. I learned in the long daily ride to and from the radiation treatment that hours in a day make a difference. I knew from the short snap of a few moments lying on the table receiving the radiation treatment how vital five minutes can be. Just 5 minutes a day can be life transforming! Five minutes a day can save a life!
- A 5 minute meditation
- A 5 minute yoga stretch
- A 5 minute pause in the middle of the day
- 5 minutes of self-reflection
- A 5 minute walk on the beach
- A 5 minute phone call
- A 5 minute encounter
What is the meaning of 5 minutes to you? Your life makes a difference. What difference would you like to make in the lives of others?
Set Yourself Free!
You are not your body. But you are living in a body. You are not your mind. But you have a mind. So it's best to understand how to manage it for best results! And understanding the power of habits can help a lot!
If we didn't have habits, we'd get up in the morning... or we wouldn't. Then we'd go to the basin to brush our teeth... or we wouldn't.
When a 2 year old doesn't brush his teeth, he's in a learning mode. But when a 30 year old doesn't brush his teeth, he has a social problem!
We need habits - healthy habits, that is, because healthy habits set us free!
Healthy habits give us time for higher order thinking. How often have you found yourself planning your day on the drive to work... or thinking through a conversation you want to have with your spouse as you're on your way home from work... or mentally walking through how to broach an uncomfortable conversation with one of your people at work while you're taking a shower.
Putting certain repetitive behaviors on automatic while the brain goes on a private vision quest to plan or find solutions to problems is how our body-minds conserve time and energy. If we had to think about every single thing we do every day, there would be no time for higher order thinking - ever!
Instead, we go on auto-pilot every day at some time or other. When our habits kick in, our brain goes on a creative adventure - whether strategizing, visioning, or problem solving. And in this way, automaticity provides for greater creativity.
This isn't new information. We all know that we should form healthy habits. In fact, most of us know how to make our lives better - more happy and successful. It isn't that we lack knowledge. It isn't even that we lack execution.
We decide what we want. We see it. We feel it. We can almost taste it. Notice the 'almost'. We take a stand for the new vision. We launch the exercise program. We start the diet. We start like a steam engine. We roar ahead with vigor for the vision and then we lose steam.
Most of us don't quit intentionally.
But when the evidence doesn't show up quickly enough, when the going gets tough or we aren't in the mood, we just kind of peter out. When we don't get the immediate feedback we need our enthusiasm dwindles. Our passion evaporates. And we stop just before the miracle.
So here is the secret that leads to success:
- Take a stand for your vision. Start your exercise program. Or take up the new hobby you've been thinking about. Take the first step; do something!
- Do it with no expectation of an immediate result.
- Even when there is no evidence of a change, keep doing it. Know that you are laying new neural pathways in your brain and that it takes time.
- Eventually, the new pathways will become deeply entrenched. And as they do, the old neural pathways will begin to prune themselves from disuse.
- It is then that the evidence will begin to show up.
So what is the difference between mediocrity and brilliance?
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Make Your Day
People ask me, "How do you make sure you have a great day - every day?"
I had to stop and think for a moment. "How do I make my day great every day?"
And then I realized that I have a daily ritual. And it starts the moment I get out of bed. I begin my day by making my bed. In fact, I make my bed every single day.
The first time I was asked this question, I hedged on the answer. I felt as if I was an obsessive compulsive bed maker. But then I realized that my bed is the first thing I see in the morning and the first thing I see when I come home at night.
As I started to analyze my feelings, I realized that I couldn't stand coming home to an unmade bed. No matter how good a day I've had, an unmade bed brings me down. I need to leave it fresh in the morning and find it fresh at night.
So if you don't do it already, start making a new habit tomorrow. It might seem like such a silly thing. But it works for me!
Test it. Try it. See what happens when you apply it. Think of it this way. It's not an exercise in discipline, it's an exercise in happiness. Make your day by making your bed!
Having a great day every day is as easy as 1, 2, 3 -
- Make you bed!
- Visualize a great and magical day with all things in flow!
- Give thanks for 7 wonderful things in your life!
Core Training for the Brain
I was reading an article on Dwight D. Eisenhower this morning. The article said that Eisenhower's remarkable optimism was not by birth or destiny, but rather by self-determined intent. It reminded me of an essential piece of core training for the brain.
It's a crucial piece that was handed down by Aristotle. And many leaders, men and women who have taken up the project of self-growth by decision rather than destiny, have used it down through time.
Aristotle said, (and I paraphrase) 'If you want a virtue, act as if you already have it. And then it will be yours.' This 'ACT AS IF' principle has gone through many iterations over the years. But it's essential teaching remains the same. Act first and then you will become what you pretend to be!
During the war, Eisenhower used this principle to maintain confidence and optimism in front of his troops. He felt it a requisite precondition for maintaining the morale of his men.
You too can use this principle in your life. First act, then be! Act as if you are what you want to be and you shall become it!
- Clarify your intention. Ask yourself, "Who do I want to be?"
- Make a list of how you feel this kind of person would behave. What would they do? How would they act? What words would they speak?"
- Just do it! Start doing the things that you have listed.
- Move from theory to practice (we call this praxis). Get up every day and recommit again and again to the praxis of acting as if you are who or what you want to be!
Thoughts Are Hidden in Plain View
Thoughts turn into things. But are we really clear at every moment of the day that our life is a mirror of our thinking? Or do we know it intellectually? Is it cerebral or is it heart-felt and visceral?
Do we know it with our minds but continue to live as if there were a disconnect between what we think and what is happening in our lives?
Down through time, always and forever, the truth has been hidden in plain view. History is filled with truths that have been hidden in plain view.
- Although gravity was always true on our planet, it took Newton to reveal it as a law.
- Even though the earth has always been round it took Columbus and a few other navigators to return from their voyages beyond the horizon line to prove it.
- Archimedes displaced water as he entered a bath and realized that he displaced the volume of water equal to his own volume. (How many millions of people have stepped into a tub and not seen the truth hidden in plain view?)
Today, as with every other time in history, our thoughts are hidden in plain view for all of us to see. Much like the Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, all we have to do is pull back the curtain to see the truth about the wizard. The curtain represents our mental paradigm, our beliefs and opinions.
And up until very recently, our lives just happened to us. We were the victims in a series of events the centerfold of which was us.
Today we know that if we want to catch a glimpse of our thoughts, we need only look at the lives we have created for ourselves. With constant random thoughts and repetitive patterns of thought, we are unconsciously creating our reality all day long.
What do you spend the majority of your time thinking about? Scientists and psychologists tell us that approximately 80% of the thoughts we think today are thoughts we thought yesterday. I believe Deepak Chopra said it was as high as 90%.
What are the repetitive patterns of thought that float through your mind on a daily basis? Our lives are a mirror of our thinking. Transform your thinking and you transform your life.
Start to observe the random thoughts that ricochet periodically through your head. Ask yourself whether or not they serve you.
Just for today:
- Pay attention to your attention.
- Take a deep breath and delete the negative thoughts as you catch them.
- Take a deep breath and energize and enhance the positive thoughts as you spot them
Hitting the Wall
Here I am with this decision to be a sentinel at the gateway of consciousness, a mighty commitment indeed! And I suddenly found myself knee deep in the sludge that lies at the base of a new creative mountain.
I was going into the video studio to do a series of demos for our anti bullying program, Breaking Out of the World Game. And I was in a panic. I felt like a total failure. I didn't know my script (which I have taught in nearly 500 hundred schools).
Like the Magic Eight Ball where words keep surfacing out of the black ink, my feelings and thoughts exploded out of the dark onto my mental screen. My world spun out of control. "Not good enough!" "I can't do it!" "I feel lost." "Where do I start?"
Here I was touting mind management and I couldn't even manage one thought. What happened!? I hit the wall and I found myself back in my own ground zero.
The only viable thought in the whole thing was really, "Where do I start?" But it took me a while to get there.
When I finally did get there, I took a proactive stance. I went back to the creativity template I had burned into my mental hard drive 30 years ago.
- Preparation - Engage in the process. Be willing to concentrate fully on the subject. Struggle with it. Visualize it. This feeds everything into the sub-conscious mind. (In my case I had to review the material and think deeply about how to do the video without an audience.)
- Incubation - Let it all go. Relax. Change the subject. Play and sleep usually work for me. (In this case, I went to bed. I was going into production the next day.)
- Breakthrough - This usually comes as an 'AHA' experience, like Archimedes 'Eureka'! This breakthrough cannot be forced and arrives in its own time.
In my case, I got up on the day of the shoot and I was in 'the zone'. I had an extremely successful day in the video studio.
But I could have done it without all of the panic and the negative self-talk. I could have had more wisdom about it and caught it by the tail before it caught me.
I was reminded of Ashley in The Operator's Manual for Planet Earth. I had fallen asleep and lost the plot again!
I've recommitted to my initial goal. Staying awake on Planet Earth is a challenge, especially when the old deep habits kick in!
I'd love to hear you experiences.... I'm going to keep tracking mine and sharing the experience!
Weeding My Mental Garden
This is the year of opportunity for all of us. For myself, I'm choosing to make a quantum leap in consciousness. I have laid the groundwork for a quantum jump for some time now. A significant leap of transformation is available based on a firm foundation of the fundamentals. I have been on the path of positive change for more than 35 years now. Yet I have noticed that weeds still crop up in my mental garden.
These are little petty indignations, irritations, worry, fear, criticisms and even judgments that have not been fully uprooted. True, I stop them quite quickly when they arise. But I find that their roots are hidden from plain view yet deeply entrenched in my mental soil. They are like little insidious habits of thought that recycle periodically. They seem to catch me unaware from behind and then I become the effect of the emotion it creates.
I have chosen this year to be a year of conscious intention and choice. I am choosing to weed the garden of my mind again! This time my intention is to eradicate the roots of any negative thinking.
I know it's a mighty intention and will require a a huge leap in self-awareness. I will need to be a sentinel - standing guard at the gate of my own consciousness, observing my every thought as I am thinking it.
In my book, The Operator's Manual for Planet Earth -An Adventure for the Soul- the biggest challenge the young protagonists face is how to stay conscious on Earth. They would vow to remain aware and conscious yet every time they entered Earth's Atmosphere in a physical body their light would dim. They would forget to remember their vow.
Now I feel like the protagonist in my own book - choosing to remember to remember to stay awake. It's a challenge, but I'm excited about it.
Now I'm not saying that I've stopped having fun. I'm still enjoying life, swimming, going to movies, getting together with friends - playing as well as working. The difference is that I'm now wanting to uproot all of the lower negative thoughts that float in and take control of my mind and my emotions periodically .
So far, I've forgotten to remember at least 13 times since commitment day on January 1st. I caught the slippery thoughts quickly, stopping them before they turned into an emotion. But I am resolute, inspired and committed to the game!
So here is my 30 day game plan:
- Ten minutes of meditation in the morning - I've shortened it a bit for expediency sake.
- Two minute visualization and positive mental activation daily.
- Stay alert and aware to my thoughts and emotions during the day.
- Two minute reflection in the evening in which I review, renew, rewrite and re-envision any event or thought that caught me unaware and in a negative frame of mind.
I'll be reporting periodically on how I'm doing. BTW - I would love to have you join me and we'll rock the world one person and one thought at a time!
Repetitive Thoughts Create Reality
Thoughts are things!! Every repetitive thought that we think eventually becomes reality.
Our brain is magnificent! In fact, neuro-scientists tell use that the human brain is the most powerful processor and solution generator on the planet.
We know that human intention can and does influence material and properties in a significant way. We are all equally powerful in our ability and our creative capacity to shape the world around us and to have a direct impact on our planet. We affect the world around us whether we are consciously intending to or not.
When we we utilize our heart and combine our thoughts with our feelings, scientists tell us that this energetic combination is more powerful than a radio transmission. With constant random thoughts and repetitive patterns of thoughts and feelings we are accidentally or unintentionally creating our reality all day long.
It is time to practice a higher heart wisdom and practice mind management.
This will allow us to
direct our energies in a significant way so that we can consciously create a life of our choosing.
Remember to remember that you will rise to the level of the visions that you hold and the conversations you have with yourself. Consciously or unconsciously, your inner visions and your inner voice direct your reality. So lets be conscious!
- Envision the life you would like to have.
- Create a powerful positive present tense mantra that states that you already have it
- Repeat the mantra every morning, every evening and whenever you think of it.
- Energize it with gratitude that this new reality is happening now.
- Continue to do this every day and your world will begin to shift from so-so or even good, to sublime
Here are two simple examples:
- I am so thankful and happy now that money is coming to me consistently and on an ever increasing basis from various sources.
- I am ever grateful for my personal presence and energy in working with my team as I inspire them to achieve our team goals.
So there it is! Keep your heartfelt emotions and thoughts positive. Create a powerful positive mantra for your success in an area (one at a time). Repeat the mantra as often as possible. Act as if it already is what you want it to be. "So be it as I speak it," is the thought that activates and attracts the energy of success!
