Be true to yourself

I'm reminded that each person I meet is an invitation to change, to become a participant in a process that includes many more people around the world.  Good conscience is a sure reward.

I think of how meeting a businessman at a particular stage of my life enabled me to discover that I was limiting my choices based on what I knew about my potential to that point.  Coincidentally, I have a colleague who met a businessman and got into a new venture just before the colleague's initial business had to close down. A businessman you meet in passing can be an angel in disguise. 

I recall how sharing dinner with a psychology professor in a distant city enlarged my observations about humanity's evolution and my own kinds of attachments.  I had met that person on a plane.   Our few hours of discussions later that evening taught me a negative side of my determination.  That interaction taught me to distinguish and reflect on different levels of desire or aspiration.  I learned I could be true to myself while changing my mind about job, study and career choices.

A friend of mine reinforced her faith in strangers when she arrived at an airport and her luggage didn't follow.  Why was it that airline personnel were so understanding and provided her compensation when she temporarily had nothing to wear? Why was it someone kindly bought her a coffee and someone else paid her transit bus fare before she reached the gate to do it herself?  Somewhere inside herself, she decided not to try to control what was already out of her hands.  She didn't desire to get upset about her lost luggage, so she didn't.  She chose not to assume people were 'out to get her' and discovered the overwhelming desire of strangers to help. 

Rather than accumulate negative karma, you can chose the opposite and benefit from a strong of positive consequences. As you are true, as you believe in yourself, positive outcomes unfold. The guardian angels may appear in the form of strangers yet, your attitude can be another saving grace. Why not act as your own guardian angel? If you don't look out for yourself, how can you expect others to care? As you set an example, you may be surprised to see how you inspire others.

Hang on for the ride

Writers decide to organise their thoughts into books for different reasons.  Some people seek to document travel experience, to research and live vicariously through someone else's life, to devise fiction or to share lessons learned though their own personal or work experience.  Whatever the writer's motivation, what counts is its intensity.  The energy generated in a person's soul is what convinces that person he or she has good reason to share a specific story.

Preparing to write a book is a mental process.  Somewhere in your mind, you will decide this is something you would like to do for yourself and for the benefit of other people.  You may undertake research, collect, sort and edit material.  You may simply begin to transcribe words and see where that journey into yourself unfolds. From the point when you determine you desire to express things, its up to you to take initiatives and figure out how and for what audience.

Writing is a  vehicle that enables you to rediscover who you are and what you're made of.  Your chosen words also become tools that teach you what you're not.   You experience things and describe them in ways which elucidate your relationship with yourself and the world.  How truthful you choose to be reflects your level of ignorance and awareness, how much detail you wish to reveal and how deeply you hope to know yourself. 

In essence, you boarded the roller coaster of life.  You define the experiences you perceive or conceive are possible.  You live a choose-your-own adventure.  You decide what is reality and fantasy.  You can choose to write about the life you lead, the life you would like to lead and evolve into that as part of your own learning process.  No experience has meaning until you decide to give it meaning.  Everything or nothing means anything you choose. Share what you will.

Melt away stagnant choices

Each choice you make has a consequence.  These results can represent the stepping stones of success or, the choices themselves can also symbolize incremental examples of success.  Each choice can attract or prevent the kinds of success you desire for yourself.  If you continue to make the same kinds of choices and you're not obtaining desireable results, this is a sign you would benefit from heightened awareness.  It's your choice to learn to recognize these signs.

Success, therefore, may be experienced as you take responsibility for choices and decisions.    As you agree to be accountable for all your thoughts, feelings and actions, you also take advantage of learning as much as you can about who you really are, who you think you are, and whomever you choose to become.  You build courage to face fears, develop assertiveness and move ahead.

Yet, if you give the responsibility to others to make choices for you, then you also refuse to define your view of success, you refuse to take charge of your life and the pace of your own evolution. Melt away stagnant choices that hinder your personal development. Progressive movement in thoughts, words and action determines the direct ion of your growth.  Success begins inside as an attitude.  It can drive optimism, hope and creative visions to emerge.

Angel currency to amulets

An angel is the name of an English gold coin issued from 1460 to 1643, bearing on its obverse a figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon. First minted in 1461 during the reign of Edward IV, it had a value of six shillings and eight pence. By 1526, during the second coinage of Henry VIII, its value was raised to seven shillings and six pence.  Later, in 1544, it was worth eight shillings. By 1547, this coin’s value had reached ten shillings, in part due to extravagant spending habits of Henry VIII and an early example of inflation. It remained a ten shilling gold coin until production ceased in 1643 during the reign of Charles I.

The angel is a fascinating historic coin. It evolved from having market exchange value to hang round the neck of a patient who was touched for the king's ovil. Angels were no longer struck after the Restoration. When they went out of currency, small golden medallions, resembling them in style, were created to replace them as amulets, and these went by the name of "touch pieces." They continued to have the reputation of protection with an ability to ward off bad spirits.

Toss it out the window

If possessions and power are tossed out the window, some people might ask what's left of wealth. Increasingly, people will tell you that "time is money" and so, anything you can do to increase time you have to devote to what you prefer doing would then contribute to wealth. 

Standing back, where you create situations that have beneficial results for yourself and/or others, then this would be considered a kind of wealth creation. A benefit remains a value judgment.

If you cherish your health, then discarding or changing any habits or practices which undermine good health and well-being inversely promote a kind of intangible wealth. That is worth having.

Where you decide to buy less manufactured goods and share what you have more, this would conceivably promote more communication and stronger relationships. Take a lawn mower example. If you own one, how long do you use it in a given year as compared to how long it rests idle in the garage? If you and your neighbour shared one, you would spend less money and the machine would get more use. You wouldn't have to spend the start of a season getting it to work. You could even lend it or rent it out to other people, which would spread your wealth and joy.

Traditional wealth reminds you that many things have monetary as well as exchange value. What you have and how you choose to share can also be measurements of wealth. The usefulness of an object brings you a kind of wealth in the form of convenience and possible saved time.  Keep your mind open.  Rather than toss real objects out the window, why not discard outdated or close-minded ideas? Doing so will prepare you to embrace new kinds of wealth and prosperity.