Contentment by Napoleon Hill

Not only was he the author of the book ‘Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill was also once a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. This is one of his columns.

The richest man in all the world lives in Happy Valley. He is rich in values that endure, in things he cannot lose-things that provide him with contentment, sound health, peace of mind and harmony within his soul.

Here is an inventory of his riches and how he acquired them:

“I found happiness by helping others find it.'”

“I found sound health by living temperately and eating only the food my body requires to maintain itself.”

“I hate no man, envy no man,  but love and respect all mankind.”

“I am engaged in a labor of love with which I mix play generously; therefore, I seldom grow tired.”

“I pry daily, not for more riches, but for more wisdom with which to recognize, embrace, and enjoy the abundance of riches I already possess.”

“I speak no name save only to honor it, and I slander no man for any cause whatsoever.”

I ask no favors of anyone except the privilege of sharing my blessings with all who desire them.”

“I am on good terms with my conscience; therefore, it guides my accurately in everything I do.”

“I have more material wealth than I need  because I am free from greed and covet only those things I can use constructively while I live. My wealth comes from those with whom I have benefited by sharing my blessings.”

“The estate of Happy Valley, which I own, is not taxable. It exists mainly in my own mind, in intangible riches that cannot be assessed for taxation or appropriated except by those who adopt my way of life, I created this estate over a lifetime of effort by observing natures laws and forming habits to conform with them.”

Yeah, I thought it was pretty good too.

A Defining Moment

This is an exercise just for you so don’t worry, nobody will see your answers except you-unless of course you share! Okay, quick right off the top of your head, write down three words of how would you describe yourself.

Now let me ask that again a slightly different way; list three words that describe who you are.

No cheating—look at the words you wrote down and think of about three words before you read on.

Got em? Good. What sort of words did you write down? Did you write something like say, a profession? Or a role you have like say, Mom, Dad, Son or Daughter? These are examples of what you are not who you are. You are a spiritual being living in a physical body and having human experiences but those experiences are not really who you are. Underneath those roles that you play is the real you and you are not limited or defined by those roles.

So if you listed what you are and not who you are-start over. Three words that describe who you are. Got em? Good.

Now think about who you are. Are you an explorer? Inquisitive? Funny? Talented or creative? Really, the possibilities are endless and when you understand that then you can see that then you can see that who you are is who you choose to be. And you can make a different choice-every day, any day.  Or you can just live into the choice you’ve already made, it makes no difference as long as you remember that who you are and not what you are is perfect.

Mike Said….

I love quotes. Quotes inspire me, make me think, make me try again, make me laugh-you get the picture. Sometimes a great sentiment has been expressed so perfectly that there is just no way to improve it and no way to say it in other words without losing something in that ‘translation’.

I send out a quote to a number of people Monday thru Friday and it always has a picture to provoke a feeling of wonder, joy or gratitude, so I tend to ‘collect’ quotes. I came across one that actually made me laugh out loud while at the same time I was realizing that it was so true. Part of the reason this quote stuck with me isn’t just the words, it was the person that said them; Mike Tyson. Yep, that Mike Tyson-the famous boxer.

“Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face.”

It’s okay to laugh, like I said, I did. And yet at that same moment I knew he was right. You set a goal and figure out how to go about achieving that goal; that’s your plan. And then, BAM, a challenge comes up-like a punch in the face. Some people fall down and never get back up. Some people jump back up right away and start slugging away and some people do a combination of both. They might get back up but after that punch they just try to play it safe, they never take another chance, they settle for less.

A few people famous for getting punched in the face repeatedly yet not giving up? Thomas Edison, Harlan Sanders and Henry Ford. All had many failures before they had one success. Another example? Just about every toddler you have ever met. How many times does a baby fall before learning to walk? Even if that baby hits something and gets hurt while trying that baby will not give up. Quit is not in a baby’s vocabulary and it should not be in yours either.

Flying Solo?

Have you even taken a moment to figure out how much time you actually spend in a day alone with your thoughts? I know that most people don’t really do much thinking even though they believe that they do. What do I mean by alone with your thoughts? I mean, no television, no radio or music of any kind, no internet, no people talking, no MP3 player, nothing whatsoever to distract you from your own thoughts. Yeah I know, not much eh.

Most of us do not even realize that we can’t stand not to have the radio on in the car, or in the house we always have either the radio or the TV on. For many people the only time they spend without those ‘background noises’ is when we hop into bed and try to fall asleep instantly and yet many of us spend that time praying or going over to do lists mentally.

So we end up not doing much thinking at all. And then we start to rely on others to doo our thinking for us; political pundits to tell us who to vote for, the news to tell us what to be upset about or critics to tell us what movies we should love. I could go on but I think you get my drift-we avoid spending time with ourselves and when we are all alone with ourselves we are uncomfortable. Don’t believe me? Tomorrow, turn off the radio as you drive to work. If you start to feel too uncomfortable turn the radio back on. Do this every day and gradually lengthen the time that the radio is off. Use the time to think-but of course dwell on good things, pleasant things and things that serve you. You will soon find that you are not only more at peace with yourself but you are also more at peace with the world.

Random Thoughts

Ever find yourself saying or thinking something that your mom or dad or maybe even a grandparent  used to say to you? You know, things like; you think money grows on trees? Or turn off the lights, you think we own the electric company? Or maybe even; shut the door, were you born in a barn? I think you get where I am going; we all have expressions or sayings that speak to or through us that have been passed down. The thing is, most of these sayings are of lack not prosperity. What I have noticed for myself however, is that by doing personal development every day, these ‘little voices’ have all but disappeared.

In fact,yesterday I was going over my gratitude list and it occurred to me that I had not added all of the people that have influenced my self growth.  This list of those people would be too long to mention, everyone from Aristotle to Bob Proctor but I will have to mention a few to illustrate.

When faced with an unexpected bill, I now catch myself thinking ‘Thank goodness I’m wealthy’ so thanks Mike Dooley. Or when hearing myself or someone else say ‘when X happens I will have or do Y- my response is you can’t say to the fire, ‘give me heat and then I will throw on some logs’, thanks Earl Nightingale. Or when I don’t feel like doing something that I need to do, I think ‘You pay the price of discipline or you pay the price of regret; either way you gotta pay’ thanks Jim Rohn because that always makes me stop procrastinating.

What this all boils down to is that by feeding your mind-every day-with messages that serve you, that are positive, that move you forward instead of messages of lack and limitation, you find that you are happier and more prosperous. Try it and see for yourself.

Act Now!

Today I want to remind everyone about the formula for manifesting. I know that many people think that is it; ask, believe and receive but that's just a simple way to remember it.

The reality is that in asking you are usually not just verbally, mentally or even putting it in writing, but first deciding what it is that you truly want. Then in believing it’s not just having faith that you will get what you want, its taking some action to get what you want.

And lastly, in receiving you aren’t just sitting on the couch waiting for your harvest-you are being open to the ways that the universe might arrange for it to happen.

To illustrate; say that you want a free cup of coffee. you put that desire out into the universe-do you wait for the coffee to show up? No, because it is not likely to and not doing anything to move toward that cup of coffee shows that you have no real belief that it will show up. So maybe you go to where you know that there is coffee; a neighbors, a family members home, an office-it doesn’t matter. And yes I am excluding a coffee shop because you want a free cup of coffee remember, not that all of your goals will be for free items mind you-its just a cup of coffee you know. So by taking some action toward your intention you are doing your part of believing because obviously if you didn't believe you could get that cup of coffee you would stay on the couch. Now all that remains is receiving the coffee.

For some people that coffee, or goal to be precise, doesn’t come to you the way that you think, plan or decide it should. The trick is to listen closely to your gut, your intuition, your subconscious mind and allow whatever opportunity comes to take you to your goal. So maybe you go to that neighbors, that relatives, that office and nobody is home or they are out of coffee-do you give up? Do you decide that the coffee will show up when you stop deciding where and how you will get the coffee? Or maybe its at the first place you try and it’s tastes great, perfectly brewed and piping hot. That’s how it happens with all goals; you don’t know if it will happen on your first try, if it will happen the way that you tried it or that it will come from out of the blue. What you DO know is that if you do not try, in other words, take action, it will not happen at all.

Common Denominators

I have lived long enough to have experienced a number of ups and downs and if I were to look back on that I could confidently say that there were common denominators to what made the highs end and the lows too.

What would those be you ask? When times are good we often take it for granted, we don’t appreciate what we have and we sometimes don’t take all the actions we need to take in a timely manner. When times are not so good we tend to focus on what’s bad and take what we have for granted and we tend to put off doing the things we need to do mostly because we tell ourselves a story about how we will do that tomorrow.

Simple solutions always work best; make a gratitude list, read it often and take a few minutes to feel the gratitude. If you aren’t where you want to be and especially if you are experiencing a low; stay too busy to focus on that.

I said that to a friend of mine recently and she replied; Stay busy? Really? Doing what exactly? She said because she is unemployed and broke. But she is missing the big picture. Broke or not, many of the best things in life are free. Today I saw the most beautiful rainbow-and I saw the entire rainbow not just part of it. There was actually two rainbows but I could only see part of the second one. Still, it was totally FREE. And yeah I know that rainbows don’t show up on command but there are many more things out there to keep you busy and keep your mind off of the things you don’t need to be thinking of. Clean your house or your car. Play solitaire, do a crossword or jigsaw puzzle. Take a walk. Volunteer somewhere. Do something that keeps your mind occupied. But also do something everyday that moves you forward. Do something to improve your relationships, to get a job, a promotion, just do something, anything, and everything you can think of to move forward and do that every day and before you know it while you were keeping yourself busy you ended up smack dab in the middle of a ‘high’.

Great Expectations?

Today I want to share a story about a woman I know, her name is Jane and for most of her life she has struggled to make ends meet. A couple of years ago, when I first met her, she was doing no personal development at all. I introduced her to a few of the greats and she eagerly read everything I recommended. I wish I could say that she also incorporated the information into her life but that is not the case.

She would read it, she would say the right things and she would do all the exercises I recommended but the results just weren’t there. Things went from tight to dire when she lost her job and all she could find was temp jobs.

This had been going on for over two years. Every time we would talk she would say that she was keeping a positive attitude and knew everything would work out great, it was just taking God a bit of time to arrange it. I said that as long as her expectation was that it would work out in the future that is where her solution would stay-in the future.

Last week she called me and she was very excited. She said that the last time we talked she decided that the actions she had been taking hadn’t really worked so she would have to add something. She decided to start paying more attention to her surroundings while she was walking every day. Then, she said she started finding money on every walk, sometimes just a penny or two but sometimes a dollar and once she found a five dollar bill. She said, “Then it hit me like a ton of bricks; God had been trying to supply me but I just wasn’t seeing all of the opportunities all around me.” And that eventually led her to another thought; everyday she seemed to be finding more and more money and the reason she found that money was because she expected to find money and there it was. So she started expecting more and started getting more. Her part time business picked up enough that between her temp jobs and it, her income was enough to cover the bills and even put some money in the bank. So she started expecting even more and started getting even more; she found her dream job, an opportunity she had overlooked before, her relationships with her family improved and her health as well. She now says her life has never been better but she expects that it will continue to improve.

What could happen for you if you really started to expect more?

Added Value

If you study enough of the materials put out; the writings, teachings, audios, videos & such from every source of self growth you will find that the basic message is the same. So what separates those who are more successful that others? Its simple; the added value.

If the message is the same then only the delivery can be the difference between what makes you move forward and what leaves you cold. That is why most people advise you to study a variety of sources.

Its not that some of these people are better than the others, we don’t all like the same things so someone that resonates with you might not be good for me and vice versa. You know this because I have told you all of this before.

What I didn’t say though, is that to move forward in life you too, must add value to things. For example, if you want a promotion at work, you must not just do the job, you have to find a way to add value to it. It’s like buying a house, doing nothing to it and then expecting to sell it at a profit versus fixing it up before selling it-only one of those things adds any value to the house.

So how do you add value to things? By mastering those things, by practice, by thought, by caring, by making a decision that whatever it is that you are doing, you will do it to the best of your ability not just to the ‘good enough’ standard even when its harder than you thought it would be or it takes longer than you thought it would.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I love the comparison of a garden and life. Each has seasons and granted the four seasons of the year are predictable and life's are not, all the same each experiences planting, nurturing, harvest and rest. In other words, Spring, Summer, Fall or Autumn and Winter.

For this life metaphor, I think we all easily understand planting and nurturing; you plant  your seed and you don’t just wait for the harvest, you water and weed- that is-you nurture then you reap what you have sown. What many have a challenge with is the Winters of life.

When you are experiencing Winter; maybe you lost your job or your business, maybe your health or your relationships are ailing, maybe everything went wrong-you often have difficulty remembering that it is just Winter and Spring is sure to follow.

But remembering is exactly what you must do if you want an early Spring. There is not one person on the planet that has not experienced a winter or two or maybe many more than that. The reason some people have a harder, longer Winter is because they live into it instead of seeing that every day is one day closer to Spring and living into that. You need an example?

Two people lose their jobs at the same company. They talk on the phone at least once a week. Each has put out hundreds of resumes with no luck so far. One is happy to print out more copies to get out into the marketplace because she knows that each new resume means she is one step closer to that new job while the other dreads printing out more copies, sure she is wasting her time, effort and money. Which do you think will see Spring first? One of these ladies is planning what she will wear on her first day at that new job, the other wonders what she will wear to the food pantry. One is planning for Spring the other sees only Winter. What you dwell on is totally your choice; you can think about where you are now or you can think about where you are going. Only one of those behaviors will move you forward while the other keeps you stuck in place.