Spiritual Questions Answered

I pray that this message finds you in the best of spirits. It's been a long time since we've been in touch. But, I'll take responsibility for that.

In the last few months I've put the final touches on the paperback version of Brilliance is Your Birthright, conducted more keynotes and workshops, and been on a mission to increase my knowledge in personal and spiritual development.

Some interesting emails have popped into my inbox in the last few weeks. These messages presented me with what I initially viewed as "tough" questions.

This quote kept coming to mind as I pondered my responses: "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." With that thought, I realized that the best way for me to look at these inquiries was as opportunities. The person asking the question might be able to get clarity, I would have a chance to grow, and you might benefit from this dialogue as well.

Instead of agonizing over my answers I decided that the best thing to do is to just respond truthfully, from the heart, and through the lenses of my personal experience.
Find my answers to a few of these "opportunities" below. I'll be posting this on my blog and looking forward to any feedback you can give.

1. How can I imagine that I'm blessed when so many others are suffering with illnesses, hunger, and pain?

Are you healthy, strong, intelligent, creative, thoughtful, caring, ambitious, and educated? Are you sensitive to other people's needs? If you say yes to any of the above then you are blessed. I believe that one of the reasons we were put on this earth is to help others using the gifts we've been given. Many of the most philanthropic and purposeful people take action to help others because they know they have an answer to many of the world's problems. If they don't have an answer they're willing to roll up their sleeves and find one.

You don't have to attempt to feed the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish as Jesus did. By helping one person you cause a ripple effect which helps their family, which improves their community, which changes the world. If you do this you are performing a miracle.

2. The reason why I don't have abundance is because I was taught that it's wrong to long for material things such as money, clothes, etc. Is this true?

Author and child specialist, John Bradshaw estimates that the average person has over 25,000 hours of recordings of their parent's voices inside of them. No wonder why we struggle to shake the ideas we have about the world and adopt new thoughts. But, there is nothing wrong with wanting nice "stuff". I think problems arise when we make accumulating "stuff" our only focus and we neglect our families, bodies, and spirits.


A lot of folks are using their "stuff" to compensate for a lack of love, companionship, and confidence. I've realized in recent years that happiness and joy start inside-out, not outside-in.

3. Why did God not create a simple world without drugs, suffering, crime, etc.?

I think the world, meaning nature, is perfect and simple. Is just that the imperfect people who populate it complicate things. There are laws that govern the universe and when we violate them we can cause pain. God gives us free will and the ability to make choices.


In The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, he encourages us to ask ourselves "What are the consequences of this decision?" and "Will this choice bring happiness to me and to those affected by this choice?" If more of us used these questions as a guide before we act I think we would see a world with less suffering.

Warm regards,

Derek

Video: Taking Control of Our Attitudes

Video: Investing Your Time Wisely

Video: Finding Your Life's Purpose

Video: Putting Faith into Action

The Dynamic Power of Trust

The following article, The Dynamic Power of Trust, was written by guest contributor, Hilary Gatehouse.

Have you ever met one of those people who is always winning things? You know… the people who just seem to turn a corner and get a parking spot? In fact it was just sitting there waiting for them. Meanwhile, you’ve been driving around in circles looking for a spot… any spot! These are the people I am writing about, because I want you, the reader, to know that you can live this way too.

It’s not just about getting perfect parking spots, and winning things (although these are fun perks). It’s about living a joyful life; the kind of life where you can just trust that everything will somehow fall into place. That’s what I call a charmed life.

One of the essential, and often overlooked, ingredients in the recipe for living a charmed life is trust. An example of this is when you go to a restaurant; you decide what you want, place your order, and trust that it will arrive. It would be ridiculous to then walk into the kitchen to see if they got your order. Even stranger, would be to stand there so as to ensure that the cook is making your meal just the way you ordered it. Yet metaphorically we do this all the time.
An important element of trust is to do what you can towards any goal through inspired action, then release attachment to the outcome. Once you place your order, it is ultimately out of your hands.

Trying to force a certain outcome can have the opposite effect. Example – leaving multiple messages for someone who is doing something for you could irritate them, causing them to take longer. Instead, sit back and let go of your attachment to this person responding the way you want.

If someone else zips into what you thought was your parking spot, instead of being annoyed and upset, just trust that it was someone else’s order being fulfilled, and yours is on its way. In other words, know that your spot will become available to you.

Trust is not just about getting what you ordered; it’s also about trusting what shows up. If your parking spot ends up being at the entire other end of the lot, trust that there was a good reason for it. Perhaps it is inspiration to start exercising, or you may bump into an old friend.

Ultimately, when we can trust that the right things, circumstances, people and solutions will show up, we are less likely to stress. We can relax and live more joyfully knowing that, in this state, the door to a charmed life is open to us.

Hilary Gatehouse
Personal Performance Coach
http://www.freedomrules.ca/

Dr. Brad Swift on Following Your Purpose and Passion in Life

Following the Breadcrumbs of Passion by W. Bradford Swift.


At Life On Purpose Institute we believe everyone should follow their purpose and passioin in life and that doing so will never lead you astray even when you aren’t completely clear where it will lead you. I call it “following the breadcrumbs of your passion” and it’s actually how Life On Purpose Institute began.


I first got the idea of starting a organization that was a reflection of my own purpose of living a life of service, simplicity and spiritual serenity from a pet writing project:

Project Purpose: To write and publish articles about people and insitutions whose lives and missions are dedicated to a bold and inspired purpose or vision.

After interviewing and spending time with dozens of these purposeful people, I began to recognize certain common elements they shared; one of which was that almost all of them were expressing their own life purpose through some organized structure -- a for profit business, a non-profit, etc. I was in the midst of pondering what such an organization would look like for me when I received an assignment from Yoga Journal to write a feature article on simple living in a complex world. They wanted, as part of the article, a sidebar listing resources about living simply.

Well, I thought, Life On Purpose Institute could be in that sidebar, except there wasn’t a Life On Purpose Institute yet. At first I dismissed the idea as being premature, but as I continued writing the article I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. Finally, I ran it by my coach who replied, “Why not include it and see what happens?” So, I did.

I didn’t think much more about it until 2 to 3 months later when the article appeared as the cover story for the August, 1996 issue of Yoga Journal with a cartoon illustration by Gahan Wilson. A few days after the magazine hit the newstands, my phone rang. “Hello, Brad Swift,” I answer in my customary fashion.

“Is this Life On Purpose?” An excited voice on the other end of the line asked.

I paused, momentarily dazed and looked around my office. I had forgotten about listing my dream in the sidebar. Gathering my wits about me, I replied, “Yes, how may I serve you?”

That was almost 10 years ago. Today Life On Purpose Institute is a flourishing, spiritually based enterprise. Hundreds of people have clarified their life purpose by working individually with our Life On Purpose Certified Coaches, and thousands of others have done the same through our group programs.

We have had close to a hundred purposeful and passionate people who have gone through our Coach Development Programs as far away as Germany and Australia. While our mission to deeply and profoundly touch and contribute to at least 1% of the world’s population (around 60-70 million people), is far from complete, we’re building momentum to have it accomplished during my life time.

This “meta purpose project” continues to transform my life and that of my wife, Ann, who is also Life On Purpose’s CFO and program registrar. Only in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could live such a satisfying and fulfilling life as I’m living now, but then again, isn’t that where such realities begin — in our dreams. Perhaps Goethe said it best:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it: boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

For all of you reading this who are just starting out, I encourage you to take the time to identify your true purpose in life, for it will guide you to that wellspring of passion and enthusiasm that can serve as the fuel to keep you moving forward even in the most challenging of times.

At Life On Purpose Institute, we continue to follow our purposeful path of passionate breadcrumbs. You can count on it. To read the landmark article, Simple Living in a Complex World that launched LOPI into the world, go to: http://lifeonpurpose.com/index.php?page=62

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Since founding Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. in 1996 Dr. Brad Swift has become the country’s foremost authority on personal life purpose, authoring the book, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life (http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/books) — the first and only how-to book that guides people from confusion to clarity about the most important question: “Who am I and why am I here?” To learn how on or off purpose your life is, take the fun and engaging Self Test at http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/selftest .

You Are What You Think About!

This article was written by guest contributor Carolyn D. Townes.

"If we are not responsible for the thoughts that pass our doors, we are at least responsible for those we admit and entertain." ~ Charles B. Newcomb

Experts say that we operate on about 90 percent of the negative thoughts we learned as children. What this says is that there are a lot of negative people and negative energy circling our immediate environment.

It is this negative energy that then gets spread to all the other parts of our lives. So, if we have a negative workmate. We then absorb her negative energy and pass this on to our family life. This then gets passed on to our leisure time. And the cycle continues until every part of our reality and our connecting realities are infused with this negative energy.

So how do we break the cycle? Think about what you think about!

Instead of entertaining every toxic thought that comes into your head, make the conscious choice to flip the script.

We have been given a powerful tool that may elude many of us. It is the power of choice. We have the awesome power to choose – to choose to entertain negative thoughts; to choose to not drink the poison; to choose to not give our quality time to toxic people. Here are three powerful tips to change your thinking and to avoid those toxic people:

1. When a negative thought does enter your mind (and they will!), choose to change it. Just say CANCEL! Then just for the moment think about something funny.
2. When you cannot remove all of the toxic people from your life – some may be family or workmates, then find some nutritious people to balance the scale. Find a life coach or a support group, or both. Spend less time with the toxic people until you have enough resolve to deflect their negativity.
3. Develop and attitude of gratitude. When you are grateful, there is no room for negativity. When those pesky negative thoughts start to creep in, think of five things you are grateful for at that moment. Remember, you always have something to be thankful for. You don't think so? You're breathing, aren't you?

So just for today, learn to think about what you are thinking about. You have the power to choose more "nutritious" and empowering thoughts – thoughts that will lead you to creating a life of inner peace, passion and purpose!

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Carolyn D. Townes is a Spiritual Life and Leadership Coach, Passion and Purpose Coach, speaker and author. For the last fifteen years, she has been telling her story to impact and empower women worldwide. She is the creator and animator of Spirit Women Coaching and Consulting which is dedicated to equipping and empowering female leaders, entrepreneurs and women in transition in creating a life of passion and peace. She writes for the blogs Becoming a Woman of Purpose (http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com/) and Equip and Empower (http://equipandempower.blogspot.com/). Carolyn lives in New York City and can be reached at carolynsfo@spirit-women.org.