Come and sit a spell
Let's talk about how things are, how things could be,
and the state of life in general
and the state of life in general
In this lesson you need to coordinate the four previous lesson: definite purpose, self-confidence, leadership and imagination. You need to take them all together to create action. In The Laws of Success, Napoleon Hill states that it is not only the statement "knowledge is power" but that "organized knowledge expressed in action is power."
If you only have the knowledge without taking action there is no power. You may have a definite purpose that you have set in your mind. You may have self confidence in abundance. You may have the ability to be a leader. You may have the imagination to create your definite purpose. But until you put them together and take action on them you might as well know nothing. Your education is useless to you until you go out and do something with it. There is the old saying that you can't get anything for nothing. And this true about your definite purpose also. How can you get to something that you desire without doing anything? And not doing anything is termed procrastination. Most people will say that the world/society/their boss/spouse, etc. never gave them a chance. Sometimes we need to take a chance or make the chance rather than wait for someone or something to give us something. Procrastinating is our worst enemy and I think that expecting others to give you a chance is the second worst. Go out and make your own opportunities. Now I must confess that in this actual lesson in the book, Mr Hill goes into great detail about the importance of keeping the intestines clean. I found this very amusing until I began to look at it from my nutrition background. If the intestines are clogged your entire body system will become sluggish. Toxins can build up in the intestinal tract and cause many types of diseases that can affect the entire body. Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity can be linked to problems caused by what we eat, how we eat and the responses of the Gastrointestinal System. The thing to be aware of is that the processing of nutrients by our body is a function that requires energy and energy that is clogged does not produce efficient energy or effort. Now, I will not suggest, as does Mr. Hill, that you take an enema for a headache but I do suggest that you use natural means to produce a bowel movement every single day. Anything less and waste product (feces) will accumulate in the rectum which can then back up into the colon. As this waste festers it can become the first step in colon cancer. So, back to the lesson of action. One of this biggest setbacks to you producing action is worry. Worry, envy, jealousy, hatred doubt and fear are all states of mind that can lead to inactivity. Any type of negativity will keep you from action, therefore you need to keep yourself in a positive frame of mind. And one of the best ways to make this happen is to smile! Keep something with you at all times that will always put a smile on your face. Find something to make you laugh. When you feel like moping around the house, find or put on a movie that will make you laugh. It is amazing how even forcing yourself to laugh can free your mind from thoughts of the negative. The action that Mr. Hill talks about is not just in the physical sense but also in the mental sense. Keep your mind active; be always thinking of the next way to get to your definite purpose. And the thinking about how you will get there will drive your physical body to perform actions to get to that goal. In the book, we are given some suggestions on how to become active and not procrastinate.
Next Lesson: Enthusiasm
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Imagination, Imagination. A dream can be a dream come true. With just that spark, in me and you. I love EPCOT and my daughters have always loved the Imagination ride. I like it even though they have changed it over the years, so what better way to start this lesson than with a bit of 'Figment" and some of the rides theme song. Napoleon Hill says that imagination is the creative power of the soul and that every lesson in the Law of Success uses this lesson to build upon. Oh, how true! We can create all of the other qualities using the quality of imagination. One little spark of inspiration is at the heart of all creation. No truer words were ever spoken. All great inventions began with just an idea - that spark of inspiration that lead to someone imagining something as possible. The Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Milton Hershey - would we even know their names if it wasn't for something that sparked their minds into imagining something newer or better or different? All organized plans that we develop are created in our imagination. Nothing was ever created that was not first conceived in the imagination, through desire, and transformed into reality through concentration. Thoughts Are Things Henry Van Dyke This poem was quoted by Napoleon Hill but not credited to anyone. I found this on the internet, but you may also find a similar poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Regardless of who actually came up with the original version, it states simply that thoughts, went sent out to the Universe, can become the things that we desire. Refer to my Infinite Possibilities posts and to the teachings of all the people from the movie "The Secret" as well as Dr. Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins and countless others through the ages. Napoleon Hill states "Thoughts are Things". Period. Everything and anything that you can imagine and create in your thoughts will manifest. Oh, any this means both good and bad. So imagining that bad things will happen gives them just as much validity as good things! Just sayin' Next Lesson: Action Anything man can imagine, man can make real. Jules Verne Following Self-Confidence comes Initiative and Leadership. If you have the self confidence that was talked about in the last lesson then you can become an efficient leader by taking the initiative needed.
Leadership is required for the attainment of your success and initiative is the foundation on which it is built. Initiative is what makes you do what needs to be done without being told to do it. It is your self confidence which will allow you to do this. Taking the initiative sometimes means doing things that others may not deem necessary or see the value of, but after you have chosen a definitive purpose it then becomes your duty to transform your purpose into reality. You will need to form the habit of taking some sort of definite action each day to carry yourself ever closer to attainment of that goal/definitive purpose. This will take initiative. It also means that you need to eliminate procrastination! Procrastination is a deadly enemy to anyone who wants to become a leader in any undertaking. Procrastination is a deadly habit. The way to initiate this lesson is to do one definite thing each day, something that needs to be done without anyone telling you to do it. Next you need to look for something that you can do each day that you are not in the habit of doing. This has to be something that will be of value to others but for which you do not expect to receive any monetary payment. In other words do something for others. The last step here is to let someone else know of this lesson - tell at least one other person each day of the value of practicing the habit of doing something that should be done with being told to do it. And wouldn't the world be a better place if we all practiced this last step. Do something that needs to be done without being told to do it! The habit of initiative will become part of us as we develop these habits just as the muscles in our bodies become stronger as they are used. And research tells us that anything that we consistently do daily for a period of 30 days becomes a part of our normal routine. The place to start these habits of initiative are in the small, common place things connected with your daily work. So go about your work every day, no matter what it is, as if you were doing it solely for the purpose of developing the habit of initiative. You may be amazed at how quickly, by developing the habit of initiative, you begin to attract the attention of those who will begin to place greater value on you and your services as a result. Remember that you only limitation is the one that you set up in your own mind. Initiative opens the door to opportunity. Sometimes life just gets in the way. P. Kaprocki Don't know that anyone is following anything that I say, but if you are, I apologize. Life did get in the way the last few weeks. Spent 2 weeks in Florida teaching some CE classes which I thoroughly enjoyed, but some life things came up also that threw me "out of whack". Hopefully I can get back on track this week. Working out of my "home office" today, Monday and trying to get started back up with some healthy eating habits and lose a few pounds that I have been fighting with the last few years actually. Jorge Cruise is my new best friend for the next few weeks as I get motivated to get rid of the excess sugar in my system and get rid of some "belly" fat. Some necessary things need to happen in my life over the next few weeks, so hopefully I can stay strong. Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. In other items, I have a couple drafts for some of the other categories started and so hopefully will get them posted this week also. Updates to Infinite Possibilities as well as the Napoleon Hill and Chakra categories are in progress. Thoughts become things, think good ones. Was wondering what my new stick blender would do to apples so this morning I tested it out! Apple chunks, juice of one small orange, one banana, scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, coconut milk and voila! My stick blender pulverized the apple! Have I mentioned how much I love my stick blender? The crowning touch to my smoothie this morning was cinnamon! Absolutely Yummy! I'll see it when I believe it! -Wayne Dyer So what are your thoughts about the following things?
Now consider why you think the way you do about them. These are your beliefs about these things! You may think that what you think about them are just some observations based upon your realities about them, but in actuality they are your beliefs about them and these beliefs will create help to create your reality based on your thoughts about them. Maybe your first thought about life was that it was hard. Maybe it is only hard because you started thinking it was hard. Don't think so? Then why is life easier for some people. When you start thinking something, no matter if you are "right" or "wrong", helpful or unhelpful, you automatically start thinking similar thoughts. AND those thoughts become the things and events of your life. It is when you understand that where you are in your present life is a direct result of your thoughts and beliefs that you understand that where you need to go first is to those thoughts and beliefs to make a change! You know, you can't make something happen without first believing that it can happen. The belief in something comes before we make it happen. The Wright Brothers believed in flight long before their first plane actually flew! Belief is why people succeed in sports, music, business and absolutely everything else. Your life won't change until your beliefs about life change. But here's the good news, you can change your beliefs. Most people think that their beliefs come from their life experiences but where did your life experiences come from? They come from your thoughts! Let's take the following example: You're driving down the road and all of a sudden your gauges register that your engine is overheating. You pull to the side of the road and phone your significant other about your problem. Two conclusions are made about this episode:
This may not be the best example, but it is an example of how thoughts play into the lives of many people, causing them stress and anxiety in their lives. But people don't see the connection between their beliefs, their thoughts and their experiences. If you look back at things that have happened in your life you might just begin to see the proof that your beliefs and thoughts about something is what made it happen in just such a way. As I have stated in other posts it is your thoughts that create your reality and now we can add into that mix the belief in something that creates the thoughts. "To master your thoughts, and therefore your life and destiny, you must first master your beliefs." You get to choose what you think and believe and by choosing you build your life. If you think about 2 positive thoughts and 2 negative thoughts what do these thoughts reveal about your underlying beliefs. If you change these beliefs you can change your thoughts and therefore your life. Let's break this down into the conscious and sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind, based on free will - the ability to think whatever we want, can accept or reject thoughts. What this means is that when a negative thought starts you have the ability to reject the negative and turn it into a positive. This is the part of your mind where you are consistently thinking about things. And whatever you consistently think about ultimately gets stored in the sub-conscious mind. The sub-conscious mind if filled with conditioned or fixed thoughts. These are the things that your conscious mind has thought about for so long that they are now stored and are left to function in every cell of the body. These become habits and they are not able to be rejected unless changed by the conscious mind. This is where the free will comes in again! You can change your thoughts but first you must change your beliefs. Choose new thoughts, words and behaviors and your life experiences and then your beliefs will change to mirror those changes. There are 3 steps for installing new beliefs. 1. Choose beliefs that serve your life. 2. Claim these beliefs through your thoughts and words. 3. Act as if these beliefs are true every day. 1. Create a list of belief that you'd like to possess. Beliefs about life, yourself, your body, money, love, other people and being successful. 2. After you know what you want to believe, then start thinking and speaking as if you already believed it. I love my life, life is good. I am happy, healthy and prosperous. I am the perfect size. I have abundance. See how it works? 3. Act as if these beliefs are true every day. Live your new beliefs! Act as if they were yours by behaving in ways that reinforce them. Think about them when you get out of bed, when you choose your food, what you will wear or where you will go, who you will be friends with and in every decision that you make. And remember - sometimes when things are falling apart, they are actually falling into place. "Happy, successful and wealthy people are proof that you don't have to be blessed, spiritual and perfect, you just have to dream and believe in those dreams." - Mike Dooley Next: My apologies to those people who have been following this blog and its postings. I have been very lax in my postings this past week. Was a very strange week last week. I know we all have had them.
Mine began quite calmly with the two classes that I was teaching, but for the last few weeks I have had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach about a friend of mine. Have you ever had those feelings, that ominous butterfly type feeling that something is not completely right with your world? Moms, you know what I mean. It sometimes hits when things are not going right with your children. It has come to include some of my closest friends, but I always stop what I am doing and text each of my children and my husband first to see if they are okay. Anyway, that is what had happened on a number of occasions over the last two weeks. Never fear, my family is all okay, and I am okay but I was greatly surprised and saddened by the actions of what I thought was a very good friend of mine. Isn't it funny how you think you know someone and then they go and do something that seems to be completely against their nature. AND against all the things you have been told over the last 12 years! Reminded of the old country song "God is great, beer is good and people are crazy!" So, I have had to rethink my life choices over the last few days and I have come to the conclusion that family is indeed everything and that you really need to choose the people that are around you by their actions rather than their words. Still a very strange feeling that will have to take some time to digest. There are more important issues in the world to face than my little "crisis", so I hope that this week brings more of my thoughts and wanderings than the last 2 have. Thanx to the folks who are with me and that may get something from my posts. Been a crazy week for me teaching Massage Core/Basics both afternoon and evening classes since Monday!
Sorry I haven't posted/blogged much this week. As I head to Florida next weekend the blogs should be more timely, but who knows? Once I get close to sand and sun, that may all change! So what are these Chakras that I talk about? Essentially they are energy centers in the body. They form spinning wheels, or vortexes, that act as conductors to filter energy from the heavens and the earth so that they can combine and act upon the physical body. They are associated with many types of healing therapies and most often with ancient Eastern healing traditions. The ancient Eqyptians would have associated them with aromatherapy and colors, while the early Jewish tradition made this a part of their mystical Kabbalah. Indian Ayurveda uses them as part of their traditions as does the current practice of Japanese Reiki. I was introduced to the chakras as part of my training in energy balancing through my massage therapy studies. Most people are introduced to them through the Hindu symbols at the top of this page and the associated colors and their placement on the body. They directly mimic the colors of the rainbow in their order as they ascend from the base of the spine to the top of the head: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, however some teachings use white for the 7th, or crown chakra. There are associated emotions, gemstones, colors, musical notes and endocrine glands with each of the chakras also. I will take a couple weeks to review what I know and teach about the chakras and the healing energies within each of us. Let's begin with the chakras themselves; their names, locations and colors. Root - base of the spine - red Sacral - pelvis - orange Solar Plexus/Stomach - abdomen - yellow Heart - heart/mid-chest - green (sometimes pink) Throat - center of the neck - blue Third Eye/Brow - center of the forehead - indigo/purple Crown/Top of Head - center top of head - violet/white Got hit with the comment "you haven't posted anything in 3 days" this morning, so here is a random post about nothing.
I have been making smoothies everyday, just been too busy to take pictures to post. My smoothies have been random and sometimes downright weird. Been putting avocado in everything lately - don't know where that is coming from. BUT, it makes the smoothie creamier and more like a milk shake so I like it. I have also gotten out the spirulina powder and occasionally add that in too even though it turns everything green, no matter what else you have in there. Yesterday I raided the freezer and came up with pineapple and strawberry which I added to the fresh banana and half an avocado. Used orange juice and vanilla protein powder with that one. AND, on another note, I got the urge to make homemade mayonnaise yesterday too! Still playing around with the actual ingredients but yesterday took one whole egg and added some mustard powder, white vinegar and salt and 1/4 cup light sesame oil. Using my stick blender I whisked that together and then added another 3/4 cup olive oil and kept blending. Little to olive oily for my taste but worked well for what I was attempting to make in the end, which was honey mustard dressing. After I had the mayonnaise made I just added dijon mustard, honey and some lemon juice. Been making that for a couple weeks now and we love it! Plus this time I knew exactly what had gone into it. Only keeps a couple weeks but that doesn't seem to be an issue! So, I use the allrecipes.com website and app on my ipad for a lot of my recipe ideas, but yesterday my daughter invited me to pinterest. I see major time wasting on the internet in my future! OMG so much stuff and so little time. I may have to take up blogging and web surfing as a full time occupation. Do you think there is money in this kind of stuff? Since this is a rambling entry, I must also tell you that we had a "mess" of dandelion for the 3rd time this spring last night for supper. Tried to make some dandelion tea, but that did not work out so well. The tea was made but no amount of additives could take away the dandelion bitterness. Oh well, I tried! But the way I make it wilted with ham or bacon over boiled potatoes would make my PA Dutch grandmas proud! (BTW - be on the look out for my PA Dutch Grandma's Cookbook, which is in process!) Anyway, back to the dandelion. It must be picked from a non-sprayed yard or garden and cleaned thoroughly before using. Oh, and no flowers! Once the flowers are produced, the greens are even more bitter. Use only the green tops of the plant, however the roots can also be used for tea or a tonic for the liver. Check other places for this as in our family we only used the greens. Oh, okay some of my relatives were known to make dandelion wine. But I digress again, back to my supper last night. So after a thorough cleaning and soak in cold water, I chop up the dandelion and set aside. While boiling the potatoes (I leave the skin on), I fry the ham or bacon and prepare the "dressing". I start with an egg or two and add flour to make a paste whipping with a whisk, then I add sugar and vinegar to taste. I make mine a little over tart at this stage since I will be adding water later on. You may also add onion and mustard powder for added flavor. I just shake some in so I would guess at maybe 1/2 tsp each. I am now ready to proceed. I remove the bacon or ham from the frying pan, leaving some grease from the meat. Last night the bacon stuck to the pan a bit so I poured some of the potato boiling water into the pan to loosen this up and add even more flavor to the dressing. Then I poured the entire dressing mixture into the pan and began to stir so as not to stick or thicken too quickly. As it thickens I add more potato water to get to the consistency I want (now you know why I go heavy on the vinegar to start as I do not want my dressing "watered down" so that it looses it flavor). As it is cooking I also add in the dandelion so that it "wilts". When the dressing is to the desired consistency and the dandelion is wilted, it is ready. Let cook for a bit longer to lock in the flavor of the dressing and serve over hot, boiled potatoes. It can't get any more PA Dutch than that! So enough of this ramble. Hope you enjoyed and came back with one or two of my random recipes. |
Paula J Kaprocki, LMT
I am a Licensed Massage Therapist with thoughts, aspirations and opinions - much like any other person on the planet! Archives
March 2021
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