From Slave Camp To Freedom

“Shared by Carla McNeil”

Have you ever had one of those days, or weeks, or months, or years, where everything you do seems to not work out as you expected? You lay your plans and try to implement them, and for some reason, no matter where you turn, it all falls apart.

I’ve had a few months like that, where it seemed that all the things I was carefully putting together were unraveling. As annoying as it’s been, it’s reminded me that control is just an illusion and that regardless of the best-laid plans, life will do what it wants.

I like to think of life as similar to riding down a river in a raft without a paddle! When things are good my raft is in the middle of the river, floating quickly and smoothly towards my destination. However, for no apparent reason the river may suddenly push it towards the edge, where the trees overhang and the rocks are plentiful.

As my raft continues to move, the low-hanging branches knock me around, we bang into rocks, and all I can do is hang on and try to stay in the boat. At other times my raft and I may end up in an eddy, where we go around in circles and I feel quite stuck. Occasionally the raft and I may actually go over the falls and I might be thrown into the water. When this happens my job is to remember to breathe as I attempt to get to the surface and climb back into the raft.

Whether my raft is floating effortlessly down the middle of the river, or headed for the falls, is often out of my control. My job is to continue to hang on, make sure I’ve done all I can (like wear a life jacket and tie everything down), stay with the raft at all costs, and know that eventually the situation will change.

This is what I’ve been focusing on these past several days, and as I move into a new week I can already feel my raft coming out of the eddy and once again moving smoothly down the river.

As much as I’d like to think things happen in my time, I‘m reminded once again that everything has its own time. So I have faith that the eventual outcome will be what I need, and persistence and tenacity are what will get me there.

By Sandra Abell

“Shared by Carla”

Reader’s Digest is a great publication. It always has a number of articles that are mentally stimulating. The following lines were picked up from a Reader’s Digest a number of years ago.

Small minds talk about people.
Average minds talk about events.
Great minds talk about ideas.

I have come to believe this is fairly accurate. I suppose we all fall into the first two categories; talking about people and events periodically. However, have you ever noticed that those two categories dominate the conversation of most people? Listen carefully and you will hear a buzz of meaningless noise going on around you almost constantly.

It would almost appear as if people were under some obligation to talk whether they had anything to say or not. I refer to this as the chatter of the masses.

If you are not mentally on guard without noticing it happen, you will be swept into this useless waste of time and energy.

If you don’t consciously and deliberately create order in your mind, your environment or the people surrounding you will dictate your mental state of being.

Observe those who are surrounding you on any given occasion. Their conversation and actions could very easily change completely four or five times in less than a minute.

If you think I am exaggerating, check this out for yourself or possibly get involved with a few people in conversation and deliberately change the topic as often as possible over four or five times a minute. If you don’t tell them what you are doing, they will never notice but they will willingly follow.

What does this mean? Well, your mind is the greatest power in the universe. If you’re not diligent you will waste it and go nowhere. Consciously choose to associate with those great souls who discuss BIG Ideas. Your life will never be the same.

By Bob Proctor

“Help yourself with Jack’s CD, you can really give yourself an unfair advantage when you follow his success principles. Jack is a great teacher, I have attended a number of his live events and always come away with something to make my own future brighter. Check out “Awakening Power Course” now, you’ll be glad you did”
http://justclicknow.ca/AwakeningPower

“Shared By Carla”

I was born to parents who right from the word go, instilled in me that happiness is THE most important thing and that life is to be enjoyed.

When I was 14, my parents bought a children’s camp and activity centre 350 miles from where we currently lived, they thought it would be a great upbringing for me and my three sisters and a new fun adventure for the family.

It was a big change for me and my sisters but an even bigger challenge for my parents. Not only were they up and moving their children out of school into a new area, they were going from a home with a garden and one dog, to a home with 50 acres, 15 horses, 2 pigs, 1 cow, 1 lama, 1 deer, 18 chickens, 1 turkey, a couple of guinea pigs and 54 sheep, oh and they had exactly zero experience with any of the above!

And, just 1 week after we were to arrive, a coach full of children would also be arriving eager for a week packed with activities, many of which my parents hadn’t even tried before.

However it didn’t take us long to learn the skills we needed and we adapted nicely to our new outdoor lifestyle. As soon as I could, I began to assist and teach with the onsite activities, things such as horse riding, canoeing, archery and orienteering. It was always great fun.

At the age of 15, inspired by my parent’s courage and tenacity, I decided that I too wanted to be my own boss as I wanted the freedom to earn my own money and make my own decisions.

At 17, I began to put the plan into action and started my own business in the automotive industry; I was young but confident, fearless and enthusiastic.

I set out into adult life intent on earning well so that I could live comfortably, buy what I wanted and travel to different parts of the world. And of course it went without saying that I would also look after myself and be kind and caring toward family, friends and strangers.

I hadn’t ever consciously thought to myself at any point that this was the way to happiness, but I wasn’t aware of any other way of thinking or being and so just accepted it as the way.

Fast forward 8 years and a couple of business ventures later and where once stood a girl excited and full of beans, now stood a girl who was uninspired, drained and frustrated.

I remember looking at myself in the mirror and wondering who this girl was looking back at me. I said to myself in my mind ‘Vic what are you doing, you are getting it all so wrong’.

Fed up with seeing me take life too seriously, one of my sister’s suggested that I needed to inject some fun into my life and proposed we take a holiday in the sun, which I eventually agreed to. We decided on a two week trip to Egypt. And little did I know that my life was about to change forever!

After the first few days unwinding and relaxing into the holiday mode, I began to find myself, my thoughts and beliefs being challenged. My ideas about life, happiness, success and purpose – which I had believed were the truth, were suddenly in contrast to the emotions I was feeling and the reality I was seeing with my own eyes.  And these contrasts began to cause an unexplainable feeling of familiarity and feeling safe, at a depth far beyond what my conscious mind could know.

And this feeling of familiarity began to raise some questions which I’d never before considered. ‘How can I feel so familiar in a country which I have never before visited? Have I lived before? Will I live again? What else have I believed as truth – which isn’t?’

It got me thinking that if I had lived before, who was I, who were my family, what did I do during that life time and if I do live again, I could be born anywhere, in any culture and any country, suddenly I felt so connected to everyone.

Dormant emotions within me became stirred, feelings of appreciation and compassion run through every inch of my being. I began to feel a rush of internal peace and happiness and with it came a revelation – being happy isn’t experienced only by fulfilling dreams. The way that we feel is directly linked to the way that we think. True happiness is when we are thinking thoughts that are in   alignment with who we really are – our true nature. It is rarely our experiences or circumstances that cause how we feel – good or bad – it is our chosen perspective about our circumstances and situations that ignite our feelings.

Over time, as I put into practice a way of living which reflected my new thoughts and perspectives, I found myself even more aligned with my true nature, my heart and mind continued to open and my world changed. Andeven though I feel very fortunate to have had this direct experience, I know that it wasn’t so much the experience that changed my life but my perspective of life that was born out of the experience.

By Victoria Phelps

“Help yourself with Jack’s book, you can really give yourself an unfair advantage when you follow his success principles. Jack is a great teacher, I have attended a number of his live events and always come away with something to make my own future brighter. Check out “Quick Start Pack Course” now, you’ll be glad you did” http://justclicknow.ca/TSPQuickStartPack

“Shared By Carla”

Many years ago a young lady who was attending a seminar shared an interesting story with me. Apparently she and two or three of her girlfriends went and tried out for a place in a stage play. She got the starring role while her girlfriends were not even picked for the supporting cast. Opening night she said she was really excited but afterwards became very disappointed when her girlfriends never came out and supported her. She was explaining the situation to an elderly friend of her fathers named Hap. He wrote her a letter and she gave me a copy with her permission to share it with others. Read it carefully and think.

Dear Ann,

Once upon a time there was a fellow by the name of Al Capp who wrote a comic strip called “L’ll Abner.” Many years ago he had some characters in his strip who lived in a town near Dogpatch. They were the town bums, the n’er do wells, the failures whose whole aim in life was to pass judgement on others. Their criticism and ridicule became so vehement that in time the rest of the people in the town became acutely conscious of it. “The boys down at the stable,” as they were called because that’s where they spent most of their time, soon set the social standards of the town. Nobody could do anything without their sanction.

Because they lived within the structure of their crummy little world, they would laugh and point their fingers at anyone and everyone who tried to be better than they were. As a result the people feared the ridicule of the boys down at the stable so much that they stopped trying. Soon everybody became bums and the town died.

In every social structure, Ann, whether it be family, town, county or state, there are “The boys down at the stable.” They are the jealous ones. They are too scared to try something different. They show their ignorance by laughing at those who do. Learn to recognize them Ann, for what they are. Don’t let them hurt you. It takes a certain amount of toughness to succeed. One has to rise above those who would tear you down so that they can laugh and say, “I told you so!”

There are too many of us who love you and want you to make it. I could put myself at the top of the list. You aren’t going to fall flat on your face as they would have you. You are going to do a superb job. Remember this show is only a small step in the direction of greater things you will do, many of which are beyond your wildest dreams. All you have to do is want to. One of the things I like about you best is that you always give it hell for try.

The show will be a success because of you and others like you who try. There are only winners in the cast. The losers are gathered down at the stable laughing and hoping for your failure. If we could dig down deep inside them, I’m sure we’d find they want to win also, but are too scared to try, and they attempt to cover up their own failures as human beings by laughing at others. In a sense I’m sorry for them. Their guilt must make them very unhappy people.

Much love,

Hap

By Bob Proctor

“Help yourself with Jack’s book, you can really give yourself an unfair advantage when you follow his success principles. Jack is a great teacher, I have attended a number of his live events and always come away with something to make my own future brighter. Check out “The Success Principles Course” now, you’ll be glad you did” http://justclicknow.ca/TheSucessPrinciples