A slight change of venue

For those thousands, er, hundre..., no for those three people who have diligently been reading my blogs, I just wanted to let you know that I am not dead, nor in prision, nor lost in space. A new career ( I am back on active duty in the Army), and a move have kept me busy. But I promise I will have a real blog in the next few days, not just a space filler or time waster like this blog.

I have not blogged for over a week. Been a little busy. I am beginning a new career, so to speak. Actually, I have gone back on active duty. I am currently at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO where I am undergoing Common Tasks Training. Next week I will be reporting to Ft. Bliss, TX for my new duty assignment. So what does this have to do with personal growth, spirituality, metaphysics, etc.?

Everything really. I teach my coaching clients how to deal with change and how to make changes in their lives when they want change. I view my spiritual journey, among other thngs, as one of change. So here is an opportunity for me to step up and practice what I preach. I am 59 and coming back into an Army that is quite a bit different than the one I left 15 years ago. I will be doing a job that I almost certainly had never done before. In fact it is likely it will be something that will have as a common denomenator, working with people. But I know that how I will be each day will determine how well I do, how successful I am in coping with a new place, new job, new boss, new work colleagues, new enviornment, well, new everything.

And it will be a challenge to my spiritual practices. To look to God for guidance and support, as well as support from my wonderful friends. I am looking forward to the experience. And I am looking forward to making a difference to the people around me.

A Ghostly Story

Whoa, did someone say ghosts? Ghosts represent the spirits of dead people who have not passed over. At least that is my understanding. The place for ghosts is Lemp Mansion here in St. Louis.

Just this week, my friend Lynn and I planned to spend the night at the B&B, hoping to see ghosts. On Monday nights the restaurant is closed and a very informative and interesting tour is conducted of the mansion. Lots of history of the Lemp family and brewery were included, plus tons of information about the spirits of seven people who roam the mansion!

Although we spent several hours looking, only Lynn saw one! However, I did detect the presence on two occasions. I had checked in earlier in the afternoon and gone to the Lavender suite. Although there is no smoking in any of the rooms, I detected a strong odor of cigarette smoke. Betsey, our guide and historian, later told me that was a very common presence that was often reported. Then later that night twice when I was standing at the entrance of Charles Lemp's bedroom, I experienced goosebumps the size of golf balls on my arms. I have never felt anything that intense in my life!

I know it takes practice to be in the proper state of mind to be able to see spirits. And as I continue to work on myself, I will finally reach a level where I can visually detect such spirits. In the mean time, I will be content to notice their presence in other ways.

Do go to the link for "Adornments by Lynn blog"

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Asking for Support

Now I know that this topic will not apply to every one. In fact, most do not even know of people who have this difficulty. But in the interest of helping the few warm bodies in humanity who experience a problem in asking for help, or support, when needed, I would like to share my experiences with this subject and how I have created a new, more powerful perspective.

Like many people--I am now finding out I am not alone--in the past I had great difficulties in asking for support when I needed it. For me, it no doubt had to do with a program/limiting belief of feeling not OK or not being enough. Or if I asked for help, I might have to express my feelings, God forbid.

The path of my journey of self-improvement has been through PSI Seminars, the oldest, and one of the largest personal growth companies in the US. One of their advanced programs that I took in Phoenix was a 90-day program called PLD (Pacesetter Leadership Dynamics). For 90 days I was challenged to examine and change areas of my life that were not working. At the same time I was receiving constant support from my coach and team members. I had an affirmation in the form of a contract with myself: "I openly express myself as a dynamic, spontaneous, and courageous leader asking and receiving support in my life now!" For me, that was powerful indeed.

Weekly I was asked to take actions that really required me to ask for support from my teammates, family, friends, and strangers alike. Ask I daily took action to do something very different, i.e, ask for help, I gradually developed a new program/new attitude that served me better. At the end of 90 days, I had developed a new habit and new attitude and new program about asking for help.

Here is an example of the new program. I will be moving shortly, and will need several people to pack a rental truck for me, even though I will not be present. To ask people to help out like that when I will not even be present would have been overwheming in the past. What would people think of me? But it was easy and comfortable for me to ask a number of people to help me out. I have a new attitude, a new perspective, about asking for support.

The old program is still there, but the new program is more powerful and serves me better. On occasion I default to the old program. However, most of the time, I immediately go to the new program and ask for the support that I need. As always, whether I ask for support or not, it is a matter of choice. Not good, bad, right, or wrong, simply a matter of choice.

The perfect storm

We were having dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in Creve Coeur Wednesday night. About 6:30 PM, the wind started to pick up, and soon was gusting above 50 knots. Shortly, the lights went off, and the cooks were reduced to using flashlights. Even my pizza (roasted peppers) had flashlight burns. Our server was reduced to calculating the bill the old fashioned way...using his brain and a piece of paper.

Driving home the road was littered with leaves, branches, and limbs. Giant whole trees were completely uprooted; other trees were snapped off at mid trunk. The landscape had the appearance of a bombing range. "Oh great", I remember thinking "my rental house is going to be destroyed by tree limbs from the giant tree behind my house!" And sure enough there was a message on my cell phone from my tenant reporting that several branches had fallen and hit the house. Well it was too late to do anything about it that night. The next morning--by this time there were over 500,000 people without power on the hottest day of the summer--I got to my rental house. I had decided the night before to "let go and let God", and just stop feeling so anxious, worried, and fearful. I gave that up, slept better, and found out that the damage was not nearly as severe as I had first anticipated. Just one more lesson for me to put more trust in God.

By Friday morning there are still 470,000 customers without power. I am one of the lucky people who did not lose power at all. The National Guard has been called up to help with clearing roads and assisting people to get to cooling centers. Ameren UE has reported that this is the most severe storm in a 100 years. I have power, and hopefully the other tens of thousands people will soon have power restored.

Adornments by Lynn

Adornments by Lynn
I really enjoy Lynn's blog; it is definitely a kick butt site. Now think about it, going ghost hunting in modern day America. Well, folks I am up for the adventure. If I don't come back alive, you will know what happened!

"Live the life you were born to live."

What would your life be like if you choose to be different, if even for one minute?

Now I am not talking about doing something differently, although as a result of being different, I might possibly act differently. I am referring to my beingness. When I choose to be open, honest, outwardly focused, courageous, vulnerable, take risks, and/or loving, I will do certain things in alignment with my beingness. When those are aligned, then I will have what I want in my life.

Here is the good and bad part. I get to choose moment by moment by moment every day of my life how I want to be. If my way of being is not serving me, I can shift. If it is serving me, then I keep on being and doing...and having what I want. And yes, it is often easier said than done. But it is a matter of choice, the primary universal truth.