I am enjoying the message of Og Mandino’s scroll 2 in his book Greatest Salesman in The World. One of the many satisfying quotes is
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Light gets all the good press and the dark is always the ominous, scary and for some reason spooky music starts playing. With out the dark the light wouldn’t seem so bright. And when it is dark the smaller bits of light get a chance to shine. We must embrace all things with love and we don’t always know what’s hidden in the darkness – billions of stars for example – or what the bright light may obscure – billions of stars. Each condition has it’s purpose and when utilized for good can yield tremendously positive results. In the world if light we can see all of the beauty of nature in our world. In the dark we can see in the dark the millions of worlds that surround us.
This week we were to unplug the TV, internet and in my case I unplugged the radio in the car too. We don’t watch a lot of TV except for the weather. But unless you wait until the weather knob starts talking and shut it down immediately after you will be accosted by stories of murder and mayhem because that is what sells in TV terms. There was an urge to switch it on as I approached the breakfast table and I had to check myself. Who is in charge here? What habit is being replaced? I’m substituting in peace of mind. Wiring and firing!
While in the car I listened to my Blueprint with some soothing music attached to it. What a difference in driving pleasure. I arrived at my many destinations in better moods and was more apt to listen more because my mind was calm and rested.
Knocking down internet time was tougher because it is so easy to distract myself when I have even 30 seconds to kill. I wanted to stay engaged with important things related to promoting my business so this week I was more diligent to wait until I had 2 or 3 minutes of time between calls. I did only what I had to do and then stopped and didn’t scroll, peruse, dawdle or make any excuses for keeping my attention on the world without.
Your blog post reminded me of a phrase that I first heard years ago from my father (a computer geek), “garbage in…garbage out.” He had told me this while helping me understand a programming lesson, explaining that if the programming language was bad, the program itself would be bad. You share about listening to your blueprint with music and being in a better mood triggered this memory. How amazing is it that we can take this principle and apply it to our very thoughts. And our changed thoughts mean changed lives!
Michael, great post.
Nice frame of mind, amigo!
-One Love-
-A
You are beating your old blueprint – you are doing great!
OK here’s the truth. I’m up at 4am reading blogs because I ate too many carbs and sugar yesterday and my body is rebelling. I am grateful for the reminder….thank you, amazing body of mine. It also immediately bring to mind this part of scroll 2: “never will I indulge the requests of my flesh -rather will I cherish my body with cleanliness and moderation”. Clearly blew that. Maybe I’ll cling to a little Mark J line from yesterday: “everything in moderation….even moderation, right? (chuckle)” Seemed humorous at the time….
That was a total tangent (just explaining why I was up at 4am).
THE POINT IS – before sitting down to read I let my dog out. The beauty of the night immediately caught my attention – the Silence (all little creatures still sleeping) – the brilliant stars in a very clear sky caught – the smell of the woods next to my yard. I savored the moment and on the way back indoors I recited your Og quote. There is solitude in the darkness sometimes and especially outdoors, I can feel the wonderful sense that everything is being renewed, repaired, restored after a day of energy and growth – plants, animals, us.
Congrats on your successful “unplugging”!
And sorry for such a long comment 🙂
Thank you Lori! Love to read your posts too!