CHAPTER NINE
CHOICES
Having considered the virtually infinite database of your past or should I say your previous life, and integrated that with the billions of items of the data that you have presented to the Universe over your lifetime with the current decision-making situation you‘re now faced with, my current estimate of your probability of wealth, happiness and success is a pure 100%. I want you to register the result of this calculation in your brain, translate it into a biological reaction, and interpret it as a simple 'gut feeling‘. Studies at Havard Business School have found a long time ago that managers and presidents of national and multi-national organizations attributed 80% of their success to acting on intuition or 'gut feel‘ and this book is especially useful for this form of super- thinking.
You see, even the brain uses superlogic in order to consider its vast information bank in relation to any choice it might have to make, in a flash, your brain will complete the most astounding mathematical calculations, considering billions if not trillions of possibilities and permutations, in order to arrive at a mathematical precise estimate of probable success which might be subconsciously expressed. In this chapter you will be given an opportunity to make your own choices and contrary to popular belief, my advice is that you make your choices based on your ability to understand something immediately, there‘s no need for conscious reasoning, just trust your intuition because that‘s the channel of communication between you and the infinite.
If it doesn‘t work or you read this whole chapter and the right choices are not clear, just toss a coin in the air with the thought that each side represents each of the two choices of which you need to choose from, not that you‘ll decide based on the outcome of the 'heads‘ or 'tails‘ but because during that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you will suddenly hope for a certain outcome and that‘s how you will know which is the choice for you. Though I don‘t think it will get to that point because in most cases the process of making choices in itself generates the solution, for as the infinite gives you access to the power you carry in order to make the right choice there‘s a sudden "AHA" realization which effectively concludes the decision-making process.
Life is a constant stream of choices, from waking up in the morning to going to bed at night and even if you decide to make no definite decision, that in itself is a choice to do nothing. You can either choose to be all that you can be, or you can choose to be nothing, or you can choose not to choose anything, they‘re all choices.
While you‘re free to make your own choices, you‘re not free to choose the outcomes, but by the choices you make today you can know exactly what kind of outcomes to expect. So if you want certain outcomes or consequences then you should know what their causes are. You may choose your own consequences by being aware in advance and by looking at the choices you make today. Your choices will reflect upon the consequences you‘ll reap tomorrow and that is to say whatever may be happening in your life today is only a reflection of the choices you made yesterday.
If you choose to spend today responding to the circumstances caused by yesterday‘s choices then nothing new will come into your life, everyday will be a response of yesterday‘s choices. But if you decide that regardless of the consequences you might be facing that you will plant a better seed for the future, not giving attention to the consequences from yesterday then it won‘t be long until you‘re done paying for your past errors in thought from all the yesterdays and started on a clean slate and a new journey of reaping the good fruits you‘ve been so earnestly and continuously planting.
Giving your attention to the negative circumstances of today is giving strength to their negative influence and by so doing you cause a string of the same circumstances day in and day out. Your present negative circumstances are the fruits from yesterday‘s seed and by focusing on them you‘re planting the same seed all over again. On the other hand to deprive them off of your attention is to cause them to cease to exist but this is not to say that you should not deal with whatever negatives in your life, it‘s a call to say your attention deserves something more noble and valuable.
If you focus upon the little good things that are going on in your life right now no matter how small they may be, you are re-planting the good seed, "you shall know them by their fruits". Once the seeds of these positive events starts to multiply all you need to do is respond to the circumstances from these seeds and by simply responding to your day to day circumstances you‘ll be causing more good things to come into your life.
Imagine if all you needed to do was respond to whatever that‘s happening to you and more greater things kept coming to you, imagine if you could cause all the forces of the Universe to bring forth the good life to you by simply doing what must be done wherever you are, imagine if all you needed to do in order to harness the infinite power was to respond to whatever that happens to you. How awesome would that be? Then stop responding to the negativity that‘s going on around you and start focusing on planting the seed, focus on something better, like the good happening all around you.
When you take off your focus from the negative circumstances that are happening around you today you take away the power from them and when you direct your attention on the positive it means you‘re substituting the power.
Your attention carries with it the power of the entire Universe to such an extent that whatever situation you focus your attention upon you automatically cause it to multiply, isn‘t this the power you thought you never had?
You were born with the gift of the gods, and I don‘t just mean making it rain, and yes, you can do that too.
But think about this: whatever situation, circumstance, or outcome you focus upon with emotion and with all your heart grows bigger and bigger... you should be thinking of what you‘re to focus your attention upon next. Your scattered attention can‘t do you any good but scattered results like a pay raise each year, a bonus there, a second-hand car after a while, another job after some years, etc and then you realize that you can do better than that with a more focused attention.
Gather up you attention and throw it all upon one definite purpose or a specific goal and you‘ll move faster and farther than anyone can. Wake up with one goal in mind and fall asleep thinking of it, dream about it, see it in your plate when you have your meal and in your glass of wine, see it in the mirror when you look at yourself, see it everywhere you go because you will only succeed on something that‘s an obsession.
But here‘s an advice: Don‘t misuse this power. Bear in mind that this is a dangerously high explosive force, so when you gather up the power of your attention, handle it with caution. Through the ages this powerful system has destroyed men and women who sought to misuse it, you can hurt others with this power therefore exercise great care that it is used only for the good because if not then you‘ll go down as a pitiful looser. All are part of the Universe and the
Universe can‘t go against itself.
Others may see it in a spiritual way while others may recognize the scientific side of this fact, and still others may accept it as just a mere fact or philosophical device to put you on the road to success but as you know, all truth is the same, it has principle.
A CHOICE TO BE LESS OR A CHOICE TO BE ALL YOU CAN BE
Here is a great man. He was a teenage problematic child yet his mother never lost hope on seeing the child being transformed even though many of her specific prayers for him seemed to go unanswered. And she never lost her faith regardless of her son‘s escapades or wrongdoing. He was a real teenage problem child. This young man became an educated, intellectual, passionate, and sensual teenage problem child. He so much took pride on being first, even in evil
It is said that he disobeyed everyone he could disobey, parents, teachers, elders, everyone. He lied and deceived, committed petty thefts, cheated in gambling. Indulged in alcoholic and sexual excesses. Yet because of his mother‘s constant and earnest prayers to mend his ways, he struggled to find himself even before he reached the lowest point in his moral life. Sometimes he was filled with shame by the knowledge that men with less education than his were able to resist temptation which he thought he was powerless to resist.
And because he was educated, because he was searching for insight, he studied the Bible and other inspirational books of his days. Even so, he lost many battles with himself. And on that one particular day he came face to face with two choices, he took one choice and he won the battle that turned the tide to personal victory. This is what happens when a person makes a decision and keeps trying. It was during a period of remorse when he was overcome with self- condemnation that he overheard a conversation in which one voice said, "Take up and read". He reached for the nearest book, opened it and read: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof".
It often happens after a person suffers a serious defeat in a personal battle against himself, that he may at that point be ready and willing to make the most out of his life. His remorse can be so emotional and sincere that he is motivated to make a choice: A choice to be less, or a choice to be all he can be and then take immediate action and through willpower make the change that will keep him on a road to complete victory.
This man was ready!
And once he made his irrevocable decision, he had peace of mind. He believed in the infinite power to help him overcome his old habits which he had previously fought in vain and he also developed a deep and a very rare kind of insight. His subsequent life proved this by the results. The man devoted himself to the God of the Bible and the service to his fellow men.
This man made a choice to be all he could be and it is because of what he has been and what he became that he is considered a man who has had a most powerful influence in giving hope even to the hopeless. Augustine was his name. And he was consecrated to be a saint... St Augustine.
Right now at this very moment I place before you two choices, a choice to be less and a choice to be all you can become. If you choose to be less there are no principles to follow, no efforts to be made, no work to be done and you don‘t even need to choose because by not choosing to be all that you can become you‘ll automatically be less.
Being less means being out of place, it means living without a definite purpose in life, it means living in a survival mode. The world is filled with these kind of people but there‘s still space for more. Being less than you can become is a choice that life will make for you if you don‘t choose to be all you can become, there are no hindrances in this road and the majority are in this road. There is no abundance in this way.
“...narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”
Everybody can be all they choose to be but only three percent decide to be all they can be. You can choose to be all you can become by reading all the books you can find, developing all the skills you possibly can, by applying all the principles of greatness and by making every effort to go through the narrow way. Only you can make the choice, no-one can make it for you. To be all you can be you need to know what you‘re already good at and do it while you simultenously develop other skills. The first step to be all you can be is to make yourself a necessity wherever you may be and also to your employer. You need to know that whatever you are at your own house counts for nothing when you get to the market-place. The world is in need of scientists, clergymen, inventors, doctors, plumbers, constructors, engineers, etc who will be all they can be in their chosen fields, men and women who will not loose their individuality in the midst of the crowd.
Companies are looking for sales persons who will sell and perform at their peak everyday, schools are in need of teachers who will do all that is in their power to educate and help scholars do better, hospitals are desperately yearning for nurses who will not take their jobs as mere professions but who will be a walking testimony of the word 'kindness‘, science labs are in need of scientists who will perform at more than ten percent of their potential to show what‘s possible.
The world is crying out for those who will be all they can be. Since creation began no man has been found who will perform at all their potential. As St. Paul says: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
You have seen the manifestation of the Prophets, You have seen the manifestation of the Authors, You have seen the full manifestation of the Inventors,
You have seen the full force of Scientists, designers, engineers, evangelists, freedom fighters, democrats, politicians, great presidents, billionaires, etc.
What this world has not seen but earnestly waiting to see, is the acts and manifestation of the Sons of the Universal Mind, Sons of Pure Consciousness, Sons of God. People who will cause an Industrial, Political, Religious, Business and Spiritual revolution of unprecedented proportion, the likes which this world has never witnessed.
In scope, dimension and intensity: It will be greater than the acts and manifestation of any legend that has ever walked the earth including Christ himself. A short, quick and powerful work it will be indeed. When they appear and reveal themselves they will turn the world the right way up. The Universe has already secretly, quietly elected its vanguards, and suddenly they will burst out into the open, taking the world by storm and they‘ll be gone.
They‘re there, ready for action and waiting for go ahead and you my friend are part of this winning team and this is the go ahead you‘ve been waiting for.
You are needed only if you‘re willing to be all that you can be, yes you may be dominated by one mighty purpose but don‘t let the over development of one skill overshadow or paralyze all that you can become and the other skills that you can develop. People who are willing to be all they can be are highly needed, people who will go as far as any human can go and further, people who have no fear and will take all possible risks, people who are willing to break all limitations and boundaries.
These people are needed and not wanted, the world can‘t do without them. People who rest not longer than is needed. Join this group and change the course of your life, try getting up one and a half hour earlier from now on, remember that it is the quality and not the quantity of rest that is important. Imagine having an extra 39 hours a month to spend on personal development.
Dedicate these hours to personal development issues. Meditate, visualize, read the books to set the tone for your day, listen to motivational audio. In the mean time never allow those things that matter most in your life to be at the mercy of activities that don‘t matter much. Observe everything everywhere, wherever you are be really there. Hold nothing back.
Let your library show that you‘re a serious learner about the issues of life, let it show that you have chosen to be all you can be. Books will make all the difference.
“How great so ever a genius may be, certain it is that he will never shine in his full lustre, nor shed the full influence he is capable of, unless to his own experience he adds that of other men and other ages”
-Orion Swett Marden
It is written on the stars, if you starve mentally you are bound to starve morally and physically so get all the information, what you‘ll do with it will be up to you.
Stay on purpose every minute of your day, not on outcome. In other words let your goals decide what you‘re gonna do each day, don‘t let circumstances decide what your goals will be.
Learn to meditate and concentrate effectively. The mind is naturally a very noisy machine which wants to move from one subject to another like an unchained monkey. You must learn to restrain and discipline it if you‘re to achieve anything of substance and be all that you can be.
Develop willpower. Your will is like a muscle, you must first exercise it and then push before it gets stronger. This will involve short term pain but be assured that the improvements will come and will touch your character in a most positive way. When you‘re hungry, wait another hour before your meal. When you‘re laboring over a difficult task and your mind is prompting you to pick up the latest magazine for a break or to get up and go talk to a friend, curb the impulse. Soon you will be able to sit for hours in a precisely concentrated state. Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest classical physicists the world has produced once said "If I have done the public any service, it is due to patient thought". Newton had a remarkable ability to sit quietly and think without interruption for very long periods of time. If he could develop this so can you.
Your desire to become all that you can become is the foundation of all that you will ever become.
A CHOICE TO PASS THE BUCK AND A CHOICE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
You don‘t need to decide if you‘re gonna pass the buck but by not taking responsibility you pass the buck. People who pass the buck let fate decide their destiny, they‘re powerless because. Responsibility carries with it the power so by not taking responsibility you‘re letting go off your power.
There was once a young family that had two children and the man worked in the fire department with a salary that was enough to help them get by but they had an aunt by the name of Martha who had promised them that they would inherit all her belongings and wealth once she had passed away because she was very wealthy. Aunt Martha often spent weekends with this young couple and they were really glad to have her company because they loved her so much. When aunt Martha promised them all her wealth they were on their early 20s but at this moment they were on their late 20s.
They didn‘t want aunt Martha to die but now they were on their 30s and living from hand to mouth, they began to get worried. Perish the thought of aunt Martha passing away but they couldn‘t bear the thought of living in so much misery for much longer and now things were getting worse as their two kids were getting ready for college. Aunt Martha was still remarkably well and healthy even in her late 80s.
One day this couple sat down on their small dinning table when they were on their late 40s, the wise woman looked deep in the eyes of her husband from across the table with tears in her eyes and asked;"Honey, what if aunt Martha lives another 20 years?" then it hit him! He knew that it was time to take responsibility and stop passing the buck. If you could have met this man and asked how come he was living in the richest country in the world and not doing well for himself he would have told you "I‘m waiting for my aunt to die". He had spent more than 20 years without the power and waiting for someone‘s death so that he could live well but in this particular day something happened in his mind that drove him to take responsibility for his family‘s welfare and at that moment the man decided that he was not going to wait for aunt Martha's death anymore.
He started searching for ways to make more money and sure enough he found them. In a few years he won the battle against the 'aunt Martha‘ saga and through ambition and doing what had to be done he managed to make plenty of money to live well. He could now afford to take his family to the most beautiful
spots in the world, he afforded anything he wanted and even took his kids to college. His family had started to live the kind of life they knew that they deserved. The best cars, vacations, a big nice house and all the benefits that come with being a millionaire were now all theirs.
You know what happened to aunt Martha?
She lived another 20 years but this couple were no longer waiting for her death because they now had enough money of their own. When aunt Martha passed away this couple did not need her money anymore but when they got to the reading of the will, to the couple‘s surprise, everybody within the family was expecting something but as the lawyer read the will they all found out that aunt Martha was broke and had been so for the past 50 years and living off of her relative‘s grace by promising each and everyone of them that they were her favorites and she was going to leave all her wealth with them.
Everybody left the room disappointed and devastated but this couple had made the choice long ago, they had plenty of money.
Who‘s your aunt Martha? Instead of relying on aunt Martha why don‘t you go out and do it on your own? There‘s power in responsibility. No one is responsible for your life, not your parents, community or your boss. Your success and failure is all in your hands.
Think not yesterday or today foretells tomorrow, for they never have... only you can do that. I mean haven‘t you always found a way? Hasn‘t there always been a light in the darkness? Haven‘t you always gotten back up after a fall? Listen to me when I tell you this: not fate, God, love, karma, contracts, destiny, stars, bones, tea leaves, or moon rising can make a dream come true because that‘s what you‘re meant to do.
You design your own lifestyle, you fashion for yourself the life you want to live. Success is neither magical nor mysterious, success is an effect of doing things in a certain way and consistently applying the basic disciplines. Everyone has a fair chance to be as successful as he pleases as everyone else.
No matter how many people conspire against you, it‘s still not their fault if you fail. If you apply the right effects then success will be the results, it‘s all in your hands. Nobody can stop a man whose will to succeed is strong enough. The human‘s will breaks all barriers, burns all obstacles and destroys whatever that stands in it‘s way. There‘s nothing as fierce as the human will. Show me a successful person and I‘ll show you a person who‘s ready and willing. Adversity is nothing compared to the human will.
Decide today to take responsibility and strive for your maximum potential. You have been given the dignity of choice, choose to take responsibility, choose to stretch to your full measure and see what you can achieve. At some point you will have to change your habits but never change your originality for the sake of others, be a visionary but pride yourself in your roots.
No-one can do better at being you than you or someone else could‘ve been given the task, the task that has your name marked on it. Being the best means being you, no-one else can do better than that. The fact that you‘re breathing is a miracle in itself because you can‘t understand how death occurs, the energy flow just stops... how do you explain that? Regardless of race, religion, geographical area, or time period, every human has wondered about the one fact of life that unifies all human beings: what is death? Throughout history, different mythologies and theologies have explained the nature of death in countless ways, ranging from total anniliation to immediate life after death in the presence of God... or in torment. Some groups allow their dead to "work off" their badness and eventually reach paradise. Others envision life after death filled with a never-ending abundance of the pleasure of earthly life. Some teach that the dead are rewarded by becoming gods unto themselves, while others teach earthly reincarnation based on the deeds of the previous life.
Regardless of anyone‘s belief system, the fact remains that death is the end of life... or at least life as human beings know it. Death, dying, and the afterlife are all shrouded in deep mystery, cloaked in darkness and generally surrounded by fear and apprehension because one fact is for certain: You won‘t just stop existing even after life as you know it.
What you‘re supposed to be doing is celebrating the miracle of life, having a breath is a miracle in itself, walking on land is a miracle and you my friend are the miracle of life. Do you have any idea how many souls in the unseen wish they were you? Do you have any idea how many millenniums, billenniums, trilleniums will go before there‘s another you? All of them multiplied as many times as possible, there‘ll never be another you. And even after those many years, your presence will still be felt, your name will still be whispered, and your impact will still be experienced, and that‘s for the stuff you‘ve already done.
However cool you may think being an angel is, or to have an out-of-body experience, floating over your house, flying through space, traversing the past, present and future, let me let you in on something, it will never be as cool as being in the one you have right now. Walking barefoot in the grass, floating on a sun-drenched pool, and dancing alone in the dark. Trust me dear, for you, right here and now, getting into body is considered the most sacred of all sacred.
Regardless of the pain and struggle you might be going through right now, everyone here in the unseen wishes they were in your shoes, having the power to control and influence both worlds, the seen and the unseen. So do you realize what you‘re doing by refusing to take responsibility? It‘s like saying "hey! I don‘t need to be so powerful". Because you know what? With your status now, you can be a conduit for all the love that‘s ever been felt.
You can tap into the knowledge that‘s never been revealed before and as you might have thought. There are billions of people around the world that are trying to improve their lot in life and there‘s a system that allows all to do just that. Don‘t blame the government for any of your failures, that‘ll be like blaming the sun for setting too soon, there are people who succeed under the same government so why not you?
The economy is not responsible for any of your failures, you‘re responsible and all you need to do is look around you and find a way to make it work. Don‘t blame it on the prices for being too high, the problem is the person who can‘t afford, there are people who aren‘t complaining of the high prices aren‘t there? Don‘t blame it on the company by saying it pays too little, aren‘t there people in the same company who get paid far more than you? Then the problem is not that the company pays too little, the problem is that that‘s all you get paid because that‘s how much value you add to the marketplace, if you will qualify you will add more. If you brought the company one hundred thousand dollars in profits a month do you think if you asked for twenty thousand dollars in pay a month they‘d consider it? Of course they would! So what‘s the solution? Work harder on yourself!
Don‘t complain about lack of opportunities, what lack of opportunities? Opportunities crowd around you all the time. The problem is not lack of opportunities, the problem is lack of keen and cultivat