Feeling It In Your Body
Sarah told me how she knows if someone is a good singer…and I felt it in my body!
How you can figure out what’s right for you…let your body tell you.
Why We Don’t Do Black Friday
Shot at my parents’ dining room table right after Thanksgiving dinner.
No, that’s not my wife. That’s my sister, Bonnie.
Why there is SO much more for you in not being part of the thundering herd. Bonnie knows it. Jill knows it. I know it.
HOW TO ATTRACT: Be Like The Fire Department
Winter Storm Alfred hit Connecticut on October 29, 2011.
It was all business. It knocked out our power for six days. If you want the details, check out AWESOME AND TERRIFYING. It tells the tale in a pretty compelling way.
Lots of things stand out about the storm. The downed trees and power lines. People fighting over lines at gas stations. People coming together.
And the joy of knowing our family had the means to protect itself. Part of the power outage was spent at a world class resort in the southeastern part of Connecticut.
But the part that stands out most to me was Saturday night, about five hours after the snow started. The power had been out for several hours. I had just finished a mad dash across the backyard, putting some propane tanks in a clear space where no trees were likely to fall on them.
I stood on the front porch and listened to the storm.
It was already dark, and with no streetlights there wasn’t much to see.
The sound of big mature oak trees cracking under the weight of snow was profound. I wondered when one would ht the house, or power lines near it.
Then I heard the sound of a large diesel engine. Looking to the left I saw a fire engine driving slowly up the block. It cruised slowly past our house.
A telling moment.
The easiest thing for the fire department to do would have been to wait out the storm at the station. They had generators, so they had light and heat.
Not to mention they would be safe from trees and power lines falling all around them.
But that’s not what the fire department does, at least not the Bristol, Connecticut Fire Department.
They cruised the neighborhood, in their big engines, though not nearly as big as the elements that furiously swirled around them.
They were out there as the last line of defense in a very unpredictable world.
They made us all feel a little safer. Even if they weren’t in a position to give complete help, knowing they were there and willing gave a measure of comfort and security.
I liked knowing the BFD had my back, and I’m going to make sure they know it too.
*** ***
That night, when the heat was on, someone positioned themselves as the Big Dog…the Alpha Male.
And it wasn’t out of a desire to be dominant. It was from a desire to protect.
They were willing to take a risk for their community. And in the eyes of that community, they got bigger.
See where I’m going with this?
Whatever your community is, if you’re the one who is willing to do what others won’t, or (using my least favorite word) can’t, you become a giant.
Or at least a source of safety and comfort.
Certainly a source of authority.
People are attracted to you.
(Show me any child who isn’t attracted to a fire fighter, or at least a fire engine. For that matter, show me an adult who isn’t either.)
People are wiling to follow you.
People are willing to submit to your leadership.
Because you are strong.
And safe.
And by the way, that community could be a marketing group.
Or it could be a school.
Or a family.
Or a couple.
Or it could be a community of one. Just you.
Showing yourself you are capable…you are willing to be the one who does the heavy lifting.
Not out of the need for recognition or approval.
But because you have it within you.
And you have the energy, desire and compassion to take care of your fellow community members.
That recognition will eventually come.
But you won’t need it.
You’ll already identify yourself as a hero.
Be like the fire department.
Brave. Tough. Willing to serve.
Be a hero.
If you go down, you go down with glory.
If you stay up, you find new heights of achievement and new depths of gratitude.
Your Friend,
Larry
HOW TO RECEIVE is open for business. If you want to find the courage inside you to become like your town’s bravest, come on board. Classes start January 3, 2012.
How To Be Better Off Four Years From Now
If you’re looking for the government, or a company, or a union, or anything to improve your life over the next few years, you’re gonna get your butt kicked.
The economy is changing too much. If you get strong, learn how to take charge of your own life and learn how to receive, the next few years can be great for you and your family.
Repost: The Hidden Beauty of Black Friday
This article became a pre-Thanksgiving tradition in 2008, the year we started seeing real mayhem in the big box stores. See the end for the 2011 update…
*** ***
I’m writing this on Sunday morning, a couple of days after a few tragic incidents on “Black Friday.”
For those of you not in the United States, this is the day after the American Thanksgiving holiday when many stores offer sales with deeply discounted items.
These sales have become a phenomenon over the past few years, with stores opening at 5:00 am and people lining up the night before to buy a very limited quantity of deeply discounted items.
In New York a Walmart employee was trampled to death by the oncoming crowd as the doors opened. And in California a customer shot and killed two people in an apparent rage about some item that was in high demand.
Many people are prepared to take these two incidents and use them as a symbol of everything that is going wrong in the world.
I’d like to offer a completely different perspective: I think this is a time to recognize just how essentially right things really are.
*** ***
These are sad events, but not unprecedented. As I was telling a friend of mine, I can imagine an out of control crowd rushing to get scarce loaves of bread, or medicine, or any number of things that were once considered necessities for survival.
So the fact that the rush was on for electronics or toys, things that are nice but not necessary is a sign of increased prosperity.
Indeed, this was a case of manufactured scarcity. Collectively, we decide to assign importance to certain items that really has nothing to do with our actual survival. We will continue to breathe in and out whether we have that new computer or not.
Our children will love us whether they get the hot new toy or not.
A deliberate condition of scarcity was engineered and created by the stores themselves, to entice people to come in and act out of fear. The media bought into it, with stories about the Black Friday sales and people lining up days before.
I remember attending one of these a couple of years ago. We were at a Best Buy store in Connecticut at 5:00 am, thinking we’d be among the first to be there. We were greeted by multiple police cars, dogs, television news trucks, and thousands of customers who arrived before we did.
That was the end of our Black Friday shopping excursions. Never again.
As I said, the retailers and media co-created the conditions that contributed to these deaths – along with us. Those who lined up outside the doors participated in the frenzy. We have choices in how we think, how we act and what we allow into our consciousness.
So with that, let me leave you with a few pieces of good news….
1. I predict a change in the way these sales are administered, and they may even disappear altogether. The retailers and the media don’t just create public opinion. They respond to it as well. Walmart is no doubt reeling from bad publicity surrounding this event. Black Friday sales are now associated with corporate and consumer greed. No business wants that connection.
2. For every act of chaos, greed and desperation that occurred on Black Friday, there were hundreds, even thousands of acts of civility, kindness and generosity. These weren’t reported in the media.
Doors were held open for senior citizens and children.
Children’s eyes lit up when parents bought special presents for them, and parents hearts melted with the reactions of their kids.
Strangers bonded in a shared sense of humor of the absurdity of the circumstances they were in.
Spouses had hot breakfasts waiting for their partners when they returned home.
Some minimum wage retail workers found a sense of dignity and personal empowerment in being assertive towards large groups of people. Some of these same workers received more money than usual based on the volume of sales they processed.
And some of these workers experienced something unpleasant enough, it inspired them to ask for more out of their lives. Somewhere on Friday a decision was made by a Walmart or Radio Shack worker to go back to college.
It really is a matter of where you choose to put your focus.
Three lives taken and an attitude of greed.
Or a self-correcting marketplace and many acts of compassion and grace.
I know where I’m choosing to focus!
Your Friend,
Larry
***
It’s 2011, and most people don’t know it (or don’t want to face it) but we’re coming up on a whole new economic order. Unsustainable debt and a move away from the US dollar as the reserve currency is going to change the way we live virtually overnight.
This is a time to learn stuff about economics, and there are plenty of good sources.
More than anything else, it’s a time to become self-reliant…to learn how to draw resources to yourself and receive them with an open mind, open heart and open hand.
HOW TO RECEIVE is enrolling new students for the January session.
If you think you’re going to ride out the coming economic tidal wave and just “get-by,” you’re begging to be a victim.
Because your value to the marketplace – as an employee – is going to drop like a stone.
The value you create by living that dynamic balance of giving and receiving is going to be the thing that not only gets you through tough times, but brings you to a whole new level of spiritual, emotional and (yes) financial fulfillment.
The old ways don’t work anymore, even if you don’t know it.
Go to all the door busters you want.
Then saddle up. Either learn to receive or get eaten by the system.
-
HOW TO RECEIVE
Teleclass Begins Tuesday January 3, 2012. For More Information Or To Register, Click The Image. 
How To Juggle (and Change Your Life Forever)
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