Today's post is just a reminder of that. And I'm going to do it by giving a little perspective.
A few weeks ago, I watched the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster. It's based on the novel by late Carl Sagan. Although I don't necessarily share all of Carl's views, he was a great man... and no matter what he may think, he's somewhere out there :)
The introduction to the movie however included an amazing three minutes of tracking back. From a picture of earth and its various radio signals... out into deep, deep space.
It's staggering -- and it should make you realize that we aren't that big after all.
Our actions really aren't of any real significance.
This blog post is hardly likely to ever go down in history. And as far as the "BIG EVERYTHING" is concerned, Karl Moore is hardly likely to ever really mean anything.
All we're ever likely to be, or do, or anything... is what we be, or do, RIGHT NOW.
So what could YOU dare that is worthy today?
And why not JUST DO IT...
After all, it's really not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.
Lloyd Jones said: "If you have tried to do something and failed you are vastly better than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded."
So go on. Dare something worthy.
Now I'll leave you with my second favourite scene in the movie. The timewarps!
(If you're reading this via e-mail, visit the official site at www.karlblog.com to view the videos.)
How many times have you gone to a party, thinking it was going to be terrible...
... And it was?
How many times have you gotten out of bed, with the sun shining, and decided it's going to be a great day...
... And it was?
It's no coincidence.
The simple fact is that...
Intention sets direction.
If you decide something will be a particular way, all of the "programming" in your mind changes to make it so. If you have an intention of enjoying yourself, your mind will use that "program" to help see the world.
So, here's a challenge.
For the next couple of days, do EVERYTHING with INTENTION.
Let me repeat that one more time.
Over the next couple of days, do EVERYTHING with INTENTION.
When you wake up, have the intention of having a great day. When you arrive home, have an intention of making your partner feel loved. When you go to that party, have an intention of having a great time.
See what happens.
I'm betting that your intention will set your direction.
It's not rocket science.
As Lester Levenson used to say... "Don't believe a word I say. Take it for checking!"
Try it out for yourself. Take it for checking. See if it works for you.
No matter how old you are chronologically, how old do you actually feel right now?
Hopefully, you are feeling younger than your years and truly alive.
Ideally, it would be good to be young in body, ancient in mind and timeless in spirit.
With each passing year, there is the danger that we take on board the West's general view of ageing ... that we start to degenerate, that we become slower, weaker, tired and ineffective.
There is a danger that we start thinking, saying and believing things such as ... 'it must be my age'; 'I'm not as quick, supple, strong or energetic as I used to be' and so on.
We become old before our time simply because we think it!
Yet, throughout the world and particularly in the Far East, there are many examples of people in their 80s and beyond leading very full, meaningful and active lives.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: ' It is not length of life, but depth of life.'
So true!
You see, age is just a number.
When we choose to live a life that is active in mind, body and spirit, we remain youthful right up until the time we are ready to pass on.
If you are easily influenced by other people or experiences ... if you shy away from your own voice ... if you're afraid to live your talk because of what people think ...
Then it's likely that you're not the person you wish to be.
When you take on board other people's perceptions and judgements without any reservation or consideration for your own thoughts and feelings, you end up becoming a caricature rather than your true self.
Worse still ... if you jump and react to everyone else's tune at the expense of your own, you then become a puppet, with your strings securely under someone else's control.
Don't be afraid to be yourself.
You're absolutely perfect as you are but you have what it takes to create the amazing individual you have always wanted to be ... your true and beautiful self.
Each of us is an artist, creating our unique stamp upon the great canvas that is life.
Gandhi once said: "Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart desires must come to you."
There's nothing you can ever do wrong, ever.
There are no wrong brush-strokes.
You are -already - simply a work of art ... but a work of art in progress.
You can add a little more colour or tone to your life ...
You can choose how you wish to appear in any given scene ...
But you know that the true-you presents the most beautiful picture of all.
I hope everything is beautiful in your world today.
After all, your thoughts have created your reality.
You can choose to see that beautiful, exciting, fun world that's out there.
Or, you can choose to harbour thoughts that are limiting and which hold you back.
When we go to school, we are given a wide introduction to the subjects that make up the world around us ... science, art, geography, maths, languages and so forth, yet we are not taught just how our thoughts are responsible for our actions.
If Personal Growth was on the school curriculum, just imagine what the potential would be for well-rounded, loving, peaceful individuals.
We would learn the value of setting good intentions and right action from an earlier age.
Still, it's never too late to realize that our thoughts do create our reality.
What's more, we have a choice about what thoughts to keep and which ones to eliminate.
Set good intentions from the moment you wake up and greet the day.
Believe that your life just gets better and better.
Look for the beauty in everything around you and start creating that beautiful world that you so deserve.
Become a poet ... view life through a poet's eyes.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said: "The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -- the little soon-forgotten charities of a kiss, a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment in the disguise of a playful raillery, and the countless other infinitesimals of pleasurable thought and genial feeling."
There is beauty in every moment, every single day.
Choose to live with beauty in your life ...with Coleridge's infinitesimals of pleasurable thought and genial feeling, and your life will be so much more!
What is it that makes you want to jump out of bed in a morning?
What is it that makes you feel so alive and enthusiastic?
If you don't know, then it's time to find out!
Doing what you really love can enhance your life experience.
It makes you feel as though you fit into life's equation - completely!
Quite simply, living the life of your dreams provides you with great joy and contentment.
Master of the Adventure Hero myth, Joseph Campbell calls this "Following your bliss".
Once you start doing what drives you towards fulfilment, you'll find your happiness.
You may have to make a giant leap in order to do what you love.
You may have to fight a few battles
This could mean changing your current way of life or breaking through the odd comfort zone or overcoming fear, but it's worth it if it means starting each day with vitality and enthusiasm, knowing that you're doing exactly what you love.
Joseph Campbell said that when you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living!
There are many times in our daily lives we feel overwhelmed by sadness.
The passing of an animal. The ending of a relationship. The arrival of the bank statement.
It's inevitable.
And we occasionally need to remind ourselves that in order to experience happiness, we must experience that sadness.
Yet, still, that doesn't make it any easier.
That's why today I'd like to remind you of a few techniques that I use when times get rough.
Firstly, remember the words of Stephen Fry. Though admittedly a chap that experiences more than his fair share of downs, he at least recognizes the source.
He states, quite simply: "Stop feeling sorry for yourself - and you will be happy."
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
That's so true.
Often, it is the small acts of kindness which create the biggest and most positive changes.
These small deeds, delivered with love and compassion, can make an amazing difference.
You may think what you're doing is so insignificant but it's likely to make a huge difference to someone or something in the great order of things.
There are many stories that remind me that small acts of kindness are powerful.
Like the boy who was on the beach spending his time and energy collecting beached starfish to throw back into the sea.
Someone came along and was bemused at the boy's folly, shouting, 'What's the point of throwing them back? You're not making a difference.'
The boy released another starfish in the sea and replied:
'Well, I made a difference to that one.'
And it's true. Even if you make a difference to one life today, then it's worth doing.
Make someone laugh, show simple courtesy, give your seat on the train to someone more needy, give a little of your time and energy to a worthy cause, and you WILL make a difference.
And when you offer a kind deed, notice how warm you feel inside.
You will positively radiate.
Apart from love, nothing else can give you that inner glow and the more kindness you give, the greater that feeling.
Back in April last year, I revealed details of the Karl Blog.com inspiration cards - and how they were to be distributed throughout the globe.
Almost a year on and over 50,000 have found their way into diaries and onto fridge doors across our little planet.
I've even received mysterious little messages about them, such as: "I just got to work and this card was on my desk. My office door was locked. How did it get there?"
The answer: I don't know.
But they're being distributed - and on each card, you'll find one of my four favourite quotes of all time.
I'm reproducing them below, just in case you don't recall the original post.
While I'm on the topic... the ultimate pick-me-up is coming to this blog soon. The Karl Blog.com song. I'm not joking.
If you've been feeling down and you've let the pressures of the world infiltrate your usual positive self, take some time out to reflect.
In fact, take a day off from your usual routine.
Treat yourself!
Babatunde Olatunji famously said (though rarely credited): 'Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.'
So, unfold your day as you would when un-wrapping a gift ... with anticipation, excitement and wonder.
You see, your day is just that ... a gift ... a beautiful, amazing, special gift that can become anything that you wish it to be.
When you treat life as a gift, you start to savour each moment.
You realize the potential to manifest wonderful experiences and surprises.
You start to notice the small but significant things that really bring magic into your life ... laughter, joy, love, beauty ...
And yes, the air is sweet and you're filled with vitality.
Your spirit is free and you feel like dancing ... so dance!
What an incredible gift this day is.
What's more, it's all yours!
So, enjoy the gift that is this day and may I wish you many, many more gift-filled days to come.
Take a moment to reflect ... are you happy and fulfilled?
Are you enjoying the time of your life?
If not, then what are you going to do about it?
There is no better time than NOW so seize the day!
Not only seize it, but own it too!
Henry David Thoreau said: 'Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.'
So, make sure that you're focused on living your best time ever - NOW.
Let go of the sabotaging thoughts and feelings that are holding you back or telling you that you can't live your dream.
Realize that you're here to experience life and to enjoy it.
You are more than worthy of living your best time ever.
Consider the positive in your life and be grateful for everything that you have.
In fact, celebrate those simple but powerful gifts that you possess ... gifts such as love, kindness, forgiveness, compassion, vitality, freedom of spirit, joy and so on.
You really have so much to be grateful for.
Celebrate the uniqueness that is YOU!
When you focus on making this your best time ever, you really start to live life with meaning and truth.
So, make this the day that you change your life for the better.
Make this... One Fine Day.
(If you're reading this by e-mail, visit www.karlblog.com to view the video.)
Your mum, perhaps. Your dad. Maybe your dog. A sibling. Your friends. A partner. Your children.
Our lives are filled with important relationships.
Yet it never ceases to amaze me how many people completely ignore the most important relationship of all. The relationship with the one person guaranteed to be with them for the rest of their lives.
... Themselves!
That includes me, by the way. I forget my inner-relationship all the time. And the inner-turbulence I've experienced as a result could knock the bowels out of Big Daddy.
Budda said: "You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection."
So, why not consciously make the decision today to simply give yourself some love and affection - for absolutely no reason at all?
Literally no reason. Just do it because it's a smart thing to do.
Sit down - and for ten minutes or so, praise yourself, be nice to yourself, let go of "attachments" to arguments and issues.
Stop beating yourself up for being such a bad person. Stop slapping yourself every time you do that thing wrong again.
Just give yourself some love, some approval, some affection - simply because you can.
Let me tell you something.
I've made some crazy decisions in my life just because I haven't loved myself enough. Decisions that have literally changed my entire path, simply because I didn't care enough about this one most important relationship.
It's said: "If I am not for myself, who will be?"
Make the decision to be your own biggest fan, starting today.
And take time out to really give yourself the love and approval needed to make that happen.
Just for fun.
Try it out. And see what happens.
"I never loved another person the way I loved myself." - Mae West
"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day.
"Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business.
"Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy.
"Guard your fragile life carefully.
"Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces."
"Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep" -- Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, 1750
Now, I'll admit one thing.
I can sometimes be a bit... awkward.
I'll stumble and stutter, just when I'm trying to impress. I'll accidentally stare at a window dresser's bottom, just when I shouldn't. I'll make a joke to a 20-year old that only someone living the 1920's would understand.
Despite all this nervousness, fussing, and stuttering -- one thing remains.
Me.
I am still me.
This awkwardness, the way I accidentally showed myself up, the way things didn't quite go as I'd've planned... the way I didn't impress the girl because I took way too long before eventually broaching an innocent "hullo!" kiss...
Those things make up - quite simply - me.
I'm Karl -- and all of the awkwardness and craziness and randomness that entails.
Indeed, when you look at it that way, there is literally nothing that you can do wrong.
You might try for the best, but if it doesn't happen... you still tried your best. In that moment. You gave it what you could.
Maybe you'll do it differently next time. Maybe you'll try something else.
But, even in the most awkward of situations, you were just being YOU -- and that's all you can ever be.
It's perfect.
It's wonderful.
It's glorious.
It's unique.
And, best of all... it's you.
So, embrace your uniqueness, embrace your awkwardness, embrace everything you do.
You can do no wrong.
People will accept or not.
The best thing you can do... is, quite simply, to be YOU.
"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." -- Judy Garland
For those that don't know, Campbell was a mythologist, and creator of the famed "Hero's Journey" model -- a formula for all myths, used to help create mega-blockbuster movies today.
He's a sweet, gentle, grandfather-like figure that speaks pure wisdom.
His Hero's Journey (or the monomyth) model applies to practically every myth on the planet. In brief, Campbell describes the process in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, as:
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."
The Hero's Journey has seven distinct stages... and some time ago, I had a powerful thought.
These myths are there to tell us how to live our lives. Of course. But, by seeing where you are on the Hero's Journey scale yourself, you can also tell what's coming up -- and how to reach the next level.
Listening deeper to the interviews with Campbell, I now realize he thought the exact same thing. And so this teacher of deep mythology ultimately made some profound discoveries about life itself.
Core to his teaching was the idea of "following your bliss" -- or, as Lester Levenson would say it, "finding your freedom."
In one of the interviews, Campbell profoundly comments:
"When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else."
He also says that the hero - You - will always get the adventure they're ready for.
Wow.
What does that mean to you?
Are you getting the adventure you're ready for?
Or, to put it another way, are YOU ready for your adventure?
If not, prepare yourself for it -- and it shall happen.
Here are a few other quotes from his work that truly inspired me...
"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."
"The way to find out about happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy — not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what is called following your bliss."
"Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself."
"Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."
"Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is Whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning."
"Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble."
"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."
"When we talk about settling the world's problems, we're barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives."
"The world is full of people that have stopped listening to themselves or have listened only their neighbors to learn what they ought to do, how they ought to behave, and what the values are they should be living for."
Think about today's post deeply. Maybe even read some of Campbell's work.
And if you really get it... It might just change your life.
"- in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other - it is our own.
"Past opportunities are gone, future have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age."
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."
