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Those who can must! We all can!

Those who can, must!

             Miracle on the Hudson River:                     Image from nydailynews.com

“You can’t do everything but you can do something!” ― Jeff Dixon

Those who can must!

It’s a simple philosophy, but profound, as many simple philosophies are. It came to me while musing on the world and life in general when, as a teenager, I was driving a tractor and plough in seemingly endless circles on the night shift, preparing a seed bed for planting. Deep in the night, alone with my thoughts, it resonated. Forty years later, it’s still my guiding principle.  #Those who can must!

Why is it that “those who can must”?

“Those who can must” is more than a one liner. It is possibly the most powerful philosophy of all. Why is it so important that we do all we can? What does it mean? Let’s look at the first part – “those who can”.

Those who can what?

Why is it that we have skilled crafts people? Artists, architects, builders, mechanics, pilots, plumbers, lawyers, accountants, entrepreneurs; each of these is a skill-set in their own right. If a person has one of these skill sets, why is it so critical that they be the best they can at it?

Look at what “being your best” can mean.

You’re a mechanic. What difference does that make, whether you are “your best” or not? After all, you’re just servicing family cars. EXACTLY! The young mother who brings the family’s second car in for you to maintain, because the lousy, cheap skate husband has the good car with the good tyres on to drive to his work, leaving mother with the old car to transport the precious cargo of children to and from school! (Yes ladies, this is a global problem – show your husband this blog and let him have both barrels!) If you are an average mechanic, you’ll pop the hood, change the oil, check the water and let it go. If you are an excellent mechanic, being your best, you’ll be aware of the valuable cargo this vehicle carries, children – our future population – and take a closer look at the tyres, brakes, steering, suspension and even the seatbelt fittings. Because you know that when it rains again, your workmanship could be the difference between this little car spinning out of control and putting those lives at risk, or not!

Those who can, must!

Mum’s Taxi? Image from www.vintag.es

What about being a pilot? You became a pilot perhaps because you loved flying and decided to make a career out of it. Now, you fly commercially and may have anywhere from 5 to 500 passenger lives under your control on any flight. Only this year, we have seen two Malaysian jet air liners crash, taking nearly 300 lives each time. It‘s obvious there is a huge responsibility on airline pilots to be the best they can. Yet in the news yesterday we saw a report of an Indian pilot snoozing while in command, and the co-pilot playing on an iPad and didn’t notice that the jet had dropped 5,000 feet and put it on a collision course with other aircraft! A mid-air collision could have killed 500 people in the air and who knows how many hundreds more on the ground!

Why be the best pilot you can, even more than just staying awake? Because sometimes being the best means you could retrieve an impossible situation such as the pilot who landed a US Airways Airbus with 155 passengers on the Hudson River after a bird strike killed the engines and forcing the landing. This incredibly skilled pilot landed the huge plane on the river without loss of life and you can bet he wasn’t looking at his iPad at the time! Every second of his life’s experiences was with him, and came into play as he settled that jet airliner onto the river near the rescue boats and saved every life!

OK, so you’re not an airline pilot, you’re just a local railway worker. How important could it be, to be your best in a railway yard? If you haven’t seen it, look for the movie “Unstoppable” starring Denzel Washington. It’s about a heavily laden freight train that becomes a runaway, speeding into a heavily populated area with a very dangerous turn in the tracks, after a slack train driver is too casual about changing tracks and lets the train get away from him. Denzel’s character in real life – the film is based on an actual drama in Ohio – uses skill and imagination to find a way to stop the runaway train and avert the catastrophe that could have happened.

Everyone has something that they CAN do, but why is it that they MUST do it?

Everyone also has something they are hopeless at! It would be a wasted life if we spent it trying to do something we would continually fail at. Wasting our lives, wasting our energy, when there is someone else who is great at exactly that job we are failing at, and we are depriving them of the job they love! We have skills so that we CAN use them, for the good of our family, our community and the world in general. Imagine if Einstein continued being a children’s tutor, then a clerk all his life, instead of following his brilliance and passion into the fields of Science where he contributed so much to the world and humanity in general! He followed the ethos of “those who can must” brilliantly, and changed the way the world saw itself. He changed the future, changed the lives of you and I, a hundred years ago.

Those who can, must

He followed HIS passion! Thankfully! Image from hj.vc

When you and I follow the ethos of “Those who can must” we follow our passion and our skills into living and create lives that only WE can live. We are each unique and using our unique talents and abilities and fuelled by our passions, we can make differences like this too. Only WE can live OUR LIVES!

“Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing.” ― William Shakespeare

Does “Those who can Must” apply to everyone? Who does this apply to?

This is for you and for me. Everyone can do something to contribute. Therefore, everyone must, if we are to make this world better for our children to follow on from us, to take our batons for the next leg of the Human Race.

Yes, that means you and me.

“You are responsible for doing what good you can with what you have, and any good is better than none.” ― Bryant McGill

But if you think, “I’m just a stay at home Mum”, then remember that this also applied to the parents of children such as Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and so many more parents we never hear about. We only hear about the achievements of their children.

Maybe a police officer who notices someone loitering and feels the energy of a crime in the making apprehends them, and prevents who knows how many muggings, rapes, assaults and robberies. Perhaps they also prevent the loiterer from continuing in their dark world any further; perhaps enabling redemption from a possibly wasted life to a life well lived.

The writer who creates fictional novels, wonders how “those who can must” applies to them. Think of Wilbur Smith. Besides giving joy, peace and relaxation to millions of readers, how many people have been inspired by his writing to contribute to the conservation of the endangered ecosystems of Africa, where poaching has all but decimated the populations of elephants, rhino, lions and many other species. His writing has brought the plight of these ecosystems and many others globally to public awareness, far beyond anything he ever thought about when he first put pen to paper. How many other aspiring writers has he inspired to follow their dreams and passion to also become published authors, and reach out to millions more around the globe with their own messages of hope and inspiration?

Even the lowly blogger – if your writing changes or influences the life of just one other person and puts them back on track, then you have done your part. You don’t need to be a global superstar; one life saved is well worthwhile!

Being an unsung hero may be our life’s calling, following our passion into whatever we do. We may never know the magic we create downstream from the effects we have on the lives of the people with whom we interact, but there is no doubt the magic is there, as long as we do our part, as long as those who can must, and then do!

“Those who can must”, demands that we seek and follow our passion and skills, so that we can provide for our families, enrich our communities and make our world a better place for those who follow us! Whilst it seems huge when you examine it like this, all it really means is that we be the best we can, at whatever it is we are good at. If you don’t know what that is yet, then perhaps look at the Business Profits Program, where your skills, abilities and passions are explored for you to find your life’s calling. Perhaps you will uncover your passion and your calling there, to enable you to do what you must.

If you know what your passion is but are having trouble finding the time, discipline or motivation to follow it, then Life Change 90 is for you. Putting a structure into your day, infusing it with the inspiration, motivation and congratulations that make a day both worthwhile and enjoyable, is what you need to create positive habits that will stay with you for your lifetime.

Perhaps all you need to do is to pass the message on so that someone else can find and follow their passion. If you know someone who is searching, looking for a way to put meaning into their life, who is a square peg in a round hole at the moment, this may be your way to help them. Pass the message on; let them have the opportunity to decide, with new information, where they want their life to go. It only takes one to make it worthwhile!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails,

Ray Jamieson

PS: We watched “Unstoppable” again this evening, on DVD. It’s one heck of a ride – treat yourself to watching it soon, to see what a difference a person can make when the chips are down!  Those who can must watch this movie!

“If your life is a miserable disaster, you might want to consider, that it’s because you are doing something wrong.” ― Bryant McGill

Recent relevant blogs:

Og Mandino – Lessons from the Master

Life Change 90 Relaunch

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Empowerment through Challenge

Best Business Ideas For You

Belief in Miracles

#Belief in miracles

Another miracle
Image from trekearth.com

Belief in Miracles

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  ― Albert Einstein

The man knelt beside his bed each night, praying to God for a miracle – to win the lottery.  Each night for years he prayed, until at last one night, it happened……..

A great voice boomed from out of the heavens, it came from everywhere, all around, powerful, resonant, soft yet strong.

“Sir, each night you pray for me to help you win the lottery.  Why oh why can you not make it a little easier for me?  Can’t you at least buy a ticket?”

#Belief in miracles

Lucky number?
Image from abc.net.au

Smile if you want, but this is what life is like for so many people of all denominations around our planet.  Each day and night, they pray to a God or Goddess they will never see, whom they were told in infancy was all powerful and that they were unworthy sinners.  They pray for miracles that are almost beyond imagination, but fail to understand that they already have within their grasp, the most powerful miracle machine there is!

“Miracles are like pimples, because once you start looking for them you find more than you ever dreamed you’d see.”   ― Lemony Snicket, The Lump of Coal

#Belief in miracles

Ancient Deities
Image from 10piecescleaner.blogspot.com

Praying to a divinity for miracles is what has kept Man, as a species, focussed for hundreds of thousands of years, an unseen force greater than himself, a God of Fire, or Thunder, a Sun God, or some other deity relevant to his life, his hunting or the seasons and the harvest.  Then he became ‘civilised’ and started praying to images of himself, but ever more powerful, and so many times, abandoned belief in himself and his own personal power only to give it away to a deity from which he could never hope for more than symbolism in return.

If you want to access your personal power again, then you need the #belief in miracles that others ascribe to their Gods, but realise that the miracle is YOU!  Belief in Miracles has created a miracle already, you and the life you lead.  You are not simply the result of an ‘original sin‘, but the result of a belief in miracles, a faith of the generation before you that there was a wonderful life to be had and you were the child they wished to have it.

To nurture this belief in miracles, you also need to be worthy of them!  This is not a diatribe against people with a belief in miracles.  Rather, it is an admission that I am an admirer of them.  Not only do I have a belief in miracles, I have an expectation of them!

#Belief in miracles

Personal Empowerment – be your own miracle!
Image from jchristoff.com

But there’s a difference:  If you expect a miracle to happen, prepare for it, plan to be worthy of it.  Imagine that YOU were the Almighty Deity sitting up there, looking down, choosing who to bestow with miracles.  Who would you choose?  The one who just prayed and hoped, or the one who had rolled up their sleeves and was creating their own miracles for themselves and others around them?

That’s right.  Be worthy of earning a miracle and more often than not, the miracles will be bestowed on you.  And if they aren’t, you’ll still have a better life than you would if you were still kneeling, and praying, waiting for it to happen.

As He said, you gotta buy the ticket!

If you’d like to “buy a ticket” and become worthy of having a miracle bestowed on you, CLICK HERE and learn about a Personal Empowerment Program that could change your life, while you are waiting for the miracle.  If you have a belief in miracles, this could just be the ticket for you!  Come on in.

If you felt this article could have helped you get your ‘ticket’, please share it with others. Pass it on, because just like you, and me, there are so many people praying for miracles.  We need to help them where and when we can.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails,

Ray Jamieson

“Miracles don’t happen. You make them happen. They’re not wishes or dreams or candles on a cake. They’re not impossible. Reality is real. It’s totally and completely under my control.”  ― Julie Anne Peters, Far from Xanadu

An Angel Without Wings

#Angel

A whole city of Angels!
Image from swotti.com

“If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.”
Tennessee Williams, Conversations with Tennessee Williams

An Angel Without Wings.

God is forever creating new Angels.

One day some time ago, he finished another Angel – but was having a bad day and forgot to give her wings.

“Darn it!” he thought.  “Well, I won’t put her back.  I’ll give her extra serves of love and courage, a radiant smile and she can go to earth and be an Angel down there, where she won’t need wings.”  So he put her on earth, as a baby.

Earth was a harsh environment for the Angel baby.  Life kept putting obstacles in her way, challenges to solve and the burdens of other people to weigh on her also.  There always seemed to be something else to do, someone else to heal, to care for or to help.

“My Angels have a lot of work to do,” he told Saint Peter.

But with the extra love and courage in her heart, the Little Angel’s smile shone like a beacon through all her trials and tribulations.  She became an inspiration to those around her.

God said, “I will give her more to do.”  He sent more needy people her way.

Life’s ordeals and unscrupulous people took away all she had, her health, her marriage, her money and he thought, “Surely this will try her out!”

Her courage never faltered, still her smile shone and her love inspired those who knew her.

St Peter looked down and wept at what he saw!

“God!!” he cried.  “You can’t keep this up!  She has already done more by her example than many of your other Angels and raised her children to be like herself.  Her example inspires all in the world that see her.  Please ease her burden, so that she may freely work for you!”

“Perhaps, Peter, you are right.  I will think on it.”  God was pensive.  He stroked a whiskered chin with his thumb.  “I’ll tell you what I will do, Peter.  I will give her the love of a wonderful man, surround her with true friends and shower her with peace of mind and satisfaction for what she does.

Maybe in the future her burdens will ease – but right now, My Little Angel Without Wings has much to do.”

#Angel

WWII Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel in Papua New Guinea, assisting an injured Australian soldier. Angels come disguised in so many ways!
Image from en.wikipedia.org

“For truly we are all angels temporarily hiding as humans.”
Brian L. Weiss

There are many angels without wings, just like this one.  You know who you are, Dear Angel.  You know when you are an angel to someone who needs you, someone whose challenges need some extra attention and you can give it to them, even though your own troubles and challenges almost overwhelm you.  You know so many people count on you and you just have to be there for them.  Take a bow – you are not alone!

#Angel

An Angel at work!
Image from humanrights.gov.au

But you feel alone, Dear Angel, so much of the time.  You feel like the pain you bear will overpower you.  You feel like the isolation your situation causes will bury you in loneliness.  You feel like no-one else would understand your situation, even if you knew how to explain it to them.  And yet you keep on. And you keep praying.  Because that’s what an Angel will do.

More power to you.

This world has need of an angel like you.  We need more of you, many more of you.  If I could create the “Angel without Wings Network”, you’d be in there, with all those other special angels without wings, helping each other and helping heal the world.

There is an Angel Network.  However, it doesn’t cater for angels like this one, or perhaps an #Angel like you.  You are an Angel in hiding, a secret Angel that only a few people know about and appreciate, unfortunately.

#Angel

Even Angels have bad days!
Image from fanpop.com

What I do know is that you, our Dear Angel, need help.  You need to give yourself the best possible chance of making it through this, and out to the bright spot on the other side.  And to do that, you need a loving and supportive environment around you.  You need encouragement, morning and evening, to keep going.  You need to see your achievements each evening, so you know your day has been worthwhile, valuable to someone and satisfying to you.  You need your own goals to aim for and to achieve, and you need to be taught how to rise to all the challenges that life is and will continue to throw at you.

Maybe we can help with that.  Everything you need is in a program created to empower people and Angels facing challenges, just like you may be.  The support, the positive encouragement, the education, motivation and inspiration each day, right here with you, every day.

Need a hand getting through life? CLICK HERE FOR ASSISTANCE!  Let us empower you to make it, no matter what life throws at you.  After all, an Angel without wings still should feel what it’s like to fly!

If you feel that this post has empowered an Angel, or made an Angel feel she could fly again, please share it, reblog it and pass it on to other Angels without Wings.  You know who they are.  Every angel should feel like they have another Angel to share with, and to fly to at times.  This could be your time to fly!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails, Angels!

Ray

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Anonymous, Holy Bible: King James Version

Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment

#Integrity

Integrity – it speaks for itself.
Courtesy of life-of-integrity.com

Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment

“I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it.”Cesar Millan

Spirituality came to me later in life.  Growing up in the bush, my exposure to topics other than beef cattle, crops and sheep was a little limited because of the isolation.  Although an avid reader, it was a subject that I didn’t know existed as a topic.

It was in my thirties, after a series of life changing events, losing my family, my farm and business and some health challenges, and I was laid low for a year.  I relocated to the city and because of my interest in business, became a member of the Institute of Management.  This gave me access to an amazing library!

I gravitated to a section I had never heard of, with authors whose names were totally unfamiliar, but who I grew to love and respect.  Og Mandino, Jim Rohn, Blair Singer, Robert Kiyosaki and many, many more.  I later had the good fortune to see, hear and work with many of these great people.

#Integrity

Og Mandino
Image from conqueryourlife.net

Og Mandino spoke in Brisbane just a couple of years before his passing.  He followed another speaker whose name ironically I do not recall, a high-powered, hard charging success coach type.  He marched about the stage and put on quite a theatrical performance. When he finished, the audience was abuzz with energy and chatter.

Then Og Mandino entered.  An elderly man, he sat on a chair just a little to one side of centre stage.  He spoke softly, quietly.  There was not another sound in the hall.  It was as though eighteen thousand people held their breath for an hour to be sure they never missed a word.  At the end of his talk, we stood as one and applauded.  The elderly man rose, bowed a number of times, and finally walked off stage.  We continued clapping.  Then the hall suddenly went quiet, as we understood we had been in the presence of greatness.

This quietly spoken man held the audience, not with his performance, but with his heart, his #integrity.

“Integrity has no need of rules.”Albert Camus

Jim Rohn was another who I had the privilege to meet and listen to a number of times.  I first found Jim in the audio cassette section of the business department of the AIM Library, and devoured everything I could find by him.  Jim was also a quietly spoken man, a small framed man but a giant among people.  I attended a weekend workshop with him and had the honour of meeting and speaking with him personally a number of times.  I told him my own story one lunchtime and how he had influenced my life.  Later he repeated my story on stage, to show how it is possible to influence someone to change their life and aim higher, with just your words and your integrity.  Sadly, Jim has also passed on.

#Integrity

Jim Rohn
Image from thatgirlamala.wordpress.com

Through Jim Rohn’s influence, I was encouraged to continue my personal development.  I met Blair Singer at a powerful spiritual seminar in Brisbane.  Blair was different again, a tiny man with a huge heart.  His words and presentations gave me the framework for the life I chose, after drifting without purpose for a number of years since losing the farm and my family.  There was never a question from that time, after seeing Blair’s presentation and how it moved people, as to what direction my life would take from then on.

#Integrity

Blair Singer
Image from www.erhardruettimann.com

My public speaking journey brought me into contact with other people who had also chosen the stage and limelight to spread their message to the world.  I was fortunate that I had learnt first about integrity in speaking from the masters of the stage, before I found the charlatans, and there are many of them.

“A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.”  ― Jacqueline Bisset

The title of this blog is Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment. 

So many people preach spirituality and empowerment, yet their message is lost in the confusion of their energies.

I attended a seminar in Brisbane by a guy who has since been listed as having a wealth of over 200 million dollars, but at the time was facing bankruptcy.  At that seminar, people were leaving front row seats to stand at the back of the hall, to get away from his ego and energy, without actually leaving the room.  His presentation was about how we should pay him huge sums of money to attend his courses and buy a franchise from him, as they had made him so successful.  Because his presentation was so slick, many people did invest.  By investing the sale proceeds from his overpriced franchises, he was able to turn a bad situation into a personal fortune.  Yet, he has a trail of disenchanted clients all around the world.  He has been sued for sums of money the average person could only dream about, but has kept enough of his fortunes tied up in offshore havens away from the reach of the courts to live happily ever after.

#integrity

Not so sure about this guy…!
Image from oilersnation.com

Another very popular presenter is famous for his NLP workshops.  NLP is a great modality and has powerful applications and value for personal change.  However, hypnotism is also a branch of NLP studies.  Where are the ethics and integrity of getting 3,000 people in a conference room and applying Ericksonian hypnosis (hypnosis by voice modulation and conversational techniques) while promoting your range of “advanced workshops”, some costing thousands of dollars each!

“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity” Tom Peters

There are many charlatans masquerading as spiritual gurus.  Their message is supposedly about spirituality and empowerment.  They have a few nice talks they put together after reading people such as Jim Rohn and Og Mandino.  Their true focus is on taking money from your wallet, through expensive, slickly marketed seminars on idyllic island or luxury resorts, or seminars dressed up as business opportunities to become a life coach or invest in property with them.

It’s interesting that many of the big names in public speaking and the spiritual and financial gurus seem to have a public life that is very short, punctuated by lawsuits and claims of fraud.  Many have paid the price with time spent behind bars for their promotions, but many more still circulate and take easy pickings when they can.

Integrity is simple, but not easy.

Integrity is the province of people with a genuine focus on empowering others to be better at being themselves, and having better lives.  As soon as someone starts spruiking island resorts for their workshops and personal coaching at thousands of dollars per HOUR, or admittance to their “inner circle” of clients, I know that integrity has left the room, in disgust.

Yes, a nice hotel is great to present a workshop to a lot of people at once.  However, the workshop and message should be the focus.  If it is, it won’t need the added attraction of duty-free shopping to get people there.  Price it so that everyone can afford it, not just those with personal fortunes to draw on.

Empowering those who need it most, the people who did not get the great start in life, the people who still work on the minimum wage, the people whose lives have been visited by challenges and who could never aspire to spend thousands of dollars on a weekend listening to a guru, this is where spiritual integrity begins.

Those of us who have a message from Spirit do not own the message!

We are merely the conduit for the message.  Spirit doesn’t mind us charging a fee for it if we are making it our life’s work.  Claiming ownership and charging huge fees that lock away the message away from all but the most privileged is hardly in integrity.

How can you be spiritual, empowered and in integrity?

It’s a personal thing.  It’s about taking personal responsibility and being discerning with who you listen to, and what goes into your mind.  Filter the rubbish, embrace the wisdom.

It’s about picking up the lessons and habits that have been proven over decades, centuries even, to work and to always work.  It’s about integrating them into your life.

It’s about having your own daily personal empowerment program that instills the right success habits, the best subconscious programs and giving you the most powerful tools for personally improving your situation, at your own speed, and being with you all the way through.

It is about becoming personally empowered and building integrity into the environment around you and in your life, which will enable you to create your own success, wealth, and abundance, without making someone else wealthy at your expense.  It’s not about giving your power away to a guru you may never meet, or their disciples, centuries after their passing.  It’s certainly not about giving your power away to any religious leader or doctrine.

It IS about taking responsibility for becoming everything you COULD be, and sharing your own personal, spirit given gifts with the world.  If it becomes your calling to make a career out of your gift, whether it’s Reiki, readings or channelling, then spirit will guide you to where you need to be, and show you how to make that work for you with integrity and bring you the mentors you need – as long as you are willing to accept the challenge.  It’s not something you can half do.

Responsibility is total – you need to be personally prepared for it and a Personal Empowerment Program is what it will take, to lift your energy, intention and ability to where it needs to be.  And if you think you are already prepared, ask yourself why a butcher keeps sharpening his knife….  Yes.  You need to stay sharp too! Click this link to learn more.

Your personal empowerment program – your own pep talk every day!

If you feel this article has empowered and benefited you and you feel it could benefit the personal empowerment, integrity and spiritual development of other people you know, please reblog it, share it with your friends and associates.  It might be the day you changed someone’s life for the better!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails,

Ray Jamieson

#Integrity

Jim Rohn as I knew him
Image from mlmtraffictactics.com

 

Please also refer to my other posts on Empowerment:

Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence

Financial Empowerment

Empowerment

Empowerment for Men

Empowerment for Women

Empowerment for Teens

Empowerment for Children

Personal Empowerment

What would an empowered man do?

Empowered by love

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