June 6, 2010

Samuel: Hello, Dears.

Hello, Samuel.

S: What have you done today to make somebody else’s life better and brighter? Sallie?

I brought my friend here because she wanted to hear Samuel.

S: Welcome. Suzie?

I made Mary my patented new tofu scramble with lots of veggies in it.

S: Marion?

Well, Laura made my day better by bringing her smiling face to the airport to pick me up this morning, and I had made someone else’s day better and brighter early in the morning when I was going through security in Seattle and there was a lady with like three little kids and they had this huge jar of Vaseline and the TSA took it from her. So I whipped out my new bottle of Aquafor that meets the requirements, because I could not imagine her trying to change a diaper without it.

S: Vaseline.

It’s an emollient.

Decreases chaffing.

S: All right.

. . . it’s clear. Prevents diaper rash.

S: All right. Mary Claire?

I brought Cam a vegan snack bar to eat before the meeting so he would not have to be hungry through the meeting. And I brought Laura a drinking glass that says, “Smart women thirst for knowledge.”

Aw . . .

It just reminded me of her when I saw it.

S: Lovely, and you’re making at least one old person’s day better and brighter just by being here, Cambo.

I did make a mom’s day better and brighter by making her a balloon flower before I left the party.

Ohhh.

S: Lisa, Lakshmi, and Greg?

I spent the day with my daughter and helped her work on her tack box.

S: And that made her day better and brighter? I bet that made yours, too.

Yes, I have the most wonderful child in the world.

S: (Samuel laughs) And it’s so great, so great that that’s the case. Aye.

Well, Srikant left for a conference in San Diego today, and he had a list of things to do before that, much of which was to do things at home so that I would have an easier time. And he has been cooking and cleaning for almost three months now. And I saw that and one of them was cooking, and I said, no, I can make time to cook. So I dismissed my student earlier than I thought I would, and I cooked this really traditional Indian meal for him, and he came home and said, “Oh, that’s so nice!”

S: Lovely.

I was at the co-op today and I was in the line checking out, and I overheard a lady saying that she had lost her iPhone, so I gave her my phone to call her phone and we went around the store trying to hear it ring. Eventually we found it in the parking lot in her car in a bag of groceries.

S: You called her phone, so it was going “ring, ring, ring,” and you followed the ring? How clever.

We do it at our home all the time.

So do we.

S: How sad. It went from clever to sad really fast, didn’t it?

Isn’t that what Source does?

S: Go from clever to sad?

No, keep ringing, waiting for us to answer.

S: And then it keeps ringing and ringing and ringing.

. . .

You could leave a voice mail.

S: All the time, love, all the time. And somebody remind me, please, why it is that your choosing to make somebody’s day better and brighter is such an important thing.

Because it is a conscious act of love, and it puts us in our hearts and living from our Guardianship, and it goes into the Grid.

S: Very good, very good. More.

What I have found, like if I am in a grocery store and I am getting a little bit impatient, if I consciously compliment her or become aware, as Marion said, of sending her love, it’s almost as though the frustration, the impatience, the time, just dissipates. It takes you out of that “me” state that you can get in when you’re in a hurry. It takes away my frustration.

S: Excellent, excellent. Glad to hear it. Another?

It puts us in a place of being what is needed, instead of focusing so much on our needs.

S: Very good, very good. Vickie?

By consciously choosing to put love forth it opens us to receive more love and more of who we are.

S: Very good, very good. And more along that line, somebody?

It’s an act of great power and creation.

S: Good, Good. You are doing something, consciously, kind, good, generous, loving, for another person. Now all of the things that have been mentioned are a part of that. It takes you off of you; it puts you into a consciously loving frame of mind; it’s something that opens doors to you receiving back love, generous thoughts, kindness, because whether you like it or not, what you do does come right back to you. But it’s an act of power, and when this world does so much to leave you feeling unempowered, unfulfilled, unhappy, this fills that space up.

No matter what you wish was the case, the fact of it is there is only one thing that brings to you the kind of feel-good-about-yourself fulfillment that every human seeks; the only thing that does that is an act of love. When you give love, you feel good. When you give love, you feel good about yourself, and you feel good about your choices; acts of love—lest you mix it up with the hatchet of power: the axe of love and the hatchet of power. (Thank you for laughing, because that was a joke.) The loving activities change you.

Now, because we are reminding me of things, let’s also remind me of what is involved for something to be considered an act of love. Is it a requirement that you make sure that everybody you meet gets a good Southern hug? You’re either going to have a big line-up or maybe you get arrested, I’m not sure. Acts of love cover what kinds of things? And you know that my point is that it covers all areas of your life. So think about different areas of your life and what would be an act of love for those areas.

Looks like the second row is there; we’ll go Bonnie, Gail, Kathy?

Sometimes an act of love doesn’t necessarily right away make the other person happy.

S: Darn, hate that part. Want to explain that a little more?

For example, if there’s someone you care about and they are exhibiting destructive behavior, and you might be asked to enable them, and if you love them, you don’t do that.

S: That’s true, that’s true. Having said that you know that that’s one of the harder loving decisions to make and not one of the easier ones. Give me some easy ones.

Giving love without expectation.

S: Loving without expectation.

Unconditional.

S: Unconditional, absolutely.

One is just to smile at people as you walk.

S: Yes.

I do a lot of that at the hospital.

S: And what kind of responses do you get?

They usually smile back.

S: Aye, and very often it keeps passing on, and if you can do it with something that isn’t quite a leer, they might feel real complimented, too, and they’re just really perked up (joking again). Aye.

If you’re with family, and something that I have found that has been real easy—well, it’s pretty easy and it’s helpful—is some members of my family just listen; give them that gift of just listening to them. And then for another family member who may be sick, to tell stories because they are too weak to talk. And the stories just lift their spirit and make them feel better.

S: Lovely, lovely. More?

Something as simple as holding the door for somebody, or something as lovely as bringing somebody something from your garden.

S: Lovely, yes, yes.

Acknowledging people with positive attention, like complimenting them for what they are wearing, or asking how their sick brother’s doing, which is acknowledging in the form of listening and showing concern.

S: Absolutely, absolutely. If you cannot do it, challenge yourself to find something good that you could say to anybody you’re around. The checkout clerk—“Good grief, you’re quick!” The person that you work with unhappily. This also changes you. Why?

It raises your frequency; it allows your Source self to come through.

S: That’s true, that’s true.. Mary?

It replaces a more negative thought with something more positive, which then I can grow with.

S: Absolutely. Lilibeth?

It’s similar. Sometimes we hold people in boxes of our opinion of them, and so when you step out of that to give something of love, then that shifts.

S: Yes, yes. David.

Because you get what you focus on, so focusing on all good things, that’s what you’ll get.

S: Yes, yes, that’s right.

Focusing on not hitting the tree, you’ll hit the tree.

S: In your life, how many of you have found that to be true, that what you are focusing on comes back to you? There should have been a whole lot more hands up just then. Let me say it this way too: how many of you have found that when you are in a really rotten mood, the whole world is pretty unhappy? Unhappy place to be in, unhappy people to be around. How many of you have found that when you are having a hard time, seems like you’re around a whole lot of other people who are having a hard time? How many of you have found that you have the ability to change a room by walking in smiling and happy? How many of you have had people say to you, “Wow, you’ve really made my day,” because you have consciously chosen to be bright and shining?

It comes back to you. What you do returns to you, and that’s one of the biggest promises and scariest ones that you deal with. What you do returns to you. So, what is it you’re doing? And looking at? Well, just looking at today, for instance—how was your day? Are you happy, feeling good? [Dog barks.] Sounds like somebody wants to speak; they just don’t have the language down.

. . .

S: Was that it? Sorry.

Think for a moment, what was your mental/emotional attitude today? Because you’re going to see it come back to you. I hope it wasn’t bored, unhappy, unpleasant. I hope it was laughing and loving, and fulfilling and pleased.

. . .

S: Oh, Frank, you’re so good.

. . .

S: (To one of the dogs) Now, you can be, but you’ve got to settle down. You know the rules. Here are the other rules: if a beautiful small boy runs up this aisle toward this dog, body block. I’m not sure Frank will be able to move fast enough.

You change your world by being in it. You make it better, and the fact of it is, sometimes you don’t make it better. I hate that part. What you’re consciously doing has a profound effect: the difference between a rock falling into a lake and one being thrown right to the center of it. You change your world by being in it, but you can create that world to be what you need by giving what you need so that it will return to you.

You are a skin-held basket of electrical goo, and being electrical, you are magnetic; and being magnetic, you draw to you, in the case of a human, what is like you. So think about what fills your days, and who. And if you’ve got problems with it, if it’s not feeding you, if it’s not lifting you up, if it’s not filling you up, if it’s not helping you to be the best you, then you need to be putting out something different, so that you will be getting back something different.

And this is the perfect month for that. You’re about midway into your calendar year. How has the first half been? Have you seen renewal in your life, or has it been a whole lot of the same old, same old? There is no deadline, because that gets you off the point; there is only now; now is the time to turn your world around. Now is the time to create the world you want to live in by being one of the people who peoples that perfect world.

I’m going to say something pretty heretical to some: In a world filled with others with free will just like you, you cannot truly create your reality in the way that you want to think that means. What you create is the reality of you, and that changes your world. Now this sounds like something you’ve heard fifty different ways a thousand different times, but the fact of it is that you have never been the you sitting here right now, and you need to hear this.

You have power that needs to be used to make you better and brighter and fulfilled and empowered and functional on all levels, and—what?—firing on all cylinders, because the world isn’t meant to do without you.

June is telling you that there are another six months to put everything you’ve got into making this better, making the get-up in the morning better, and function through the day and the dream happy at night, the every day. And it really is simple: put out what you want back; don’t stop; keep doing it until it’s such a habit it happens on its own. And when those around you come out of their state of shock, you’ll start seeing it come back at you.

I have two things I want to ask of you tonight, and they involve you having to write on something or remember very well. Which is to say, if you are somebody who writes and you have a lot to write on, maybe you could pass it to somebody who doesn’t have something to write on and wishes they did. Of course a lot of people don’t really want or care. And through the recording, for those who do not have sight with it, are not watching this, they’re hearing all these odd little noises and they’re thinking, “What the heck is that going on there?”

I’m thinking about the first half of this year, and on one side of your piece of paper, I’d like for you to think about—and if there’s more than one thing, that’s fine—something absolutely great, maybe even the highlight of the last six months. And if there’s more than one, great. But I want you to think of at least one thing that you hope you’ll never forget, that was really special.

And if you are sitting there and you can’t think of something, well, you’ll be a little better at the next one then. But it’s important for you to think about that for a few moments while you’re sitting there not able to think of something. Why is it that you cannot think of something that is a highlight? Why are you settling for a life that has so little that touches your joy buttons? Why are you all right with that? Have you gotten into a rut of doing a whole lot of things that don’t matter all that much to you? You ought to look at that. Of course, lots are saying, “I did think of something after all. I was just a little slow on it, but now I’ve got it now.”

Now turn that page over, and on that side, because you are going to come back and look at both sides. So on the other side, I want you to look at the last six months and think about those things you really don’t want to repeat, weren’t fun, weren’t good experiences—the “ugh” instead of the “oh.” So maybe you would say one side was what was the best and the other was what was the worst, or what you enjoyed and what you did not enjoy, or what really worked and what did not work—any of those. And yes, I’m out here playing with extremes. Maybe this version is, if you could do it over, what are the ones you would do over? I have heard some people, although they are usually young, say, “do-over.” You know this, “do-over?”

Yes.

S: Yes? Do-over is what one child says when they made a mistake and they don’t want it to count.

Or when somebody says something rude and they catch themselves, and if they’re in their twenties, I hear them say, “do-over.”

S: Let me say that again, do-over. So, several ways. Now, some of you are coming up with a list probably larger than is healthy, and if you find that there really are a whole bunch of things that weren’t great on your list, that it really wasn’t hard to come up with this side of the paper’s list, it’s important that you take a look at that, too. Now, it’s polite to call negative happenings “challenges,” right? That’s a little halo.

Opportunities.

S: Ah, opportunities, yes, but the fact of it is, sometimes it’s just really awful times. Learning opportunities, growth opportunities, gifts in disguise, yes. Pony in here somewhere? But if you’ve got too many of those lovely challenges or opportunities that you would really rather not repeat, if your list is a little heavy on that side, that’s something that you want to take a look at, too, because you are smart enough to see that change is needed, and you’re smart enough to see that there are things going on in your life that aren’t working, that you don’t like. There’s a lack of balance going on, and you need to pay attention to that.

Here is what I want you to do now: I want you to think about what you have on both sides of the paper—those things that you really enjoy and the things that you did not so much enjoy over the last six months—and I’d like for you to look at them and figure out if there is anything in common between the two. Well, they both have to do with people; well, they both have to do with times in which I was victimized by somebody in authority. (Well, I guess the happy one wouldn’t be. Well, I suppose it depends what you were doing at the time.)

What’s in common with them? There may not be just one or two things. The more that you’re able to see in common, the better you’re going to get a sense of what I want this to end up showing you. So what are the things that you see are in common? Well, you don’t have to answer that out loud, because this really is a kind of a private thing for you to be working through. So what are you finding? And for those who are listening or watching, are you doing this exercise even though you are driving somewhere—thinking it through, holding it in your brain, working it out?

As you’re thinking about what’s like, what’s in common with these, can you find how you felt in those situations? For instance, what you’re really happy about or what in the first six months was the best thing, what was it you were feeling about it? Freedom, release, delight, fulfillment? What was it about it that made it so good? What were you feeling there? What was it about it that made it what you would want to repeat? What was it that made you say, “This was up there at the top”? What about it?

And conversely, what about the things on the other side of the page made it so not good, not repeatable, not what you want? And how do you feel about that? How did you feel? Oppressed, guilty, angry, sad? What was it that made it the bottom half of the list instead of the top half?

Now, I’m asking you to look over six months. Keep thinking while I am talking, just keep seeing. I’m asking you to look over the last six months, but you know, you could do this day by day, at the end of a day. What was the best of today, what would I not want to repeat today? What’s in common with these things?

As you’re looking at what is in common, you may find that the things in common aren’t just one or two things. You might find they fall into sort of categories. You might find these things have to do with relationships and these on the list had to do with communication or authority or . . . you might find that there are ways that you could clarify what you’ve written down, and in clarifying it, you may be able to start seeing a larger picture.

And you might then begin to see, well, this—let’s say ‘twas about communication. My communications with my boss when I got fired was way down at the bottom of the list. I was angry, I was betrayed, I was hurt; but the happiest thing on the list was when I spoke with my first coaching client and was able to teach some ways that made a big difference, and you get, “Ah, communication was in both of those.” They both had to do with communication, or they both had to do with relationships. Or these are all about work and these are all about working for myself, or…. I am just trying to show you that the categories you use can be anything. This is your brain.

Now, as you look at those things that these had in common, what you’re looking at are your gifts. Wait, wait a minute Samuel, that can’t quite be accurate, because, you see, the really good things, I recognize how those could be my gifts: communication, because I am a good communicator, and I am able to affect other people with the ways I am able to express myself so beautifully when I need to with people I like who tell me I am a really nice person and make me feel good about myself. All right, maybe it’s not all the time but, maybe it’s just some of the time with just a few people but . . .

A good communicator. So when I turn that over and you say, I’m a good communicator, these weren’t even about my communications; this was somebody else’s communication that just almost squashed me flat. It was terrible; it wasn’t good communication.

Still, bear with me, because it really is about your gifts. And what you’re looking at with the threads, the common denominators between those extremes of the best of the last six months and the worst of the last six months, the what’s in common, is going to be absolutely, without a doubt, skills, gifts you have, talents you have that you’ve come equipped with. And maybe they’re not developed, which would be why they show up on the negative end of the six months. They’re not bright and shining and well oiled and well worked, but you can see what they do on the happy side.

These are tools you put into your work bag before you came here. “Yes, I’ll go, nobody else seems to be willing, I’ll go, but I’m going to have a few things to make it a little easier, and interesting, and challenging, and growth opportunities, and . . . and . . . What were some of those?

. . .

S: Unused, they cause you trouble. Used unconsciously, they cause you trouble. Remember that magnetic attraction thing I mentioned earlier? There you go. I have an amazing gift of drawing the worst to me. I actually know a few humans like that; they are an amazing gift to draw some of the worst.

When you’re consciously using them—and I am talking the kind of consciously that I was referring to at the beginning of our meeting as well; the kind of consciously that goes with purposely loving, purposely good, the best that you can—then you learn to shine that diamond in the rough until it and you glow.

So what did you find on your interesting list of gifts? Samuel, I thought gifts were things like prosperity—give me dollars—and instead these are more like attitudes and experiences. How is it these are gifts? Somebody, can you tell me how those are gifts?

A perverse sense of humor.

S: A perverse sense of humor. Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Michael.

Those are the things that you always carry with you.

S: Yes, absolutely. Gayle, did you have your hand up?

They give you ability to literally change or reinvent yourself at any moment.

S: They do.

And with each of these shifts, you become a different person.

S: These things that you see in your life when it’s good and when it’s not, the things that show up a lot. Now, it might be you have to dig a little into it, but there’s a gift, a skill, a talent that you have in there, in that situation. If it was a negative, unhappy situation, you either used that skill negatively, [or] did not use it, but need to learn how to use it.

And the way to know how to learn how to use it is to look at the positive list. Because as absolutely simple as this sounds, I promise you it is so hard to do that most of the world is incapable of it, and this is extremely sad. As simple as it is to say this, it’s not easy to do. Lakshmi, were you going to finish my sentence there?

Another thought for the gift: prosperity is a gift that helps you live an easy human life…

S: Sometimes.

Sometimes. Sometimes it’s a liability. But the gifts in our work bag help to fulfill our compact to do what we are here to do, and that is the truest gift that we give ourselves: to do what we are here to do.

S: And now, of course it takes a master to see it that way, because that’s not normal thinking. Ain’t normal, Lakshmi.

I’m a new citizen, though.

. . .

S: Is that right? Are you going to have to get a visa to go to India?

Isn’t that funny. (Samuel laughs). My Mom is more horrified than anybody else. (Samuel still laughing). I know why you are laughing.

S: I’m sorry (still laughing). You see, everything comes back to you.

All right, where was I? Somewhere in that I was asking you to answer the rest of a question. Do you remember it?

As simple as it is say this, it is not easy to do, because . . . it’s really sad.

S: What is it?

You were about to say.

S: I can say, I am happy to say, but can you say? What is it that’s so easy to say this is how you can hone those skills, this is how you can bring those experiences of happiness into the way overweight column? What is it?

What I was thinking about when you were asking what the gifts were was that’s how we put ourselves out into the world and to do that we have to practice putting ourselves out into the world and using those skills and developing those skills so that we can have an effect on the world. But sometimes it’s scary to practice that and do that.

S: Practice, practice, practice, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, not getting caught up into so much tomorrow I’m afraid of, so much in the past I don’t ever want to have to look at again. No, only now, one step at a time, one moment at a time, if that’s what it takes. Bit by bit practice what works; practice what works; try not to practice quite so much what doesn’t work.

Sounds simple doesn’t it. And as good an answer as that is, that actually wasn’t the one.

Being conscious?

S: Conscious, ooh. And, yes, that absolutely sounds easy, and isn’t, because if it was easy, when I ask a question there would be a whole lot of hands up instead of just a couple here and there. So yes, consciously doing, consciously living. And when one says, “Be conscious,” I’m not talking sit on the lotus pad and hum until you are one with the whole world, fully awake, aware, and alive, conscious of all beings.

You know what they do with those people, don’t you? They tend to kill them off pretty fast. No, it’s not that kind of consciousness, it’s the consciousness that is as simple as, I choose. Trade in the word “conscious.” You don’t even need it. I choose to smile right now; I choose to see if I can make Dwayne smile. I’m going to see if I can choose to stay happy all day. Choose. I choose. Sounds simple; isn’t.

And in a bigger picture, that is the answer I am going for. I am looking for it in a smaller version. Yes?

I choose to find the love behind the pain.

S: Yes, yes, yes! Look at that. Yes! I choose to see the love. I choose the love. I choose to see the love behind the pain. I choose to see the love within this upset. I choose to see the love, and you do not have to use the word love if that one’s just too big. How about I choose to see the good in this situation? I choose to see the silver lining in this black cloud. I choose to be as loving as I can.

Owen, love, it’s about love, love, love, isn’t it? Ah, they’re never on when you want them to be, are they? So, his mother’s saying, “Say love, love, love.” All right,I am hiding now.

Bonnie?

When you’re in the middle or the midst of feeling anger, by just saying that, can you switch it?”

S: Depends on if you are in the midst of anger or if you are wrapped up in it and bitten on the butt by it.

That’s it, that’s the one.

S: You know there’s a difference in looking at a tornado and being in a tornado. A couple of things help with anger. Remember that anger is always, always fear. Anger is there because fear has been jostled awake. If you can remember that the person who is obscenely, irrationally, cruelly, violently angry with you is really afraid of something, it doesn’t mean you’re going be able to dissipate that anger, but it might help you figure it out when you’re able to step a couple of steps away. When you are the one, though, because remember—and this is vital—in this life no matter what it seems like, you will never be able to control or change another person, at least once they’re past seven. But you can control and change yourself.

So when what you are looking at is your own anger you want to remember that this anger is because of fear. What am I afraid of here? What is it that’s going on that I’m afraid of? And if you want to get real personal about it you might ask yourself, Why is it I feel I am going to lose out here, and what is it I am afraid of losing? Because the fear behind anger is most often related to a fear of loss. What is it I am afraid of losing? And the therapists in the room, would you agree with that? There is a lot of that.

What is it you are afraid of losing? Now in your particular case it’s probably pretty easy to answer, isn’t it? And it is fear of loss. How are you going to make a silver lining when you realize you are afraid of loss? How are you going to change that around?

. . .

S: Really, sure.

If it helps me . . .

S: I thought I was being rhetorical. Nope; that’s all right, go right on.

When I can turn it around and realize it’s a fear of loss, then it can help me express the love better. I am only  afraid of losing something or someone that I love and want to have in my life. If I can turn it around by expressing that love and living that love and expressing it in a way, it helps, at least, live for that moment rather than regretting not having lived it, offered it, shared it later.

S: That’s nice. That’s nice. Anybody want to add your thoughts about what you do when you are looking at loss, that fear of loss? Lillibeth, Marion?

Look at what you have.

S: Look at what you do have instead of what you don’t have. Yes, that’s huge, huge.

Look at the function that that has in your life. In my case, I am afraid of losing family members, because we are taught that they absolutely irreplaceable, but frankly, and I hope that none of them will listen to this, but this is a much better family than the one I was born into. I mean, as Suzie and Mary say it, losing doesn’t have to mean not having. Maybe you need to be freed up; maybe you can have an advantage from it.

S: Yes, yes. Maybe what you think you’re losing isn’t really going to be lost.

One of the biggest things I have learned from loss is that what I fear most is not not having it but how I would handle not having it.

S: Yes, yes. And that you have control over, that is where you start building your power again, because how you deal with it, how you control the only thing you can control, is going to help you move out of that place of fear and anger.

What helps me is to realize that it’s change that’s happening, and when I fear loss I’m fearing changing. I’m wanting things to stay the same, and I’m guessing that what’s going to be new isn’t going to be as good as the old. And what’s familiar, I’m comfortable with, so allowing for change and seeing loss as change is just a recognition of how it is, and I’m constantly evolving.

S: Like consciousness, change it to choice. How about change the word fear, loss, not having, abandoned to change. And then allow yourself to think about all of the good changes that you’ve had in your life. Don’t think: Change, oh right, change has been really bad for me. o, no, no! Go to the positive changes. What’s one easy positive change?

You can think, There was a change and I moved through it.

S: Yes, exactly. That’s what I’m after. What’s an easy one?

I learned how to drive. That’s a good change.

S: Great, great! Wasn’t so easy but I did it. Learned how to walk, most of you are pretty good at that. Some, not so good, but you’ll get older.

Finding you in our lives; that’s a change that brought about fear in the beginning and uneasiness and just wonderful change, wonderful growth.

S: Frank, the traditional Lexington lawyer, says, “There was fear at first.” I guess so. “Something really strange has happened to my wife.”

You got up this morning; you changed from sleeping to waking. You’re constantly changing and a whole lot of them are really good. You’re used to it. Change? Not a problem. Yes, switch that word over. Change. Jess?

When I really release something, I usually have that recognition that it’s not ever gone. It’s different, but nothing is ever lost.

S: Yes, and you know, that’s physics here: it’s never lost. It changes its nature perhaps, but it’s never really gone. Love is never gone. You can change how you see it, change how you deal with it, change how you experience it. And remember, there are some things that need to be released so they can change, so that it can become better what it needs to become, as you become better at what you need to become. That’s good.

There’s so much, so much, that you can do to make your personal world better, and it’s by making your world, your own inside-the-skin world better that it leaks out and makes—bit by bit, step by step—the world better. And if you have it in your head that the way the world’s going to get better is for you to teach in the middle of the stadium all of the great truths of the world, and that that’s what it’s all about, you are going to be one of those in this world who teach the great truths to great crowds and find that their own lives get called under the microscope and found wanting. It happens a lot. You cannot teach it until you are it. Become the love you want to see in the world. Live the laughter you want to surround yourself with. Dance the dance that you want to be surrounded by.

The things in this world that make you happy are the guideposts to your gifts. But you know, it’s pretty easy to find your gifts by looking at those things that have worked and did not work, and looking to see what’s in common, because what’s in common with them are going to be those areas in your life where you have some specialty. And learning to make use of that in a positive way is going to bring change to you and change to your world in the simplest way. Maybe not the fastest way, but if enough of you are doing it, it sure would be, wouldn’t it?

You can change this world, but the fact of it is the only way you can change this world is with love. Because that’s the glue, the missing pieces. It’s the power, and it’s done one by one, one step at a time, one day at time, one moment at a time, one person at a time, one stadium at a time, one planet at a time. One by one by one you can change this world, but you’ll only change it with love, and it’s the love you grow within you first that changes everything.

Here you are, six more months in front of you to totally renew your being, making you capable of holding some of the most incredible energy this world has ever experienced. Become that beacon of love.

Glochanumora. Happy trails.