Resolution

I resolve to remind myself daily the words of Wallace Wattles:

KNOW that there are countless millions of dollars' worth of gold in the mountains of the earth, not yet brought to light...

KNOW that the money you need will come, even if it is necessary for a thousand men to be led to the discovery of new gold mines tomorrow....

Never look at the visible supply.  Look always at the limitless riches in formless substance, and KNOW that they are coming to you as fast as you can receive and use them.  Nobody, by cornering the visible supply, can prevent you from getting what is yours.  

You reading this - YOU - have everything you need right now to live the life of your dreams - now live it!

Happy New Year!

Understanding Manifestation (Part III)

(Part I & II Below) 

Why am I telling this story? In a way, I am trying to understand what works and what doesn’t work by tracing through my own thought processes. I don’t want to appear to have all of the answers. In fact I’m hoping that others will be inspired to explore their own inner-workings and perhaps share stories that will help us all to understand how to affect positive change in our own lives and the lives of others. I believe the times that lie ahead will be intensely challenging and that only through patience and understanding will we be able to use this ‘power’ of the human mind. In the piece I am working on ‘Ogallala’ – it is a story of a vast amount of water that existed directly under the feet of those who suffered the Great Depression and the terrible dust storms. The analogy and relevance is so powerful, that right within our grasp are the tools we need to solve any problem – it is a ‘Law of Nature.’ As I mentioned earlier, my experience with actively ‘manifesting’ uncovered enough direct evidence for me to say without out doubt, thought directed action is real and can be actively applied.        
After listening to Napoleon Hill, I realized a few of my mistakes. While I wanted to be an artist contributing my art to the world, I didn’t fully believe it was possible. I would always ‘do the math’ in my head thinking, okay if I did this piece I could probably get this much – hmmm, this much times x number of pieces a year, hmmm, could I do that many? Would I be emotionally and physically drained, could I find that many people who would buy that much? So on and so forth. So, my first ‘work’ was to stop myself from that kind of thinking, literally refuse to engage in it. When it began in my mind, I would stop in mid-sentence and imagine what was possible instead. My second big mistake was thinking I had to be ‘like’ somebody. While it is important to have role models, I think it is equally important (if not more) to begin to realize you must be yourself – you and you alone are unique, and like a person I met on Twitter (Maria Andros) taught me – there are thousands of people who have waited their whole life to meet you.
The speed of ‘flow’ is uncanny. Within a day or two of beginning this transformative thinking the little post arrived of the firefighters search. I read it and the floodgate of visions opened up in my mind. I literally ‘saw’ the unveiling of the final piece. I wrote back to the unknown person, in almost one draft – and I was very clear to them that I had never done a bronze sculpture in my life. I had done some sculpting, I explained, but I ‘knew’ I could do this. That one line had significance as I discovered later – and further reinforced the concept ‘be yourself.’ On many occasions throughout the process I learned over and over again that it was me being honest and direct that brought me to the point of delivering my first sculpture to NYC on a beautiful October day – and consequently some fear had overtaken me afterwards that caused problems, but also a significant discovery. I am sorry to keep stopping the story but I am advised not to make a blog post too long and I’ve already blown that rule time and again - [To be continued…]

Fear

Fear paralyzes.

Fear makes real the problem not the solution.

Fear is the belief that a situation has power to harm, not enlighten or purify.

Fear is literally the suspension of the human mind to solve any problem no matter how large.

Fear is what causes stress, strain, greed, anger, violence, hunger, aggression, worry, pain.

Fear is the root of all evil in the world.

Fear inspires action without thought.

Fear makes what is unwanted, permanent.

We have many futures before us -

The one we choose will depend on how many of us refuse fear.

Refuse to believe that any event can't be solved.

Accept the idea that even the worst things that happen can be invitations to greatness.

Greatness is accepting into your mind that you can and will overcome any obstacle if you refuse fear.

Be great today - 

Refuse fear.

Quick Story On Serendipity

Many years ago a book was published on using the mind more effectively in the solving of problems.  It was sold new in a book store, bought by some curious mind.  Read, cherished, discarded.  Ended up in a yard sale for 25 cents.  My wife's friend was wondering by, picked it up, lent it to her husband.  I happened to see it on his desk, paged through it and was so moved I bought it.  Without realizing,  I had it on my desk yesterday.  A colleague noticed it, picked it up and randomly thumbed through to a page that was discussing the exact thought he was struggling with that day.  He smiled, shook his head and put it down.  I wonder how many lives he will change from that one small paragraph.  Everything you do matters.

Understanding Manifesting (Part II)

(Continues from Understanding Manifesting - Part I Below)

     I want to reinforce the groundwork of my ‘exploration’. My first memory in life, I ‘woke up’ drawing a whale at around the age of four. I had always thought of myself as an artist – the vision of being a professional artist had been engrained in me my entire life. I could see the goal and mentally experience the goal – all of the requisites of ‘manifestation’. Year after year, I would achieve juried shows, art awards and other recognition from grade school, through high school, college and beyond. But these achievements cost money. For example, getting into a prestigious juried show means you have to spend money to make a piece. Actually it is lots and lots of work of which you select one or two. Then there is entry fee with no guarantee of getting in. If you get in, you have to get the work there and back – the larger the work the more cumbersome that is. Odds are against a work winning a cash prize or being sold. This is similar, I imagine, in sports like tennis or golf, where for many of the competitors you are paying and paying to be in play.
     When I stumbled on Napoleon Hill, it was an audio CD. Listening, I started to realize that my whole life structure was built around an idea that I could not actually make a living from art. It was very subtle to me (although not to a trained observer). I had in my mind a ‘model’ that I would do ‘real’ work and this income would allow me to keep making art. I’m not just talking about having one job – I’m talking about doing all kinds of things like getting involved in real estate, pursuing other degrees to enhance my salary – in essence, a lot of activity other than going straight at the process of being a professional artist. I kept doing one job after another to be able to afford creating art. This was exhausting, distracting and counterproductive. One key idea I learned from listening to the Napoleon Hill tapes was the concept ‘faith.’ I had not heard it explained quite so well. Faith, as I now began to understand, believes that if you give yourself to your passion you cannot fail. That the universe is in fact ‘designed’ to provide every tool one needs to achieve whatever one commits to and believes, positive or negative. When I finished listening, I remember looking interior to my own thought processes and realizing there was the obstacle. I thought in my mind that I would abandon all other pursuits and ‘give’ myself to my art completely. This process was so abrupt and immediate as to be unbelievable in retrospect. That very day, I received a small, non-descript e-mail posting ‘firehouse looking to honor four men lost on 9/11.’ I read that posting, and the image of this project in its completion poured into my mind. When I replied I had little idea that this ‘manifestation’ process would lead to the deepest, most sustained pain I had ever experienced. That it would shatter my previous understanding of the world and myself. In this process I began to see that ‘manifesting’ didn’t really mean creating a laundry list of all the things I think would thrill and then they would appear. Rather, manifesting, at least for me, began to mean participating in the process of discovery and allowing things to come into my life. It was then that true ‘miracles’ began to occur. [To be continued…]

Give

Give yourself to your passion - only there will you find greatness.

"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." - Dali Lama

Manifesting - Tips & Tricks

My post 'Understanding Manifesting' - will be a few installments discussing my experience over the last few years with positive visualization and manifesting - road blocks, highs, lows - why I think I got stuck and why I think sometimes the worst events could actually be invitations - if only you know how to look. I'd love to hear if you've got some tips / tricks - please post.

Understanding Manifesting (Part I)

If you haven’t been made aware of manifestation and the power of the human mind to create the world around you then you’ve been living under a rock that, consequently, you manifested. I was awakened to this idea a few years ago – about two or three now – and my experience in wrestling with this concept has had the most profound impact on my life but not in ways that I originally thought. I want to preface this summary by saying that through careful exploration of my past I began to realize the truth in the concept that every success I had, began with an idea, a strong magnetic attraction to an idea that I could and would accomplish a particular goal. I was not aware of how powerful ‘seeing’ a goal as accomplished could be. Becoming totally aware of the process and working with it consistently has created an interesting result, but not all ‘peachy’ as some ‘guru’s’ would have you believe.
Starting with the positive, my first foray into positive visualization began back around December of 2005. At that time I had accomplished what would be considered, by all objective measures, a lot. I completed two Master’s degrees – one in fine arts from Columbia University (a goal I had as a 12 year old) and another in imaging science from RIT. My paintings have been selected in several competitive juried shows up and down the east coast but despite all this – I felt completely and miserably ‘stuck.’ Why? To be exact I imagined that after I finished all of those other intermediate goals I would then be a professional artist earning my living solely by making art – and lots of it – large pieces in museums and being part of collections around the world. As the years dragged on from completing my MFA and working as a color scientist, then pulling myself through a mind crushing Master of Science at RIT, raising a family, I continued to feel – and this is a crucial point – like an abject failure, and more so as each year passed on. I know that is the height of ingratitude – but I think regardless of what someone is accomplishing – if it does not match the ‘dream’ of what ‘success’ is, they can live a life of ‘quiet despair.’ OK – I know I said this would be positive but I wanted to lay the groundwork – I stumbled upon Napoleon Hill and the Power of Positive Thinking. I studied it voraciously and was unpleasantly made aware that I was the obstacle – I was what stood between me and this ‘vision.’ Nothing else – not my financial situation, not my parents, not the government or Wall Street or crippling student loans – just me and my relationship to my ‘vision.’ So back to the timeline – in December of 2005 I committed fully to this power of manifestation – focusing solely on the ‘goal’ – by October of 2006 I was delivering to NYC a bronze memorial sculpture honoring firefighters who died in the September 11 attacks. The Holland Tunnel was shut down to bring this piece in. I always have to pause when I think about that – I will never forget making the turn into the Holland Tunnel – looking back at the toll booths and realizing there was a police officer in every single bay holding back the traffic – thousands of cars – to make way for a sculpture (my first bronze ever) I had made. The story was on the front page of several large newspapers on the east coast and on all the local news stations. I thought, oh my, there is something to this positive thinking. So, what did I do? What would you do? I imagined more. I got even more serious about this thing and I began a journey of writing my goals, visualizing them, saying them out loud – I was like a crazy man totally committed to a process of ‘imagining’ things into existence. Well in all honesty, my impression was that the proverbial door closed again. Why? [To be continued…]

Whatever

Whatever you think you are capable of - double it, and you're still less than halfway to your actual potential -

Changing the World - One Twitter at a Time

What I Don't Know / What I Do Know

Before I run back into my studio and work on my art (in between laundry and getting the kids productively occupied) I thought I'd record a list that keeps running around in my mind - I think it came to me for the sole purpose of continuing clarity -

What I don't Know:

I don't know what a trillion is - I took a lot of math but it was mostly concerned with greek letters meant to try and understand on a conscious level what my mind does on an unconscious level - my best approximation is it is a number followed by many zeros.

I don't know what a fraction of a trillion is -
I don't know what a collateralized swap option is - I don't know who invented them or why - I don't even know who agreed they were a good idea.
I don't know Paulson, I don't know Bernake, I don't know Volker, I don't know who they work for or who works for them, I don't know who came before them or who will come after them. I don't know what a billion is (except that it has a lot of zeros) so I certainly don't know what 700 billion is - I don't know what giving something I don't know to someone I don't know is.
I don't know the stock market, I don't know if studying the stock market or finance for my entire life would have prevented a 'crisis' of losing several trillion dollars (which I don't know what is) causing a bunch of people I don't know to vote to give a person I don't know many billions of dollars (which I don't know what is) to someone I don't know - to further compound the problem I don't know if that will 'work' or 'not work' - but I don't know what 'working' is because I don't really know finance.
What a pickle (I know what a pickle is luckily).

What I Do Know

Today is today, now is now.
When I woke up, the sun was shining - I had more 'friends' on Facebook and more 'followers' on Twitter.
I know I found great value in the smile on my children's faces.
I know I found great value in the cup of coffee I had.
I know I had some fascinating dreams which would make interestng works of art.
I know people 'trapped' in 'free' environments and people 'free' in oppressive environments.
I know people wealthy with nothing in the bank and people poor with a lot in the bank.
I know if it is possible to 'lose' 1 trillion in a week, it should be possible to 'find' 1 trillion in a week.
I know either scenario would not make my daughters smile any sweeter.
I know I can't chose what happens in the world but I can chose what happens in my heart and mind.
I know that freedom, prosperity, happiness is an 'inside/out' process.

OK - I've got to get back to the studio - I like my second list better.

50 Coat

I made the rather pleasant discovery today that 50 coat can be cut and carved - hmmm, much more versatile than I first imagined.

Playing

There is an interesting concept that Guy Finley spoke about in one of his lectures - 'playing to learn.' He contrasts this with the idea of 'learning to play.' Thinking back on my childhood, and watching my children grow - there is that precious skill of playing that we tend to lose as we get older. Modifying an age old law of physics - a child at play tends to stay at play until an outside force acts upon it. As we get older, what I think happens is we tend to become more and more conscious of that 'outside force.' But it really doesn't have to be that way. I began to write - most - but then I reflected and had to change this next sentence to ALL outside forces are outside of our control - all. Think about that - doesn't that make you wonder? Think deeper - how much of our day is spent dwelling on an outside force and what to do about it? Of course we can influence some things - and we can make our opinion known, lend a hand, work hard to contribute to society - but at the end of the day it is influence only. Things happen, markets change, what we once thought was secure is all of sudden in flux. And yet, I guarantee in any city anywhere in the world in any park anywhere, you will find a child at play. Is that simplistic and unrealistic to ponder? I think it holds a secret to true happiness. If we can remember to play. These are some of the thoughts I have when working on some of my art - and I think about the economy, war, politics, health - Napoleon Hill pointed out that God gave us power over but one thing in the world and that is our mental attitude. Do you have a dream, a passion - something incredible you want to achieve? Think of this time as an invitation to find that child again, an invitation to greatness - play to learn, play to dream, play.

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Second Guessing

I have to confess that often I struggle with doubt and second guessing. Positive thinking is definitely a full time job. Sometimes an idea will come to me and then I think, no – I shouldn’t do that for this reason or that reason. Regarding making art in particular – the idea visits me that making visual images is not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. There is something beyond positive thinking; however, and that is more accurately described as ‘right’ thinking. It’s funny, the mind is like a chatterbox – it just keeps thinking. Most of the thoughts are not really worth much – particularly the ones that involve limit or inaction. I think about all of the steps that take me places – each one of them ‘scary’ at times, some much more than others. Just the other day I finished a taping called ‘Peace’. I put it up on Imagekind and then I thought, let me send this to a person I know who might appreciate it. Now, it is important to understand, each one of these steps involve doubt and second guessing – should I make the work, investing all that time into it – why am I making it? Does it ‘fit in’ with my other artwork? What is my artwork in general? Would this person want to see it? Why is it even important? These are all just random thoughts associated with ‘the process.’ I did finish it though, and sent the link – ‘right thinking’ is acting in spite of a negative or fear thought. It ‘feels’ different from ‘positive’ thinking in that it isn’t imagining a fantasy world of what would be fun and fantastic – it is a process of looking at negative thoughts as immaterial and unimportant. Within minutes of sending the link, the person called me up – she began crying over the phone and told me how she loves her grandchildren and this reminded her so much of when she would tell them she loves them to the stars and back. It made me realize images are important, that acting on positive thoughts is important – the conversation brought me more ideas to make more images and I realized again how important it is to not second guess.