Your Basic Blue Alian Life-Form

There have been many times where I have read a good story and wished that I could live in that story.  The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis comes to mind, and Lord of the Rings.  Harry Potter perhaps – and many others.  Nevertheless, while a good story can touch on heart-strings and even the deep spiritual longings of our soul, never have I entertained the idea that it would be better to be dead than not be in some story – as I reflect on it, I realize that even were it possible, those stories had their share of difficulties.  It would not have been an adventure otherwise.

But alas, now I read this…

Audiences experience ‘Avatar’ blues

According to this article, there are many people who have seen this movie about a race of ten foot blue people called the Na’vi who live in an idyllic world called “Pandora”. They live in perfect harmony with their environment – in other words they have no desire beyond their existence and are in essence no different than animals in a tropical rain forest. They are portrayed as intelligent and gentle, but can be violent when pissed off.

Now I have several beefs with the movie, not the least which is how it portrays humans as greedy “capitalists” intent on extracting valuable resources from this “exo-moon” without any regard to the indigenous life.  This is a tired plot, and frankly is proven untrue by the fact that the movie was made by HUMANS.  But I digress….back to the issue on human self esteem.  Still, the movie is certainly cool and despite the plot issues I mentioned, it has some very cool qualities.  Nevertheless, it is a movie of a utopia that does not exist, and in our current state, cannot.

We have a group of individuals who do not have the self-esteem to realize that their own lives in the real world is more worthy than this pseudo-life they have seen on the screen. They actually want to live as Na’vi and not as themselves – some even to the point of contemplating suicide!

To what can we attribute this kind of thinking? One who desires to become a master achiever in life certainly would not want fall into this kind of trap – so we should try to understand why someone might.

To me, this kind of thinking has two central areas: a dissatisfaction with their own lives, and an unrealistic understanding of reality. The sad truth is – even if their wish were to be granted, people with this sort of mindset would quickly be in the doldrums even on “Pandora” and would be seeking the next “thing to be”.

It is a mental “grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” syndrome.

Now, I am going to say something controversial to some – too bad, this is my blog: The deep longing in the heart for a place of peace. love, and endless adventure comes from the GSV.

GSV stands for: God Shaped Vacuum.

Those people don’t know it, but they are longing for God who in fact can take you to Pandora – and is the only way you can get there (by his Son, Jesus Christ). If you want to know more about this, send me an email at : dave[@]celticcrosseng.com (I reformatted that so that email scrapers cannot get to it).

The other issue is not recognizing reality for what it is. Reality is a hard teacher – it does not give any cares for fools – and wishing you lived in an idyllic floating island Paradise will not make it so. Much better to be successful in life and explore the infinite things our creator has made for us in this world, and always to anticipate the next.

But lets get to the next only after we have squeezed every last drop out of our lives here and now!

David T. McKee

You made it, you eat it!

Most of you that read this have heard of “The Secret” if not, it is a book ( and later a movie) that purported to tell a story about how those few human beings that achieve great things in this life have a carefully guarded “secret” to their success – a secret of such a profound and mysterious nature that some even have killed to keep it a secret…

Wooo! That sounds so mystical-magical.  That sounds like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and I half expect to be digging in an old musty tomb to find the ancient book about “the Secret”…. Hmmm, not so much.

As fun as it may be to imagine that there is some special secret to achievement and success, I have to defer to the “Pit-bull of Personal Development” Larry Wingate, who (and I quote) says “The Secret is a Total Load of Crap”:

“People love that book and the whole concept behind it because it promises you that you can achieve the results you have always dreamed of simply by focusing on what you want. Yeah right. Most people can’t turn the television off long enough to focus on their health, their work, their finances or their own children. Focus is not a strong suit for most people. Besides, I think it takes a whole lot more than “focus” to change your life and results. So I’m not buying it.”

The problem with The Secret, as Larry has so succinctly pointed out, is that just holding a concept or idea strongly in your mind is not enough.  While I do think there is some value in the ideas presented in The Secret, there are far too many people who stop at that point, or delude themselves into thinking that “focus” is all that is required.  It’s not.

Focus helps us see opportunity, it programs our own mental “filters” to tap us on the shoulder when something we need for our particular brand of success becomes available. But, and this is the crux of the issue, it will not substitute for action.

We will have to work for our success – and it will be hard work, make no mistake about that.

So –what do I mean when I say, “Success is only a sandwich away”?  Simple.  What do you do when you decide you are going to make a sandwich?  Do you focus on the sandwich?  Does that work for you?  It may make you more hungry to think about  the sandwich, but if that is all you do, you are going to starve.

No, you don’t think about it – it is like what “Yoda” the buddha-like character from “Star Wars” says to the young Luke Skywalker when he is trying to use the force to lift his ship from the swamp:

“But Master, I am trying!”

“Not try.  Do…or do not.”

In other words what Yoda was saying to Luke was: “Make a sandwich”.  “Just do it!”  You and I don’t think about such things as making a sandwich, we just get up, get the bread and the fillings, and make a sandwich.  I we come across problems such as dropping the bread, mayonnaise side down onto the floor, we clean up the mess and get another piece of bread and continue on.  We don’t whine about the fact that bread falls too easily on to the floor, or that spreading mayonnaise is just too much work, we don’t “try” to make a sandwich, we just do.

That is how we need to approach our own personal achievement.  Do.  Or do not. Make a sandwich – decide what you are going to do, hold it in your mind so that you notice opportunity, but just get busy getting the work done.  If a problem or issue gets in your path, you treat it like bread on the floor – just do the next thing that needs to be done.

That is the true path to achievement – do the tasks that have to be done.

David T. McKee

Once upon a time, many years ago, a young boy approached his wise old Cherokee grandfather.

“Grandfather, of all the things you have learned over your long life, what is the most important lesson?”

The old man looked at his grandson lovingly, thoughts moved across his wrinkled visage, and then, very slowly he began.

“The most important lesson I have learned is this: That there is a battle going on inside me – and there is one going on inside you as well, it is in all of us.  The battle is between two huge, wild dogs – one is dark and hides in the shadows.  He smells of decay and death, and his flesh hangs rotting from his bones, his eyes are red fire.  He whispers in your ears about wicked delights and unlawful things, and when you give into his temptations, he accuses you and stabs your own heart with guilt. His ways are always easy and filled with pleasures – but his paths always lead to your doom.

The other dog is noble and resides in the light. He is under control, he is clean, he is good. His breath is like cinnamon and honey, and life resides wherever ever his foot falls. He is humble, but make no mistake, he is a warrior and cannot be tamed.  He asks kindly but firmly and always tells the honest truth – even when it hurts terribly. He challenges you to follow difficult paths, but these paths will strengthen your soul and lead you ultimately to joy.

These two dogs fight continually within you.”

At that the boys grandfather went silent.  Finally, the boy asked, “Grandfather, which dog wins?”

And without hesitation the wise old Cherokee looked straight into the eyes of his grandson and answered, “The one I feed.”

Most of us have heard some variation of this story in our lives.  The point of the story is that both good and evil reside within us all and they both vie for our attention – the one we give attention to is the one that will, over time, dominate our lives and the outcome of our efforts.

How does this apply to Achievement and Success? It applies greatly and here is why: Intentional thinking is the willful focus of our attention on a particular outcome we desire.  This focus will allow our subconcious mind to become sensitized to the opportunities that exist in our environment that we can utilize to bring about our desired outcome.

That is essentially the “feeding” of the good dog, especially with regard to the creation of wealth, happiness, and a successful life.  Not setting goals, not intentionally thinking and improving ourselves is basically the feeding of the dark and destructive dog – and we will reap what we sow.

The story may be intended as a moral proverb, but it demonstrates exactly what happens with our success and failure with regard to our lives – we will reap reward based on the dog we feed.  If we see failure as a learning experience, get back up, brush ourselves off, and get going again – we have fed the good dog.  If we sit in the mud and whine – well, that is ignoring the hard lesson of failure and we will be doomed to repeat that lesson and the dark dog laughs.

The point is that we must be intentional about being intentional – about setting our goals and focusing our minds to the specific things we want to achieve – that is the feeding of the noble dog.

David T. McKee

(This is a reprint of an article I wrote a year or so ago on ezine articles…)

Nightingale-Conant corporation has been producing audio tapes, and disks for many years, ever since Earl Nightingale recorded his famous “The Strangest Secret”. That secret was that “We become what we think about”. Today we see the new book and movie “The Secret”, which is basically a rehash of the same principle with lost of intrigue and Hollywood graphics (oh, yes, and don’t forget Oprah fawning all over it as if it were some new thing….)

The truth is this secret is not. It has been know for thousands of years, it is even in the Bible (Proverbs 23:7). It is not so surprising that we become the person that reflects what we think about, because it is the ability to think that is so uniquely human. It is what gives us the ability to create vehicles, and skyscrapers, and artificial hearts, and poems and music, etc. It is not so surprising that our success or failure is also tightly linked to this capability.

James Allen wrote the classic book “As a Man Thinketh” way back in 1902 and gathered together many of the important aspects of how thinking correctly and with focused intent is so very important. Many great men and woman have recognized this little book as a starting point of their personal success.

Thinking is hard work, at least focused thinking is. Most people do as little of it as possible, the problem is, the thinking motor of the mind never really stops, so if a person is not thinking in a focused way, then that motor is just running wildly and grabbing any unrelated impulse and sense that floats by. When this happens the person becomes unfocused, and his life becomes unfocused.

The analogy of a rudderless boat has been used in the past, but I submit the boat has a rudder, just that no-one is holding onto it. The rudder handle is flailing back and forth, and the ship is meandering all over the waters until it runs into a reef and the boat, like the life, sinks.

I have discovered in my own life, that when I listen, I am gripping the rudder. If I listen to something worthwhile, I am not only gripping the rudder, I am steering it. If I listen with the intent of going to a specific location (or achieving a specific goal) I am steering the boat for all it’s worth. But first I listen because that focuses my thinking motor. I have discovered that listening to audio about success or business opportunity, or uplifting music, or news or what ever is a very good way to get into tune. This gets the hands on the rudder and starts the mental juices flowing. That is why I personally like success tapes so much, and talk radio, and my MP3 player!

It is so much better than TV which to me seems to just take the place of the thinking motor, you feel like a zombie many times…

Getting back to the original premise of this article, I wanted to show how listening to success oriented material is a good way to put into practice the principles that James Allen laid out so well in his book. While I don’t agree 100% with everything Mr. Allen wrote, I agree with much of it and have used it myself.

- David T. McKee

Note: This is copy-righted content, Copyright  2008, David T. McKee