Dear Reader,

HERE'S MY PHILOSOPHY ON CREATING MEANINGFUL LIFE RELATIONSHIPS

Love has dominated our thoughts and actions since the

PROBLEM SOLVER

THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF RETURN

It's what you put in that determines how much you

take out.

Part of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth is being able to develop priorities – for some it’s a special talent through music or art, for others the abundance of wealth to share with others.

All gifts – energy, money, belong to the Universe and are on temporary loan for you to use for give, accept and receive. How you use it is free will. The result is based on whether you have created a balance that enables you to be happy and content where you are with no regrets about your past actions. Can you accept your failures and mistakes with the same grace and humility as you would an Oscar for best picture or a Super-Bowl ring?

The Universal Law of Return – when you invest in yourself and share that investment with others is like putting money in the bank or a successful start-up business – you are providing the fuel to create a return on the energy.

Part of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth is being able to develop priorities – for some it’s a special talent through music or art, for others the abundance of wealth to share with others.

All gifts – energy, money, belong to the Universe and are on temporary loan for you to use for give, accept and receive. How you use it is free will. The result is based on whether you have created a balance that enables you to be happy and content where you are with no regrets about your past actions. Can you accept your failures and mistakes with the same grace and humility as you would an Oscar for best picture or a Super-Bowl ring?

The Universal Law of Return – when you invest in yourself and share that investment with others is like putting money in the bank or a successful start-up business – you are providing the fuel to create a return on the energy.

Business and Financial business growth is correlated and related to the development of your spiritual growth. We do not grow in one stage, but grow in tandem. As we become more aware of our capacity to create, we will begin to see evidence of our growth in a number of areas. One can decide to focus on developing intuition; however, in making that decision, there will be corresponding growth or challenges in other areas, such as physical, emotional and mental. Just as an athlete, musician or singer prepares for competition, so too do all of us in our lives. We must pay attention to our bodies, our minds and our spirits as we unfold and begin new endeavors. Too much concentration in one area leads to an imbalance in other areas.

For example, making a decision to exercise and build physical strength. So we go to a gym, seek advice of a personal trainer and learn various routines and methods in strengthening our upper body, legs, abdominal muscles and cardio-vascular systems. We learn that over-doing it will not allow our muscles, heart function and other associated physical attributes to produce lasting results. We risk burn-out and damage, so we learn that it is a process of acclimating to the changes we wish to make and we can’t do it in one day. We also learn that along with building physical strength and energy that there are other components, such as nutrition (it’s counter-productive to eat doughnuts, consume sugar, processed and fried foods, carbonated drinks and expect to gain results), sleep (a body not well rested resists the ability to strengthen it), emotional condition (creating a belief system that the desired changes will occur) and mental attitude (knowing when to do the extra rep, visualizing the results). In other words, our decision to strengthen our body is also a decision to energize the other areas of our life. This decision to change is as much as decision to change our mental, emotional and spiritual outlook as it is to change our physical state of being.

The same can be said if decide to increase our intuitive abilities. Besides various exercises, there are also energy movement exercises, tai-chi, qui-gong, yoga, stretching and walking besides reading, listening to advice from other intuitive persons and meditation. What we are doing is breaking the habit of who we are and creating a new person inside and outside.

The upshot is that it is all related. Only most of us see change as a one-dimensional event. What you are perceiving as one-dimensional is actually multi-dimensional and your ability and willingness to look at the other dimensions and follow through will enhance your results.

A concert pianist must understand the functions and work ethics of the other members of the orchestra, including the conductor. Hand-eye coordination, endurance (for those long symphonies and energy passages in which the fingers must move quickly and in sync), mind-set (for the tone and expression from the composer – one does not think Sousa when playing a Mozart concerto). Mental and emotional preparation is as important as dexterity and artistic skill.

Same for an Olympic Athlete. A world record is the result of combining the spiritual, mental and emotional with the physical. The athlete has to believe he or she can set a new record or standard and in some way visualize the outcome before setting foot in the arena or field. They must believe it before they see it.

Referring back to the business world, the biggest failing of our business leaders today is the failure to incorporate a balanced approach and not be limited to just a short-term result. You can push employees to provide a short-term profitable result by maximizing the work-flow or severely cutting costs, focusing only on financial result as opposed to customer satisfaction or maneuvering numbers to impress a banker or potential shareholder. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool the Universe all of the time.

A business leader who does not possess an understanding that humans are here to progress on all levels- mental, physical, emotional and spiritual – is doomed to failure in the annals of history. While the failure may not be evident during their lifetime or maybe for several millennia afterward, the Universe renders judgment.

Witness the glories of Rome, Greece, Babylonia. The height of civilization in their era. Was it worth it? Why did these civilizations crumble while today they are not the center or leading the world. The glories were short-lived – greed, envy, pettiness, fear, hate and hyperbole accelerated both the rise and the fall. Missing was the caring, love, service to humanity and respect for others and the environment.

There’s a Native American Saying: “what comes around, goes around” or “what goes around, comes around”. So too in any endeavor in which you decide to participate. Consider the effect your thoughts and words have on others and the Universe. Think of the dimensions you are affecting. Whatever energy you expel in reaching for your goal or attaining your dream affects everything in the Universe.

Your free will determines the Universal Consciousness of your time and for succeeding generations.

Whatever your frame of reference, philosophical bent or belief system, you will find those commentators, prophets and founders of old repeating the same common themes:

Do unto others as you would have them do to you.

What you focus on expands

Thoughts produce actions

Each life is linked to all life

Control your attitude and see the effect it has around others.

Be still and listen to the sound of silence.

The messages it brings are great wisdom and understanding.

CHAPTER

THE POWER OF LISTENING TO THE VOICE WITHIN

As you develop your Power of Creative Genius and learn to observe the ebbs and flows of the Universe, you will receive messages from time to time. These messages will often be neither profound nor earth-shattering and may seem confusing or improbable, much like the Voice in movie “Field of Dreams”, e.g. “if you build it, he will come”.

You may wonder why the message is being given to you and not someone else. There is a scene in “Field of Dreams” when Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, receives the illogical message “ease his pain” and on a hunch, after research and a dream, determines he must travel to Boston and take Terence Mann, a 60’s activist, played by James Earl Jones to a baseball game. His wife Annie, played by Amy Madigan, questions his decision and says, “why can’t the guys send someone else”. They compare dreams and realize both had the same dream and Ray travels from Iowa to Boston.

Recognize that the Universe always has a purpose when it sends a message to you in this manner. Yes, the message may be illogical, however it is your choice to accept or reject, listen or tune out. As stated in my first book, The Power of Creative Genius, the Universe will provide the how and when―all you need do is follow. Success is not guaranteed when you follow the message, for others are involved and they, too, have the same opportunity to listen to you or tune you out, accept what you have to say or reject you as being crazy or out-of-touch with reality.

That’s another thing about messages from the Universe. They come when you least expect it and often when you are involved in other pressing activities. Whether this is a test of your strength of conviction or someone up there playing a joke on your conscience is for you to decide. I confess that I asked the same question as in the scene from Field of Dreams: Why me and why can’t they pick on someone else?

“Never Underestimate the Power of Your Creative Genius”.

“That’s my second experience—the Power of Inspiration.

Basketball… Saturday night live, 1955, Jewish Community Center, Bridgeport, Connecticut. I’m 15 and my team, the “Stratoes” is playing our arch rival, the “Wolves”, for the championship.

Our team was great, the only mixed religious team in the league. We had all the bases covered: Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and . . . Paul Berger, a strapping Jewish kid. A star of our team, he was as intense, outspoken and controversial as he was talented.

On that night, however, our recipe for victory was as flat as a fallen soufflé.

At the end of the third quarter, we are down by what seemed like 20 points. Tired, beaten, whipped, we drag ourselves to the bench. Forget the championship! Quarters are 8 minutes, no shot clock, no 3-point baskets. 8 minutes to go, 20 points down.

Then, it happens . . .

A booming voice, so everyone in the audience can hear.

“Lord’s Prayer. . . Everybody down for the Lord’s Prayer.”

It’s Paul. He grabs my shoulder. “Bakunin, Lord’s Prayer . . . down for the Lord’s Prayer.”

The Lord’s Prayer? In the middle of a basketball game at the Jewish Community Center? To my unenlightened mind at the time, what kind of hokey is this!

But, if you ever had an intense, outspoken, controversial and talented person on your team who would not take no for an answer, you knew what you were going to do!

Instinctively, our entire team, including our coach, is down on one knee, heads bowed, hands clasped as Paul leads us in prayer.

“Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed beThy Name” as the audience and the “Wolves” watch in awe.

I’ll never forget that scene, our mixture of cultures and religions, Jew and Christian together, and Paul’s booming voice.

Paul Berger, the least likely candidate for sainthood, had become our inspirational teacher.

The outcome? We play that 4th quarter like a dream team possessed and win by 4 points. We’re league champs, but more important, lucky people whose creative genius was sparked by an unlikely teacher.

Even today, when I’m down and all seems lost, I think about Paul and recite the Lord’s Prayer.

. . . . . . . .

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those

Who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation