Archive for spiritual truth
Intellectualizing life
Posted by: | Comments
Intellectualizing Life
One of the things I observe with the advent of the internet is that everybody can and does have a voice. This is a wonderful thing of course. The flip side of it though is that we also get to see inside peoples heads and worlds in ways we would never have imagined.
I notice this in 2 main ways:
1. The things people say “publicly” on Facebook, Myspace and the other social media outlets is incredible. I think it is an incredibly unhealthy way to air things that we would never otherwise do. The Bible talks a lot about the folly of words spoken in haste and this is clearly seen in the many unfortunate arguments, marriage break ups and unkind words that ends up on the net, never to be erased.
2. The other thing I notice particularly through my online circles around personal development and wealth creation is an alarming trend to intellectualise our problems and our lives. I say alarming because I read so many people trying to “fix” things in their lives through knowledge alone and in my lifetime I have found it simply doesn’t work. I have trained and worked with thousands of people in the area of wealth creation and property investment for example and working on the real estate between their ears is ALWAYS the biggest job. People self sabotage and through low self esteem, fear and lack of discipline far more than they ever fail through a lack of strategies and techniques.
So the luxury afforded to us by the likes of the internet spawns an enormous amount of pontification on subjects little known by the authors and your ability to gain an audience is determined by your SEO skills rather than any real ability to help others.
I come across sites these days that are specifically designed to generate internet traffic off a key word so they have automatically generated content. No real human being is really involved at all. So the problem with that is if someone is suicidal for example and looks for help on the net they could land on a site that has all the appearance of being what they want but when they read the first 3 posts or articles they will be advised to
- click here to go through regressive rebirth therapy where you can access your previous lives and deal with the issue
- click here to get some awesome drugs that will solve the problem or
- click here to find someone to have sex with which will somehow solve the problem
So this mass information, cerebral age we are witnessing, whilst it has incredible benefits is also creating a world of lies and deception where you can no longer trust what you read or see. And it is almost impossible to teach people how to discern the real from the drivel as we have so lost our way spiritually. Only by being connected to absolute truth can you discern error and that just isn’t PC in today’s world.
I hope I have “disturbed” you enough to have you thinking about this for the rest of the day. What is real and true and why do I think it is or isn’t? It’s a question you need to be able to answer!!
Stay Inspired and Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus
The Ethical Investing Strategist
O sacred cow now wounded
Posted by: | Comments
I’m listening to a fabulous series on Kingdom Finance at the moment and I find whenever I immerse myself in a subject that revelation comes, even though the specific revelation may not be actually stated in the content.
So today was one of those moments where I realised that we are virtually never taught wealth retention, just wealth creation. In fact even worse we are almost taught that one of the goals of success is to be able to spend excessively on whatever we want. So many people aspire to the Ferrari, Dom Perignon, exotic travel lifestyle but are never inspired to pursue the skills to sustain and retain that wealth long term. Whether it’s understanding the fact that a car depreciates by 30% as soon as you drive it off the lot or just negotiating your insurance premiums the fact is that most of us could increase our wealth significantly without increasing our income at all. If we would learn to work things out in interest rate and percentage terms we would all change our money habits to our benefit.
For example most consumer goods, especially electronic goods come with an offer of “extended warranty” protection. A typical example might be to extend the standard manufacturers warranty from 2 years to 5 years. If the product purchase price is $500 the extended warranty and insurance etc. might be $75.
So lets put aside the fact that less than 10% of extended warranty’s ever get claimed but just look at the costs. $75 on a $500 purchase is an additional 15% on top of the purchase price. Do you want to pay 15% more for that item??
Or look at ATM machines. Most banks charge you if you use someone elses machine yet most people use the first night and day machine they come to. So you withdraw $20 anmd pay a $2 fee. That is 10% interest in one day!!
I could give you examples all day but you get my point. We ned to view financial transactions as financial transactions and count teh cost. For almost all of us we could put enormous $$ back into our own hands just by thinking about how we spend.
Thought for the day:
Your best financial friend or enemy is compound interest!!
Stay Inspired and Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv
To get the latest investing information on time and for free make sure you get my regular newsletter here
Burnt Chilli sauce
Posted by: | Comments
Last night we were going out to a course so i threw some food together for my wife based on what was lying around in the kitchen.
She commented that it was the first time she had seen me make a meal out of “nothing”. Then when she tasted it she just raved about how beautiful it was.
What I didn’t tell her, and as she never reads this blog she will never know, is that the reason it tasted so god was due to a complete mistake on my part. As I was precooking the vege’s I accidentally put in some sweet chili sauce in stead of soy sauce to”salt” the courgettes. The result was that the chili sauce burned and caramelized. I nearly threw the whole lot out but decided to taste it just in case it was edible. And what do you know, it tasted fabulous.
This reminded me that often it is in our mistakes that we find real gold. Whether it is something as minor as burnt chili sauce or as major as an unwanted pregnancy, ther can be real blessing and success if we just “taste and see” what is happening instead of deciding, as I almost did, to throw it all away.
So today take the opportunity to enjoy the next mistake you make and see what gift it may be wrapped around. You just may find a masterpiece there that you couldn’t find any other way!!
Stay Inspired and Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv
Subscribe to my blog HERE
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter HERE
Do you have A.I.D.??
Posted by: | CommentsLife just happens sometimes doesn’t it. We cannot control nearly as much as we’d like and for some of us this is a disaster. If we are ice then we will resist change and resent anything that isn’t going our way.
People with AID (Advanced Ice Disorder) end up fighting the whole world over every little thing. A lot of zealots in animal rights movements and other worthy movements are like this. Their sense of injustice, which is in itself perfectly valid, has become something hard, unforgiving and unhealthy. Like the people who shoot doctors outside of abortion clinics they have crossed a line where their inability to control their world has become a serious problem.
Or we can learn to be fluid and react when reaction is appropriate. We all get to have a “pretty good” life. Things will go wrong, disappointments occur. If we become like water we can choose to be ice or steam depending on the situation. This is good mental health, to be able to pick our fights.
I think an encounter from Jesus life sums up it perfectly. Jesus visited the temple and saw that instead of being a place of worship it was full of stalls and shops where money had overcome God. Jesus could have reacted immediately and yelled and screamed and He probably would have gotten a good result.
But instead He went and sat and MADE a whip. Imagine the shop owners watching this rabbi making this whip and wondering what he was up to. I wonder if the religious leaders thought it strange that He was doing this in the temple grounds.
I believe He was thinking and praying, deciding exactly what God wanted Him to do. When He finished making the whip He then took to the shop keepers with it, over turning their stalls and driving them out. This caused a God result because He knew He was doing the right thing. He wasn’t lashing out in anger, He was responding in “holy anger” you might say, which was actually a love for His father and the people who worshipped Him.
What about you?? Could you choose to be Ice or Steam when your next drama unfolds??
Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv
Is the answer really 42?
Posted by: | CommentsI know I’m showing my age but I still remember how clever I thought Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was when on the last pages of the book I discovered the answer to the question what is the meaning of life was “42″.
I guess it was the authors way of saying how impossible answering that question genuinely is.
I mention it today in the context of pursuing our unbearable feeling because hopelessness/meaningless is a huge issue in our society.
As you may know 25% of the population is depressed at any given time and 50% of people will have at least 1 clinicaly diagnosable depressive season in their lives. And one of the primary causes of real depression is meaninglessness.
If this feeling is unbearable then what we do is make sure our lives are never still or quiet, EVER!!.
Kids sports, craft clubs, dinner parties, endless travel or holidays, you will fill your life with anything to ensure you never have a moment to think about what your life is actually for. This is why depression is the common cold of the West, but relatively unheard of in developing nations. The developing world still believes in spiritual things therefore generally they can find meaning in God, whatever form that may be for their culture.
Also they find hope and meaning in achieving the great western dream of abundance, financial security and freedom.
And THAT is why we are so depressed and suicidal as a society because we have achieved the great dream and found it……
Our kids have their mid-life crisis at 18 now because they don’t have to wait till they are 40 to see that western life is empty, they can see it in their parents eyes and watch it in their lifestyles.
So can I suggest to you to day my friend that pursuing genuine meaning in your life is both the most important thing you will ever do AND the best thing you could ever do to achieve good mental health.
You will find meaning if you look for it and keep your heart open to things you may have given up on before. It is there, so you don’t have to fear this unbearable feeling, you can slay it with truth and hope!! Will you make this a priority in your life, do you care about yourself enough to start this journey?
(For more on how my journey ended click HERE)
Till tomorrow, stay safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv
Would you like more unbearable with that?
Posted by: | Comments
Unbearable feelings!! Like parents, you’ve got at least one most likely.
The things we do to avoid them never fix the problem, so if we ever want to really grow up we have to learn how to bear and befriend these feelings. You are not psychotic because you want to avoid these feelings, the problem is simply that avoiding them is destructive for you and those around you in many cases.
Here is a list of common unbearable feelings
- Disappointment, despair of grief of any kind
- Feeling unfairly treated; the victim of injustice
- Feeling humiliated, exposed, embarrassed, laughed at or ridiculed
- Feeling cruel, hard, unfeeling or unsympathetic
- Feeling controlled, bullied or restrained
- Feeling used, taken for granted, obligated or trapped
- Feeling unheard, distrusted, doubted, misunderstood, disbelieved, misjudged
- Feeling of futility, (it’s all for nothing)
- Feeling bored or depressed
- Feeling ill-equipped, unprepared or caught out
- Feeling uprooted or dislocated
- Feeling unwanted, rejected, excluded, abandoned, shut out or left behind
- Feeling shouted at or abused, especially by one particular sex
- Feeling powerless, helpless, out of control, uncertain or in danger
- Feeling lost or disoriented
- Feeling disobeyed, despised or disrespected
- Feeling around being in debt or unable to pay
- Feeling overloaded or swamped by “must-do’s”
- Feeling lied to, sucked in, cheated, betrayed or deceived
- Being held up, running late or left behind
- Feeling dumb, inadequate, stupid, a loser, incompetent
- Feeling interrogated, nagged or lectured
- Feeling interrupted, prevented from completing a task etc.
- Feeling exhausted or lying awake alone at night
- Feeling to cold or too hot
- Cold, grey, bleak or windy weather
- Being around drunk people, smell of alcohol
- Forgetting or losing something
- Feeling like you have disappointed others or let them down in some way
- Anticipation of fear and dread
- Forgetting or losing something
- Feeling of regret or missing out on something better
- Being a nuisance, a bludger or a burden
- Silence or silent tension
- Feeling full of food or bloated
- Feeling guilty, ashamed or condemned
- Following through
- Deep water, the beach and the sharks
If you seriously want to identify your unbearable feeling then start by printing this list off and mark off any on the list that you feel regularly.
Because we are looking for your unbearable feeling, which you NEVER FEEL, the ones you have marked are definitely not your feeling.
So lok at what are left, do any of them trigger anything in you. For example if you are anorexic or bulimic your unbearbale feeling may well be feeling full.
What about feeling to hot or too cold. It sounds silly but I know destroyed marriages because one partner would go ballistic over a room or a bed or a conference being at the wrong temperature. You see if this is unbearable it is unbearable.
People who can’t bear to be late either go everywhere 2 hours early or they avoid appointments to the point of reclusion.
Tomorrow we’ll look at this from one more angle to help you identify if you have an issue here. But you should be getting an inkling by now if this is maybe something you need to work on!!
Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv
The feeling you never feel
Posted by: | Comments
Here’s something you may never have thought of before. It is a feeling you have never felt, not for a long time anyway. David Riddell aptly described it as your “unbearable feeling”. One unbearable feeling operating in your life can cripple you completely. Prisons are full of people who are there because they were avoiding their unbearable feeling. Domestic violence, drug addiction, divorce, you name it; you can often fin an unbearable feeling at the root of the problem.
Many of us know who “presses our buttons” right? But have we ever asked ourselves “Why do I keep providing such big easy to press buttons?” You see we are often, in fact I would say almost always having a feeling triggered that we must avoid. That’s why we react, clam up, lash out, yell, drink, drive like a maniac, punish our loved ones. Over a feeling?? Come on, how can a feeling have that much power. Well it has power because we never learn to deal with it.
We’re not talking about an unpleasant feeling here, or something you feel all the time. No this is an unbearable feeling. When we take a magnifying glass to the dysfunctional parts of our lives we discover that we have developed reactions and mindsets to protect the damage done to our hearts, the emotional damage that 99% of us have incurred throughout our lives.
We avoid the hideous feelings associated with that damage by using anger, abuse or shutting down to make sure we don’t feel our unbearable feeling. The term unbearable is critical here. This is something you so want to avoid that you literally will do anything to avoid the feeling. A father will bury his children before he will feel this feeling. A woman will abandon her family, a child will take his or her own life before they will feel their unbearable feeling.
When I started to see how this operated in my own life it literally changed my whole world view. Suddenly things that were bizarre made sense. One of my unbearable feelings is shame. So when I was younger the thought of failing at a job was unthinkable. ( This is all operating subconsciously of course, I never “thought” about the shame of failing at a job). So I had several occasions in my 20′s and early 30′s where I was promoted very quickly and was on the edge of a major promotion. Suddenly the risk of feeling shame through being promoted above the level of my own competence became a reality.
So on 3 separate occasions in 3 different companies I started behaving in ways that resulted ultimately in me getting fired!!
You see the feelings of rejection and being thought badly of I could handle, but the shame of failing at my new positions was literally unbearable. I am now at 46 years old pursuing things I should have done all my life as I make friends with my unbearable feeling.
What about you my friend? What have you not done because of your unbearable feeling?? Never pursued university because feeling dumb was unbearable? never married because fear of rejection or commitment was unbearable?
I may never have net you but I would say there is a 99% chance that you are not living the life of your dreams at least in part due to your unbearable feeling.
Tomorrow we’ll start to look at how to identify your UBF!!
Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv
