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What I Learned from Priming a Pump

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old-fashioned-water-pump-janice-drewWhen I was a little girl, we lived in an old farm-house in upstate New York that did not have running water or indoor plumbing.  “No, I did not live in the early 1900’s on Little House on the Prairie.  And, “Yes”our neighbors did have inside plumbing. We just didn’t. My dad was a migrant worker and we were quite poor. If we wanted water, we had to work for it, just like we did for everything else. Right outside the house, we had a pump which supplied the water we needed to cook, bathe, and do laundry, etc.

“The lesson I learned from priming a pump was that you have to put something in if you expect to get something out. On the success train, there is no free lunch, no credit, and no loafers.  You want to ride, you must pay the price.” Barbara Talley

There is a lesson in every experience when you’re open to learning. We also had one of those old-fashioned wringer washing machines and a rub board, but I digress!)  Every day, rain, shine, snow, or sleet, we’d go out to get some fresh water.  But before we could get the fresh water we had to first “prime the pump.”  That meant we had to take some of the water that was left and pour it into the pump and pump vigorously for a few minutes.  Pumping was always the hardest part for if you stopped before the water began to flow, you’d have to start all over. [We did get strong arms though.] So, we’d pump rapidly and rhythmically until water started to flow.  At first there would be no traction and if you didn’t know any better, you’d begin to doubt and perhaps even stop too soon. But if you continued pumping faithfully, eventually the water would begin to flow and you would barely have to pump at all.  At that point, the water would gush out and we could fill our containers as much as we desired.  We had a hard life back then, but there are lessons in everything.  If you listened to my father who walked five miles to school each day, our life was a piece of cake.

For those of you who have never had to prime a pump, be grateful.  You get to benefit from the lessons without the pain.  I’ve learned however, that we all have different lives, different challenges, and different lessons.  Lessons are made for sharing. Make sure to share yours too. That gives them meaning.  Please enjoy my seven lessons from “priming a pump” in my next blog.

Barbara

Infuse Every Intention with Positive Energy

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mastermind carnegieDale Carnegie wrote, “It is the mind that makes the body rich. No man can become rich without enriching others.” Isn’t that the highest goal of our life, to enrich our lives by enriching others? We are powerful; our every thought, word, and action stems from an intention and has a far reaching effect. Each effect is either enriching others or depleting them. Each time you think a thought, open your mouth to speak, or act, you are sending powerful energy out into the world. You then become part of what is healing our world or part of what is hurting it.

Each of us is born with something valuable to share with the world. You matter; I matter; everyone matters. Much of the mental illness, depression, and confusion people experience today is because they don’t realize how much they matter. The daily onslaught of negativity, fault-finding, and discouragement has convinced them that they don’t matter. They mistakenly were looking on the outside for validation of their worth when the answers are inside. Each of us was born to share; everyone’s contribution matters! Find out what that is and share it!

In the Bible it states that after everything was created, God said, “That is good!”  That means each of us has good in us. Let’s make every moment reverent by looking for the good in others and encouraging them.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all were habitual “good finders” instead of “fault finders?”

Each step, each word, each thought, and each action must be infused with grace, kindness, and love for others. Human beings were created to honor, respect, and worship our Creator by honoring and respecting His Creation. I am in no way equating myself to the Omnipotent One, but I don’t think you can honor someone and dishonor what they’ve created and value.

As a mother, a person who wants to show me respect would lose that if they disrespected my children or my creations.  And, if they respected and showed kindness to my children, they would gain favor with me.  I think it must also be so with our Creator. How can we say we worship God (Yah, Allah, or whatever name  we associate with that Most Great Spirit), and yet disrespect, dishonor, and discourage His creation?

Three ways to help you figure out what your unique contribution (if you don’t know) is:

1) What do you enjoy doing? (The world needs more joyful servants who serve with love, kindness, and joy.)

2) What needs does the world have that you can satisfy?  (Find a need and fill it.)

3) What does your spirit inspire you to do during your prayer and meditation? (Don’t know? Ask!)

 “Work done in the spirit of service and to excellence is worship!”

This quote paraphrased from the Baha’i Writings sums it all up for me.

Barbara

Happy New Year!!!

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Happy New Year from Barbara Talley

Happy New Year from Barbara Talley, Speaker, Author, and Poet (The Poet Speaks)

How many times have you said, read, or heard this greeting, “Happy New Year?” Probably too many to count.  And yet, how many times have you stopped to think about what will actually make you happy in this coming new year?

When you stop to really think about it, these words offer a blessing and perhaps a promise to all that say, hear, and heed them.  Everyone has heard of the benefits inherent in affirmations. Well, “Happy New Year” is a wonderful affirmation. Most however don’t really think about the blessings and promises inherent in this familiar greeting.  But, let’s change that; let’s focus on these three simple words: three thoughts, three promises; three reminders for the coming year!

HAPPY

The first blessing, promise, or affirmation is to be happy. Each of us must be clear about what makes us happy and focus on doing more of that. To get the answer, we must first ask the question:

“What do I think (know) will make me happy?”  What you think about, you bring about!

Have you really thought about what makes you happy and allowed yourself to want it and bring it about? So many allow others to talk us out of our true dreams and desires. And, have you thought about how to make others happy? Too much thinking on only one’s own happiness can make you selfish.  Too much thinking on only what makes others happy can make you a resentful, unhappy sacrificial martyr. That doesn’t make you happy either. We have to have balance. Being aware and concerned about our own happiness and that of others is intertwined anyway.  Did you know that by being happy, you help others to be happy?  Happiness is just as contagious as unhappiness. Did you know that there is a science to being happy?

Deepak Chopra described two types of happiness, the first was the happiness that we get from “getting what we want.”  The second is the happiness we get from just “being our authentic spiritual selves” by acknowledging who we are and developing/sharing the gifts within us.  The first type of happiness is dependent on outside events, circumstances, and people; the second is independent of these and more stable. The Chopra Center is offering a free 8-week course on happiness.  You might want to check it out.  Because in the end, isn’t happiness our ultimate goal?

NEW

The second promise is NEW! Things, ideas, and people change and some no longer serve a useful purpose in your life.  Sometimes accepting the “new” means letting go of the “old”.  Isn’t it great that we get to learn from the past and start anew, building on the knowledge gained from the past?  Newness is built into the fabric of our universe. Each day when the sun rises we get a new day or gift of 24 brand new hours.  We get a new month twelve times a year.  And we get a new year every 12 months, 52 weeks, or 365 (approximate) days.

NEW implies a fresh opportunity. We get to start a new chapter in our lives.  Some people approach the “new” year with the same old fears, hangups, habits, limiting beliefs and baggage from the preceding year. This is an opportunity or milestone to ‘let go!” The new year is an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and to say, “I’m starting all over; letting go; or becoming more serious or committed to the dreams and aspirations I’ve chosen.  No one wants to feel like a quitter or that they are giving up, and making changes now helps you to avoid that stigma. A new year gives us that opportunity.  And while we don’t have to wait for the turning of the calendar page to turn over a new leaf, it is a special time that we have support, reminders, and the inspiration to do so.  Some things in your life need to be ‘new’ and some things needs to be “renewed”, reaffirmed and recommitted to.  You decide!

YEAR

2014 is the gift of another year to make our mark, to make a difference, and to make our lives and the lives of those around us more meaningful.  What do you want to accomplish this year?  What are you committing to accomplish this year?  What do you want to become?  What do you want to give?  What do you want to feel, attract, or experience? Bless yourself by taking some time right now (or carving out in the near future) to decide how you are going to spend this brand new year!  Make sure your goals are SMART. In my next post, I’ll share about how to make SMARTER GOALS. Until then, “Happy New Year!”

Barbara

What did you do or not do to cause this to happen?

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VICTIM OR IN CONTROL?  This morning I was reflecting on the natural law of “cause and effect” and thinking how liberating this law is when we really understand it. We can’t have it both ways.  Either our decisions and input matters and creates or contributes to our reality or it doesn’t.  Either we can initiate, create, mold and shape our reality or we have to wait for input from our environment and always be in a response mode. Our results have a cause.

cause_effect_picWe change the cause and our results have to change too. Our past thoughts, decisions, and actions have created our current realities.  If we want different results, then we have to change the input.

Isn’t it exciting that we are the creators of our reality, that we get to choose?  We get to decide what we will put our energies into and those decisions create the effects we now experience. So many people meander through life following the masses and feeling and acting like victims.  They see the world as pins and themselves as pin cushions, powerless to stop or curtail the pain.  Their primary response to the world is “fight or flight”, and the world from their perspective is a cruel and unhappy place.

Think about it, if you are a victim, then you have no control over the outcome.  If the person victimizing or causing you pain chooses not to change their ways, you’re stuck!  I’d much prefer to own some part of the outcome.  That empowers me to change my circumstances.  “Self-actualized” beings have broken free from the pack.  They realize that they have unlimited power.  They own up to reality and know that what they are perceiving, they had some hand in creating.

In my workshops, I frequently encourage participants to answer this question to help them take credit or responsibility for their actions. Owning up to the life we have created causes us to cease feeling like victims and that is empowering. Whenever they look at a specific reality that is not to their liking, they must answer the question honestly:

“What did I do or NOT do to cause the the happen or NOT TO happen?

Barbara

Be a Better Bouncer: Control Your Thoughts

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MY TIMEBe Armed and Ready Each Morning to Direct Your Own Thoughts

Each morning when we awake, the world is ready to present to us what it wants us to focus on. The newscasters, marketers, reporters, and radio personalities have been up before the crack of dawn determining what they want us to think about.  What we think about, we help to bring about! They know that some will start their days with the television (even before prayer and meditation). Others will start with family demands, coffee and a newspaper, or perhaps with the phone calls, video games, social media, email, or the dramatic issues of those people around them. That is why it is so critical that we each learn to guard and direct our own thoughts!  If we don’t; others will!

What the world presents to us, we tend to see and think about. Thoughts lead to action.  Wallace D. Wattles, author of The Science of Getting Rich, warns that the hardest thing for human beings to do is to think their own thoughts and to hold a sustained and consecutive thought in their minds. He understood the destructive power of suggestions and distractions.  A confused and overwhelmed mind has very little power. All of this “information” we take in may seem harmless, but the sheer volume of these unplanned thought suggestions at their worst dishearten, discourage, and distract us from focusing on and creating the reality that we wish to see and manifest. We must control the journey our mind takes each day.

bouncer-droidWe each have been given a distinct calling and the creative tools to manifest whatever we focus our powerful thoughts on.

We must learn to guard your thoughts like bouncers guard the entry into exclusive clubs. They have a list. If you are not on the list, you don’t get in. Our values, beliefs, and goals serve as our list. But, these goals must be clear and we must be consciously vigilant to protect them because our minds don’t discriminate and will pay attention to whatever thoughts get there first.

You and I have the power and the responsibility (like a bouncer in a club) to determine what thoughts get in. We are thinking creatures and whatever thoughts get to our minds first take over.  Even if we manage to push them out, all thoughts still  leave their traces.

Other thoughts (perhaps your own) have to work harder to displace those lingering competing thoughts. That is why it is critical that we have our own clear goals! Write them out each night and reflect on before you go to sleep. This allows our subconscious mind to work on them while we sleep. Then, when we open our eyes each morning, we are ready to manifest our own dreams.Our internal bouncer has it’s own priority list.  However, if we don’t have specific goals and the self control to direct our own thoughts, these competing thoughts will continue to take over or distract us from making our own dreams come true.

Barbara