Glen Of Scotland

Improved

I was able to apply the improvements to my next trip and it was great. The drive to and from the airport on the tollway road was so fast and easy and no traffic at all, a clear drive straight to the airport at 75 miles an hour. I was amazed at the lack of traffic, certainly it did cost me $6, for me that was priceless for the opportunity to avoid sitting in traffic.

It might just have been a coincidence, :) my baggage was off the plane faster, there were no lines at security or check in, even more ease and I was able to get an exit row with more leg room.

This really isn't unusual when you have that momentum behind you, it's all about different levels of ease and it feels good, really good.

Improvement

Last fall I had a trip to Boston which was just great, there was great flow and any hiccups were minor in nature. The flights, a free ticket is always good, were on time going out, a minor delay on the return resulted in a late arrival home and a couple of delayed appointments. The hotel was great as was the rental car, and all that fine tasting Boston seafood, a parking spot even opened up outside my favorite Chinese restaurant, no small feat with Red Sox traffic.

For all that and my appreciation for what I had created, I wanted to see what more ease and improvement I could bring to the experience in the future. As I went about this task, the first step was making the trip to the airport more ease. I like to leave early int he morning, so there is the inevitable traffic jams. My solution was to get a toll responder and take the toll road, or at least see if was easier.

I also realized that I have no control over flight delays, the easier way is to say no to appointments on travel days. I did appreciate my phone and text messages to communicate when the delay happened, which did bring some ease, still I wanted to see if this would make a difference.

That's all the exercise was about, seeking more improvement and more ease, you can apply it to anything , you might be surprised at the results. What was the result of those adjustments, stay tuned for next time.

On Offer

The universe has a few things on offer that can makes things easier for people at the moment. Mortgage rates have tumbled below 5%, a good opportunity to refinance if you meet the guidelines, don't overlook the government (FHA) programs which are easier to qualify for. Credit unions have funds to lend and decent rates, can be an opportunity to refinance a car loan. Watch for amazing deals on cars this spring.

There are opportunities to lock in  heating oil prices in different parts of the country, natural gas prices are down saving some money. If you have vacation plans, there are huge savings on air fares and hotels, with many sales going on, don't worry if you miss them, there are more coming.

Cable companies are offering savings if you ask for them, Dell is offering employee pricing on computers and have great deals on refurbished computers with warranty.

Great opportunities are there to reduce costs, it's not all doom and gloom.

In fact Apple is selling more Ipods and phones than before, earning record profits, at the same time selling their products at full price. If the product is well designed people will want it bad times or not. Another retailer, The Buckle had a sales increase of 13.5% in December, locally here in Denver Schwab is hiring 500 people for its offices.

There is good news out there, just takes a little effort to find it. Though gas prices have risen slightly the last few weeks, they are 50% less than this time last year, before the big summer run up in price.

Take advantage of what is available.

Miracle

I'm sure you saw the plane land in the Hudson River last week and all passengers survived, the second crash in as money months (Denver in December) in which all passengers and crew managed to survive and get off the plane quickly. These really are miracles, the right people in the right place at the right time.

Many lessons have been learned from past crashes, resulting in better training and improvements in the materials used inside the plane.

Although quite often the flight crew, both pilots and flight attendants are taken for granted, and at times treated badly, these professionals undergo regular training for such events. In other words they practice time and time again their response to emergency situations, which allows  them for the most part to remain calm at these times.

This calm energy allows the passengers to remain somewhat calm too and from what I have read from both crashes, passengers indeed were calm and orderly and mentioned the calm effect of the crew when speaking with the media.

In everyday life you can practice in your mind or for real your response to different situations that can come up. The more often you practice the more calm you are likely to be. Your family will take their lead from you, what kind of lead would you like to be?

Good Movie

If you are like me and are behind on your movies, I think you will enjoy Marley and me. The movies is based on the book by John Grogan, who kept me entertained in Florida with his newspaper column.

It's a good family movie, more so if you have or had a dog, enough there to trigger your emotions and leave the movie feeling good.

Unconditional love at it's best.

Crying Foul

Last summer when oil was hitting $150 a barrel, consuming nations were crying foul, imploring the ol producing countries to bring down prices. The response for the most part was, sorry nothing we can do other produce a little more oil, not much sympathy there.

Now the price of oil is hovering around $35 a barrel and the oil producing countries are crying foul, we need a higher price, this isn't good for us, which is falling on deaf ears from the oil consuming countries, well you didn't help us when the price went crazy, why should we help you now or words to that effect.

Makes you wonder why some one doesn't come up with a fixed price of say $65, which would be around $2 a gallon gas for say 5 or 10 years. That way everyone would be reasonably happy, we could plan and invest with some certainty and those extremes would level out.

Just a thought, oh and  the same could apply at home or work on other matters, are extremes going on that are making everyone unhappy. Maybe the same principle could help there too.

New Movie

There is a new movie out, direct to dvd starring Dr. Wayne Dyer. It's called Ambition to Meaning, you can preview the trailer here. You can also watch the whole movie online for just $4.95.

Things can change quickly

Much has been made of global warming and the impact on the globe, a lot of this has been communicated with fear. Recently though more people are beginning to question a lot of the claims that are being made, some going so far as to conclude that we may be going through a period of global cooling.

One thing is for sure the planet was going through these types of changes long before humans arrived, not that there is anything wrong recycling and other efforts.

To give you an idea of how quickly things can change, during the last quarter of 2008 there was a massive growth spurt in the ice levels. In the article here, it says "Ice levels had been tracking lower throughout much of 2008, but rapidly recovered in the last quarter. In fact, the rate of increase from September onward is the fastest rate of change on record, either upwards or downwards".

Time will tell how it all plays out, it would be good to start seeing more evidence like this to reduce the fear and potential for control. Initially this will be met with a lot of resistance as so many have a vested interest in their point of view.

How to be an optimist

There is a new book coming out later this month, you can read about it here. I found this quote rather meaningful from the article:

"Optimism is not about the future and it’s not about the news: it’s in my power. It’s about how I react to events, the moment they occur. It’s in the mind. The real optimists, the people I admire the most, have a set of beliefs and routines for reacting that keeps them happy and alive".

The Optimist: One Man’s Search for the Brighter Side of Life by Laurence Shorter

A situation

Last month I was driving along the highway heading to Boulder and I heard a clunk clunk, not a good indicator. I was able to pull off onto the emergency lane and drove along to the next exit and was able to park in a restaurant  parking lot. It was a flat tire, no big deal I can change that quickly and be on my way.

I was grateful that I was able to get off the highway and into a quiet spot and it was sunny out but cold. A couple of days before that it was snowing and was very cold, -12 degrees without the wind chill, so I was in great appreciation that if it were to happen, this was a good way and timing for it.

I had the car jacked up and remembered the brake this time, just one problem there was no wheel lock key. It hadn't been put back after I had bought a set of tires in the summer. I could have blamed the tire place, it would have been easy to do, I took responsibility for not checking if the tire lock had been replaced in the glove compartment.

As luck would have it, I had my cell phone and was able to call the tire place to have them come out with another key. Unfortunately they didn't have one that fit, so I had to be towed to the depot so they could take it off there. This meant some delays with my appointments, which was unfortunate though everyone was understanding.

As luck would have it someone had a last minute cancellation  so my schedule didn't run too late and it all worked out well. I was able to get a new tire prorated which was about $15 and was able to get a new wheel lock key the next day and now know to check on that in the futre when my tires are rotated.

Just an example of how a situation can happen and when you are in alignment things can still flow with ease. Had I been out of alignment it might have happened when it was -12, snowing, on the highway without my cell phone.

So what do I get?

Some people get disappointed that things still occur in their lives when they practice positive thinking and appreciation. They have an expectation that life will be perfect and nothing should go amiss either. If you have that expectation then you will disappointed.

Things and events are always going to occur, some put a label of bad or wrong things, I like to call them things we wish wouldn't happen if we had control. So then what is the point of making the effort to keep your thoughts and actions in alignment?

It's worth the effort so that when these events or situations arise you are able to move through them quickly and easily and see them for the growth opportunities that they are. Also the situations tend to be less severe and have more ease associated with them when you are in alignment than when you are not. Is that not worth the effort?

I will post an example of this next time.

Imagine if you will life going perfectly, nothing happening all flowing along, no incidents or events ever happen to you. How would you learn, would you be able to experience as you do now? Would you have the knowledge you do now without the mistakes or situations. If it were all perfect all the time what would be the point of it all? Why would you come into this physical life?

I know of no one who claims that they live life without those events, those imperfect moments if you like. I have been looking and researching and have found no one. A lot of people live good lives, there is no doubt about that.

If you find anyone with the perfect life with no situations or events let me know, I will write about them extensively.

Quote

"Discovering new worlds will not only bring you happiness and wisdom, but also sadness and fear. How could you value happiness without knowing what sadness is? How could you achieve wisdom without facing your own fears? In the end, the great challenge in life is to overcome the limits within yourself, pushing them to places you would never have dreamed they could go"

From The Dolphin, story of a dreamer by Sergio Bambaren

Happy New Year!

Are you ready for a great adventure this year? Are you clear about what you want? Or are you more focused on what you don't want to happen?

It's very easy in the current environment to get stuck and focused on what you don't want to happen, don't want to lose the job or house. Even if you are good at keeping your focus, you will drift from time to time and that's okay, just drift back again, on track and don't beat up on yourself for slipping.

Unless you are clear about what you want, it won't happen and you will get caught up in waves of what is going on around you. It will be a rocky early part of the year it can be manageable if you keep your focus as best you can.

As the year progresses, I will be offering solutions that will help you bring more ease into your life and point out a lot of the good things going on well, as they dominate the reality, even now.

Let's step into the New Year with hope, excitement and solutions, leave behind all the mistakes and blame from the past. It's a new fresh year, mix in fresh thinking, it feels better without that old rotten stuff mixed in, don't you think?