What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0144

7151.  The past is an advisor not a determinant;

7152.  Fear and pain tend to be linked to joy, passion and love.  You can’t have fear without love.  Fear exists because something is threatening something you love.  That love could be being alive, being warm or the love you feel for another person.  And pain?  Pain tends to equal growth;

7153.  When our pain or fear is at its peak, at its most intolerable stage, we’re just seconds to minutes away from bliss, calm and peace;

7154.  You have to learn with the pain and fear instead of trying to make it go away;

7155.  Pain is mandatory; suffering is optional;

7156.  In that moment when you think you can’t possibly keep going, that’s the edge.  The willingness to stand on that edge without backing away is what dictates your experience, your growth;

7157.  You are capable of far more than you think you are.  So are all humans;

7158.  The 40% rule: When you think you’re done, when you think you’re completely spent and you’ve given everything you have to give, anytime you have this feeling, you’re only 40% of the way there;

7159.  The 60% rule: When we think we’re done, we actually have 60% left to give;

7160.  It’s the willingness to leap into the fear and become one with the pain that allows us to experience the best versions of ourselves;

7161.  Take care of the downside and the upside will take care of itself;

7162.  Lauryn Ricketts (the meteorologist for NBC4 Washington) hangs out at the Fish Market in (Old Town) Alexandria;

7163.  Lauryn Ricketts is a DC101 fan . . . and a Nintendo fan (too);

7164.  Apparently, Lauryn Ricketts teaches a barre class in Arlington;

7165.  No amount of security is worth the suffering of a mediocre life chained to a routine that has killed your dreams;

7166.  Send love in place of judgments and criticisms to others when you feel they impede your joy and happiness and hold them in that place of love.  Notice that if you stay steadfast, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at do change;

7167.  Rather than asking that the outcome of our prayers come to pass, we acknowledge our role as an active part of creation and give thanks for what we are certain that we have created.  Whether we see immediate results or not, our thanks acknowledge that somewhere in creation our prayer has already been fulfilled;

7168.  The moment you accept the wish as an accomplished fact, the subconscious finds means for its realization.  To pray successfully then you must yield to the wish, that is, feel the wish fulfilled;

7169.  Being a piece of God, and therefore altogether God as a part of the entire process of creation, you become an active participant in your own private prayerful moments;

7170.  There is no possible way of attaining a quality or a desired attribute without claiming it;

7171.  The undesirable moves out and the “I am presence” moves in; and you find that you have truly entered into a new world, filled with the happiness and perfection you have always known existed somewhere within your own heart;

7172.  Financial freedom doesn’t mean you’ll always be happy.  It means, however, that you can be present for all of it, for those you love, for what’s really happening in the moment, for the good, for the bad, for the joy and the sorrow and everything in between.  When you have financial freedom, you can really be there for all of it.  You have the freedom to be truly present.  And that’s a precious gift;

7173.  Abundance is not about collecting stuff.  It’s about having the freedom to be more present in life . . . for all of it . . . for the whole “beautiful catastrophe;”

7174.  It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not;

7175.  Elizabeth doesn’t like mustard except in potato salad . . . and deviled eggs;

7176.  Filomena Ristorante (Filomena.com) in Georgetown sells the largest éclairs known to man;

7177.  During Christmas time, you can get eggnog as your “milk” at Starbucks;

7178.  Craig Ferguson is funny, but dirty;

7179.  Craig Ferguson hates (Queen’s) “We Are the Champions;”

7180.  Love is not cruel; we are cruel.  Love is not a game; we have made a game out of love;

7181.  Pork chops and apple sauce . . . apparently, it’s a thing;

7182.  Apparently, Elizabeth likes (receiving) oral;

7183.  I can say (that) I’ve had/tried a turducken;

7184.  There’s a secret bar/speakeasy in the back of Capo Deli (CapoDC.com) in D.C. . . . Who knew?

7185.  Apparently, visiting NFL players will (sometimes) eat at Sweet Fire Donna's in (Old Town) Alexandria (the day before playing the Washington Redskins);

7186.  I am not really attached to you at all.  I am merely deluding myself into the belief that without you I will not be happy.  I leave you free to be yourself, to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations and behave in ways that you decide are to your liking;

7187.  There are no justified resentments;

7188.  You must send blame out of your life for any conditions of your life;

7189.  Eat a live frog every morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day . . . in other words, if you get your most difficult task out of the way first, the worst part of your day will be over;

7190.  In the U.S., the tax law requires each business deduction to meet three requirements: 1.  Must have a business purpose; 2.  The expense must be ordinary; and 3.  The expense must be necessary;

7191.  The fastest way to put money in your pocket is to reduce your taxes.  By reducing your taxes, you immediately reduce how much money comes out of your paycheck;

7192.  Everything you do either increases or lowers your taxes.  All you have to do is learn the difference between bad, good and better income and then learn how to turn your expenses into tax deductions;

7193.  What you’re feeling is a function of how you’re thinking, what you’re contemplating and how your inner speech is being formulated;

7194.  How others treat you has a lot to do with how you treat yourself and thereby teach others to treat you;

7195.  When anyone criticizes, judges, acts angry, expresses hatred or finds fault with you, they’re not at peace with themselves.  Want this peace for them even more than you desire it for yourself.  By having this kind of intention for them, you take the focus off of you.  This doesn’t require words or actions on your part.  Simply picture the people in your family with whom you’re not at peace and feel the peace you crave for them.  Your inner speech will change and you’ll begin to experience the peaceful authenticity of both your beings;

7196.  If peace is missing in your relationships with your family, it means that you have a place within you that’s occupied by non-peace.  It may be filled with anxiety, fear, anger, depression, guilt or any low-energy emotions.  Rather than attempting to rid yourself of these feelings all at once, treat them the same as you do your relatives.  Say a friendly “hello” to the non-peace and let it be.  You’re sending a peaceful feeling to the non-peaceful feeling.  The lower energies you’re experiencing will be strengthened by your peaceful “hi” or “hello” and eventually vanish as the divine grows within you.  The way to this peace is through any form of quiet and meditation that works for you.  Even if it’s only a two-minute respite during which time you’re silent, concentrate on the name of the divine or repeat that sound of “aaahh” as an inner mantra;

7197.  When you think about what you resent, you act upon what you think about while simultaneously attracting more of it to you;

7198.  See the light in others and treat them as if that is all you see;

7199.  Do you want peace?  Forgiveness offers it;

7200.  You can never remedy a bad relationship by condemning it;

What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0143

7101.  Joshua Radin sings/writes “adult lullabies;”

7102.  Out of clutter find simplicity.  From discord find harmony.  In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity;

7103.  Affirmations are reminders to your unconscious mind to stay focused on your goals and to come up with solutions to challenges and obstacles that might get in the way;

7104.  Creating effective affirming statements: 1.  Start with the words “I am.”  These are the two most powerful words in the English language; 2.  Use the present tense; 3.  State it in the positive.  Affirm what you want not what you don’t want; 4.  Keep it brief; 5.  Make it specific; 6.  Include an action word ending with -ing; 7.  Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word; and 8.  Make affirmations for yourself not others.  Some examples are: “I’m so happy and grateful that I now have a $200,000.00 a year income or $500,000.00 a year income or $1,000,000.00 income.”  “I’m so happy and grateful that I now spend my days traveling the world solving problems to impact investing.”  “I’m so happy and grateful that I fully funded our kid’s college education expenses and have secured it in a 529 plan;”

7105.  We’ve all made mistakes and have gone through challenges in life.  But it’s not your mistakes or challenges that define you.  It’s what you learn from these experiences that truly matters;

7106.  How you think about the past can either be a great source of motivation or it can interfere with your happiness and hold you back from living your best life;

7107.  Focusing on your past failures can be crippling to your self-esteem, your self-confidence and your happiness.  But recognizing that you have had successes in the past (and that you’ll have many more in the future) will give you the self-confidence you need to move forward on whatever it is your heart desires;

7108.  You cannot undo what’s already done and holding on to anger and resentment because of a past mistake or failure will slow down your journey toward the future you’ve always envisioned for yourself.  But when you acknowledge and focus on your past successes, your subconscious will begin to work harder to attract the people and resources needed to help you achieve your ideal future;

7109.  Gratitude is the antidote to anger.  You can’t be grateful and angry at the same time;

7110.  When we view our lives through the lens of gratitude and appreciation we experience a level of freedom and fulfillment like never before.  Sometimes in life it’s when we lose one of our blessings – our health, our mobility, a loved one, a job, a friend – that we put aside our grumblings and gain a true appreciation for all the gifts that grace our lives;

7111.  How to put the past behind you: 1.  Practice forgiveness; 2.  Practice gratitude; 3.  Remember that your thoughts determine your reality; 4.  Consciously choose to remember how awesome you are; and 5.  Make a list of your successes;

7112.  Our finances, relationships, health, happiness and every other area are dictated by our thinking.  If you want a different result in life, you need to change your thinking first;

7113.  Very often people get hung up on “thinking like successful people” and forget a key element: what they’re feeling.  Listening to your emotions is critical to understanding what is holding you back both consciously and unconsciously;

7114.  Successful people know that our emotions drive everything.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed, afraid, stressed, sad, depressed or any other negative emotion, your brain is less resourceful and less able to help you make good decisions or take important actions.  If you want to have more energy, make better decisions, be more creative and have more success in life, develop the habit of paying attention to your emotions.  Then do what’s needed to be in the right emotional state;

7115.  Most of the habits, patterns and beliefs that we have today were developed between the ages of 0 and 6 years old.  They weren’t developed consciously, they were essentially downloaded from our parents and from other people and events happening around us at the time;

7116.  We didn’t have a choice as to what beliefs were given to us or what events were happening around us.  Unfortunately, many of those beliefs, patterns and experiences were negative and have limited us in our adult life;

7117.  We have a choice over what beliefs, patterns and habits we want to keep or discard.  And we have a choice over the meanings we give our past experiences;

7118.  Successful people are aware of how limiting, old beliefs, habits, patterns and experiences can be and they do whatever it takes to change them;

7119.  The past does not equal the future.  Past challenges can either be dwelled upon for years or accepted as necessary life lessons on the path;

7120.  Successful people see failing as a part of the learning process.  And no matter how much they fail, they’re never willing to quit;

7121.  Never see failure as defining who you are;

7122.  When unsuccessful people fail, they see themselves as a failure;

7123.  Learn to never see yourself as a failure and to see failure itself as a learning process.  Then, you’ll never do the one thing you’re avoiding . . . failing;

7124.  Failure never exists if you see it as part of a longer journey of success;

7125.  Successful people prioritize their lives differently.  They know that the important stuff is what will get them to where they want to be.  They do the big tasks on projects at the beginning of the day and they leave the e-mails to later in the day;

7126.  Women tend to show intimacy by sharing their feelings, while men tend to express their caring through their actions;

7127.  Follow your dharma not someone else’s . . . yours.  And understand, you won’t always get it right.  Forgive yourself for that.  Other people won’t always get it right either.  Forgive them for that.  We’re all just doing our best with whatever we’ve got to work with (at) this time;

7128.  Being an outward conduit of love, kindness and selfless service to others as well as being a willing and grateful recipient of love, kindness and selfless service from others is what completes the universal circuitry of abundance in your life;

7129.  When you see people who give and give and give without being in a place to also receive, it doesn’t end up “lighting up” their abundance.  They just get depleted.  Equally, when people just take and take and take without being in a place to also give back, that doesn’t “light up” their abundance either.  That is also depleting;

7130.  When you give to people who aren’t in a space to do something with what they receive, what they receive weakens them.  It doesn’t strengthen them;

7131.  When you give to someone and it weakens them (because it’s enabling a destructive or unhelpful behavior pattern), that’s not being of service to them;

7132.  All of my grandparents have (now) passed;

7133.  My brother thinks my uncle may have been schizophrenic;

7134.  The best stories to share are the ones that scare you the most;

7135.  Expose yourself to as many different situations and people as you can.  Have empathy and gratitude for both the chaos and the calm.  The world is an incredible place full of incredible people;

7136.  There is only one grand lie; that we are limited.  The only limits we have are the limits we believe;

7137.  Less than 10% of cancer is based on heredity.  90% of cancer is based on lifestyle and belief;

7138.  Within all of us is a divine capacity to manifest and attract all that we need and desire;

7139.  Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner;

7140.  Life helps us grow, correct and evolve through kensho, which is growth by pain, or satori, which is growth by insight;

7141.  Your struggles develop your strengths;

7142.  Our life is the creation of our mind;

7143.  Suffering in life can uncover untold depths of character and unknown strength of service;

7144.  If you want to be happy, make other people happy;

7145.  A winner is a dreamer who never gives up;

7146.  Whatever you’re thinking and feeling today is creating your future;

7147.  Your thoughts and your feelings create your life;

7148.  There is no education like adversity;

7149.  Take the first step in faith.  You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step;

7150.  Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls;