Life in Small Bites

by Brian Johnson

If you had a boiling pot of water and you wanted to easily and permanently make the water stop boiling, would you:

A) Drop in two ice cubes at regular intervals; or,

B) Turn the flame off/move the pot off the heat?

Unless you’re insane, you’d pick option B, eh? Seems so simple… Yet, somehow, in a world where 15 million+ peeps have purchased Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, we’ve failed to implement Habit #1 to “Be Proactive.”

Instead, we throw our hands up in the air at all the symptoms we experience (from acid reflux to depression) and, rather than go after the causes of these ailments, we reach for another couple ice cubes to temporarily reduce the heat while doing *nothing* to deal with the flame at the root of the underlying problem.

*bizarre*

How ’bout you. Do you ever do that? What ice cube tray are you relying on and what can you do to deal with the cause of the issue?!

P.S. Check out the mini-video for this chapter here!

By Marilyn Jenett – Reprinted with permission 

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. I’m going to roam off the usual path…

Born a Jew, I removed myself from the practice, culture and tradition early in life in order to follow my chosen spiritual path instead of a religious one. I have no affiliation to religion, but have always believed that the common denominator in all religions should be the love for the Creator and love for all mankind (and that includes ourselves), and religion should serve as a path to a personal connection to the Source.

Stories of the Holocaust always bring tears. Not because I’m Jewish. Because I’m human. And that’s why I want to tell you this story. My thoughts drift to a woman I met several years ago. Her story had a profound impact on me at that time and always “shocks” me into perspective whenever I think of her…

Maybe you’re going through a difficult time, experiencing financial limitation or otherwise challenged in some area of life. Perhaps this story will give you a little shock, too…you know, the kind that lifts us out of our “pity party,” renews our faith in our ability to overcome those challenges…and may even change our life forever….

I hope it will remind you of a very important aspect of prosperity consciousness…the ability to realize how fortunate you really are…

In 2003, I was contracted to book the first of many locations for my client, Campbell Soup, for their multi-million dollar “Souper Star” promotions for children. The first location that I found and secured for them was a beautiful white Malibu estate.

The owner of the mansion was a woman named Punty Bogart. Punty was 80 years old. She was petite, energetic and very feisty. Her home was pristine and beautifully elegant in European style. She wasn’t the easiest person to deal with, but she did take a liking to me and she could be very charming.

One day I had to visit her to have her sign some contracts. I noticed that she was limping, which I hadn’t seen her do before. I asked her if she had fallen. In her European accent, she replied, “No darling, it’s from the concentration camp.”

Punty sat me down and told me a story that left me stunned.

When Punty was just 20 years old, she and her family were sent to a concentration camp. Well, that wasn’t so unusual. I had met and read about survivors of the Holocaust. But what she told me next was probably one of the most unusual accounts I could ever imagine. Punty was taken to the gas chamber with hundreds of other women. I sat motionless and tears welled up as she relived her experience. She said that the women were crying and screaming, “God, why have you done this to me?”

Punty was pulled from the gas chamber by guards because they needed someone to clean the toilets. It saved her life.

You may meet people who have survived the camps. But you never meet anyone who survived the gas chamber.

None of her family survived. She later met her husband and they came to America, went into business and created their wealth.

Her sporadic pain that caused the limp was a reminder of her past. She had many health ailments, which I understand is not uncommon to survivors of that period.

In my life, I have sometimes thought about what happened during the Holocaust. It’s incomprehensible to me how something of that magnitude could have happened. It would stir very deep feelings in me and I don’t believe it is because I was born a Jew. It’s because I was born human. And I cannot fathom how that kind of inhumanity could take root and grow — at the hands of a madman, no less.

I may never be able to fathom it. But I will always be grateful that I was born in this time and in this country. It may not be perfect, but it’s a great deal closer to heaven than so many other places…and if you are reading this story, then chances are pretty good you’re not too far from heaven either.

And that’s a lot to be grateful for.

I thank Punty for giving me such a great frame of gratitude reference. Gratitude is after all one of the greatest, if not the greatest of the prosperity laws.

I first posted this story about Punty online a few years ago. Her granddaughter, Johanna Engel, contacted me. Punty and her husband had moved to the east coast and she had died in an auto accident shortly after. Johanna told me her dad was searching Punty’s name online, found my post about her and printed it out. She wrote, in part:

I’m not sure if you can still receive this message because I see you posted this a long time ago, but I want you to know that Punty was my grandma. I’m so glad to see that she left her legacy with everyone she encountered. I loved her very much and there are more to those holocaust stories that make her even more wonderful. I just really wanted to thank you for sharing, not even knowing we somehow could see it.
Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Isn’t that the truth.

Now, about your challenges…

 — Marilyn
© Copyright 2010 Marilyn Jenett, Feel Free to Prosper
All rights reserved

Marilyn Jenett, an accomplished business owner in the corporate arena, founded the Feel Free to Prosper program to mentor and teach others to become aligned with Universal laws and accept their right to prosper. For more information, visit www.FeelFreetoProsper.com.

Marilyn’s upcoming books are Feel Free to Prosper: An Entrepreneurial Memoir of Synchronicity and Guidance and Feel Free to Prosper: Two Weeks to Unexpected Income With the Simplest Prosperity Laws Available, based on her teachings.

by Brian Johnson

The Buddha tells us that one becomes good little by little—as a water pot is filled with water, drop by drop by drop. (He also tells us that one becomes evil, little by little, drop by drop by little decision drop.) Little by little. Drop by drop. Little by little. Drop by drop. After years of trying to fill my water pot ALL! AT! ONCE!, I’m finally understanding that my attempts to change everything NOW were like trying to fill a beautiful, delicate water pot with a fire hydrant. Rather than winding up with a full pot, I pretty much sprayed the thing all around the room (and nearly cracked it!). Little by little. Drop by drop. That’s the way to roll. Moment by moment. Little decision by little mundane decision. Day in and day out. THAT’s where it’s at. P.S. Check out the mini-video for this chapter here!

17 incredibly powerful observations attributed to the Dalai Lama worth posting on your bathroom mirror. Learn them and live them. They will improve your life.

Shared by Michael Josephson

1. Follow the three Rs: respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for your actions.

2. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

3. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

4. Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

6. Great love and great achievements involve great risk.

7. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

8. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

9. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. The best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

12. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

13. Spend some time alone every day.

14. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

17. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.