Once you make a decision, the Universe conspires to make it happen. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had first heard of “The Secret,” during the NBC Poker heads up championship, in an interview with Shannon Elizabeth.  I honestly did not know what she was talking about, but it sounded like new age bull.  In fact, Jim and I joked and laughed about the interview a number of times.

Then in December, not too long after I had decided I had, had enough with poker, that I needed something else in my life that would feed my soul, my good friend Sanjay said he had something he wanted to give to me.  We were heading down to Binion’s cafe after a show, when he handed me this DVD.  I immediately saw the words The Secret, and as I took it into my hands, I did my best to quickly conceal what it was.  Jim was standing there, we had laughed about this in the past, and after being handed this DVD I was immediately transported back to the seventh grade, where all of a sudden peer pressure mattered.  But it was too late, he  happened to catch a glimpse of it.  I played it off, and later told him since it was a gift, the least I could do was watch it.  So watch it I did.

I was home alone on a Saturday afternoon, and I was meeting the group later that evening, I don’t recall what for, but it was probably one of the many free shows we have gone to see.  I shut my bedroom lights off, popped the DVD into the machine, and figured I would at least get a good nap in.  After getting through the introduction, and various guests came on, they began to share stories of how the Law of Attraction impacts your life.  They shared their experiences, good and bad, and immediately I started to take note of very similar occurrences in my own life.  I was not going to be able to nap today.  It was as if a light turned on in my head, and when watching the negative examples, I would think, “That’s me.”  And when they showed the positive examples, I would then think, “That could be me.”

I dove head first into this, and there is no looking back now.  I see every day how my life continuously changes for the better, and how much happier I am now when I make an effort to find my gratitude, and the feedback I am getting from friends, family, and complete strangers tells me I am on the right path.

Another thing I witness every day is evidence of the Law of Attraction working in my life, most often good things, and sometimes bad.  I will over the next couple of days share some stories of my experiences.  I am grateful that the Law of Attraction is working in my life, and I am grateful that I get to share this with you.

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In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.  It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.  We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.  ~Albert Schweitzer

After the highly inspirational night I had yesterday, I am extremely grateful for fellowship.

The plans we had for last night, started out as a movie night.  I invited a few friends over, went to Hollywood video, rented  a few movies, laid out what grew quickly into a buffet of snacks, and anticipated their arrival.  Before it was all over with, we decided not to even watch the movies, we were all having too good a time just sitting around talking, and that is what we did until well after one in the morning.  Honestly, I could have gone all night if they had chosen to do so as well, the kind of discussions we were having last night is what I live for.

Growing up, I was probably the most exhausted student in school, rather I was the most exhausted student who didn’t have an after school job, in my school.  The reason is, because my dad and I would talk for hours about religion, politics, and philosophy.  I would plan on going to bed at eleven, and I would stop by his room to say good night and find him as always sitting up reading.  It would usually start with me asking a question, and then there we would go, and the next thing I know it is almost four in the morning, and I had to be up at seven for school.  The same thing usually happened with me and my brother-in-law when I would visit him and my sister.

I did this most of my life.  When we attended Church, after the Sunday night service, afterwards just about everyone would meet at the local pizza place, and while all of my friends were playing Pac-Man, and my little brother ran around with his friends, I would be sitting at the table listening to my dad and his friends talk, and every now and then I would get a little froggy and jump into the conversation.

I still do this.  About five nights a week, I phone my dad, and we usually end up talking two hours or more, and once again it is all about philosophy, religion, and politics.  We always called it Church.  There is a scripture in the bible that say, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.–Matt. 18:20.”  However, I have come to realize, that one thing I have missed from “Church,” is fellowship.

Fellowship is to put it simply, companionship, a group of people with like minded interests, and something that I have learned is important.  You need fellowship for a number of reasons.  Fellowship helps you grow, it helps to inspire you, and if you have the right kind of fellowship, it challenges you.  It doesn’t have to be just about spirituality, the Wednesday Poker Discussion group is a fellowship, and since I don’t play poker anymore, something I don’t participate in.  That is not to say that I don’t attend events with friends, but therein lies the problem.  That is mainly what I do, is I attend events with them, we all sit together in a theater, looking to someone on a stage to provide us with entertainment, it is a social event, without the socializing.  Last night was different, all we did was talk, for hours, and it was an amazing night.  There were no distractions, it was up to us to actually interact with each other, it wasn’t forced, there was no poker chatter, no board games, the only thing that drove the conversation was the giving and taking of thoughts and ideas.

I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such a great group of people, who even if they don’t share the same beliefs I have, still support me, because they are happy that I am happy. For that I am grateful, that they provide me with the fellowship I need, and I am grateful that they have allowed me into their life to do the same for them.

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It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.  ~Marlene Dietrich

Today I am grateful for Ed Galvin.

I have discussed our group of friends on many occasions, and how amazing they all are, but today I want to single one of our group out, Ed Galvin.

Never in your life would you meet a more kind, caring and giving person.  Ed truly is one of those that you could call up at 4 a.m. if needed, and he would be happy to show up.

In 2006, after moving in with my now roommate Linda Johnson, I was going through a rather difficult time, emotionally and financially.  In fact I was quite depressed and lonely.  I went from living in my own home with my family, four dogs and two cats, to pretty much living on my own, because of Linda’s schedule with the World Poker Tour show, or boot camp, or speaking engagements at one of the many card rooms across the country, she is rarely, if ever home.

During this period, one person that helped keep me going was Ed.  Ed would just show up and drag me out of the house whether it was just to go and run errands with him, or have lunch.  In the eyes of the giver, this would be just a small gesture, but in the eyes of the recipients, this could very well be a life saver.  It takes a special kind of person to know when it is time to reach out, and Ed was aware enough to know that, that was indeed the right time.

Thank you Ed, I am grateful to have you in my life, as I know we all are, your kindness knows no bounds.

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 Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition. — Abraham Lincoln

Today I am grateful for recognition.

As I walked into work today, I saw Rich the store manager walking down one of the aisles and he called out my name.  As I approached him, he began to congratulate me on my “shop.”  A shop is when a secret shopper comes into the store and evaluates you, without you knowing it.  I assumed he was talking about the shop I got on Super Bowl Sunday, where I scored a 100%.  When you do well with a shop, every supervisor is required to come by and congratulate you, in fact you have to initial each of their forms, so they can prove to their bosses, that they are doing their job.  Rich had already congratulated me, I figured he was just following up on it again.

Much to my surprise, he was actually congratulating me on a second shop I had received.  This time the shop was not held by Von’s secret shopper program, but Starbucks’, and I received a five star rating which I learned later is actually quite difficult.

In order to receive a five star rating in a Starbucks’ shop, you unknowingly are put through the ringer by the secret shopper.  If you miss just one thing on their list you don’t fail, but you sure don’t get a five star rating.  The process may include taking the order, and answering all questions about the order including how the item is made.  You also must offer an additional item to the customer, as well as provide the item in a timely order, and not only does it have to be the correct weight, but temperature as well.

The great thing, is we had corporate big wigs in the store the other day, and the president of the company actually congratulated me on my successful first shop.  Well when you get a five star on a Starbucks’ shop, this apparently moves up the chain of command pretty fast and he was in contact with the store manager today expressing his pleasure with my performance.

All throughout the day, I was approached by a number of people that apparently work for Von’s, but I had never seen.  I apparently was the subject of discussion at some big meeting, the last quote I heard was that someone said during the meeting, “this guy is good.”  Needless to say this all made my day.

The cherry on top of the sundae was when the manager of Starbucks’ gave me a Valentine’s card, that simply said, “thank you for all that you do.”

Each day, I wake up and I give thanks for everything under the sun.  I do my best to carry this gratitude throughout the day, and try to spread a bit of good cheer to everyone I can, and it is working.

I am grateful that I am the subject of conversation, and it is good.  One of the quotes I have on the cards that I print out and carry around with me is from Carl Harris, and it says:

Perception is the co-pilot to reality.  How people perceive you will impact how they deal with you.  All the important decisions about your career are made when you’re not in the room.

It is nice to be recognized, and I am grateful that I am worthy of recognition.

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I am grateful that I am a weirdo.

Have reverence for the product, irreverence for everything else. — Unknown

First a bit of back story. I have been printing up little cards with inspirational reminders for me to carry throughout the day, I do this for two reasons. One to help me keep focused on positive thoughts, the second, to give out if I find someone in need of a little emotional and / or spiritual lift.

Someone at work was expressing how they hated their job, which isn’t surprising to say the least. Americans hate their jobs more than ever, screams the headline. “Satisfaction level hits new low, especially among younger workers.”

Well it so happens the card I was carrying with me that day had this quote on it. “If you refuse to change your job (if you don’t like it), the only sensible thing you can do is practicing loving it every day.” This quote is from the book Everyday Wisdom For Success, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

I handed the young lady this card, she looked at it closely, read it, stuck it in her pocket and said, “You’re a weirdo.” Now, in her defense, she wasn’t being mean, she’s young, she thought it was funny. My response to her was, “well you have choices in life.”

My whole point is that here we are, she’s talking about how she hates this job, and she will show up again tomorrow. Now who really is the weirdo? Who decides to continue to do something that they hate? And why? We all have choices in life, there are only so many days we have left on this planet, and for some only seconds, so why spend another minute doing something that you hate so much? Quit whatever it is that you’re doing, or start practicing loving your job every day.

Now of course this sounds very irresponsible. But is it? Are we not responsible for our own happiness?

One thing that the Law of Attraction teaches is that thoughts become things, and the more “vibration,” or energy we give to those thoughts the faster we attract them. So the more time you spend hating anything, you are spending time thinking about the very thing you hate, and the amount of energy or vibration you give off when thinking about those things you hate, you will only attract much more of that, and much quicker.

So the choice ultimately is hers, she much like a lot of people would rather complain, instead of taking responsibility for her own life, and creating her own reality. The result is she will only get more of the same. It reminds me of something I used to say all of the time, “I would NEVER work in fast food.” Then I spent almost seven years with Taco Bell.

The universe doesn’t pay attention to the word NEVER, it only hears the words work, and fast food. It only knows that those are your thoughts.  So instead of focusing on the things we don’t want, we need to focus on the things we do want. Instead of saying things like, “I don’t want to get sick,” say something like, “I am grateful for my good health.”  Regardless whether or not you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, quit wasting time on hating things, instead find something to be grateful for.

I love my job, and I am grateful for all that it provides me, and I am grateful that I can share with others what I am learning each day, and if that makes me a weirdo. I can tell you one thing, I am a grateful, happy weirdo.

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Every single person who has drifted in and out of your life is a part of your Divinely chosen experience.  So, give thanks for all of these people, and take serious note of what they have brought you. — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

I am grateful for the many people in my life who set such great examples on how to live abundantly.

Thank you to my mentors Linda and Jan, who have taught me how to be “rolled for life.”  Through them I have learned how important it is to experience life, and to always be prepared when life provides you a great opportunity.

Thank you Mylene for showing me how to love unconditionally, regardless of what Jim says, you will win the friends.
Thank you Jim for showing me how to listen, and thank you for listening so often.  Don’t worry, you have already won me.

Thank you Sanjay for showing me how to grow up, and how to take responsibility for my own happiness, thank you for sharing the Law of Attraction with me.

Thank you Randi for showing me how not to sweat the small stuff.  Never have I seen someone live the proverb “like water off of a duck’s back,” more so, than Randi.  Life “is what it is,” and she accepts it, good and bad, and never let’s the bad get the best of her.

Thank you Diana Plante, for showing me how to hold your head up high, even when your body just won’t let you.

Thank you Jean Plante, for showing me how to implant the seeds of success into those that you love.

Thank you Randy for showing me how to defy the odds, and take control over your own health.

Thank you Rita for showing me how to live with grace and class.

Thank you Denny for showing me how to maintain courage in the face of the daily grind.

Thank you Joanie and David, for showing me how to make love last.

As you can see, when I look around me, there are so many great examples to learn from.  I take a little bit from each and everyone of those around me, and learn how I can apply the lessons that they quietly teach me, to my life.  I pray that I do the same for them.

I am grateful for the examples you all have set.  Thank you again.

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We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

Today I am grateful for bullet lists.

Each day I am grateful for many things, but I usually focus on one. However, it is important to me to make sure that every now and then I express everything I am grateful for, and today I will take the time to do that using a bullet list.

I am grateful for…

• My health
• My father
• My sister
• My nieces
• My roommate
• My friends
• My job
• My car
• My fellow employees
• My boss
• My customers

This is not a short cut, but in reality what a gratitude journal should look like, these are the things I am grateful for each day. But instead of writing this list down each day on my blog, I choose to pontificate on just one thing I am grateful for, wrapping it up in big words, a nice quote, and neat picture. That is not to say that I do not express these things out loudly, I do, but what I do here each day on my blog, is I write for entertainment, I write for inspiration, I write to express myself, whether it is just for myself or others.

It is really hard to put into words how much being grateful has changed my life. If you choose to look for and focus on what you are lacking in life, you will definitely find it, and get more of it, just like if you choose to look for and focus on what you are grateful for in life, you will find it, and get more of that.

So please, do yourself a favor. Today, go out and buy a little notebook, or open up word / wordperfect on your computer, and start your own gratitude journal. You don’t have to “wax poetic,” just write down a simple bullet list each day of the things you are grateful for, you too will soon start to see more of those things coming into your life.

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I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money - Pablo Picasso

 I am grateful for money

With many things in life like food, I have had an unhealthy relationship with money.  Something tells me when hearing the news of our economy, with people losing homes they could never afford to begin with, I am not the only one.

It all begins with being taught that “money is the root of all evil.”  For some reason we are supposed to despise money, and those that have accumulated it.  I have held such negative thoughts that only rich successful people could get there by hook or crook, or by stepping on the backs of others.  Even in the bible it says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, than a rich man into heaven.

In fact when doing a search on one of my favorite quote sites about money, most of the quotes view money in a negative light.  Here are just a few samples.

• They who are of the opinion that Money will do everything, may very well be suspected to do everything for Money.  ~George Savile
• There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.  ~Robert Graves
• When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart.  ~John Wesley

Money is not the root of all evil, it is man’s intentions.  If we traded cat litter for goods and services, I would wager you a 5lb bag of Fresh Step, that a crack addict would knock over a pensioner for an unused scoop.

When people here about The Secret, or hear about the Laws of Attraction, one of the first things they think about is, “oh that’s the philosophy that teaches you how to get stuff.”  Yeah, that is one of the things they do discuss.  The universe is your catalog, anything and everything is yours for the asking.  However, when you delve deeper you will find what it really teaches you is that you need to be wealthy in all things, financial, spiritual, and health.  Why?  So that you can in turn, help your fellow man.

I am seeing how this applies in my own life.  I have two nieces and my older sister who I adore.  They are the most important people in my life out of many important people in my life.  I would love to give them the world, and I see now that if I balance my life, by being responsible for my own happiness, and finding my passion, that I will experience success, and through that success, not only can I provide them with a better life, but others as well.

In The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles puts it this way.

1. You do not want to get rich in order to live swinishly.
2. You do not want to get rich solely to enjoy mental pleasures.
3. You do not want to get rich solely for the good of others.

“You want to get rich in order that you may eat, drink and be merry when it is time to do these things; in order that you may surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed your mind, and develop your intellect; in order that you may love mankind and do kind things, and be able to play a good part in helping the world to find truth.”

So yeah, I am grateful for money, and I am in the process of developing a healthier relationship with it.

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I am learning all the time.  The tombstone will be my diploma.  ~Eartha Kitt

Each day brings me new challenges, and new insight, and I am grateful that I am learning something, and today I would like to share something I learned on Saturday.

In previous posts I have mentioned how I need to act in the present, and learn from the past, and in many of those posts I have also discussed how I behaved in the past, and how that has changed today.

Try to learn from the past, rather than repeating it, and making references to it all of the time. — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

In studying the Law of Attraction, I learned yesterday, that to continue to give so much thought about my past behaviors, and to write about them, I am still focusing my energy on them, and as long as I do, those behaviors will continue to manifest themselves into my life.

You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality. — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

So from here on out, I will not speak of past behaviors, I will only reference the present and my current reality.

In addition to my gratitude posts, I will soon start posting desire statements, along with a journal that documents evidence of attraction.  As I continue to learn, these new features will be added to the blog.

I love to learn, I love the library and all it has to offer.  I am grateful that I feel inspired again to pick up books and absorb as much information as I can, or to sit down and talk with friends about things that are not just poker related, and learn from them.  I am grateful that I have found the many dimensions that were hidden within me, that make me a much more rounded individual.  I am grateful that I have so much to offer this world, I am grateful for so many things, and the only reason I am so grateful is because I am learning to be.

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On January 23rd, I wrote a post titled 30 Days to 10 New Habits, in which I decided I detailed how I would spend the next 30 days attempting to create new habits, or break old ones.

This evening, I wish to spend some time updating you on my progress.

1. Appearance - The goal was to spend the next 30 days preparing myself for the world as if I were going out on a job interview, or date. So far so good, with the exception of one day, I have every day gotten out of bed, showered and shaved, and dressed appropriately. There have been a few occasions where I was wearing shorts, but I made sure that I looked presentable for company.
2. Finger Nails - The goal, for the next 30 days I would not pick at my finger nails. I have hit this goal every day with 100% accuracy. I have caught myself getting ready to pick at my nails, but stopped myself before actually doing it.
3. To Do List - The goal was to create a to do list every day, follow through with it through out the day, then update it at night moving unfinished tasks onto tomorrow’s list. This goal I have not had much success with, in fact I have failed at this particular goal.
4. Clean My Car - The goal was to clean my car daily, and wash it at least weekly, while vacuuming it out at least once every other week. As far as keeping my car clean I am currently hitting around .800. I failed to wash my car this week, and have not made the opportunity to vacuum it out once.
5. Writing - The goal was to find at least one hour a day to spend on writing something outside of this blog. I have failed at this goal too.
6. Eating - The goal was to get back to some of the health eating patterns I developed right after my lap band surgery, as well as updating my lap band blog. While I have been successful at not eating past a certain time at night, I have noticed that for some reason I seem to be hungry all of the time. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the increased energy I am burning while working. This has affected my grazing habits, while I may not eat past a certain time at night, I am still grazing much more than I am comfortable with.
7. Exercise - The goal was to find at least 30 minutes a day to just move. Currently I am getting more than enough exercise with my new job. I know some people would argue that I should be exercising outside of work, but right now that’s just impossible for me to do physically. I am proud that I am able to get through an eight hour work day where I am on my feet, moving 100% of the time. As my health, strength, and endurance increases, I will begin to add some real exercise back into my life.
8. Random Acts of Kindness - My goal was to perform at least one random act of kindness a day, I am once again batting about .800 here. There are days, like today where I didn’t leave the house, so I was unable to really accomplish this goal, but when I am out and about, I make certain to do something that would brighten someone’s day.
9. Meditation / Prayer - The goal was to find time in the morning, during the middle of the day, and night to meditate. I am proud to say that I am batting a .1000 here. In fact I’m doing much better than that. I find myself meditating at numerous times throughout the day, even if its just going through a little chant to get me through the day. My lunch is spent in my car, where I take that time to turn on some classical music, and once again go through my mantra, and do some deep breathing exercises.
10. Organize - The goal was to try to organize at least one aspect of my life each day, whether it was just organizing a drawer in my bedroom, my glove box whatever, as well as start a financial diary. Initially this goal I was hitting every day with the exception of the financial diary. I started off a bit slow, but went out and bought myself a little organizer for my receipts. Then Randi helped me set up Quicken on my laptop, and now I’m proud to say that every day I enter my daily spending into the ledger and am keeping track of where my money goes.

As far as organizing goes, this last week it was tough to just get through the day physically. Most days I worked, then came home and went directly to bed, where I laid there nursing my pains until I fell asleep, then got up and did it all over again. In fact, my room was a bit tore up this week, due to the fact that I couldn’t even bend over to pick things up without fear of throwing my back out. But today I spent the day cleaning it up, and organizing my closet.

As you can see, I did not meet all my goals, but the important thing is that I am trying and I am meeting some of them.

The elevator to success is out of order today. You’re going to have to take the stairway, one step at a time. — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

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