MASTERFUL LIVING

Our Thoughts Make Us What We Are

For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. Hamlet

                                                                                                      William Shakespeare

An event happens in your life. The event is just that, an event; it has no connotations of severity, positive or negative. The feelings about it is a decision from within. We alone decide whether it is good or bad, positive or negative, painful or joyful. Once the decision is made in response to the event, the brain takes over and provides the proper emotion to accompany the decision.

Although many of our responses have now become conditioned to reoccurring events, it is necessary to become aware of the fact that it is all happening by choice and we can consciously choose to change the conditioning and enjoy a more responsible and joyous life of mastery.

We all need to accept the fact that anything relating to and happening in our lives is our responsibility and can be controlled by us. It is somehow comforting to blame conditions in our lives on others, circumstances,upbringing, DNA; and often, even God. Do this little exercise: decide to take action and follow a plan and you will overcome whatever it is in your life that is undesirable. By the same means you can bring about the desirable. Do this regularly and you will see that others may have caused it but you must take responsibility for changing it. After a few times of successfully changing conditions, notice the power surge and the expansion of confidence in your mind.

Life is all about thought. It has the power to move energy and create whatever circumstances we want but we must first accept full responsibility. To get a more thorough understanding of how this works, go to my website: charles-king-masterful-living .com and read the free e-book: Lifelong Lessons From a Schoolyard Bully. I believe this will make it all clear.

Make thanks giving a daily event----Happy Thanksgiving 

What's Your Passion?

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.

                                                                                                   Alfred Lord Tennyson
                                                                                                 English poet (1809 - 1892)

There are numerous synonyms for passion that alone explain its value to our lives. There are such strong and convicting feelings as fervor, ardor, enthusiasm and zeal; all arousing intense emotion and compelling action.

Emotions relating to passion are intensely exciting and, to a degree, insuppressible. One who acknowledges his passion becomes obsessed by it. On the other hand, fervor is a warm and steady emotion that implies a strong feeling for something. Similarly, ardor implies a warm and excited feeling likely to be fitful or short-lived but often resurfacing. Enthusiasm arises from a lively or eager interest in, or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity.

Zeal implies energetic and unflagging pursuit of an aim or devotion to a cause. Put all of these together and we can easily discern from them a burning desire for something that unfortunately, the majority of us never really acknowledge.

Those who discover and acknowledge their passion and pursue it are the ones who contribute meaningfully to the well-being of others. History tells us that, unfortunately only a minority of the population has ever acknowledged their passions.

In our mentoring process we acknowledge the importance of passion to a masterful and fruitful life by helping each client discover his/her passion and aspire to live it. We know that this is the way to real and complete fulfillment.

We are all here for the expression of a meaningful purpose and we further believe that this purpose arouses passion, which is that feeling of curiosity and driving urge to make something different, better or more useful and beneficial to a segment of a population.

At some point we have all felt our passion but have suppressed it in favor of finding a means of survival or because of the fear of venturing out in pursuit of that passion. We do know this: that life really takes off for the person who decides to let his/her passion be his/her guide.

So You Think You'd Like to be Wealthy

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential -- for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never.

                                                                                                                 Søren Kierkegaard

For many of us wealth is a desire. For some it is a consuming desire. For others, it is not a desire at all. Yet for most, wealth remains an aspiration never achieved. The question arises: do we really know what it is or even how to get it. I hasten to point out that it is available to everyone; in fact we are equipped to achieve it if we seek it in the right way.

Wealth is an attitude of mind that must come to fruition for the right reasons. Most of us seek wealth because we think it will bring us eternal pleasure and be an end all to our problems. To the contrary it would be the beginning of problems to those who seek it as a cure for problems. What we really seek is happiness and meaning in our lives. Wealth will not bring this. As one person has said:"We are about as happy as we make up our minds to be." Meaning comes from within and there are those who are far from being materially wealthy that are as happy and enjoy as much meaning as they desire. Mother Teressa was as wealthy as Bill Gates but in a different way.

The person seeking wealth is very much like the person seeking more time in the day. If it were possible to give them more time, would they be any more efficient with the additional time? The problem is not lack of time but rather poor management of what they have. Those who are seeking wealth for wealth's sake are beset with the same problem. Let us be clear, inwardly we contain the answer to everything we seek outwardly. When we learn this, we can go anywhere and have anything.

So you think you want to be wealthy? Let us then start ourselves on the right course by examining what is involved. Wealth is cyclical. Once on the path, we remain on the path and although we may enjoy the material trappings of it, we never lose sight of the real focus that got us there. As stated earlier wealth is an attitude that encompasses the following:

1. Discover and love your passion--Let it consume you until it becomes the white heat of desire

2. Research your passion and continually prepare the means of expressing it

3. Use your passion vehicle to serve others

4. if your passion is worthy of remuneration, the more you serve the more remuneration you will receive

5. Review, evaluate and validate your service, always seeking to improve it.

6. Develop and maintain a state of gratitude

7. Confirm your passion and continue the cycle.

When you go  around the cycle a few times you will be confirmed and in a position to do as Warren Buffet-- commit to give 38 billion dollars(or a lesser amount) away and show up at work the next day because he loves his work. Only one question remains: Do you really want to be wealthy or do you simply want to be happy and have peace of mind. Each can be yours if you look in the right places and are willing to pay the price?

Let me know what you think.

Call us, we can mentor you to the desired ends you seek.

Charles King

DON'T FORGET! MY NEW BOOK, OVERCOMING THE OVERWHELMING IS AVAILABLE. JUST GO TO OUR WEBSITE: charles-king-masterful-living.com and order your copy today. While you are there, check out our mentoring, coaching and inspirational speaking services. They could make a remarkable difference in your life.

Oh! The Joy in Store for Us

Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

Oh! The joy and exhilaration of discovering oneself and being one's authentic self. From there you can blaze continuous new trails, become whatever your passion beckons you to be; occupy any station in life you choose. God has designed the means for our journey into the unknown and as we journey and discover what is in store for us we will live a life of continous awe.

As I study the lives of achievers of the past I have yet to find one who embraced the status quo, embraced current reality or cared what others thought of them. They pursued their passions relentlessly and found guidance to continue until their work gave them the satisfaction that they had become true tansformers rather than conformers.

Interestingly, the works of these contributors to our well being have had a lasting effect.That which they left behind have laid the foundation for others to continue to transform life.  Here are a few examples such as Thomas Edison whose work is carried on by corporations such as GE and many others, the Wright Brothers and the aircraft and airline industries, even space flight; Booker T. Washington and Tuskeegee Institute and the Tuskeege Airmen; Florence Nightindale and the art and skill of nursing.

The achievers who have caused our civilization and our lives to be what they are, are too numerous to mention but let us realize that they had nothing more than any one of us. Today, none of these persons would likely be able to gain employment in the industries they spawned.

The Challenging question for each of us is this: will we be a transformer or a conformer--- going to our graves with the sweetest music of our being yet unplayed.

DON'T FORGET! MY NEW BOOK, OVERCOMING THE OVERWHELMING IS AVAILABLE. JUST GO TO OUR WEBSITE: charles-king-masterful-living.com and order your copy today. While you are there, check out our mentoring, coaching and inspirational speaking services. They could make a remarkable difference in your life.

Let's See Ourselves Through the Eyes of the Divine

When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about.

Albert Einstein, The World as I See It.

The DNA design of the oak tree is in the acorn. It is unimagiable to most of us how this could be, but each time we see the "mighty oak" we know it came out of that little acorn.

Similarly the design for our masterful, purposeful lives is etched in us and,as the acorn, which rests in the earth until the oak tree develops, so must we relax,discover our passion and with Divine (universal)guidance allow our being to become what it can. We need to see ourselves in the eyes of the Divine.

Life: Its Ours to Exalt or Squander

There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, "It all depends on me."                                                                        

                                                                                 Andre Gide

                                                                        French critic, essayist, & novelist (1869 - 1951)

In my monthly E-newsletter, published on October 29, I included an Article of the Month, titled "Only the Entreprenuerial Shall Survive." This article could well have been titled, "Only the Self-Reliant Shall Survive." I used the term entrepreneurial because it is a term that we need better understand here in the 21st Century. It is a term that suggests organizing and managing and taking the risks of a business, or enterprise. That is the condition where we all find ourselves, whether employed or self-employed.

In that article I referred to the recent strikes by the employees of the big three auto makers. These employees were seeking "job security" as a promise in their contracts. I warned that anyone seeking "job security" in these times should beware; that if they get it, it would not be worth the paper it is written on.

This week 12,000 employees at the Chrysler Corporation learned the truth of this warning. The ink had barely dried on their contract before they had experienced this truth first hand. I guess it is alright for people to want to delude themselves; nevertheless the facts are clear: we must exalt ourselves to a state of self-reliance where our well being depends on ourselves. To believe otherwise is to face a dim future with many unnecessary disappointments and pitfalls along the way.

It is not my desire to frighten those who are currently employed by others or to cast negative reflections on employers. It is simply a matter of fact that the current conditions in our global society has created a dynamic that has not been known in our corporate history. The employer who finds it necessary to terminate employees, generally do it out of a necessity spawned by the economic, political and social conditions of our times. I acknowlege that some employers could handle the situation in a more caring manner, nonetheless the facts remains we live in a time where no one can secure our lives except us.

In my view God designed each of us for this very eventuality with the capability of standing on our own and creating a life that we can enjoy in our own way. For varying reasons over the past one hundred years here in America, employers tried to make us feel secure in an effort to get good productivity from us. From the very beginning God designed us to be self sustaining and self sufficient. The challenge of that design is now clearly before us and each of us must answer the call. Whether currently employed or whether working for oneself it makes no difference. It should be clear: "It all depends on me." If we will live a life of joy and prosperity each of us must take the challenge.

If you are wondering how to get started, visit our website: charles-king-masterful-living.com. We can help you.

Live Masterfully,

Charles King

Welcome

Today marks the beginning of a wonderful and beneficial adventure here at Masterful Living. For many years I have begun my morning with an inspirational message from persons--philosophers, achievers, inventors, politicians, scientists, business persons and just plain folks from the highways and by-ways.

Starting the day in this manner not only gives me something to reflect on but also it inspires me to stay focused and cause me to look on the brighter side. It is like sharing inspirational thoughts with a friend. Here’s hoping you will find our well thought out messages inspirational as well as beneficial.

Welcome to our maiden voyage and I hope the two to three minutes you take to reflect on the daily messages will help you on your journey to mastery over your life. We are here to help you in whatever way we can. Our theme is: “Living the way God intended.” That intent is that we master life. We are here to help each of you do just that.

For additional information about the services we offer, I invite you to visit our website at www.charles-king-masterful-living.com.

Charles King