Will Bowen Audio

“The Lazyman’s Guide to Enlightenment” is another one of those mind-blowing books that you can read in less than two hours.

The copy that I was given is actually a xerox copy of an original.

Thaddeus Golas was into enlightenment, not money or fame.

After this book became an underground sensation, major publishers tried to pick it up.

Golas declined.

Later in life, Golas allowed a small publisher to print a couple hundred thousand copies but otherwise the book is pretty hard to come by.

My dogeared copy is one of my most prized possessions.

The entire book can be summed up in one sentence,

“What is it that you feel needs to be loved right now?”

This is the expressway to enlightenment and to happiness.

Today let’s explore how we can use love to reach enlightenment all the while being lazy.

Many of you know that I was NOT the person who came up with the idea of going 21 days in a row without complaining.

That was Edwene Gaines In her book “The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity.”

My addition was to add the purple bracelet as a mindfulness tool.

Edwene Gaines is a prosperity powerhouse!

She challenges our beliefs and inspires us to reach our full potential.

One of my favorite quotes from her is:

“Contrary to popular belief, God does not love a martyr. I should know; I played one for years.”

Many of us, myself included, grew up playing the victim role.

But you can’t be a martyr and also be happy, healthy, and successful.

Learn to get out of the “poor me“ mindset and start creating the life of your dreams.

Known as the “The Dean of The School of Motivation,” Earl Nightingale touched millions of lives.

 

And, I don’t just mean as the voice of the Jello commercials on the Jack Benny Show.

 

Nightingale’s “Strangest Secret” was the first spoken word recording ever to earn in excess of a million dollars certifying it a gold record.

 

Selecting a single quote from this prolific genius is like trying to choose your favorite star — they’re all beautiful.

 

So, let’s go with Nightingale’s most famous quote, “We become what we think about.”

 

"If we think poverty, we become impoverished” and "If we think success, we become successful” are just two extremes along the continuum touched by this universal maxim.

 

Your brain chooses your future because it chooses what you think about.

 

And to paraphrase Nightingale, “it’s the magnificent human brain that took men to moon and cured polio — and you own one (a brain) free and clear.”

 

Today, note what your thinking about and, perhaps, make better thought choices with that one of a kind brain of yours.

This is the first in a new series I’m titling “Lessons from the Masters.”

In this series, I’m going to share with you some of my favorite quotes from some of my favorite teachers and offer you my spin on them to JumpStart your day.

I HAVE to begin with the one book that changed my life more than any other -- Illusions by Richard Bach.

In my mid-twenties I was really searching for answers and I found some great ones in this short, powerful and highly entertaining book.

You can read Illusions in about 90 minutes and I read it once every year for seven consecutive years.

The quote that speaks to me most from Illusions is “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.”

This comment on perspective shifting hit me like a ton of bricks and it helped me notice the necessary endings that must take place so that we can transform and fly.

How about you?

What have you been dreading that might actually be the launching point for something greater?

Open yourself up to be a butterfly today.

We’ve reached our conclusion of “If” by Rudyard Kipling.

As a reminder, Kipling has issued a challenge.

He has given us 16 things we must do to achieve the great payoff, which is:

“Yours in the earth and everything that’s in it

And, which is more, you’ll be a man my son.”

The payoff isn’t what you get.

It’s what you become.

A fully-functioning, autonomous adult who is never a victim and creates his or her own way in life.

You become the greatest thing a human being can become.

You become free.

When I was a kid of about 9, I was rummaging through my mom’s desk and found a piece of round, flat wood.

The letters TUIT” were carved in large letters in the center.

After struggling to reason out what “TUIT” might stand for, I carried the small, coaster-like object to my parents bedroom where my mom sat sewing merit badges on my Scout uniform.

“Mom.” I said. “What’s this?”

Mom laughed.

“I don’t get it.” I said.

“Darling,” mom said. “That’s a 'round tuit' — get it? As in whenever you say you’ll do something whenever you get ‘around to it.’ Well, that’s a ‘round tuit.’ It reminds me that I can get around to anything that’s actually important because I already have a ‘round tuit.’

I think it was Napoleon Hill who said, “People who would never dream of killing themselves nevertheless commit suicide every day, little-by-little, by wasting their precious time.”

Today is your day to have your own ROUND TUIT.

"Fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run."

Oh, to be so serene and secure that haters can’t hurt you, right?

Someone who is a hater, a foe, an enemy — anyone who is anti-you, can cause you pain.

BUT, you have far greater control over this pain than you may think.

A person’s hurtful action has no power without your reaction!

Have you noticed it’s actually easier to dismiss a hater because you can write them off a jerk (or worse) and ignore them.

BUT, receiving a rebuke from someone you love is FAR more painful.

EXAMPLE: If a homeless person on the street says something negative, you shrug. BUT, If your mom says the same thing, you sulk.

To be a mature and happy adult, all people must count with us (even those who don’t look, speak, act, or live as we do) but we should not give certain people too much control over our mental reaction.

Freedom comes in leveling the playing field of your mind.

Derren Brown, the Brittish mentalist recently did a documentary for Netflix where he used peer pressure in a real-life situation to convince a half-dozen people to push someone off a building to their death.

That’s how much our good nature can become at risk when we identify with crowd.

When we are too plugged into others, we run the risk of losing ourselves to them.

When we are elevated above others, we run the risk of forgetting their struggles and challenges.

"Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,"

My mother-in-law migrated to this country from Cuba after the Castro invasion during which her family’s cigar factor was seized by the Castro regime.

Titi, as we call her is a typical Cuban-American. She wanted desperately to come here and did so ultimately becoming a citizen of the U.S..

Now, she is virulently OPPOSED to more Cubans or any other migrants coming in.

That is actually a common phenomenon of “I want in,” followed by “Hooray, I’m in,” >and finally “Now, you stay out!” and it’s a perfect example of losing the common touch.

Put in simple words we must fly high and stay grounded at the same time which is difficult but doable.

You really don’t know how strong you are until life tests you. And when everything around you goes to hell you find yourself just wanting to chuck it all and run away. But you can’t. You have responsibilities, people who count on you, and so you press on — you simply endure. One of my favorite books of all time is Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. In one chapter the cowboys are moving thousands of cattle up the trail when they are beset by locusts so thick they blot out the sun. One frightened young man gallops up to the leader of the drive and cries, “Captain, whatever can we do?” “Live through it,” replied the captain. That’s life. Sometimes we just have to hold on and live through it.

Most people never attempt something because of the horror stories they’ve heard from other people.

“Careful man, women will break your heart.”

“I was in business once, I lost everything!”

“My uncle tried that line of work — no money it.”

Most people are risk averse and that aversion is reinforced by other people who have taken risks, failed, and then whined about it to anyone and everyone as a means of never getting up and trying again.

Risk and reward are the conjoined twin sisters of success.  

Great reward always involves great risk and when we fail — as we all do, whining and complaining simultaneously excuses our poor performance AND removes us from the responsibility of trying again.

The secret to success is try...fail... try...fail... try...fail...try...succeed. 

Whining about our failures only attaches us to them indefinitely.