Changes, Part 3/3: From the mouths of elephants

In Part 2/3: Meet the Elephant God, of my three part series on making changes, I introduced Ganesha and Boku, and explained how Boku had inadvertently called upon the Hindu god Ganesha to help him turn his life around. Ganesha gave him philosophy, chores, chiding and more in order to help Boku grow and expand his world.

Here is the list of the things that Ganesha has Boku do, in order to rework his life so that he develops a totally new outlook, and improves his potential to become exactly what he has always envisioned he wanted to become (in his mind). My interpretation of the acts follows.

You may say to yourself, "what the heck is THIS good for?", but let me tell you that these concepts are all very much entrenched in the minds of successful Japanese businessmen and have been employed for a very long time.

In parentheses are some names that Ganesha dropped when he was telling his stories about how he helped these people achieve greatness. There were several other names, but when I asked Mayu she couldn't remember the specific stories to which the famous people were connected. So I share with you those that we could work out.

• Polish your shoes regularly - Always keep all of your "tools for the job" that you rely upon regularly daily for survival in excellent condition. (Ichiro of Seattle Mariners fame)
  
• Donate your change at convenient store - When Rockefeller was a young man, even before he was rich and famous he continued to donate 10% of his income for worthy causes. By supporting other causes you support yourself. (Rockefeller)
  
• Don’t fill up yourself when you eat - When you fill yourself totally full, your brain shuts down from overeating so if you go to 80%, your mind will stay sharp.
  
• See through other’s wants to find their needs - People hardly ever tell you exactly what they mean, even if they tell you "I always say what I mean". I reality, they don't. There is always an underlying meaning to their words. If you ask a customer what they would like in a new product, they can usually never tell you. But if you make a habit of "listening", and looking, you can learn to read between the lines and discover their true thoughts. (Henry Ford)
  
• Make people you met laugh - Have a life with a sense of humour to soften the air, and improve communication. (Southwest Airlines)
  
• Clean your toilet daily - This is an activity that people always try to avoid. By learning to do the things that people don't want to do, you open yourself up to new possibilities. (Soichiro Honda)
  
• Go home straight from work – Avoid dallying or wasting time then you have more time to do your own planned things.
  
• Praise yourself for some achievement - Even if you've had a bad day there must have been something in your life that you can praise to give yourself a boost. And as the day progresses you can build up your confidence with little victories.
  
• Quit something you always do for a day - This will open up more time to do something new [and the one I talked about in the previous installment].
  
• Create the environment to stick to what you decided to do - Actively create the environment which forces you to think about your actions, rather than just involuntarily "reacting". Actively work towards your goals with your mind "in the moment".
  
• Check and settle yourself in the mirror from head to toe every morning - Your inner spirit takes a great deal to change, but your outer appearance can degenerate very easily so always make sure that you look your best to yourself every day.
  
• Ask around to find out what you are the best at - You can learn a lot from other people about yourself. You may find that others have a much different opinion of abilities you never knew you had which may open up new fields to venture into.
  
• Ask around to find out what you are the worst at - We often turn a blind eye to our faults and weaknesses, so it is essential to act upon them by first finding out what they are.
  
• Imagine your dream pleasantly - Enjoy the dreams and goals you have without forcing yourself to stress too much over it.
  
• Speak out that you are lucky - Physically say the words "I am lucky" and you will transmit that positive feeling to the Universe, which will come back to you magnified, in kind.
  
• Try to get something for free - In order to do this, you will need to explain WHY you want something for free. This will help you to develop better negotiation skills, and learn how to express yourself better.
  
• Prepare for tomorrow - Make plans precisely in order to maximize your time, and efforts so that you are not caught off-guard by any unexpected events. And stick to the plan.
  
• Make someone closest to you happy - We often think about pleasing the customer, and customer is #1, but it is important not to forget all of the sacrifices that those people very close to you do, and to actively appreciate them as well, as they are your support network, more so than the customers. Usually the day has a schedule, and everyone does their thing, so in order to really make someone happy you need to look at the events and the people around you in order to determine what is really important and needed by those people.
  
• Find one good thing about someone and praise it - Sometimes you have to really think hard to praise people, especially when you are in a difficult situation. But it is important to watch people carefully and always look for something positive about the people, to let them know that you appreciate their strength.
  
• Steal someone’s good points - Very few people invent the wheel, but everyone tries to reinvent it by improving upon it. If something works for someone, it may work for you.
  
• Keep your eyes on classified ads - It is important to see what kind of work is out there and be ready to make yourself available for positions that you may have never known existed before.
  
• Pay a visit to a shrine, temple, church - Many people think that visiting a holy place is "meaningless", but even those who don't believe in God, or Gods, will find that by visiting holy places to show your respect, they will care more for you. If you care less for them, they will care less for you. And nobody can prove or disprove the actual existence of the gods, so why reduce your potential for Supernatural assistance?
  
• Visit popular shops and watch for the reasons - Popular businesses are popular for a reason. It can help you tremendously to find out exactly what these businesses are doing right. And then steal the concept.
  
• Give a surprise gift - Surprise people with something small and make them happy for no reason at all.
  
• Start something you regret that you haven’t done today - Whenever we regret not doing something we should have (like a load of laundry), that is actually a sign to you to tell you to do it right now. So don't just waste your time regretting, and not doing; get off your but and start it right then and there!
  
• Talk about your dream as service - If you talk about your dreams and plans based on you as the center of attention, people will get tired of listening. But if you find a way to think of your plan, dream and goal as somehow serving others and including good things for others (not just for self), people will pay much more attention and strive to help make your goals a reality. (Konousuke Matsushita - Panasonic).
  
• Support other people’s success - When you support people and give them positive energy through being supportive, even when they become extremely successful (i.e. don't feel jealous), that support will come back to you in the future.
  
• Apply, Enter - The more times you apply for things, or enter things, the better the chance you have of winning something. If you don't apply, you can't win.
  
• Appreciate every day - Whether you are successful or not, happy or unhappy,, take the time to appreciate all the little things in life that we take for granted (like water coming out of a tap when you turn a knob to fill a tea kettle with water) because all of these things, at one time, did not exist without much creation and suffering by someone in the past. We may think that we can live our life alone, but without all of the conveniences around us created by others who came before us, life would be very difficult therefore it is important to appreciate it all.

And that, my friends, is it! Why don't you see if you can apply one, a few, some, several, many or all of these very good ways to improve your life today?! Don't have time to improve yourself? Really? Well, how about you stop reading my blogs, and instead do something else? That's a possibility... (I wouldn't recommend stop going to the bathroom, though *wink*)

Would you like to review parts one and two? Here you go!

• Changes, Part 1/3: Mind, Intention and Outcomes
• Changes, Part 2/3: Meet the Elephant God

Have a lovely day.


Cam

Changes, Part 2/3: Meet the Elephant God

In Part One of my three part series on Change I was telling you how I have learned through real life experiences that trying to fit more into an already full day is practically impossible. I am a very disciplined person who is able to multi-task to some extent (breathe and answer the phone at the same time without too much effort) and I must admit that it doesn't make sense to follow the belief that you can always add more just by "working harder or smarter". Those who do jam more stuff in usually end up burning out and dropping even more of the stuff they can't afford to give up due to brain (and body) drain. So this "smarter, harder" belief is not sustainable for ordinary mortals such as me.

But I figured out how to do it. the answer is brilliant and yet sooo obvious at the same time that I still slap myself in my forehead and say, "How could I have bee so stooopid?!?"

I'm glad I figured out how to make time for adding meditation and reading in my day; I need this time at this point in my life because changes are in order. I do not have the tools to easily make these changes, but I want to acquire them. And in order to do this, I need more time to learn how to find, and then use these "tools of change".

Considering how I haven't been able to add this stuff into my life for the past couple of years I never thought I really could, but thanks to a book that Mayu just finished reading, something she explained to me one day gave me an "Aha!" moment that makes perfect sense. Let me tell you a bit about this book ...

A Japanese businessman wants change in his life; he desperately craves change, but he doesn't really know what to do, or how to do it. So he takes a trip to India to try and shake up his boring life. It doesn't work. Or so he thinks.

One night some time after his return and his life has returned to the same old doldrums he goes out to a party and gets really drunk. He comes home and passes out, only to wake up to a dream/nightmare vision of a fat elephant-headed chain-smoking, bitching Indian god that floats around his apartment, and constantly drives him nuts.

The businessman realizes that this god Ganesha is there to help him change his life. If the man promises to do exactly as Ganesha says, he will have the chance to improve himself and thus his life dramatically, but if he ignores any of the steps, or fails to do as he is told, he will be doomed to live his life in boring mediocrity, and exactly the way he does not want to live!

From that point on, Ganesha, a very human-like God who is completely addicted to cigarettes, loves bacon and a specific Japanese sweet gives the businessman ("Boku", or "me") lots of tips about life in a very realistic, and extremely funny way. The strangest thing is that this elephant-headed stubborn, bitching, grumbling and very picky god speaks for some strange reason to Boku entirely in Osaka dialect, which according to the Tokyoites, a very funny way for a god to talk.

Boku agrees to write up a contract with Ganesha to follow his advice and do as told. He then learns every day the most bizarre things that to him, seem to have absolutely no relevancy to becoming a better, enlightened person! In fact, these seemingly incongruous lessons sound more like an excuse for Ganesha to hang around, chain smoke, be fed bacon every day, and have a place to sleep.

But as the days pass, Boku starts to understand more and more how these simple principles in life can have a huge change on the way we perceive our world, and thus the way we act within it. And this is where the change comes in.

In the end, as time draws near, Ganesha finally fades away, leaving Boku on his own, having learned all of the lessons taught, and ready to head back into the world, a changed man. The epilogue shows Ganesha appearing to some other person in need of life lessons and talks about Boku as "that famous architect". So it obviously worked!

The funny thing about this is that Ganesha uses all of the famous people in the world for examples that he personally visited and helped become famous: Bill Gates, Soichiro Honda, Ichiro, Richard Branson, The Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, and more, all the way back to the ancients (as gods live forever). Mayu was laughing the entire time she was reading this book. She likes to read at night to fall asleep, but during this book instead of falling asleep, she would wake me up at 2am with her laughing! I am glad it was a wonderful book for her because I only had to deal with night laughter two or three nights in a row.

Here is one of the things that Ganesha taught Boku, and one that makes a lot of sense to me, and gave me that "Aha!" moment I was talking about earlier:

We all have ONLY 24 hours a day and in our busy life, those 24 hours are often all booked up. It is important to add new things, try new things in order to grow but how do we fit them in? This is the biggest issue most people have. Ganesha explains that in order to fit in more than what we can do, sometimes we have to take away some things. This means in order to do something new, we need to stop doing something old (Boku sells his chesterfield so he doesn't come home from work, plop down on it, turn the TV on and waste time vegging out). And then that space will open up. Just adding another thing onto an already full schedule won't work, even though people say "squeeze it in". It never lasts. The trick is to STOP doing something else, to give up something else, and then you can get the time for something new.

In Part 3/3: From the mouths of elephants, I shall share the 20+ activities that Ganesha uses to train the people who want to move onto greatness. I will also try to explain the philosophy behind them, just in case you are wondering HOW some of these things could possibly be of help. But when you read these, please keep in mind all of the activities that the Karate Kid had to go through in his training...

I love you!

Cam

Changes, Part 1/3: Mind, Intention and Outcomes

When I visited NC and went to the Mindspring seminar, I purchased a 8CD set that is all about "Mind, Intention, and Outcomes". There are "seven processes" that the CEO of the company takes us through that helps us to become the observers of our universe. And as the observers of our universe, we consciously create the outcomes we deeply desire. I started listening daily, and have recently started process two. I try to do them back to back which takes an hour but I could do one at a time if I wished. When I am ready, comfortable with the process and able to do it with ease, that is the time I open a new CD and start another process. These CDs are not designed to listen completely through from start to end; they are intended to be integrated into our lives. this may take weeks, months or years, but that's OK because the results and the change is what is important.

Here are some very powerful words:

"Do you often wonder why things turn out the way they do? Do you believe you can live the life of your choice? 'Mind, Intention and Outcomes' is a powerful and lasting resource that serves as a catalyst for growth, guidance and mastery of the answers within your Self. It assumes that you are the architect of your life and work, capable of directing the energy, flow and intention of your mind, body and emotions, regardless of the circumstances.

If you believe you will never be happy, you won't be. If you believe you are less than, you are and you will function that way. If you see yourself as powerless, then you will function as a powerless person and will use enormous opportunities in your life as circumstances in which to feel more powerlessness. As odd as it may seem, just when you think you have no choice in a difficult event, chances are you have been fooled. It is your mind at work. For you see, your function is not up to your mind, but to you, your Self, the one who is aware of your mind.

But consider another scenario. Consider changing your function. Do you believe that the mind is capable of bringing this new, powerful thought to reality? By increasing your attention and intention, you not only transform your Self, but also your workplace and your family. You are the agent of change and growth in your life and work. Stop procrastinating and stop postponing your goals and dreams. Begin creating your tomorrow today."

I have also started reading again. After my MBA I became so burned out with research and reading that honestly I haven't wanted to open a book in over a year! Instead I have been focusing intently on communicating with all of YOU through these blogs, because at this point in my life, communication with real live people who can interact back with me is more important than "book knowledge". But it is time to start reading again. I need to whittle down my huge pile of books.

But I have so many other things to do in the day that I really didn't know how I could add these hours in. I know that squeezing in more to a busy schedule rarely works in a sustainable way. I also know that "work harder, work smarter" is bullshit. It doesn't work; it's an ideal that can never really be achieved. It sounds great, makes us all look good, but it isn't a realistic way to achieve sustainable long-term change of habits.

But I figured out how to do this, thanks to a book Mayu just recently finished. And I'll tell you about this book in Part 2/3: Meet the Elephant God ...

Cam

P.S. You can visit Mindspring Consulting's website at http://www.helpingyougrow.com/. If you can afford the time and investment in your future to take any of their seminars, I highly recommend it. Located in the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, Haydn and Terry have been bringing "enlightenment" to businesses and individuals alike for almost two decades. Their products are not cheap by any means, but they are excellent!

Biz Talk: Meandering Through Carbon Offset Fantasies

My friend Dunnster just wrote today (on our day off - first day of spring officially, Happy Shumbun no Hi!) a very good blog about the recent Prius Bashing that seems to constantly go around. Apparently (I didn't know this, but that's not surprising since he seems to know billions and billions of bits of information more than I do) there is a "Dust to Dust" report that compares the "total running costs" to the environment of a Toyota Prius to a Hummer and concludes that the Hummer is more efficient and better on the environment.

You can read the entire blog, entitled Cars here, and I recommend it. It's interesting, to say the least, especially because Dunnster always finds the most interesting controversies to share with us and he never ceases to amaze me.

As often happens to me when I have a bit of time to ponder, I started writing a comment. And then I edited it, and wrote some more, and some more and the next thing I knew it was a blog-in-a-blog. So, I extracted it from there, and decided to write it here instead so as not to take up too much space on his site. I'll go back and link this blog to my comment so those reading his excellent blog can pop over here if they wish to see my thoughts.

I know there are pros and cons to the system of businesses, industries, countries buying "carbon offset coupons", but if that money collected is actually USED for the improvement of CO2 reduction in some way, and not just considered a profit that goes back into the pockets of the investors, I think it could work.

If such were the case then it would be interesting I think, if individuals could do their part by purchasing environmentally-friendlier vehicles and at the same time a portion of their purchase price would be allotted to their receipt of carbon-offset coupons. This doesn't necessarily mean that the profits of the company have to decrease. If we were conscientious buyers, and wanted to buy into this system (after understanding it), then adding to the sticker price the option of purchasing carbon offset coupons when buying the vehicle would be a nice extra option, I feel.

The company could issue specific coupons in paper form, just as if we bought securities, that could be saved, traded, bought or sold openly on the market at market values, and it could become a new commodity that would be born every time we decided to invest in the improvement of the environment. Why not? If countries can print money and make it appear out of thin air, why not print "enviros" that can be used with other businesses as "points" for reducing future prices of other environmentally-friendly purchases? I like the concept. I'd buy into it.

It's just like when you purchase books from Amazon you get points that you can use to reduce your costs for future purchases. Why not be able to purchase carbon-offset enviros that would act in the same function and could be redeemed for discounts when purchasing certain products or services that were recognized to be produced by organizations who were doing their part in developing more environmentally-friendly goods?

Yes, we can change our light bulbs, drive less, turn off the lights, use less bottled water, turn our dishwater temperature down, stop using weed killer, reduce our plastic consumption, buy recycled tires, and more. No doubt there is a huge amount we as individuals can already do (and should be). I was shocked when I visited Bob in Asheville (where everyone buys "organic") to find out that ALL of their trash (glass, bottles, plastic, food, paper, everything) all goes out in one bag to the dump - shocked I tell you!

As I learned when my former company was applying for ISO14001 and we were studying about it, there is only so much reduction you can do before you can't do any more. It doesn't make sense to "suffer" to save the world, because that is not our lot in life. We should be able to prosper while working to improve the environment, and profit from it at the same time.

To actually be able to purchase more carbon offset (on a voluntary basis), would be an excellent way for those really interested in serving the environment further, those who have done all they can to reduce but still want to do more and not suffer from it (i.e. never use electricity), to do so.How about this radical idea: Instead of paying a tithe to the church, don't you think "God" might prefer to see us keep our globe operating at a healthier level by buying carbon offset coupons? I'd like to think so.

When I was in Asheville, NC, I was looking into renting a car. One company (Alamo, I think, but maybe Hertz) allowed us to choose a "carbon offset plan" which billed an extra $1.25/day for carbon offset. On the surface it looked like a good idea, but there was nowhere I could find in the site that told me where that extra money was going. Did Alamo plan to make us feel good by letting us "buy carbon offset", and in reality it was just going to go into their coffers? Or did they have a plan where they were using it to purchase offset coupons as a means to decrease their exhaust output on a "carbon-based basis"? I couldn't find so I didn't purchase. But I seriously considered choosing that over the other vehicles, even if it meant paying a little more per day. IF that money was going to true carbon offset in some way, and had it been explained, I would have paid extra to do my part on that scale.

So I think there is potential here for such a system for the individuals, and I hope that it eventually gets implemented in creative ways (not "creative accounting ways") that we, the boys and girls in the street can do just a little bit more to do our part. It's time to stop complaining about the destruction of our planet and start acting. All complaining does is bring back more destruction upon us; it serves no positive constructive purpose. If you believe that the energy you transmit out to the Universe comes back multiplied, what is the use of sending out negative energy? We need to act, to show our positive intent in order for that positive ripple to turn into a tsunami of change, rather than a tsunami of destructive force.

I think that the automakers could really lobby for a movement in this direction if they aren't already doing so and it would, in turn, be a good marketing tool for the environmentally conscious, as well as assist them to design and develop more models that have the energy-saving, or energy-replenishing concepts. After all, the faster they can get these new tech vehicles down in price to the mass-market price point, the faster we will all be able to switch over and make petroleum a "resource of the passed".

Couldn't Amazon.world find some creative way to introduce this into their point system? They have a monstrously successful business model with phenomenal logistics. I think that they probably could. Then for those of us who want to buy books online, Amazon.world could be our environmentally friendly choice which might give them a competitive advantage over other online bookstores (not for long, of course). I think they could do it, if they sat down with creative minds and worked it out. I would most definitely buy into that since I like this company already! (two books just arrived today, Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" and a Japanese novel for Mayu.)

But having said so, I don't think it would be good to be passed as a "carbon offset tax" where everyone was forced to do their part. Sure, it would force people to change their habits (one of the outcomes on economics as we know is to change habits by levying taxes and tolls, not just to make more money), having it as OPTIONAL would allow those who can to do so with a conscious mind, and those who were not at a point in their lives to do so, would not need to feel angry that their "hard-earned dollar" was being taxed even further for something they may not believe in. And it wouldn't be forcing people to do something they weren't ready for, so they would not need to feel resentment toward it.

Not everyone would go for this, and that's fine. Those that want to, should be able to do so, and those that don't, really shouldn't be forced. Not yet anyway. Maybe in the future when it needs to be forced if we are at such a point of global environmental crisis, but I would prefer to think that as people become more aware, they realize the merits of this system and come on board on their own accord, and with their own understanding and desire to do so. So much more can be accomplished when you WANT to do it, rather than when you are FORCED to do it against your will. "How much can I give for a dollar" as opposed to "How much can I take for a dollar", is a similar analogy.

This is just a thought that started rumbling through my mind as I read Dunnster's blog today. And I would like to thank him for helping my mind get going on a new, and to me interesting, thought.

Cam