Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

Saintly patience doesn’t happen overnight - it’s like a muscle and needs to be exercised every day. You don’t just step into the gym and lift 500 pounds on your first day - you patiently work up to it. You build the strength and tolerance to lift 500 pounds over a long period of time by training your body every day. One day, after months or years of training, you are able to lift 500 pounds and everyone will be astounded by your strength. Instead of admiring your strength, they should be admiring the patience that allowed you to train so hard for so long.

Life gives you opportunities every day to exercise your patience, if you recognize them for an opportunity instead of an obstacle. I used to say, “I’d be more patient and calm if everyone else weren’t conspiring against me. The world just keeps throwing obstacles in front of me! Why are people so crazy, slow, dumb, difficult, etc.?” Now I try to look on every delay and every difficult situation as an opportunity to exercise my patience. I simply smile and recognize that the universe is giving me an opportunity to become a better, stronger person. It’s now become a challenge to see just how long I can drive in the city without throwing a fit and cursing out loud (I’m up to four hours now). Bring it on, old people, logging trucks, and red lights; I’m exercising my patience! Pretty soon I won’t be honking my horn and flipping you the bird; how are you going to piss me off then?

Patience Isn’t Inborn - Just Ask a Two Year-Old

I’m not a naturally patient person. In fact, I’ve gone through life continuously moving from one frustrating delay to another. I’m improving my patience by repeating the following phrase whenever I encounter delays and setbacks in my life.

Life’s delays aren’t life’s denials.

Just because you don’t get what you want immediately doesn’t mean you won’t get it eventually. If I’m stuck in a traffic jam and late for an appointment, my plans might not work out according to schedule. Getting angry and upset will do nothing to improve the situation - when I’m angry and impatient, bad things happen.

Develop Universal Patience

The power of water is an example of how patience can be applied to your life with amazing results. One drop of water falling on a stone does nothing but make it wet. But if that same drip is repeated over and over again for thousands of years, water will easily drill a hole right through the middle of the stone. Consider blogging: if you write three, five hundred word articles a week, for one year, you’ll have written an average length fiction novel at the end of that year. Just to give you perspective, J.R.R. Tolkien spent 14 years writing the Lord of the Rings; it’s word count is just over 300,000. If you apply the same blogging example above, you can easily write over 1,092,000 words - enough time to write two epic novels with room to spare!

Write your great novel one blog entry at a time.

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You can tell a lot about a person by the way they build a snowman. My wife was going through some old family photos and she came across two pictures of snowmen we built one winter’s evening. I have to laugh because it’s obvious to me, one builder has OCD while the other is an alcoholic.

Can you tell which is which?

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1. When I meet my soul mate, I’ll be happy.
2. If I wasn’t feeling sick, tired, and in pain, I’d be happy.
3. My dream wedding will make me happy.
4. If I have children, they’ll fulfill me.
5. If only I didn’t have children, I’d be free to live my life and be happy.
6. If people understood me, everything would work out.
7. I need more money before I can do everything I want to do.
8. If my boss wasn’t such a jerk, my life would be great.
9. If I didn’t have to do this mind-numbing work, I’d be free.
10. If I was less attached to money and more spiritual, I’d be happy.
11. I need more time before I can be happy.
12. If I wasn’t afraid of taking big risks, I could live my dreams.
13. If I was better looking and in better shape, I’d be happy.
14. If people took me seriously, I could be happy.
15. If this tragedy hadn’t happened, I’d be happy.
16. When I break free from alcohol and drugs, the freedom will make me happy.
17. When I get to have a stiff drink, or drugs, I’ll feel great. I’ll be happy.
18. One day I’ll become enlightened, and have lasting peace and serenity.
19. I’ll be happy when I’m recognized for my great ideas.
20. I’ll be happy when I retire, travel, and can take it easy.

Tomorrow Never Comes

We all hope for enough time to make all the right things happen so that we can finally be happy. We think that if we collect more happy moments, one after the other, we’ll find peace. Unfortunately, bad things happen to even the happiest and most successful people.

Don’t wait for the perfect moment when you will finally find lasting happiness. Decide to find it now, right from where you stand.

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This is the first post in a new series called, “The Intelligent Universe.”
Each article will explore random, everyday things but explore them a with a twist. Discover fantastic adventures contained within the mundane. In the Intelligent Universe, science and spirit are exactly the same - creative expressions of energy and thought. There is meaning in everything around us if we look deeply enough…

When we accidentally turn our tv or radio to a station with no broadcast, we get static, snow, and white noise. Why do we get white noise at all? If there isn’t a broadcast, shouldn’t it just be a dead screen or silence?

SETI’s Dilemma

SETI stands for “Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence”. This non-profit’s stated mission is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. Since 1984, they’ve been scouring the universe with radio telescopes for any trace of life emitted from other worlds by intelligent beings. They face the daily challenge of eliminating false positives - “how do we cut out terrestrial and cosmic noise from our results?” Trillions of cosmic bodies combine their energies to form a soup of white noise that bathe the entire universe in static - so do cellular phones and microwave ovens. Software algorithms do a great job of filtering the noise from collected results but here is the problem, as I see it - the signal astronomers are looking for, is the noise itself.

Ever Try Unscrambling an Egg?

What happens to the sound of your voice when you’re finished speaking? It doesn’t disappear; it travels outward in space and mingles with every other sound and vibration on earth. The strength of vibration dissipates with distance but never entirely disappears. The first two laws of thermodynamics apply - no energy is ever lost, it can be only transformed into other forms. As your voice mingles with every other voice and noise on the planet, it becomes white noise - indistinguishable and unidentifiable as human, but it’s still there. No word ever uttered is lost - it’s simply buried under a cacophony of other voices. The challenge facing SETI is something like pointing a microphone on a street corner and listening for the Gettysburg Address delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. His famous words are still vibrating in the air today but they’re intermingled with 144 years of every other sound created on Earth. There’s immense intelligence contained within white noise, but how do you extract it?

The Universe is a Chaotic Party

Sound cannot escape from Earth but light, and other energy forms can. If you read a book outside on a sunny day, some of the light reflected from the pages travels outwards into deep space. If an alien race, 100 million light years away have equipment sensitive and smart enough to cut out the cosmic noise, they might observe you reading your book 100 million years from today. They’ll wonder why they invested so heavily to watch you read trash novels.

All noise contains intelligence. Lives pass and speeches end, but records of them are all contained in noise and chaos. The next time you hear static on your radio, you might be listening to the energy of your neighbour heating up his lunch in a microwave. When you look a up at the stars, the light reaching your eyes might also contain the reflected image of an alien being, reading a trashy novel from 100 million years ago. Some things never change…

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When things get crazy and life feels too much, I look forward to tomorrow and live today. Things might not get better tomorrow, but there is the great promise that it can. Maybe it will get worse - I don’t know. What matters is that I live today because there is no other time to live.

Nothing Can Harm You

When I’m experiencing pain or negativity I use try to remember to use my secret weapon - I imagine I’m a ghost. I let every emotion and experience pass deeply into me, and then through me, as if I’m perfectly invisible. I don’t ignore my pain but actually welcome it. I try to feel the pain as deeply as I can muster. Once I’ve felt it, I let it pass through and move on to whatever comes next. There is absolutely no emotion in this world that can harm you if you allow it to be, and then let it go.

Feel deeply, rinse, repeat…

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If you’re new to blogging, you’re probably interested in learning how to attract more readers to your site. Many articles have been written by other bloggers but the most effective suggestion I can make is to submit your site to StumbleUpon. I ran across StumbleUpon last year, before I even started blogging.

The concept is unique, fun, and effective, both for the reader as it is for the blogger. Sign up for free at their site and install their toolbar on your browser. Choose the topics you’re interested in, and when you press the Stumble button in your toolbar, you’re taken to random site in your topics list. If you like the site, you press the ‘thumbs up’ button on the toolbar; if you don’t, you press the ‘thumbs down’ button. You can also submit other quality sites that haven’t been stumbled yet where they enter circulation for other Stumblers to discover. It works like a user voted playlist.

It’s difficult to find unique and interesting websites among the millions on the net, but StumbleUpon makes quick work of finding the best. I’ve bookmarked hundreds of fantastic sites I never would have found using a search engine. Oddly enough, I’d never thought to submit my own site to StumbleUpon.

My First StumbleUpon Experience

Last week, a submitted a post to Reddit. The results were decent - I got 95 hits in half an hour. I went out and came home and check my traffic a few hours later. Here’s what it looked like:

I received over 1000 hits in a few hours after a Reddit reader submitted my post to StumbleUpon. In the last few days, I’ve been receiving around 500-700 daily from other StumbleUpon submissions. Not bad, considering my blog is only a few months old and until now has only been receiving 30-50 hits each day! Not only was the traffic spike high in quantity, the quality was better too - the number of visitors returning to my blog since that day has increased over 1000%.

Topical news sites like Digg and Reddit are fine if you make the front page, but if you’re interested in increasing your online visibility with consistent daily returns, use StumbleUpon.

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Incorporate “after action reviews” into your life. The military uses these to analyze how an operation went. They ask:

1. What was our objective?
2. What actually happened?
3. Why did it happen?
4. What are we going to do next time?

You can use these same questions to review how things are going in your life. This prevents you from making the same mistakes over and over again, and builds on your successes. You can do more of what worked and less of what didn’t work. So incorporate AAR’s into your life and move your life ahead even faster.

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There are thousands of self development, self-help, psychology, motivational, and spiritual titles on the market today. Only a few rare authors make it to the best-sellers list. Even fewer build a successful, highly trafficked website with a dedicated readership. I can think of only 5 living self-development superstars:

1. Tony Robbins
2. Brian Tracy
3. Wayne Dyer
4. Deepak Chopra
5. Eckhart Tolle

How many high quality, best-selling authors of popular fiction can you name? The list in that category is massive by comparison.

Tony Robbins is heavily criticized for misrepresenting the truth and for his aggressive sales techniques. He was busy marketing products for the perfect marriage while going through a divorce. Deepak Chopra has also been criticized for writing questionable science.

Most self-development authors never achieve the kind of success they write about. They’re trying to teach us methods for success while they’re clearly not very good at it themselves. Where are all the great wisdom teachers?

Living in a Positive Thinking Bubble

Harsh criticism isn’t well accepted with this group. Peers don’t criticize for fear of losing credibility in their field. When someone does speak up and trashes the book or article, the criticism is denounced as being negative. Self-development authors need to be held accountable for the quality of their work just like everyone else. If the quality of my writing isn’t up to par, I have no chance for success by ignoring criticism. If my writing doesn’t sell, am I ahead of my time or living in denial?

You Can’t Sell Your Way Out of a Paper Bag

The most successful people in any field know how to sell their ideas. You must appeal to the customer’s desire for a solution to a problem. A best-selling author isn’t necessarily the best-writing author. You might be an excellent writer, but to reach your audience you must be able to sell your ideas. Take a sales course. Learn to appeal to your audience’s desire for answers and then deliver it to them in an approachable way.

The Field Is Crowded With Snake Oil Salesmen

Authors often sell their opinions as facts. Opinions are fallible; facts can be measured, proven, or demonstrated. How many times have you read titles like “43 Power Laws,” “7 Steps to Incredible Riches,” or “30 Secrets of Successful People?” Get rich quick schemes have damaged the whole genre. Anyone can make up a system of laws and principles for success but do they work? Where’s the proof? If those opinions and advice were factual, why is the author mired in obscurity and living in his parents’ basement?

People Want Progress, Not Perfection

Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, and Mother Theresa all had their bad days. Someone burned their toast or stepped on their foot and they might have reacted with anger. Spiritual teachers and motivational coaches don’t like to talk about this, but every human being has negative thoughts and feelings. To deny one half of our nature is to deny reality. I believe in self-improvement but no one is perfect. People give up on a unrealistic systems that work only half of the time.

Measure Your Own Success Before Teaching It To Others:

* Do you have healthy relationships with your friends, family, and co-workers?
* Are you earning enough to support your needs? Are your finances in order?
* Do you receive positive results from the efforts of work and service? Are your customers happy?
* Are you physically healthy and free from life-draining addictions or habits?
* Are you happy and fulfilled?
* Are you living the life you dream about or only wishing for it to happen?
* Do you have goals and the plans to achieve them? Do you have faith that these goals and plans will succeed?
* Do you sincerely care for the welfare of all living things? Do your actions reflect your beliefs?

I’m writing this because people urgently want answers to their problems. We need real life skills, authentic wisdom, and inspired teachers who lead by example. Are you selling a hard-to-follow set of opinions or is it simple and accessible? People know the truth when they hear it. The truth sells, because it’s simple and it works.

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Two men are standing by the shore of a lake.

‘I’ll bet I can swim across this lake to to other side,” the first man says to the other.

“No you can’t! I’ll take you up on that bet,” the second man replied.The first man strips off his clothes, jumps in the lake and begins swimming. After about 20 minutes, he’s nearly to the other side. He gets about 10 feet from the beach, then turns around and swims back.

The first man is amazed and yells across the lake, “What the hell are you doing? You were almost there!”

“I got too tired, so I’m coming back!”

Of course, this joke is ridiculous. Who would give up 10 feet short of their goal when quitting required 10 times the effort? The answer: almost everyone.

Consider the law student who studies for years and pays thousands of dollars to a university, only to give up and fail her bar exam. Consider the blogger who writes faithfully for months, only to quit because there are only 10 visitors coming to his site every day. How about the employee who passes up an expensive training course that would prepare him for a real career once it’s completed. Maybe you think it’s too difficult to save $200 a month to invest in assets that will pay for all your living expenses when you retire.

What Do People Mean By “Don’t Work Hard, Work Smart?”

Pushing hard until you reach your goal is always tough, but the quitting is even tougher. It takes desire, focus, faith, imagination, and effort to be successful. Mediocrity only requires effort, so many people think it’s the easier path. There’s nothing wrong with being average, as long as you’re happy paying your dues with 10 times the effort. Do you want to work hard for low pay all your life? That’s the cost of taking the ‘easier’ path. Working “smart” doesn’t mean it’s effortless - it means you use your mind to achieve greater rewards and better results. Pretty simple, huh?

Great ideas, great riches, and great people are created with focus, desire, faith, and imagination. Nurture these qualities and don’t give up when you’re 10 feet from your goal - it’s a long swim back.

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I did a little digging today and much to my surprise, I could find no record of copyright for the word, and idea of ‘God.’ Nor were there any pending patents or registered trademarks using ‘God’ either. Wow, you’d think the church would have figured out the marketing potential years ago!

That’s it. I’m putting everyone on notice - as of today the word and concept of God© and all it’s meanings are now mine. I‘m also claiming Yahweh©, Jehovah©, Theos©, Allah©, Jumala©, Kami©, Gud©, Krishna©, Vishnu©, Shiva©, Ganesha©, Zeus©, King of Kings©, Lord of the Hosts©, the Holy Ghost©, The Man Upstairs©, Oh My God©, God Dammit©, Thank God©, For God’s Sakes!©, God Bless©, God Forbid©, God Help You©, God Willing©, and May God Have Mercy on Your Soul©. I’m sure I’ve forgotten quite a few there, but I’ll make sure the lawyers sew it all up for me in the next few weeks.

You All Owe Me a Gazillion Dollars

I plan on following the lead of the RIAA. What a shining example of how efficiently our legal system can bring the great unwashed masses to their knees. You unenlightened pagans have no right stealing my ideas. If you use my intellectual properties without express written consent (and wads of cold cash), I’m going to sue your asses into oblivion. If you share my IP with others, I’ll take you to court too. By sharing, I mean leaving the word of God out there in the open where others might read it without paying for it. I know ideas are useless unless shared, but I’m going to sue - just because I can.

* By my estimation, the churches of the world owe me trillions. I will easily rake in billions every Sunday and on all the religious holidays - God is Great!© In an effort to stem their losses, churches will be forced underground and set up websites with hip, yet ridiculous, made-up names. Look out for domains like “GodzillaTorrent.com”, “BabbleBible.net,” or “Hellfirewire.org.” (note to self: must register these domain names today!)
* Soul music will become the new cash cow.
* Meters and rootkits will be installed on every copy of the Holy Bible, Koran, and Torah. Monthly subscriptions fees and pay-per-use schemes will be implemented immediately. Hackers who disable or uninstall my devices will be sent directly to hell.
* Buddhists don’t believe in God© so they’ll be of little use to my marketing plans. Until such a time as I can profit from their beliefs, we’ll make every effort to have them marginalized in the media and ostracized by their peers. There’s no such thing as a free ride, people!

Not bad for a day’s work. All I have to do is sit and wait for the cheques to start rolling in while real artists and creators do the dirty work of paying for my next vacation.

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