Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

6 Apr

Is this a Test ? Trying to figure Why….

Posted by timabraun in Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, High School Reunion, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts, Recovery, relationships. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

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My life has been filled with so many wonderful things and so much abundance that I shouldn’t feel anything but gratitude for everything I have been blessed with.  for 48 of my 51 years in this life, things happened in a magical way, everything I visualized came to pass quickly and usually in a way that was even better than I had imagined.   I have always looked at every event in my life as having a purpose and tried to take negative events and turn them around to work for me.   This way of managing my life served me well and helped me become the person I am today.  In my early 20’s I became hooked on self development books and audio tapes and spent every extra penny I had on going to seminars, buying books and buying tapes that had a positive message.   My purpose and mission in life have been shaped by quotes that have stuck with me, like Zig Ziglar saying you can get everything you want in life by helping enough other people get what they want.  I have always tried to focus everything I have done in life on serving others and it always seem to come back to me.   My Grandfather was a big tipper and always did extra things and gave away money even though he didn’t have any extra money to give away, he would always say ” It will come back to him”, my Mother and Grandmother believed in the same philosophy.  Both my Mother and grandmother were totally selfless in their service to others.  I watched my Mother give up everything in her life to care for my Uncles, my Grandmother and any one else that needed help.  She always worked multiple jobs, very seldom having the opportunity to enjoy life outside of giving everything of herself to others.  I know she did this because she enjoyed being of service to people and I know people took notice because even today I will run into people who see my name when I am sending a package at FedEx and they will tell me to say hello to my mother and tell me how much they cared for her.   The thing I don’t understand is how some people who give so much of themselves to others never seem to get a break in their lives.  Is it  God testing them…Why does this happen ?

1999 was a fantastic year for me, in that I was on top of the world and firing on all cylinders, everything was clicking, I had no debt, I had a ton of money in the bank, I could do no wrong in the stock market and I could finally give my Mother something special for all she had given to me and others.   I was able to let her pick out a townhouse and buy it for her with the hopes that she would have a great place to live and could finally take the time to enjoy her life and do some thing for herself.  I had never forgotten what my Grandfather had said about it all coming back to me, so now that I had the money I wanted to help everybody I could.  I did some crazy things that made me feel great, like writing regular big checks to my Church and putting them in the offering envelope on Sundays always feeling s sense of satisfaction in having the ability to do things like that.  I signed up to give a large amount of money on a monthly basis to a favorite charity of mine called the “Smile Train” and found way to help people anonymously every chance I got.  I had read for years growing up about mysterious millionaires who handed out hundred-dollar bills to homeless people and always wanted to do that.  I also remember reading a book by Wayne Dyer in which he said that when someone asks you on the street for money, you shouldn’t try to figure out if they are going to use it for a good purpose, you should give freely simply because they asked.  I did that on a regular basis and always got a kick out of the looks on people’s face when I would hand them a large sum of cash just for asking.  It did seem that the more good I did like this that good things started to appear in my life that seemed directly related to my random acts of kindness. I got addicted to helping others, so much so that when I started my 3rd business in 2002, I tried to help people in business that I felt deserved my help.  I raised money for projects to finance people’s dreams, all the time believing that it would just lead to more good stuff.

I never stopped trying to give but in 2008 suddenly, nothing was coming back to me, my business was failing, while some people stepped into help, it wasn’t the kind of help I needed to turn things around.  Having always put other people first,  I borrowed against my home, stopped paying myself from the company and did everything possible to put my employees and my investors ahead of everyone including my own family.  The result was I lost my home of 26 years, lost my business, lost the ability to take care of my wife and family the way I always had.  Things continued to get worse through last year culminating today with the loss of the townhouse I purchased for my mother and an absolutely evil GMAC Mortgage not willing to work with me any way to ease my mother out of her townhouse and into another place to live.  They love the word eviction and they love to use it so much it kills me.  I can handle having myself being evicted but the pain of GMAC Mortgage telling me they are going to evict my mother from her home and knowing it is all my fault creates pain that is almost unbearable.  The last 60 days have been extremely difficult and brought me to this point I am at today having lost my Mother’s townhouse and seating with exactly $2.98 in cash in my pocket and two checking accounts that are overdrawn thousands of dollars.  How could I end up here when I have tried so hard to do the right thing and to help as many people as I can ?  Worse, I have found that many people I thought were close friends were only friends when I had tons of money and could entertain them and take care of them. 

So what is going on ?  Is this just another way of God and the Universe testing me to see just how much I can take ?  Why is this happening ?  Why do so many bad things happen to good people ?  I always believed it was a test, and I believed all the books I read and tapes I listened to that told me over and over that when you are at your darkest moment that you are at the point things are totally going to turn around.   I believed all of that, but the moments just keep getting darker.

So as I sit here this morning putting all my thoughts on my blog,  a part of me is devastated by my situation but a bigger part of me is at ease saying everything is going to be ok.  I have done alot of praying lately and have to admit some doubt had crept into my mind about whether God or the Universe was listening.  But then I woke up on Monday to find an email written in the middle of the night to me from a high school classmate who I haven’t seen since high school (34 years), he had sensed something was wrong and sent me a long email that was not only exactly what I needed to hear but was so intuitive that he had to somehow be connected to me via God to know what was going on.  His message alone was enough for me to continue to believe that no matter what challenge I am faced with I am not alone, God is always there walking beside me.   While I know who walks with me in everything I do, I am still completely at a loss to understand the whys of my situation.  Mike Dooley who is an author and the creator of the Notes from Universe series always talks about focusing on the end result you want to accomplish in your life and not to get caught up in the “Cursed Hows”, I think he is right but I think almost or maybe more importantly we should never get caught up in the cursed “Whys”.  Trying to figure out why something bad has happened to you when there is no logical reason is probably what leads to more of the same.  If I have learned anything from the trials and tribulations of the last few years, it is to not spend time figuring out why, it is unproductive and gets you focused on all the bad stuff that has happened.

Having been to the Highest Peaks in Life and now getting the opportunity to experience the lowest of lows, I do believe that what my friend Terry Lyles has said that everything in life is a gift.  If anything, I know that when I do turn things around, I will be even more focused on helping those in need and having experienced what I have over the past few years, I will be in the unique position of understanding the pain and challenges people feel when they are lost and in what seems like a hopeless spot.

From this moment forward, my sole focus is on the end result I hope to achieve, I am forgetting about why this all happened and while many people have told me that I need to take care of my family first and forget about everyone else, I will put my family first but will never forget about everyone else.  My purpose is to serve others and I intend to do everything I can to get back to that place of serving others.   I do know things are going to turn around, and I know that the last 3 years have been a gift especially since as tough as things were they pale in comparison to the terrible suffering the people of Japan are dealing with, as well as our service men who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.    This is the last time I am going to write about the tough stuff, from here on out, I focused on the good stuff.

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3 Mar

Time Warp…..Living in Dual Universes

Posted by timabraun in Baseball, Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, High School Reunion, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts, Recovery, relationships, Story time.

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Wow….I can’t believe how long it has actually been since I wrote my last blog, getting lost in a time warp wasn’t what I expected to happen last summer when I embarked on all out massive action to fix the issues in my life.  The thing I love most about my life is discovering everything the Universe and Life have to offer.  I love stretching the boundaries of time and space, finding out what is possible and finding out that very little in life is impossible.   Today’s entry is kind of warning about trying to stretch time too far while trying to create the life of your dreams.

Last summer and late fall I took on three full time jobs that left me with next to zero time for sleep.  I literally worked around the clock 7 days a week, catching no more than 3 to 4 hours of sleep per day.  It seemed to work pretty well with no ill effects for about 4 months, but in late January, I went from consciously creating what I wanted in life to just going through the motions, I had deprived myself of time to think and because I live by “Thoughts become things”, I no longer had time for my thoughts to become reality.  When I was at each of my jobs, I seemed to perform just fine, pretty much like a robot going through the motions, in between jobs I was dead tired and just plain irritable, yet when I arrived at the next job I became energized and ready to go.  That’s where the time warp stuff comes in, I had replaced valuable and extremely important dream time (unconscious, sleeping dream time) with an overnight job.  In the light of day, the overnight job and all that happened overnight felt like a dream, it felt like I never really was at that job and it really was just a dream.   Guess what ?  Replacing your valuable dream time with a remote control 3rd shift job is not a productive way to create the life of your dreams if it steals your real, unconscious dream time from you.

I find valuable lessons in everything that happens in my life, and the experiment of the past six months has taught me that while it is possible to exist on little or no sleep it blurs time and space and steals the opportunity from you to organize your life and create the things you want in your life.  The other and more painful thing I discovered is that an existence of this type steals  valuable time from your important personal relationships, and disrupts the connections with those closest to you.  So while it was an interesting and valuable experiment, it was not sustainable long term if I was going to get back to the place where I was firing on all cylinders and living the life of my real dreams.

While I was lost in the time warp, the Universe kept on working and helped me land in a place that is what I had dreamed of the last time I was firing on all cylinders.  While moving through this time warp, I landed  exactly where I wanted, I have inserted myself into the career that was my life long dream, with a company that is exactly what I dreamed of in all regards, from the management, ownership, compensation program and industry.  As a matter of fact, I recently spent a day in St. Cloud with the owner of the company I work for and his son who manages the sales team.  As I sat in the meeting and listened to them talk about their vision for the company, the new services we were adding, the sales approach with prospects, etc.  I had to pinch myself to make sure I was awake, it was as if they had performed Spock‘s Vulcan mind meld to find out what I was thinking would make their company perfect for me.  This truly is the opportunity, company and industry I have spent my whole life dreaming about and now that it’s here I am throwing everything I have at it.   I still have a lot of personal challenges to deal with from the economic melt down of the past few years but the path is now clear to get back in that place I call “Groovin”.

So it really feels like I have been living in two different Universes, the Universe of my dreams and the remote control Universe where I just go through the motions in interesting, fun jobs but not the career that I have now found.  It is amazing how thoughts and dreams do come true, and how God and special people are working behind the scenes on your behalf.  I don’t think it is any coincidence that I found the opportunity of my dreams and on Friday of this week, a special lunch was set up for me with someone I have wanted to connect with my whole life, and while it seemed like it would be impossible and that the time would never come, receiving an incredible text message from a very special person last Sunday confirmed the time had arrived.  Having faith and believing always works, it may not happen as quickly as you would like but when the time comes, it seems as if it was instantaneous.  Which always reminds me of what Wayner Dyer says   “Infinite patience brings immediate results”, thing about that one, it really works and has served me well. 

So after not blogging for a while I feel like I have just been rambling again, but if I can offer any advice today, it is to make sure you don’t let yourself fall into the time warp.  Don’t ever give up your personal dream time, all those experts are right you really do need a good night’s sleep and not just for your physical health but more importantly for the health of your life’s dreams and for time to create the life of your dreams.  Over the years, I have used a technique that has always worked for me and always brought me what I wanted and needed in my life.   Saying a prayer in the form of a conversation with God about your dreams and desires right before going to bed is the first part of this technique.   When I was 12 years old, there was nothing I wanted more than to play baseball and hit like my favorite baseball player Rod Carew.  I hadn’t done much praying in my life at that point but when I started out the season as a 12 year old in the Babe Ruth league with no hits in the first 4 games, I turned to God, I prayed every night and went to Church on Sunday and focused my thoughts on hitting while sitting in Church.  Within a week of starting to pray, I went 4 for 4 in a game, 4 hits that were solid line drives, that season I went on to hit .675, about 300 points higher than Rod Carew hit that year.  I have been a true believer in prayer ever since.  The other part of my technique is writing what I want in my life down on paper which I also review every night before going to bed.  Sometimes I write things down, misplace the notebook I wrote it in and find it years later, only to discover that everything I wrote down came to be.  Now that I am emerging from the Time warp, I am focused again on my prayer and my notebook of dreams.  

I spent a lot of time driving the past few weeks which has given me quiet time alone to think, dream and analyze my life and the challenges of the last few years.  Two things popped into my head, the Time Warp that I wrote about today and Daydreaming.   In regards to Daydreaming, I thought about the power of Daydreaming and how the only time I got in trouble in school was all the times I got caught daydreaming.   Somehow, the teachers had it all wrong, Daydreaming is good, not bad.   As a matter of fact, if our schools were truly enlightened they would teach kids how to daydream and set aside time each day specifically for daydreaming.  More on daydreaming in my next blog entry, which I know will be soon, I also intend to get back to writing regular entries in my blog again as there is nothing better for your soul and dreams than writing about your thoughts.   Sweet Dreams to you !

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12 Jan

Love Train

Posted by timabraun in Addiction, Baseball, Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, High School Reunion, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, music, music therapy, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts, Recovery, relationships, Story time. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

All you need is LOVE

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The Beatles had it right…”All you need is Love” !  I will admit that I didn’t know what this meant back in the 60’s when I was in grade school but I finally understand that “Love” really is all you need to accomplish anything you want in your life.  1967 was the famous Summer of Love and I was definitely in love, with a 1967 Red Mustang , to this day that is my dream car and was the first time I “loved something”.  Love was always a difficult word to define, understand, experience or use but over time I finally get it.

Love isn’t something that just happens, I don’t think love is something that happens to you, I believe Love is something you create.  Love is a choice, it is a decision you make in your life but once you understand it’s power and use it the right way it can deliver anything and everything you could ever imagine.  One thing I still don’t quite understand is accepting Love from others.  It is one thing to Love someone or something or some activity it is another thing to feel the Love someone else.  I am not sure I can define or describe that kind of Love, I am not saying that people like my family don’t Love me, but I am not sure feeling the Love of someone else for you is the same as Loving that person and giving them your Love.  You see Love isn’t about being loved, it is about Loving someone or something.

Let me explain where I am going with this and why I feel like I finally “Get it”.   I have embarked on a new career in a field I absolutely, positively Love.  My new career is selling Cinema Ads, the kind that run on the screen before the main movie starts.  My job involves going door to door, cold calling on businesses of all sizes most of which have “No Solicitors” signs posted on their doors.  There was a time in my life that this would have scared the hell out of me and I can honestly say it would still scare the hell out of me if I didn’t Love my product, Love my company and Love my prospects, yes I said Love my prospects !.   I have spent the last few weeks knocking on at least 20 doors a day and with only a couple of exceptions, everyone has greeted me kindly and only once was I told I should have read the sign on the door about soliciting.  I truly believe that since I have come to understand the true meaning of Love, it has served me well.  I know that if I didn’t go into each business I call on thinking I was going to Love the people and Love handling their advertising, I wouldn’t have been greeted so kindly.  I also know that Loving my job, every part of my job, makes everything go better, I know that without this Love for my career, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am sitting in this hotel by myself tonight.

Love can serve you in many ways.  One of the things I am working very hard on is using Love in every portion of my life no matter what the situation is.  When my son or daughter call me  in the middle of an important meeting with an urgent message which turns out to be they need money to buy gas to go some place fun, I pause and think what Love means in this situation, does it mean be kind or get angry for the interruption ?  it always, means to be kind.  To me that is the definition of “tough love“, deciding to be kind when it is really tough to be kind.  When I am in a tough situation and trying to negotiate with a mortgage company, a creditor or anyone that isn’t exactly trying to be your friend, I have recently taken the approach that I am going to send my Love to the person I am talking to and my experience so far is that without fail, the Love comes back to you in the form of the result you had hoped for.

April 26th, 1980 was an incredible day, that was the day I married Suanne Fodstad but it was also the day I really listened and took to heart 1 Corinthians 13 from the Bible.  This passage is in my opinion the best definition of Love there ever was and as I have re-read it the past couple of days, it is truly amazing to me how it applies to everything I have been doing to turn my life around and get back on track.  If you have never read this passage or have forgotten what it says it is worth re-printing here for your review:

1 Corinthians 13

1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Faith, Hope and Love….. there it is.  Can you see what I mean about how this can apply to every area of your life.  Just in the way you do business or deal with others, if you do it with Love you cannot fail.  A dear friend of mine from High School sent me a great power point presentation today called “Life on a Train’, I don’t think she had any idea how much I love trains, and love riding them but this presentation she sent me compared Life to a long train ride and it was so right on, it was just another one of those moments where the light clicked again and everything in my life has started to make sense.  That power point presentation got me thinking about Love and what it has meant to me recently as I have tried to apply it to everything I do.  Then that mental Juke Box of mine picked up Love message and combined it with the train analogy from the power point and wouldn’t you know it, it flipped on the turntable in my head and started playing the O’Jay’s classic  “Love Train”  which led to me writing about Love today.   So let me leave you with the words of the O’Jay’s  Start a Love Train  and Please don’t miss this train at the station, because if you do, I feel sorry, sorry you. Join hands Start a Love Train, Love Train….it is all you will ever need to get everything you want in life…..I love you !

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4 Jan

Creating Your Own Reality

Posted by timabraun in Addiction, Baseball, Body and Soul, Christianity, dating, Diet Mountain Dew, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, High School Reunion, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, music, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts, relationships, Story time. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

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It used to bother me when people would say things like “Tim is in a world all to himself” or “Tim lives in a fantasy world” or “He’s always so lucky, but some day his luck will change”.   Up until the point those comments started bothering me, I really did live in a fantasy world and in my fantasy world every fantasy I dreamed came true starting in High School.  You see everything in my life was created in a thought or a dream so when I had great thoughts and great dreams that is exactly what my world was made of, when I started listening to people make comments like I mentioned earlier, I started thinking that maybe they were right, the minute I started thinking that way, I got exactly what I was thinking of.

I have spent alot of time analyzing my 51 years of life here on Planet Earth, especially with the trials and tribulations of the past three years.  I had to find out why 48 years were about as perfect as a life could be and then the last 3 years were as ugly as life could be.  I say ugly only because they were so dramatically different then the first 48, while it wasn’t great it was a lesson I needed to remind me about how powerful our thoughts are and why it is so important to create your life as you want it and not by what others may think is right for you.

So let me tell you about the reality I created the last 51 years, including the last three which were also my creation.  Growing up in Crystal, Minnesota I was always fascinated with all the things you could do in life, I wanted to experience everything.  In the fourth grade our class took a field trip to the North Hennepin Post Newspaper, I thought the News paper business was really cool after that visit, so I went home and started my own neighborhood newspaper.  The first paper I created was on a manual typewriter with 5 pages of carbon paper(for those who don’t remember, carbon paper was something you could put between two pages of paper and make a copy of the first by either pressing hard with a pen or typing), because I was trying to make so many copies, my fingers got very sore from trying to slam down the keys so it would go through all 5 copies.   Later, I graduated to a printing press that I found in the Montgomery Ward catalog.  I remember sitting in front of the TV with a TV tray watching the Batman TV show and setting type letter by letter in my little printing press.  It was a fun little operation and I had several subscribers both in the neighborhood and at school who were willing to pay 5 cents a copy.

My next dream come true was when I decided after spending time growing up at the Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale it was time to open my own theater.  I loved the theater business from time my mother started working at the Terrace when I was 2 years old.  I was at the Terrace alot and took my time to learn how they did everything including getting to spend time with the Union Projectionist in the projection booth learning how to run the projectors.  So in the 5th grade, I opened the Hollywood Chief Theater in my basement showing silent films I took out at the public library on my Super 8 projector.  This venture was so succesful that I opened a second theater in my backyard, called the “Bike-In” theater which was created by stringing a large white sheet between two trees and pointing the projector out the back window of our house. 

Moving on to 6th grade, I decided that it was time to get with the latest technology after seeing my favorite disc jockey from my favorite radio station at the State Fair broadcasting live.  You guessed it, I signed on my own radio station WTIM using at first a CB radio and broadcasting the latest top 40 hits so all the kids in the neighborhood could hear them on their walkie talkies.  Later that same year, I found a kit at an electronics store called Lafayette Electronics for an AM Transmitter so I could broadcast on real radio.  The kit was very specific that your antenna should not exceed the 12 inches of wire that came with the kit, well I would have no part of that because I needed the whole neighborhood to hear me so I strung a 50 ft antenna from my house to the highest point I could climb to in one of the trees in our backyard.  I guess this radio empire was the beginning of my mini-media empire, because the next thing I did was buy an FM transmitting microphone from Radio Shack, now I was big time, AM and FM.  But that was just the start, 8-track tape players were all the rage and I was fortunate enough to get an 8-track tape recorder for Christmas that year which led the way for me to open up yet another business I called Sound Dynamics.  Today that business would be highly illegal and would be called Tim’s Pirate music company, I had no idea that I was pirating music by buying a vinyl album, recording it to 8 track and then selling to my friends.  I did quite well with this business adding cassette tapes to my 8 tracks.  So by the time I had graduated 6th grade I was operating 2 radio stations, 2 movie theaters and a record company.

I went to Hosterman Junior High in New Hope Minnesota for my next three years of school.  Alpine skiing was huge back in the 70’s and I loved watching the Olympics and the coverage of skiing including the local ski show hosted by local weatherman Barry Zevan.  I went skiing for my first time in 7th grade and by the end of the first day, I was skiing about as good as most of the people on the hill at Snowcrest ski area in Somerset, Wisconsin.  My dream was to become a ski racer and have all the girls admire me especially petite blondes which I decided was what would be the perfect fit for me.  At that time, Cooper High School had a ski racing team , the High School was for grades 10 to 12 while the junior high was 7 to 9.  I  heard that you could be on the High School ski team if you were good enough in 9th grade so I convinced my friend Steve Banker to try out for the team with me.  Steve and I had skied together quite a bit with the boy scouts, so what the heck, I thought we should give it a try.  And just as I had dreamed it, Steve and I made the ski team as 9th graders and by the time we were in 10th grade we were co-captains of the Cooper High School ski team.  Now you tell me that you can’t create exactly what you want.  I went from never having skied to the captain of the High School team, my first year in High School, pretty powerful life creating powers I had and you have as well.

While I loved sports, the media bug was still in my system so I started a film company to make ski movies.  I learned to ski backwards so I could ski down and look up the hill to film my friends.  I learned how to edit film, sync sound from a cassette recorder and eventually made 3 feature length Super 8 films with sound.  My friends hated my new film company because we would take a trip to Montana or Colorado to ski and I would spend half the time making them film me or letting me film them crashing off jumps and cliffs.  It was quite the deal for a junior high kid and it was exactly as I dreamed it would be.

Once I made it to Cooper High School my thoughts turned to having the greatest High School experience ever.  My favorite TV show was always “Leave it to Beaver” and I always wanted to be just like Wally, so while I continued to ski race, my real passion was Baseball, Blondes and good grades while having the greatest high school experience ever.  I had always loved baseball but was never able to keep up with the star athletes from my junior high days but after buying a book called “Show the Coach” and attending a summer of Baseball Camp, I was the starting 3rd baseman for the Cooper High Junior Varsity team and wouldn’t you know it just as I had dreamed not only was I the starting 3rd baseman but I had the perfect coach in Ted Leuer, who recognized how much attention I paid to playing the game right.  For the next 3 years in high school and 1 year of college I played and enjoyed baseball more than I had ever dreamed of.  But the point is I dreamed it and knew it would happen exactly the way I wanted it to happen and it did.

As for the Blonde, my bride of 30 years plus walked into the Terrace Theater in the Summer of 1974 and I saw the vision of the woman I had always dreamed of.  It took me almost a year to convince her to go out with me but just as I had dreamed and thought about constantly, we went out for 5 years and got married and moved to South Dakota where I had the job I had been dreaming of, I was morning disc jockey and Basketball Color announcer for the radio station.  I was living the dream and things only got better.   I dreamed of waiting about 8 years to have kids and knew that I wanted 1 son and 1 daughter which is exactly what we ended up with.   I won’t bore you with all the details but for the next 20 years, I got the houses I dreamed of, the cars I dreamed, travelled all over the world to every place I ever wanted to go, built multiple companies that I had dreamed of.  I even played a half season of 40 plus baseball.  During those amazing 48 years, I can’t tell you how many times things would happen exactly as I had dreamed they would or thought they would.

So what about the last three years ?  Well, I dreamed about those as well.  Unfortunately, I forgot how powerful my dreams and thoughts were.  I can tell you when it all started, I had paid off everything, I had zero debt, I had a ton of money in the bank, things were going incredible.  I can actually remember the exact moment that my thoughts changed to thoughts of what has happened the last three years.   I was on a Northwest Airlines flight flying from Minneapolis to San Francisco, sitting in First Class enjoying my status and thinking about how fortunate I was to have had all my dreams come true, then a thought popped into my head, a thought like I had never had in my whole life, “What if I lost it all ?” started going through my mind, which was something I never, ever would have even considered.  Things got weird after that thought popped into my mind, about an hour out of San Francisco, the Captain came on the PA system to tell us that the plane had hydraulic problems and we were going to have to make an emergency landing.  The minute I heard that, the thoughts of doom and disaster just got worse.  We dumped fuel and as we landed in San Francisco, fire trucks raced down the runway beside us.  The Captain had done an incredible job of landing the plane and nothing serious happened to anyone but my thoughts of loss grew stronger each day after that event.   As time went on, I noticed I had started to worry about crazy things like the election between Bush and Gore, my thoughts of impending disaster continued to grow leading up to the morning of September 11, 2001 as I sit in my home gym riding my Lifecycle watching Good Morning America as I saw the second plane, crash live on TV into the World Trade Center everything changed and for some reason from that day forward I was never able to get 100% back in the groove.   I had thoughts of my business failing, of losing my home ,of losing my cars and losing everything I had worked for my entire life.  It was at this time that I should have thrown myself into the good stuff like I have for the past 6 months.  I had created my own reality and what I had worried about starting in 2001 came to pass in 2009.  Talk about a wake up call !   Thoughts really do become things and that is why it is so important to choose them carefully.

Today,  I am seeing signs of the thoughts I had six months ago coming true, I dreamed of the perfect opportunities coming my way and sure enough they are, on a daily basis.  But the most important thing I have learned through all of this is that we really do create everything that happens in our lives.  It is easy to create exactly the life you want and it is just as easy to create exactly the life you don’t want.  It’s your choice, choose the good stuff or worry about the bad stuff.  I can tell you I am done with the bad stuff and totally focused on the good stuff including getting in the best physical shape of my life.  It’s kind of funny on this physical shape thing because, I have watched what I have eaten in the past in many attempts to lose some weight but for some reason over the past 9 years it never worked well.  Now that I am back in the “Groove”,  40 pounds has effortlessly dropped from my body primarily because I knew it would and visualized myself being in the best shape of my life for the 35th Class reunion of Cooper High School Class of 1977.  I will have a lot more to report on creating the life I have always wanted to live and boy do I intend to live, for at least another 70 years !  I hope you will consider my story and take some time to thing about the life you want for yourself, think about the good stuff and don’t ever, ever worry about anything bad.  Speaking of the Cooper High School Class of 1977, it was the greatest group of people I have ever met, and I spent most of my life telling the world about these special people.  I know many of them, maybe without knowing it have created exactly the lives they have wanted.  A few worried about things they shouldn’t have and have had to deal with the reality that brought them but I hope they have found what I have in the power of creating your own reality through visualizing the good stuff.  Thanks for spending a few minutes with me, you know I have been thinking of you.

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30 Dec

A Kindle Powered New Year and more resolution stuff….

Posted by timabraun in Addiction, Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, music, music therapy, My Life, Personal development. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon

I don’t know if it took getting back to writing in my blog or the Amazon Kindle that my wife gave me for Christmas to get my head back in the game but at minimum I have been able to fill my head with all the good stuff the last week via my Kindle.  I have to say that the Amazon Kindle may be one of the greatest inventions of our time.  Not only can I read all the really cool new books on the Law of Attraction, the Secret, The Power and the 4 hour workweek and 4 Hour body but I can also listen to all the great audiobooks out there.  Unlike a book that has to be held open to read, the Kindle is flat, light and easy to hold as well as effortless when it comes to turning the pages.  I believe it will become my single greatest tool in 2011 as I fill my head with all the good stuff.  Here’s the disclaimer, I have no affiliation with Amazon, this wasn’t a commercial, I am just a very excited and thrilled owner of this wonderful new tool.

Now, the really important stuff, New Year’s Resolutions.  I am not sure I ever believed in the resolution thing but each year at this time I have always taken the time to review my goals and plan for the new year.  While reading the newsletter from my Church this morning, my Pastor said that most resolutions for the new year are abandoned by January 7th, which I totally believe.   What I am proposing for this year for everyone and for myself is “New Day” resolutions, it other words resolving each and every day to lose weight, work harder, be kinder, love more, forgive more, visualize more, give more etc.  I am sure there will be people who abandon their New Day resolutions by 9:00 am they can make them again for the next day without having to wait a full year.

I think today’s post will have to fall into the random thoughts category because I have a bunch of random thoughts on my mind as I review the past year and prepare for the New Year. One of things I was thinking about this morning was personal responsibility and how important it is to always be responsible for yourself and your actions.  This is a subject that has been on my mind for sometime, I think I tend to take responsibility for just about everything because I refuse to pass the blame, this gets ridiculous when one of my kids blames me for the lousy weather and I find myself apologizing and feeling like I had something to do with it.  The other thing that was on my mind in this whole taking responsibility thing was how tough it is to teach your  kids personal responsibility  by setting an example by taking responsibility yourself.   As I said, I think I take responsibility for everything even when I shouldn’t and it has become more apparent to me as I listen to friends and family not take responsibility.   Anytime something happens to a friend or a family member the first thought that goes through my mind is that I did take the action I should have to prevent this from happening to them.  So my first action in these cases is to take the blame and tell them it was my fault and I take full responsibility, while I honestly feel that way, an analysis of recent events leads me to believe that quickly taking responsibility for everything leads to being quickly blamed for everything that goes wrong in those same people’s lives.  While I feel bad that I get blamed for things, my nature is to take responsibility and try to figure out what I can do to help.

Let me be clear, I love to be responsible for everybody and everything because I want to take care of people and do everything I can to help them but what I perceive as a good deed (personal responsibility)may also be my biggest weakness and the primary cause of the failures in my life.  I know that certain business decisions I have made that didn’t turn out good come from my desire to take responsibility for trying to fix someone elses problems.  That’s why I guess it is Personal Responsibility that is so important and not responsibility for other people’s problems.   OK, that was pretty random and yes, I take full responsibility for the above content, responsibility in all forms is another one of life’s mysteries that I intend to figure out one day.

Now the feel good stuff !  This past year, I have blogged about my mental juke box and how just the right song plays at the right time in my head to lift my spirits and carry me through various challenges in life but the number one thing that makes me feel good, appreciate life and makes things fall in place for me is realizing how much stuff in life I love.  Whether I am driving through the country and appreciating the scenery or looking at pictures of my wife and kids or the new Ford Products especially the new Ford Explorer and Mustang.  The more I am grateful and appreciative of all that life has to offer the better I feel.   The most important part  is consciously acknowledging this gratefulness and appreciation, whether saying it out loud, writing it in a journal or blog or thinking about it over and over.  If you don’t believe me give it a try and see how your outlook and your life starts feeling better, look at a picture of your spouse or kids and remind yourself how much you love them, or drive by the Ford dealership and check out the new Explorer and tell yourself how cool that vehicle is and how much you love it.  Do like I do and find a piece of land, along a river or lake or mountain or in a big city that you would love to own and build a house on and tell yourself how much you love that property.   Think about the city you live in and how much you love it or how much you love the city or place you would like to live in.  I guarantee you that when you start throwing all this love around you can’t help but change your outlook and feel better about everything and if you can hold on to those good feelings all the time, those things you love that you don’t have will soon come your way and those other things you do have like your family, they will start sending you love back in ways you never thought possible.   Happy New Year….I can’t wait for 2011, I love the number eleven and when 20 is in front of it, nothing is better.   What will you love in 2011 ?  Everything possible I hope !

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27 Dec

Lost in Space

Posted by timabraun in Addiction, Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts, Recovery, relationships, Story time. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Album cover of Lost in Space Original Televisi...

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One of my favorite television shows when I was growing up was Lost in Space.  Lost in Space is what I have felt like the last couple of months when I wasn’t writing and posting to my blog.  I got so caught up in just going through the motions that I truly was Lost in Space.  I really needed the Robot around saying “Warning, Warning Will Robinson”  “continuing to just go through the motions will lead to disaster”.  While going through the motions and working the graveyard shift at a convenience store probably weren’t the best choices I have made recently they have fired me up to enter the new year pursuing all of the dreams that had slipped from the forefront to Lost in Space file.

I have always found the week between Christmas and New Years to be an excellent time to review the past year, think about what’s really important and set the stage for the coming year.  While I had taken all out massive action to attack the problems that led to my personal financial crisis, the solutions I jumped into ended up not being the answer but providing the answers and solutions to what I need to do in 2011.  You see, it is very easy to settle in to something that is easy, the hourly job at the convenience store was fun, easy and an escape from reality.  When I was mopping floors at 3 in the morning, all the cares of the world were absent, the silence was therapeutic and it was easy to just go through the motions.  But my life has never been about going through the motions and getting Lost in Space like I did, wasn’t helping my situation one bit.

So as I sit here, doing what I enjoy most (writing) I am planning my escape from the alien planet and that place in space where I was lost.  In 2011, I intend to focus on the things I do best and the things I have always wanted to do.  I am an Entrepreneur and the failures of the past three years had dampened my spirit and led me to believe that just getting a normal job was the way to go.  Getting Lost in Space was what I needed to understand what it was that I needed to do moving forward.  2011 promises to be an exciting year and I have set up a number of new plans to challenge myself to find my way back to the planet Earth.

I know that was a pretty lame attempt to try to work in one of my favorite TV shows from my childhood, but actually it was that TV show that set me straight.  Part of my daily routine was to lay down at 6 pm to take a short nap before going into my job at the convenience store at 9pm.  I would turn on the Family Network at 6 just as the reruns of Lost in Space would come on.  I ended up not getting a lot of sleep because I got so caught up in watching Lost in Space.   After about two months of this routine was when it hit me that I had become Lost in Space.  Somehow, I don’t think it was coincidence that Lost in Space began airing on the Family Network about the same time I started this routine of working 2 full-time hourly positions that paid just a little over minimum wage.  The Universe has a funny way of working and I believe, the TV show was reminding me of what I was doing to myself.

I apologize for the scattered way my post today is going but it may take me a few days to get my writing groove back in synch.  Before I close things out today I want to share with you an email I received as one of my daily notes from the Universe (www.tut.com) .   It is really amazing what the right words can do to lift your spirits and remind you of what your true purpose in life is.  Imagine how you would feel if you received the email below and took it to heart.  I believe this email is what helped me remember what I was up to before getting Lost in Space.  More than anything, I hope that I can someday find the words to share with people around the world that will help them feel the way I did when I received this email.  Thank you Mike Dooley for your daily notes from the Universe! I hope everybody reading this goes to your website and signs up for your daily notes right now.  Here’s the email:

 

 

 

 

        

     

  

If it’s not yet obvious to you, the real reason for this, and all seasons, is you, Tim. A more perfect child of the Universe has never lived. Until now, only celebrations cloaked in myth and mystery could hint at your divine heritage and sacred destiny. You are life’s prayer of becoming and its answer. The first light at the dawn of eternity, drawn from the ether, so that I might know my own depth, discover new heights, and revel in seas of blessed emotion.

A pioneer into illusion, an adventurer into the unknown, and a lifter of veils. Courageous, heroic, and exalted by legions in the unseen.

To give beyond reason, to care beyond hope, to love without limit; to reach, stretch, and dream, in spite of your fears. These are the hallmarks of divinity – traits of the immortal – your badges of honor. May you wear them with a pride as great as the immeasurable pride we feel for you.

Your light has illuminated darkened paths, your gaze has lifted broken spirits, and already your life has changed the course of history.

This is the time of year we celebrate Tim Braun.Bowing before Greatness,
    The Universe

So this email has set up the challenge for me in the coming year, my number one goal is to give beyond reason, care beyond hope, love without limit; to reach, stretch and dream in spite of my fears.  I challenge you to do the same.  It seems to me that if a person can pull this off there is no possible way for them to fail or to ever again get Lost in Space….

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8 Nov

What’s with all the Discounts and Free Stuff ?

Posted by timabraun in Body and Soul, dreams, Faith, goals, Lifestyle, Mind, My Life, Personal development, Random Thoughts, relationships, Story time.

Old and new Diet Coke cans.

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It’s funny how the Universe works,  a few months back I made up my mind to eliminate as much negative input from my life as possible.  I stopped listening to talk radio, network and cable news, stopped reading the newspaper unless there was an uplifting, positive story and I decided to look for the good in everything I did everyday, no matter what.   In addition, to losing the 40 extra pounds I had piled on over the past few years, great opportunities starting coming my way and most importantly I saw possibilities where before I just saw obstacles.  Overall my life is starting to feel like it did for the first 47 years before I created all the challenge and crisis of the past few years but there is something much different this time around and I think it is because I have taken such massive action and have truly been able to let go of my ego and try to fill everything I do with love.

So beyond all the cool opportunities and overall just better well being I am feeling these days, something very strange but wonderful has started happening.  All of sudden no matter where I go, I am getting unexpected discounts and even stuff handed to me for free.   I am not sure what is behind this, at first I thought people figured I was old and they were just being nice and giving me a senior discount, but with all the weight I have lost nobody thinks I look old enough to qualify for a Senior Citizen discount,  I know AARP has lowered their age requirement to 50 but most everyone else doesn’t offer a senior discount unless your 65 and even at that I think you have to ask for it.  No, in my case I have just been totally shocked by this sudden and interesting development in my life.

Let’s begin with the discount at Taco Bell.  With my incredibly busy schedule, I end up eating on the run a lot and because I am trying to get in as good a shape as I was in College, I am trying to eat healthy and lose weight.   So one of the things I have done is followed the Drive-Thru diet at Taco Bell (really they have a low fat, low calorie menu that is delicious), you can get the drive-thru diet when you eat inside as well.  One of my favorite things to do is trying to put a smile on the face of just about everybody I come in contact with, especially those working in jobs that aren’t traditionally fun.  So I first noticed the unexpected discounts at Taco Bell, every time I would go into this one Taco Bell I always made it a point to joke with the person taking my order about the drive-thru diet and always found a way to compliment the person at the same time.  The manager at this Taco Bell always would come up to the register and smile and tell me to have a great day.  So after doing this a few times, all of sudden I noticed that when ever I came into the restaurant, the manager would come to the front and open another register and tell me he could take care of me at his register.  I noticed that the food I had been paying $3.94 for suddenly dropped to $2.50, first I looked at the menu to see if there was a price change but there wasn’t then I looked at the receipt and their it was “SR Discount”, which I assumed meant Senior Discount.  Whatever it means, I am enjoying saving money and the incredible service being offered me.

So it gets even better, the other day when I was working at the Mall of America, I was standing in a long line at a Pretzel stand just to get a diet coke.  The line was very long and the Father and Son who were working at the Pretzel stand were a bit overwhelmed with the line and the attitude of the people in line.  They were handling it as best they could but I saw an opportunity to help out  so I started talking to everyone in line around me that had become impatient with the wait, I told them that the reason the line was so long was that this was the greatest pretzel stand on the planet and if they wanted to give up their place in line there were hundreds of people I could call on my cell phone that would be willing to wait all day for a chance to get one of these pretzels.  I said some other stuff as well, but the bottom line is that this line of angry and impatient customers started laughing and enjoying the line  and now seemed like they could wait forever, it was fun and it made the whole experience of waiting in line an adventure.  When it was my turn to order my Diet Coke,  the Father who most likely also owned the stand took my order, when he came back with the Diet Coke, I tried to hand him the money I had ready and he said “I should be paying you, the Coke’s on me, would you like a free pretzel to go with your Diet Coke ?”.  I walked away  amazed at what had just happened,  I don’t know if I have developed a new technique to get free stuff and discounts or not but what I do know is that the discounts and free stuff just keep piling up and whether it’s because I am smiling and happy or trying to help people change their attitude, I am not sure. 

The next time you find yourself in a line or at a restaurant with unhappy employees or customers, make it a game and see if you can get people smiling and laughing, you may not save any money or get something free right away, but even if you don’t get a discount what you will get is the satisfaction of knowing you played a small part in turning somebody’s day around.   Ultimately, the universe will repay you many times over, so spread some good cheer today and sit back and when wait for the return on your investment.   I really like the new Ford Explorer that is coming out this fall, so I think I am going to hand around the Ford dealership and see what I can do to change the attitudes of everyone working there, not sure if I can get a Free or discounted Explorer, but I know I am going to have fun trying !

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1 Nov

Those Who Inspire Us……

Posted by timabraun in Baseball, Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, growing up, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts, relationships, Story time. Tagged: , , , , .

Inspirational Barnstar

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I have to be the luckiest guy on earth, throughout my life, incredible people have shown up on a regular basis with life experiences that are extraordinary and extraordinarily inspirational.  As I have searched for what my true purpose is in life, I always thought I wanted to inspire people through books, audio programs and public speaking, I was foolish enough to think that I had done something inspirational and that I could speak from personal experiences.   While I have had many successes, many challenges and many comebacks in the past and hopefully in the future, my experiences are nothing compared to the people that have shown up in my life that truly were an inspiration and whose examples of conquering challenges in their lives have kept me going and made my challenges minor in comparison.

As I thought about all the incredible people that have come into my life at various times to inspire me, it became clear that the best way for me to inspire others was by sharing with the stories of those that have inspired me over the years.  In an earlier post on my blog I spoke about some of the people that inspired me as I was growing up through my high school years, including former Minnesota Twins Shortstop  Danny Thompson, my American Legion Baseball Coach Ted Leuer and many others.  Today I had an opportunity to think about those who have inspired me in the years after I graduated from High School and one of the first persons that came to mind was a life insurance salesman from Spearfish, South Dakota.  I moved to Spearfish in October of 1979 after taking a job as the mid-day announcer at KBFS Radio in Belle Fourche, one of the first people to welcome me to Spearfish was Harvey Krautschun, I was just 20 years old and Harvey was the most positive and energetic person I had met in my life.  At first, I thought Harvey was just being so cool because he wanted to sell me life insurance, which I bought shortly after our first visit, but I soon discovered that Harvey just loved people and loved making a difference in everyone’s lives.  Over the 2 years I spent in Spearfish, Harvey and I had the opportunity to become good friends, heck Harvey even returned the favor, and bought some radio ads from me and had me record his commercials.

After leaving Spearfish in the Spring of 1981, Harvey and I stayed in contact, or should I say Harvey kept in touch with me,  every time I would think about calling Harvey, he would call me before I had the chance to call him.   Harvey’s calls were always different than any other calls I would ever receive,  Harvey never called to talk about himself, he always called to check on me and more importantly my family.  After every call I got from Harvey, I always found myself wondering why I hadn’t taken the time to find out how Harvey and his family were doing.  In the 90’s when I had started a fairly significant company in the Floppy disk replication business, Harvey tried hard to convince me and my partners to move the company headquarters to South Dakota, he made arrangements for a trip that flew me to Sioux Falls and  Spearfish where I met with City and State Government officials who wanted to do anything they could to get us to move our company, I was all for it but my partners just didn’t think it made sense.  That trip was the first time that I realized what a great business builder and supporter of local communities Harvey was.  Later in the 90’s Harvey became be a state legislator and ultimately the Speaker of the State House of Representatives and many thought he would end up as Governor.

Here’s where the story gets interesting, throughout the 90’s Harvey called me on a regular basis and as usual was only interested in checking on me and my family, and again I always wondered why I never asked about Harvey and his family.  Harvey never missed a beat calling including throughout 1995 and 1996 which I would later find out was a very difficult time for Harvey, even though he didn’t mention his challenge even once to me during his calls of 1995 and 1996.   In July of 1995, when a newborn colt jumped into an 8-foot pond, Harvey’s wife Joy jumped in to save the colt.  While trying to save the colt, Joy’s heart suddenly failed, Harvey rushed to her side and began mouth to mouth resuscitation.  Harvey and Joy’s son, Bart, rushed to find additional help, calling an ambulance.  Bart returned to his mother’s side and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her.  Father and son together fought to save Joy’s life.  The massive heart failure pushed her into a coma.  Harvey stood by Joy’s hospital bed as she lay comatose for a month, fighting for her life.  Because of his constancy and commitment to his wife’s life, even as doctor’s began discussing terminating life support, Harvey’s devotion remained unmoved.  He was determined to see his wife awake again.

Joy awoke from her coma.  Her recovery from the massive heart damage would entail months of hospitalization and therapy.  Joy did recover, and today she is living with her family even though doctor’s had believed she would not live.  Harvey and his family made a commitment to Joy’s life and it was that commitment that saved her.  Harvey is truly incredible and an inspiration, even while faced with incredible turbulence in his own life he still found time to call and check on me and my family without mentioning the challenges of his own family.

I found about Joy’s accident and illness in the summer of 1997, I had done quite well with my sales career and had taken 3 weeks off to travel the west with my wife and two young children.   I had a tire blow out on my 31 foot RV that was towing an SUV as I was driving down a mountain in Wyoming at 80 plus miles per hour, while it scared the heck out of me, I was able to pull the vehicle to the shoulder and get the help that was needed to tow the RV to Spearfish, South Dakota.   The first thing I thought of was, I am going to call Harvey to tell him how successful I have been and how much fun I was having taking a long vacation with my incredibly healthy family.  Of course, I would also have to tell him of the trauma caused by the one day delay in our trip because of the flat tire.  I called Harvey and of course Harvey was thrilled to hear from me and offered to take me to lunch.  While having lunch, I bragged about my success and the health of my family and could tell Harvey was sincerely happy for everything that had come my way.   I finally had made it a point that this time I was going to ask Harvey about his family, I did and he finally opened up and told me Joy’s story.  I can’t tell you what a wake up call that was,  I was so caught up with myself that I had forgotten about those who had done so much for me over the years.  Harvey was always there to check on me, to lend me advice and be sure my family was doing well and I never returned the favor.  Inspirational people like Harvey help remind us of what is important and most importantly their stories remind us of how trivial most of our daily issues are.  I have spoken way too often in this blog about the challenges I have faced financially over the past three years, but my family is healthy and while we had a very tough time with the death of my mother in-law, none of our daily challenges come close to those of the people who have shown up in my life like Harvey Krautschun, Terry Lyles, Marian Braun and Kathlyn Hunt.  I want to share more with you about the people who have inspired me and continue to inspire me on a daily basis.  I hope their stories will inspire you and help you realize that challenges of any size are manageable and that miracles do occur when you KNOW they will.

25 Oct

Opportunities Show Up in Unexpected Places…

Posted by timabraun in Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, growing up, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, Random Thoughts, relationships.

Mall of America

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Before I stopped paying attention to the daily news and world affairs on Network TV and Newspapers, I was often struck by not just the unemployment figures but also the comments that the figure for unemployment did not include those who had simply given up looking for work.  I know a lot of people who have looked for jobs for years and still remain unemployed primarily because they can’t find a job that pays them what they made in their last job or they can’t find a job they think they would like.  It is a fascinating set of circumstances  because most of the people were in their previous jobs for long periods of time and during that time and leading up to today, the world has changed, the economy has changed and technology continues to move ahead at light speed.

The last three years when I had given in to negative comments, negative advice, negative Network and Cable News, Negative talk radio and assorted other supplies of negative input, I lost my company, my home and just about everything else.  In late July of this year, I decided enough was enough and I was going to return to the positive thoughts and dreaming that had taken me so far the first 47 years of my life.  I decided I knew I could return to making a million dollars a year but this time was going to be even better, not only was I going to make that money but I was going to make sure I helped anyone who wanted to listen learn how they could turn things around and improve their lives as well.

So I  embarked on a new adventure, I sent out 1,000 resumes, applied online for hundreds of jobs that were the perfect fit for me, in other words I took massive action to get things stoked up and rolling again.  Well after all that work, not one phone call or return email came to me regarding any of those positions.  I then made hundreds of calls to people I knew from my old business, I talked to people who owned the companies where I had produced sales that netted me almost a million dollars a year in commissions and not one opportunity was available.  Like the people the news said had simply given up on looking for a job, I, for a moment could identify with their plight and thought for just a second I might end up in the same place. 

Knowing that “Thoughts become Things”, I started visualizing what I really ultimately wanted to do with my life and got to work.  I started writing this blog, I started recording video for my video blog, I started writing a book, I started recording audio programs and I kept looking for job opportunities and I kept plugging away at my current sales position in the media replication business.  Then, one day almost like magic, the phone began to ring…first it was a job selling a new, high speed mobile internet service out of a kiosk at the Mall of America which was something I could do and still maintain my current sales position, while the retail sales position paid less than $10 an hour, it seemed like a good opportunity to meet people and interact with people again, maybe even brush up on my sales skills.   The next phone call I received was from a large, locally based company that has convenience stores all over the midwest, they offered me a position working from 9 at night until 6 in the morning at one of their stores.   Again, it seemed very exciting to me, because I liked the company and again I thought it would give me the opportunity to interact with people.  While both positions paid less than $10 per hour, and both companies told me I was way overqualified and asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this, I looked at both positions as adventures and went into with one goal, to use it as an opportunity to help others.

Help others ?  That’s right since both positions involved interacting with customers and potential customers, I thought I would be able to put a smile on the face of people who were down that might be coming into buy a lottery ticket or gas and I also felt that I could have a positive effect on the people I worked with, setting an example of enjoying everything you are doing no matter what it is.   I really wasn’t interested in what the positions paid, what the advancement opportunities were or what was in it for me monetarily, I was only interested in the adventure and the opportunity to interact and make a difference with the people I came in contact with.

It has been about 2 months now since I started these two new adventures, and while there have been times that the hours have eaten into me getting any sleep at all, I have thoroughly enjoyed the positions and the people I have come to know.   But what is really amazing is what has happened since I embarked on these adventures, once I took on these positions other opportunities started flooding in, new customers and prospects showed up in my replication business, new opportunities showed up for me with other products, another company I am involved in has several huge opportunities that have come to me in regards to manufacturing vitamins and all of sudden last week, people started showing up in my life confirming and offering themselves as resources to build my blog, website and inspirational adventure.  Not only did people show up, but ideas have been coming to me faster than ever, including ideas for new websites, all aimed at helping others.

As the opportunities started to pour in, so did advancement and wage increases with the two adventures in high speed internet and convenience stores.  None of this would have happened if I had sat back and waited for the perfect opportunity.  My point is that if you are waiting for the perfect opportunity to start working again, you most likely will never get back to work, but if you take on a job, whether it is at a fast food restaurant, a retail store, a warehouse where ever, and you take the right approach, (An adventure not a job) you might just see opportunities arising in other areas of your life.

I was thinking about all the opportunity that has come my way during the past few weeks as a result of my two new adventures and it took me back to a time in my early 20’s when I was a young salesperson and there were endless opportunities available to me.   All of those opportunities came to me because I was “out there” making contacts and interacting with people.    So, if you are looking to get back in the job market, or are looking for the perfect opportunity,  get out there, find a job that you can take on as an adventure with no concern for what it pays, use it to get yourself out there, nothing stands out more than a fantastic, energy filled, happy person working in a place that is known for the opposite.  I guarantee you will draw some attention which in turn will lead to opportunity, maybe even that perfect opportunity you were waiting for.

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20 Oct

Keep The Faith !

Posted by timabraun in Addiction, Body and Soul, Christianity, dreams, Faith, goals, God, Lifestyle, Mind, miracles, music, music therapy, My Life, Personal development, philosophy, prayer, Random Thoughts.

Tableside remote juke box unit, photographed a...

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I don’t know what it is about this mental juke box phenomena I have been experiencing but it seems to be intensifying as things start falling back in place for me.  This evening I received an email from a good friend who is having some difficulty with a business related legal matter.  I know how stressed he has been after experiencing events similar to what I have gone through the past three years.  When I read his email, I started thinking about what I could do to help him get through this difficult situation, I wanted to tell him that there was something good hidden in this trouble but I just didn’t know how to tell him without minimizing the size of the issue.  I know that this is a temporary but still uncomfortable situation and that thinking about it will only make it worse.   As I sat in my office contemplating what to say, I could hear a quarter drop into my mental juke box and Bon Jovi’s “Keep the Faith” started playing,  “you gotta keep the faith” kept playing over and over, which made me wonder what the lyrics were to the song.

There is definitely a message in the lyrics of this song for everyone facing a troubling issue especially when other parties are involved and especially when people are pitted against people.   Check this out from Bon Jovi’s  ” Keep the Faith”…I have suffered for my anger,  there are wars that can’t be won,  I am laying down my guns, I am broken like an arrow, forgive me, forgive me your wayward son.  This may sound depressing but it truly is a strong message that tells me not to get angry, not to fight but to work toward a solution and when you submit, I think most times even when you are right, the truth prevails.  I know that’s a little deep but it all comes down to how you play this out in your mind,  you can let the anger kill you, you can get angrier when the other side does something you think is unjust but when you know in your heart you are right and you know you will prevail, you can settle back and let God handle the details.  Here’s some more lyrics from the same song that apply to the same situation…”Everybodys bitching, cause they can’t get enough, and its hard to hold on, when there’s no one to lean on”.  I have been here, when there is no one to help and it’s all on you, it seems like the end of the world but all that has changed for me because my thoughts have changed as well as my approach to everything.

“Faith, you know you’re gonna live through the rain, Lord you got to keep the faith, Faith don’t let your love turn to hate, right now we got to keep the faith”  So  my internal, head banging, juke box keeps playing and picking songs randomly to fit my thoughts.  How do you explain that ?  These are more than coincidences, I know that by eliminating all the negative input from today’s media, the right songs play at the right time in my head and it props me up and makes me stronger each day.  

I grew up with my Mother working at a movie theater and ultimately worked as an usher at the same theater, many, many hours were spent watching movies over and over.  I am sure I saw “The Sting“, “All the Presidents Men” and Disney‘s “Robin Hood” among others hundreds and possibly thousands of times.  So my entire life I have been addicted to movies and just recently I realized a lot of the movies I was going to see may also have been putting the wrong thoughts in my head.  This was never more apparent than when I went to see “Secretariat” last week.  This was such a positive and moving movie that I think I had tears flowing down my face most of the movie.   It wasn’t a sad movie, it was just that emotionally I connected with the movie on a level that brought on that effect.   It all goes back to the intensity of everything in my life these days, I can’t seem to look at leaves changing on a tree without being thrilled with the beauty of the Universe and the Perfection that lies before us each day.

Intensity and Keeping the Faith, they go hand in hand and when you get to the point that you know every single thing that happens in your life happens for a reason, you marvel at the perfection instead of getting angered over a legal issue or business audit or whatever you are facing.  The greatest lessons in my life have come at times that people thought I should be depressed or angry with the situation I had found myself in, but no matter how bad the situation or for that matter how good a situation appears to other parties, the truth is it is all as it should be and there is a powerful lesson for us in every event no matter the size or scope.

God sends us teachers all the time, whether it is an opposing attorney, a chance meeting with a young man who had a very rough life as a teenager in Chicago and moved to Minneapolis to get a new start, that guy in the big red truck that cut you off on the highway, a friend who has a different political view than yours or a parent who calls you at all hours of the day or night to check on you.  All of these people have been sent to teach you something and it is your reaction to each event that will determine what you learn, and how you will feel.   Negative events do not by themselves make us unhappy but rather it is our reaction to the event that determines how we are going to feel.   Each time I am tested by challenging events,  I have a new tool that seems to be serving me well, the internal juke box loaded with a play list to fit every thought or situation that presents itself.   “Keep the faith, though, you know it’s never too late.  Keep the faith, keep the faith, keep the faith”

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