Groovin’

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The transformation taking place in my life is amazing and I can’t get over all the cool stuff that is going on in my head.  It has proven to me once again that we can and do create what happens in our lives, we decide if we are going to be happy or sad, tired or energized, everything revolves around our thoughts and as Mike Dooley says “Thoughts become things”.  The real key to all this magic is being conscious,  or at least consciously filling your mind with the good thoughts and the good input from outside sources.  TV, Radio and Newspapers can unconsciously fill your head with doom and gloom, shape your opinions about our leaders and take you out of the “zone”.

9th grade was my breakthrough year when I was playing baseball, prior to that I dropped the ball, especially when the game was on the line, I struck out, especially when I shouldn’t have and no matter how bad I wanted it I couldn’t get a hit.  Then two things happened, I started praying two to three times a day, and I got my hands on a book that talked about athletes performing at their best when they were in the zone.  As I look and think back to that time, the praying part was much more than just asking God to help me with my baseball skills as I took the praying seriously and really went into a state of total focus on asking God to help me but also repeating to myself what I wanted to happen, which in this case was I wanted to hit like Rod Carew.  The other thing was reading that book that talked about being in the zone,  the zone was when an athlete got himself into that perfect state where he was firing on all cylinders and everything was working perfect which allowed him to perform at the highest ability possible.   I have never  forgotten these particular strategies in my life and as I talked about in a  past blog, the things I learned on the Baseball field have served me well in life.

If you have been following my transformation through this blog, then you know that I was pretty much in the zone for the first 47 years of my life, just about everything I dreamed about or wanted for my life came true, I had mastered being in the “zone” of life because I “Knew” I could make things happen and I knew things would work out exactly as I planned.  Then I lost my way, I gave into listening to people tell me I wasn’t being realistic, that things weren’t going to be as good as I thought they would, I listened to the negative news on talk radio, TV news and read it in the paper and those thoughts became things and my world wasn’t so good for three years.  In July of this year, I decided to take massive action, including not letting any of the outside media or opinions of others affect what I “knew” was the truth.   The transformation has been incredible, I have effortlessly lost over 30 pounds, I feel better, I am positive and I have so many opportunities coming my way it is truly incredible.  But nothing explains this better than the music that plays in my head.

In August,  I was very stressed out one morning even though I had started down this path of knowing, I still let myself slip but I was enough on the right road that music started playing in my head when those stressful thoughts entered.  The Beach Boys ” Don’t Worry Baby” and the lyrics “everything will work out” played in my head and corrected my thoughts.  That worked so well that I wrote a blog post about the power of music and how hearing that song in my head, set my thinking straight that day.  The transformation and music continues, things have been going so well that I wanted to come up with a term other than being in the zone to describe this state I have been able to get myself into.   So while I was out walking my trusty companion “Flash” the golden retriever,  the juke box in my head started playing that old classic by the Young Rascals “Groovin“.   I immediately knew that was what I was going to call this state of mind, so right now I am “Groovin'” and on my way back to the incredible life I knew I could have.

I am not sure if you remember my “Don’t  Worry Baby” post but I got so excited about my mental juke box that I started talking about all the great lyrics of those songs  that have played in my head.  So after “Groovin” played on the juke box and wouldn’t stop playing, I started thinking about the lyrics and they are amazing especially when it comes to creating the world you always wanted for yourself.  Check this out…Groovin’…on a Sunday Afternoon (I choose to be Groovin 24/7)   I can’t imagine anything that’s better, The world is ours when we are together (I took this line as the World is ours when me and my thoughts are together)  There ain’t a place I’d like to be instead of Groovn’.  And it only get’s better as the song goes on…There’s always lot’s of things the we can see…we can be anyone we want to be..And all those “Happy” people we could meet just…Groovin.   We’ ll keep on spending sunny days this way, we’re gonna talk and laugh our time away…I feel it comin’ closer day by day…Life would be ectasy…..Groovin.   If that doesn’t describe my personal transformation of the past few months, I am not sure what does.  Those words are perfect if you are trying to start “Groovin” or getting in the zone, whether it is “We can be anyone we want to be” or “I feel it comin closer day by” these are incredible affirmations that will help you get in the zone or as I like to say “Groovn”.

So fire up your personal juke box in your head,  remember those songs that touched you and had a positive impact on your life and maybe even find some new ones that take you where you want to go.  For me, there is no place I would rather be than….Groovin !

If You Are Happy And You Know It, Clap Your Hands !

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Just thinking about all those happy songs we learned as kids put a big smile on my face.  One of those songs stuck out because it included the name of my Blog “You know it”.   If you aren’t happy you will get happy fast singing that song and clapping your hands, whether it brings back memories or just makes you feel silly for singing and clapping you can’t help but put a smile on your face when you sing it and clap.   Being happy and  knowing it isn’t something that just happens,  you have to intend to be happy and know your happy (and then clap your hands).  Where the heck am I going with this ?  When the song popped into my head, it just made sense to use it as the title for today’s post and it was fitting because it is what I am all about, being happy and knowing it.

I started down my path of reclaiming the old Tim Braun sometime in late July, instead of focusing on all the bad stuff that had happened the past two years, I made up my mind to focus only on what I wanted to happen and what I wanted to attract to my life.  I cut out all the negative including news and talk programs on radio and tv and even the newspaper.  I excused myself  from conversations with people that slipped into discussion of negative events or thoughts and I totally focused on everything good.  Today, I had a few minutes to reflect on all the good stuff that has come my way since I changed my thinking in late July and I am happy to report that “Thoughts really do become Things”.  I attracted two full time adventures (some might call them jobs), while those two adventures take up 16 hours a day, I really enjoy both of them and this week, on the same exact day, I not only got promoted but got significant raises after less than a month on the job at both places.  If that wasn’t enough, I got an email out of the blue for another incredible opportunity that just happens to involve my favorite sport  “Baseball” and a huge name in the game.  The timing on this last opportunity was unbelievable and no one can tell me any of the events of the past couple months are just a coincidence, there is a direct connection between my thoughts and what has shown up in my life.   It is exactly the way things always used to work for me.    And there’s even more,  if you followed my blogs on the miracle I needed, that showed up just a couple days later, you know it involved foreclosures and a certain high profile mortgage company.  Now I am not paying attention to the news, but my wife informed me today that not only is the Minnesota Attorney General investigating this company’s practices but all 50 states have now opened an investigation into this company and others.  Truly amazing things are happening and it is all a direct result of changing my mindset to know these things were going to happen for me.

I know this can work for you too !  After 51 years of experience, I not only want to create the life I had dreamed of but I want to help others to do  the same.  There is nothing I enjoy more than getting people fired up and believing in themselves and knowing they can create the life they want.  I think that is probably the main reason I am enjoying my little adventures so much,  whether I am interacting with customers at the gas station in the middle of the night or talking to young sales people at the mall kiosk early in the morning, it is always fun to see the transformation in people when I share my secrets with them.

Sleep ?  who needs sleep ?  The number one question I get these days is ” When do you sleep ?” and that is usually followed by “How can you always be so happy and energized working all those hours ?”  Well first of all, I don’t really get tired and secondly, I am not working, I am on an adventure and adventures get me excited and energized.   To be honest, I might get a little sleepy from time to time, but everything that is happening is exactly as I dreamed it over the past few months and in my dreams I was never tired.  When you are happy and energized you can do amazing things.  Are you happy right now ?  Why not ?  did you try clapping your hands ?  Come on…you are happy and you know it !

I do need to spend a little more time writing my blog as I miss writing daily and the power that comes from writing is hard to do without.   What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail ?  Anything is possible and after reminding myself of the power I had for years and that it really does work, I intend to ramp things up and continue to share the progress, not just on paper but also through my video blog which I will be launching soon on You Tube and linking here.   Make it a great day and do yourself a favor,  make up your mind to know your happy and while you are at it, clap your hands.

1977

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I have to say that 1977 ranks at or near the top of my all time favorite years.   I was blessed with having the best classmates on the face of the earth and in my opinion the greatest collection of teachers and coaches ever assembled in one High School.  I was incredibly proud to be a Cooper Hawk whether as a student, baseball player, ski racer or cross-country runner, Cooper High School was the best and in particular my senior year 1977 was the absolute best year of school I ever had.

Over the past 50 years, I have made thousands of friends and had the opportunity to talk to thousands and thousands of people in my travels not only around the United States but around the world.  To this date,  I still talk about my experience at Cooper High School and what I find is that I can’t find anyone that has had a high school experience to match mine.  It’s true many people have fond memories of high school, but none compares to my experience.

Every chance I get, I drive by Cooper High School trying to re-live those incredible days, some times I will throw on the Bruce Springsteen CD and play “Glory Days” over and over.  I like to go sit in the dugout at the baseball field and re-live the great times I had playing with the greatest baseball teams and coaches ever assembled anywhere.   Don’t tell me the Yankees or my Twins had a better team or mix of players than the teams I played on in 75, 76 and 77.  Whether it was playing baseball, running cross-country, making films in speech class or sitting in Humanities class there wasn’t one moment I didn’t thoroughly enjoy.   This incredible environment made me strive for great grades and winning performances in sports.  I am not sure I can explain this because I haven’t seen anything like it anyplace but at Cooper during my time there.

The other amazing thing about Cooper High School was that the friendships I developed during that time have endured, all of my best friends went to High School with me, when I moved to my second home in Maple Gove in 1986, the whole neighborhood filled up with Cooper High School graduates.  The strong bond that connected us in High School carries on to today, my class in particular holds formal reunions every 5 years that are well attended, informal reunions yearly at the Crystal Frolics in July that include Heidi’s home tours of all the old home we lived in during the time we were in High School and of course a run to everyone’s favorite mexican fast food restaurant Zantigo.   Because there was so much time (5 years)in between our last reunion we even had an all class 50th Birthday party and this weekend we are having an all 70’s party.

When I share my love of the class of 1977 with other people they always think I am from a small town, with a very small class, the opposite is true, Cooper is in New Hope, Minnesota a large suburb of Minneapolis and our graduating class was at least 700 in size.   The friends I made, the teachers who taught me and the coaches who coached me have all played important roles in my life,  The success at Cooper High School set the stage for the success I enjoyed in my life.  Specifically, I had a network of friends that supported me and were always behind me every step of the way, you can always depend on a Cooper Hawk to have your back.

1977, what a year !  Besides my incredible experience in High School, I enjoyed my hometown, my jobs and dating my girlfriend Suanne who has been with me since 1975, married since 1980.  I long for a Saturday night dinner at the Nankin Chinese restaurant followed by a movie at the Mann Orpheum Theater on Hennepin.  I miss meeting my classmates at  Happy Joe’s Pizza in Crystal and I really miss letting all my classmates into the movies at the Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale where I worked as an usher.

The late 70’s was of course the dawning of the disco era with dancing at Scottie’s on 7th, I had one of those White Suits (just like Steve Martin’s) and all the craze was the silk shirts imprinted with different pictures and of course you were not allowed to button the top three buttons on the shirt.  I never got into the gold chains but believe they were huge at the time.  My all time favorite Baseball player, Rod Carew was the American League MVP in 1977.  I drove a 1977 Mustang Mach I that is still my favorite car.   1977 and everything that went with it is still my favorite year.  Everything was firing on all cylinders not only was the year great but the expectation of being able to go out on my own and pursue my dreams was forefront in my mind.

I was truly in the zone in 1977, I had a picture in my mind of what I was going to do with my life and I “KNEW” I could make it happen and I did make it happen for the next 30 years almost exactly as I dreamed about it in 1977.  I know how strong my dream was and how good I was at visualizing exactly the life I wanted so I am dubbing my system for creating the life you want, System 1977, if you can remember how you felt  when you graduated from High School and can remember the dreams you had and the plans you had, you can return to that feeling anytime you want and once you do, you can create the next 50 years to fit your  dream.  I know I had the unfair advantage of being a Cooper Hawk and having the support of the greatest classmates on the face of the earth, but I know everyone has the power to create the life they want and the best way to describe the feeling you need to have is taking yourself back to a time in your life when you were full of dreams and expectations and about to launch into the world.

For me,  1977 and everything about Cooper High School is etched permanently in my mind and nothing means more to me than having the opportunity to return to those days whether it is communicating with my classmates, having dinner with one of my incredible coaches or sitting in the dugout at the Baseball field.  My time at Cooper, confirmed for me that the world and life could be anything you wanted to make it.  Thank you Classmates, Teachers and Coaches, you mean the world to me and I appreciate everything you have done for me.

Change the Way You Feel About Things and the Way You Feel Will Change

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How would you feel if over the course of two days, you poured your heart and soul into writing a piece for your blog that you thought could really help people improve the way they feel in their lives, only to accidentally lean on the alt key on your keyboard and have the whole two days worth of work vanish from your screen forever ?  I have to be honest, when this happened to me this morning my first thought was not a good one, but I quickly glanced up, read the title on my screen and took my advice.  Funny thing, the 1500 words in the body of the blog post had disappeared but the title stayed intact.  I guess it was the Universe testing me yet again.

The way we think and feel about things has a direct impact not only on how things look to us  but how we ultimately feel.  One of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes is “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at Change”, nothing could be more true.  But as I thought about it, the same could be said for the way we feel about things,  If you change the way you feel about things or events in your life, the way you feel will change.   When I lost my 1500 word blog post this morning, I could have felt terrible about losing all that work, instead I chose to feel like there was a positive reason for losing that work.  Had I chosen to feel terrible, I could have spent the whole day angry, upset and taking out my feelings on the world instead, I feel great, I figured out a way to prevent losing work like that in the future and I am taking a different, more refined approach to getting my real message across to you in this version 2.0 of this blog post.

All of us can feel great 100% of the time, it’s a choice we make as each of us are totally responsible for the lives we create.  I have seen great days turn into lousy days just because a friend or family member chose to feel angry about something that was totally a waste of time.   Road Rage in particular is one of those things,  whether I am riding with people, listening to people on cell phones or driving myself it never fails that when someone else does something stupid on the road, it causes most people to get angry, and that anger usually burns up a good hour or two of what could have been fun and happy time.  I used to be incredibly guilty of the road rage thing, so much so that I would not only get angry, I would transform into a stalker who had to show that person how wrong they were for their lousy driving decision.  Today, I keep in my mind, another Wayne Dyer quote that I repeat to myself as I take an extra breath when these situations on the road happen  “When faced with being right or kind always choose kindness”.  Repeating that quote to yourself and choosing kindness makes you feel totally different then choosing “Right and Anger“.

The way you feel and this “KNOWING” thing I always talk about.  Think about times in your life when you were uncertain about something, you were anxious, stressed, worried and maybe even feeling a little sick not knowing what the outcome would be.  Then think about times in your life when you knew the outcome of something was going to be exactly what you expected, you were happy, satisfied, joyful and confident.   Now think about how you would rather feel, Happy or anxious, Satisfied or stressed, Joyful or worried.  Think the choice is easy, and everyday you are faced with that same choice, only you can decide how you feel, no one else can make you feel sad, it is your reaction to what someone else has said or done that makes you sad or happy.  You are in complete control, and once you  absolutely “KNOW”  you are in complete control, you never have reason to not feel great 100% of the time.

Over the past 5 years when I lost my way from always “KNOWING” to questioning whether I could do it, my health suffered, my family suffered, I suffered, I wasn’t happy and I thought that what was happening in my world was making me unhappy.    But, I was creating my world and was choosing to feel unhappy about what I created.   For the first 46 years of my life, I was very good at creating exactly what I wanted and the only time I didn’t feel great was when I slipped up and thought the wrong way.  Let me give you a little insight into what I am talking about.  Throughout my life I have constantly heard people talk about me as being lucky, always being in the right place at the right time, that everything I touched turned to gold.   When I heard those things, I always told myself those people were right but I knew that I was creating my luck, and everything that went with it by choosing the right thoughts.  When I slipped into the dark days of the past 5 years,   I started thinking that maybe it was just luck and that my luck couldn’t continue since things had been so good.  I would sit through meetings with people who would tell me that I am too positive, too optimistic and that I have to be honest with myself, that I have to get real.  I started to believe those people and what they were saying for no good reason.  After all, my life went just as I had planned it for the first 46 years, it wasn’t until I started listening to people tell me that I wasn’t who I thought I was that things changed.    The most important thing to understand is that the people who told me these things weren’t responsible for my downfall nor do I believe they had any ill intent, they just didn’t understand themselves the power of “KNOWING” that I had come to master over the prior 46 years.   I was completely responsible for the past 5 years, I created it and I own it.   The biggest and most valuable lesson to date in my life is realizing exactly what happened the last 5 years.  The Universe has its way of providing lessons and clues for you along the way, you just have to understand  and learn along the way.

Now that you know how to make yourself feel great all the time, why not give this “KNOWING” thing a try ?   Let’s do this together, as I mentioned in my last post, this stuff is contagious and it is fun when we can all share actual experiences with these life creation ideas.  I know I am going to have another incredible day, I know things are going to fall into place with several different projects I have in the works, I know I am going to lose some more weight today and feel even better than I did at 40 when I was in the best shape of my life.   What do you know ?  Get out a piece of paper and right down the things you know and see how you feel.  Change the way you feel about things, Know the things you feel good about are yours and the way you feel will change for the better.

Related Articles

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• Power Thoughts (momblognetwork.com)
• Waiting to Exhale (beyondhorizoncoaching.com)
• The Baietto Brothers: Make Gratitude a Game (huffingtonpost.com)
• A Way to Live Your Life (socyberty.com)
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Your Kiss is on My List

“My list of the best things in life”  includes music that puts a smile on your face and makes you feel good all over.  Like my Blog post “Don’t Worry Baby”, music is great therapy and hearing the Hall and Oates classic “Your Kiss is on My List” immediately brought me back to the early days of dating my wife ( 30 years of marriage, and 35 years of dating).  Not only did it bring me back to the early years of my relationship with my wife but it also made it clear to me that we are constantly creating our own experiences in life.  And what may seem a simple coincidence is actually much more.

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner.   Whether you call it Synchronicity or coincidence, I believe it all happens for a meaningful reason and it is up to you to figure out what the synchronicity in your life means.  So where am I going with Hall and Oates and Synchronicity ?  Well, something very interesting has been happening to me since I started writing this blog, meaningful and fulfilling synchronicity is started to appear daily, I am getting back into the zone where I was completely in control of my life and able to create things almost exactly as I wanted.  Miracles both large and small have started to happen but most importantly, friends, family and random people who have found my blog have started to have similar experiences.  I received an urgent text today from a business associate who has been reading my blogs who wanted to let me know what a great day she had and how everything was falling into place as she visualized it.  Now I know this particular person is very spiritual, has incredible faith, an awesome attitude and likes to read things like “The Secret” and similar works.  So she is understands the whole “knowing” thing that was the reason I started writing this blog in the first place.   What was really cool for me was that she created her day the way she always knew she could but she took the time to share her experience with me.   Her sharing of her experience today sent a positive shock through my body of knowing we can all create exactly the lives we want and that thought (good or bad) is contagious.  

Hall and Oates, what role do they play in today’s post ?  That’s another fun story I would like to share with you today because it is a great example of the incredible sychronicities in my life.   A few months back while searching Facebook for old friends, neighbors and business associates, I ran across Bren.  Bren or Brenda as I knew her back in the 60’s and 70’s was the cute Blonde from across the street in the neighborhood I grew up in.  Bren was a year younger than me but I had a crush on her during my entire elementary school experience.   Back then,  and I suppose at that age, you never hung around with girls in a grade below you and besides I never thought she had any interest in me.  But I always had that crush and anytime I had the chance to give her a ride on my Schwinn Apple Crate bike, I always was happy.   Well it turns out that Bren is a huge Hall and Oates fan, which was interesting because my wife when I started dating her in 1975  was also a huge Hall and Oates fan.  I have enjoyed Hall and Oates ever since my wife first played “She’s gone” for me from the “Abandoned Luncheonette” album.   So last week, I am checking out the news feed on Facebook and Bren posts that Hall and Oates are going to be in town and she wants to know who’s going with her ?.  I jokingly, immediately posted that I was going.  I really wanted to go but couldn’t justify spending the money at the moment.   So after posting my reply, I forgot about it, then late last week Bren sends me a message telling me that she has two extra tickets that my wife and I could have.   Wow,   I couldn’t believe the offer so I told Bren I just had to check with my wife to confirm.  Saturday rolls around and I tell my wife about Bren and the tickets, she was thrilled, so I immediately confirmed with Bren.  Now that was all incredible and fun but listen to this,  so my wife and I decide to go to a movie that afternoon, we decided to see “You Again” with Jamie Leigh Curtis.  Now, we decided to got to this movie just minutes after I confirmed with Bren about going with her to the Hall and Oates concert.  My wife and I really knew nothing about the movie except that Jamie Leigh Curtis  was in it.   So we are sitting in the  theater, eating a HUGE bucket of buttered popcorn when all of a sudden the couple in the movie are playing the Hall and Oates song “Your Kiss is on My List” on the radio, now that may seem like just a funny coincidence to you but to me it was synchronicity and a reminder to me that I played a role in the events that had just been created.  Even better, at the end of the movie and rolling into the credits, Hall and Oates and the cast of the movie sang “Your Kiss is on My List”.   While I always enjoyed that song, I never remembered the lyrics including the line “The Best Things in Life”, when I heard that, I knew the Universe was sending me yet another message about why happiness is the key to everything and when you know the outcome of your life, you can’t help but be happy.

You can have all of the Best Things In Life, you know you can, you just have to visualize your list of the best things and sit back and watch them show up.  I am adding something to my list of the best things in life, getting everyone to know they can create incredible experiences in their lives.  I know you can do it and I know that in my life, cancelling out the media has had a major impact and changed the way things are going for me.  I no longer listen to  or watch  any of the major news networks including my favorite Fox news, I don’t pay attention to the political nonsense going on in this country (I do intend to vote and I know my intuition will guide me to the right candidates),   I have turned off talk radio in favor of audio programs from Wayne Dyer, Mike Dooley and Joe Vitale.  Yes you could say I am brainwashing myself with positive, fulfilling and uplifting messages, and yes the brainwashing is working, I am washing out all the dirt and replacing it with clean new information.  I hope you will join me in creating incredible life experiences and if you get a chance, a text message, blog comment or email would be great, I love to hear about people and the great experiences they have created for themselves.  Get to work on your list of the “Best things in life” and make your life the best !

Related Articles

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Owner’s Guide to Enjoying Every Single Step of Your Life !

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Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t enjoy each and every step of your life.   I have embarked on an experiment the past few weeks that is showing me that you can enjoy every minute of your life, no matter what you are doing.  The best part is it’s easy, you just have to make up your mind that you are going to enjoy everything.   I always wanted to write something where I could use the term “Pollyanna ‘,   as in most people who are reading this are saying, oh no, Tim has gone “Pollyanna” on us.  I probably didn’t use that right but it was fun and most importantly you would never believe how much I just enjoyed that.  If you are new to my blog, you should know that after 27 years of creating a perfect life for myself and my family, I messed up the last three years and let the folks from the Dark Side convince me that I shouldn’t be happy and that I couldn’t really be as successful as I always had been.  This weak moment, ended up being devastating between a business failure and losing my home of 25 years to Foreclosure.  When I finally woke up from the nightmare, I decided to employ all the tactics and strategies I had used the previous 27 years, except this time around, I am super charging them.   

The first serious test came last week when I needed a miracle to save a property I own from foreclosure, I focused and made up my mind it was going to work out and it did (read my miracle blogs from last week for the details).  The strategies and tactics I am referring to are all the lessons I have learned from the Bible, Wayne Dyer, Terry Lyles, Earl Nightingale, Tony Robbins,  Joe Vitale, Mike Dooley, Peter Geisendorfer-Lindgren, My all time favorite coach Ted Leuer, Pinky McNamara, My Grandmother and my Mom.  I don’t have the time or space to tell you what they taught me, but I have tried to share a piece from every one of them in my blogs the last couple months. 

The Experiment…So a lot of people think I am nuts and think that I taking on way more than anyone can handle but before I go into the detail, let me just say I don’t think I have ever been this energized in my life.   My massive action to fix my life and correct the problems of the last three years includes taking on 3 full-time jobs, working 7 days a week while continuing to write my blogs, film my video blog, record my audio programs and work on my long-term life creation plan.   As I said, I am energized and enjoying every single minute, I have looked at each full-time position as an adventure, not as job but truly an adventure and it’s working.  Let me give you an idea, first if you don’t know much about me I am a lifelong salesperson and entrepreneur, I have made over a million dollars a year more than once in my lifetime, I have started at least 10 companies, I have been a radio broadcaster, a baseball coach, a father, a husband, a son, a public speaker and more.   The background is important for you to know because I think once you find out about my 3 full-time adventures, you might think I am over qualified or taking on something that should be below me.  So here we go,  each night from 10 pm to 6 am, I am the night manager at a convenience store that is owned by a great company that has over 400 stores or as they like to call them “Stationstores”,  My kids can’t figure out why I enjoy it so much, but the reason I enjoy it so much is it’s an adventure, I am learning, I am meeting new people, I am helping people,  people are handing me money all night,  I learned how to operate a car wash, stock soft drinks in a cooler, run one of those cool safes and I even get to sell Lottery tickets.  Not once have I asked myself what am I doing here, not once have I worried about what they are paying me.  I know it’s strange but I made up my mind to enjoy everything I do and the gas station is no exception.  I truly am enjoying every step and every task at my night-time adventure. 

In the late afternoon and evening I am selling a great new high-speed internet service and I get to work at the largest mall in America, The Mall of America.  We have really cool products, cool uniforms and I get to help people connect to the internet no matter where they are at high-speed.  This company is new to Minnesota and relatively new Nationwide so it’s like the good old days of working with a start-up with the latest and greatest technology. 

My other position is selling what I did for over 27 years, media replication services, and while things have changed dramatically and the business hasn’t come in as quickly as I hoped, now that I have a new attitude and approach I know this business is going to take off as I venture into areas I hadn’t previously pursued. 

Side effects…So I bet you are thinking that this guy must be tired and he can’t be enjoying anything else, guess what you are 100% wrong.  Again, I can’t explain it, but it’s as if the whole word switched over to High Definition, 3D when I made up my mind to enjoy everything.  I have lived in Minnesota most of my 51 years but all of sudden, I am seeing beauty along every road with the changing colors and landscape, I am discovering buildings and places in Downtown Minneapolis that I had either forgotten about or had never appreciated in the past.   There is a very old Catholic Church a few blocks from me that was built in the mid-1800’s by German settlers that I am just amazed at every time I drive by it.  I never really paid attention to Church buildings before but all of a sudden I am intrigued by everyone I see. 

And it’s not just landscape and buildings that I am enjoying, I am truly enjoying meeting new people and dining with old friends.   I know this sounds unbelievable but some how I have managed to get  myself in the “Zone”,  every experience, every phone call, every meal seems much more intense and enjoyable.  I am no longer going through the motions of life, I am enjoying every single step.  I am enjoying things so much that I don’t even think about sleeping and I can’t even tell you the last time I was tired.  OK, there was something I didn’t enjoy last week, the Sequel to Wall Street, it did put me to sleep, but it was the most enjoyable nap I ever had and I got to do it in a very nice theater and the bonus was my son took me to the movie. 

Yep, this time it was all about me, but I talked about me and my amazing life because you should be enjoying your life as much as I am enjoying mine.  I can’t imagine doing it any other way.  One of the things I am enjoying more than just about anything is my daily emails from the Universe (www.tut.com) .  Here’s what the Universe sent me this morning:

Tim, do you know why I am always there? Because I want you to have all of those things you’ve told me about, and so much more.Let’s kick some “butt,”     The Universe

  

Which reminded me that I am probably having such a great time and enjoying things so much, because I finally have accepted who walks beside me in everything I do.  If you knew who walked beside you in everything you do, I know you would feel the same way.   Enough of Tim’s blabbing, go out and enjoy yourself, you deserve it !!!

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Miracles Happen all the Time….Get on Board !

A couple of days ago I wrote a blog titled “Expecting and needing a Miracle”, at the time I wrote it  I was still quite upset after having an unpleasant conversation with a representative of the mortgage company that held the mortgage on my Mother’s townhouse which I own.  Because of my financial struggles of the past few years, the property had gone into foreclosure and I was facing losing the property at a sheriff’s sale scheduled for Monday the 27th of September.  It was looking pretty bleak and I was desperate to find a solution.  If you follow my blogs, you know the story and you also know that I followed up the first Miracle entry with a second post talking about knowing the miracle was going to appear and being at peace.  I had focused my energy on knowing a miracle would happen and that everything would work out with the foreclosure situation, I set back feeling good that God and the Universe were now beside me, I no longer had any fear or doubt.

This morning, just a few days before the scheduled Sheriff’s sale, the phones were unusually quiet.  I was feeling very good about my miracle arriving, so much so that I gathered up my documents and put a call into the mortgage company.   Kevin from the mortgage company answered and unlike earlier this week, I decided to handle this call calmly and respectfully no matter what the outcome.   I calmly explained my frustrations and everything I had done per the mortgage company’s instructions, I did all of this with a smile on my face.  At first Kevin said it appears that the sale of the property is scheduled for Monday and we don’t have the documents we need, instead of getting upset, again I smiled and explained to Kevin that I wanted to work this out and I had followed their instructions.  Kevin asked for a moment to review the file, he came back and said Mr. Braun, we have received your package and have instructed the attorney handling the foreclosure to postpone the sale so we can work with you to get the loan modified and keep your Mother in the property.  I immediately felt a sensation rush through my body unlike anything I had felt before, the emotion was so strong that tears began running down my face, I truly felt the presence of God and unlike other miracles I had experienced in my lifetime this was special.  It was special because I had the chance to share this with everyone who reads blog, I took a chance, I put myself out there and exposed my problems, my faith and my connection with God.  None of that was easy, but I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and the trouble I experienced the last few years was just preparation for the next chapter in my life.   This morning’s miracle was a confirmation of my life purpose, while it took care of a personal issue it has proven to me that I have to help other people create miracles in their lives.

Miracles can and do happen all of the time, I want you to get on board and create miracles in your life.  You just have to “KNOW” they are going to happen and the more you know and sit back confidently expecting them to arrive the easier they will be to create.  Two days ago, I was putting too much energy into “making” the miracle happen, you can’t make a miracle happen, you have to let it happen.  Yesterday, I was confident it was going to arrive, so much so that I was at peace and not putting any energy into it.  This morning, I had a “knowing” that it would work out and it did.    Had I called the mortgage company with any other thoughts, I guarantee you the outcome would have been different.  I hope you will start practicing “knowing” you can create miracles in your life.  Life is such an incredible adventure and every single moment can be whatever you want it to be, good or bad,  you are the only one responsible for everything that appears in your world.   Thank you for being a part of my miracle, being able to share my experience with you means the world to me.

The Worst…Brings out our Best !

Watching TV for me consists of flipping through the channels trying to find something positive and inspiring to watch.  The History channel, the Learning channel and the National Geographic channel seem to be where I end up most.   Last week while surfing the channels I ended up coming across a commercial from a company called West Bend.  The West Bend I knew growing up made small kitchen appliances and certainly wasn’t in the business of creating inspirational commercials that not only sold their products but left you with a strong message.   This particular West Bend is an insurance company and their commercials center around being your best when you are faced with the worst.  I think it is a brilliant ad campaign and to follow it up with their tag line, “West Bend” “The Silver Lining Company” is even cooler.

Terry Lyles, America’s Stress Doctor and Human Performance Engineer, likes to say “Expect the best but prepare for the worst” . There are the practical applications of this thinking that we can apply to our everyday experience that helps us better cope with what ever we are facing and then there is the deeper and lasting application that can change your life.

I like to think that I have spent most of my 51 years life looking for the good in everything, that certainly was the case for the first 47 when I enjoyed incredible success and happiness in just about everything that I took on.  But over the last few years when my guard was down, I let the opinions of others influence my thinking.  When I was faced with what anyone else would consider a major issue, I no longer tackled it myself, I tried to tackle it by committee, unfortunately the committee wasn’t on the same page with me.  While I was saw the cup as half full, those that surrounding me always saw that cup as half empty and worried about all the bad stuff they expected to happen.  I had done a poor job of inspiring the troops and bringing them to the level that had always served me well.   All of sudden my knowing every situation would work out was outweighed by an army that expected it not to work out and worked hard and ultimately convinced me that in their opinion I was  not in their words a “realist”.  Funny thing though, for 47 years, my definition of being a “realist” worked pretty well for me, I made incredible amounts of money, bought my dream home, improved my dream home with more funds than I purchased it with, travelled all over the world, gave my kids everything and experience they could want and it was all easy because I knew I could create anything I wanted.  For 47 years, everything flowed to me like magic,  friends would tell me that everything I touched turned to gold and that I always landed on my feet when ever there was a down turn and you know what they were right.  Those first 47 years were incredible but it wasn’t the best I could do because I wasn’t as disciplined in regards to managing my thoughts as I needed to be.  I let the outside world seep in to my head, I let well-meaning friends and associates try to bring me back down to earth and they certainly did.

So after 47 years of living an incredibly fulfilling life, the wheels came off because I did not manage my thoughts efficiently or did they come off because the Universe needed to find a way to tell me to “kick it up a notch”  to really bring out the best that I could be.  The past 3 years were pretty horrible by anyone’s standards, losing my home of 25 years, losing many loved ones to cancer and other diseases and losing everything I had created materially during those first 47 years.   I needed the Worst, to shake me up so I could bring out the Best !  and baby you ain’t seen nothing yet !

Truly bringing out your best requires massive action and when it comes to managing your thoughts and getting your head in the right place it calls for massive infusions of “The Right Stuff”.  In my case,  the first thing I did was to quit listening to talk radio and news on TV while removing myself from the political discussion of the day.  Once you do that you realize that the least intelligent life forms on the face of the earth are our politicians and elected officials and it doesn’t matter which party they are in, they are all small thinkers focused on advancing a personal agenda.  The next thing I did was to fill my car and Ipod full of the most positive and enlightening audio material I could find.  And finally, I keep a personal written journal and a video journal to record my thoughts and to remind me of the reality I am going to create.  The next 51 years will be hundreds of times more incredible than my last 51 years.  The Universe has so much to offer and you can find it anywhere.

Let me leave you with a little story from last night while having a conversation with my son.  Another part of my massive action plan is that I have taken on additional positions ( I won’t call them jobs because I don’t see them as such)  that pretty much fill up 20 to 22 hours of each 24 hour day, 7 days  week.  One of those positions happens to be as a night manager at convenience/gas station.  I took the position because I truly wanted the opportunity to interact with people and see if I could make a difference in the lives of people who visit that store when I am there.  I didn’t even care what the position paid, I am not even sure I asked.  I think the person who hired me wasn’t sure what to think as he told me I was way over qualified for the position and I told him that was a good thing that I wasn’t even considering this a job.  I think he thought I was nuts, but he hired me anyway.  Back to the conversation with son who couldn’t believe his dad was going to work at a gas station.  He told he could get me a job working at the place he does unloading trucks and stocking shelves overnight for twice the money.  He also told me that how much you make is much more important than whether you enjoy what you are doing…really ?  The wisdom of a 22 year old ! and an illustration of how one person’s reality is totally different from someone else’s.  The bottom line is I look at everything I do as an adventure, as new experience, as something that may take places I have never been before.  Life is all about experiences and finding new and interesting experiences is most of the fun.  I wonder how much more people would enjoy life if they looked at every single thing they do as adventure that may take them well beyond what most people would think.     Whatever you do, let “The Worst..Bring out the Best” and soon you will understand that the worst is what gave you the best.

Knowing a Miracle is on the Way !

A funny, yet instructive thing happened on the way to receiving my latest miracle. While I was attempting to show people that everyone is capable of creating miracles in their lives, I somehow sent out  a message that some people thought was a cry for help.   While I appreciate the notes and comments sent to me today by friends and business associates, I am here to tell you that the Universe and I have everything under control and I know my miracle will arrive at any moment.  In my sincere effort to present a message of Hope and Knowing in regards to miracles, my well-meaning friends and associates read my entry and instead of viewing it positively thought I was desperately trying to get help.   After re-reading yesterday’s blog, I do see where I could have been a little more selective in regards to my words in some instances. 

So this entry is an attempt to correct the mistake I made yesterday which was saying I was expecting and needing a miracle, when the truth is, I am completely at ease because I know a miracle is on its way and my challenge will soon be behind me.   Sometimes when you are faced with a challenge, especially a major challenge that affects loved ones, it is easy to let your mind wander down the wrong path, the path of worry and defeat, when what you really need to do is hit the reset button and Know a miracle solution is on the way.  I used my major challenge as an example yesterday because I know many people are facing the same issues,  I wanted to tell you about the challenge and then report back in a few days when my miracle had arrived.  I still intend to let you know when I was able to blow the all clear alert but in the mean time, you have to know that the miracle is on the way whether it is my miracle solution to my challenge or your miracle for any challenge you may be facing. 

The most unselfish thing you can do is to be totally responsible for creating your own miracles and taking care of yourself.  When you do that, no one has to worry about you because they know you are going to be fine.  With my huge personal and business setbacks over the past few years, I let myself get caught up in feeling sorry for myself which in turn led to other people feeling sorry for me, ugliest situation of my life !  I don’t know how I let that happen but it is easy to do if you forget who walks beside you through everything.   Wayne Dyer has a saying “that if you knew who  walked beside you on the path you have chosen, you could never experience fear or doubt again”.  Now that is pretty powerful, once you digest that it is very easy to know that anything is possible and that miracles are just a part of life. 

 A while back, I mentioned a very unique and important website run by author Mike Dooley.  The site www.tut.com allows you to sign up for a daily message from the universe, I mentioned in my blog the first time I wrote about the site that the email messages I received daily from the Universe (also know as www.tut.com) were somehow coming up with stuff that fit my situation and thoughts perfectly.  If you read my blog yesterday and read the following message that was in my email box today, you will see what I mean: 

Here’s today’s message to me from the Universe:

What if, Tim, loneliness was simply a feeling of impatience, telepathically sent to you by friends you’ve yet to meet, urging you to go out more, do more, and get involved, so that life’s serendipities could bring you together… Would you still feel alone? What if illness was just the signal a healthy body sent to urge clarification of your thoughts, feelings, and dreams… Would you still, at times, think of yours as diseased? What if feelings of uncertainty and confusion were only reminders that you have options, that there’s no hurry, and that everything is as it should be… Would you still feel disadvantaged? What if mistakes and failures only ever happened when your life was about to get better than it’s ever been before… Would you still call them mistakes and failures? And what if poverty and lack were simply demonstrations of your manifesting prowess, as “difficult” to acquire as wealth and abundance… Would they still cause you to feel powerless? Well, whatever you feel, Tim, I still consider you my only begotten, my champion, and my equal.Are we close, or what?     The Universe  Pretty Awesome if you ask me.  More on the arrival of my miracle in the coming days and don’t worry about me or your own challenges….just know the miracle will arrive soon.

Expecting and Needing a Miracle….

Image by The Hennessy's via Flickr

Here I am…..working about 22 hours per day frantically trying to turn around my current situation.  Some of the best motivation and therapy has been writing as often as I can in my blog.  Yet, just when I thought things were really starting to fall my way, another crisis hits this afternoon.  Notice I said “just when I THOUGHT”,  had I made up my mind that “I KNEW” things were turning around  I don’t believe I would have been facing this crisis today.  While I don’t want to share all the details with you at this point, I will say that there would be a lot fewer foreclosures if the banks would actually take the time to hire and train employees to talk to, understand and negotiate with homeowners.  Worst of all those employees all need to be on the same page and need to stop outright lying to people who have done what the media has said to do, “talk to your bank”.  My crisis revolves around a mortgage company employee giving me a deadline to get documents to him , which I did by beating his deadline by two days.  Today, I called the company to make sure they had all the documents, even though, I had requested in my fax cover letter that they contact me immediately if anything was missing.  Well, guess what ?  today the mortgage company’s representative tells me that I didn’t get the documents in on time, when I told him I got them in two days before I was told they needed to be in, he just said well it wasn’t soon enough and you can’t stop the sheriff’s sale of the property.  For the first time in a very long time, I lost my temper and really went after the guy, of course that did absolutely nothing for me. 

For about an hour after that call I was in a terrible state and unfortunately my daughter called me at the wrong time and I yelled at her even though she had nothing to do with the situation.   After that, I  felt absolutely rotten about two things, yelling at the mortgage company and yelling at my daughter, both were wrong.  Once I calmed down and had a chance to compose my thoughts, the first thing that came to mind was “I need a Miracle” and I need it quick.  Since the mortgage company decided my paperwork was too late, I have just a couple days to come up with a very large amount of money so I can keep the property.  I had no intention of sharing this much detail with you in my blog but the more I thought about it, I thought there are thousands of people in this same situation that may benefit from hearing what I have to say.

First of all, nothing is impossible, absolutely nothing.  Second, I have been faced with situations even tougher than this and no matter how worked up I got, a solution always seems to appear.  So I have to remind myself to stay calm and stay focused on knowing the answers and solutions will appear.  I also have to remember Diet Mountain Dew and Pastor Peter Geisendorfer-Lindgren of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove, Minnesota.  What does Diet Mt. Dew and Pastor Peter have to do with miracles ?  Let me tell you,  over the past two years when things were very rough for me, Pastor Peter would invte me to meet him in his office for our drink of choice  “Diet Mt. Dew”, we had incredible conversations, I always felt a sense of peace roll through me and most importantly we prayed together.   I always left his office “Knowing” everything was going to be alright and it always was.  

So let’s get back to the “Miracle” stuff, when I was thinking about writing this entry this afternoon, my plan was to leave out most of the details of my crisis but to talk about expecting a miracle, almost like a little test.  I thought, I will give everyone a quick summary of the situation and then I will focus on expecting the miracle with the idea of writing about the miracle actually occurring in a few days, that way I could really inspire people by showing them the miracle first hand.  The problem with that scenario is that sometimes miracles don’t show up exactly the way you expect them or when you expect them.  I have been blessed with countless miracles in my life, so many that I can’t even keep track.  These miracles have been small and large, some expected and some were just plain surprises but all of them were blessings from God.

Let’s make a miracle happen right away.  I know it’s possible, as it happened to me and it has happened to many people I know.  One miracle in particular is the subject of a screenplay I am working on getting placed so a film can be made.  The business associate who brought me the screen play happens to be the subject of the screen play.  Her miracle was what I would call an ultimate miracle but it shows the power of faith and knowing you can create miracles.  Let’s call the associate KH, and let me just give you a quick summary of her miracle.  About 10 years ago, on Christmas Eve, KH had a heart attack even though she was young and healthy, her husband was able to perform CPR as he had just finished a CPR class the week before, the ambulance just happened to be down the street and arrived in less than 2 minutes, KH had died, her heart had stopped and the paramedics had to shock her heart to get it started but without the CPR she wouldn’t have had a chance.  Once she arrived at the hospital and the tests came back, he heart was so damaged that the doctors told her they were putting her on an emergency transplant list.  Since the next day was Christmas they told her that the soonest they could perform the surgery was the day after Christmas.  KH was devastated, she couldn’t talk because of the tubes and breathing apparatus that were inserted in her body.  But KH had faith and knew she needed a miracle.  Since she couldn’t talk she spent all day, Christmas day, tracing the letters to the word “Miracle” in the palm of her hand, all day long without fail she kept this up.  The next day she woke up feeling horrible, the nurses told her she need to go in for tests on her heart to find out how much more damage had occurred.  The last thing KH felt like was more tests.  After the tests were completed, the doctor stopped by to have a talk with KH.  The Doctor didn’t know how to explain it, but the tests done that day, the day after she traced “Miracle” a thousand times in her hand showed that her heart was fine, there was no damage and she didn’t need the transplant.  KH told me this story over dinner at a Friday’s restaurant, I was so glad that the lighting was low because I was in tears most of the time she was telling me about her “miracle”.  I really don’t believe in coincidences, and I truly believe that God made sure that KH and I would meet to show me that anything is possible and to remind me that Miracles really do happen.

The next 48 hours are all about miracles for me, I will be praying, visualizing, writing in my journal and writing personal scripts to myself but most of all I will be letting go and letting God take over.  God has never, ever let me down and I know that this situation won’t be any different.   If you really need a miracle the first thing you need to do is “Expect it” and secondly you need to “Know”  it’s going to happen.  Some people call it faith, I call it knowing and the other thing that helps is being able to spell miracle in the palm of your hand.

I expect to be writing about my miracle in the very near future, I hope that you will check back and share my miracle with me.  Regardless of what you are facing, your thoughts must be positive and you must know your situation is only temporary.  I have been there and while I have searched for what my purpose in life is, I truly believe that the challenges I have faced were meant to happen so I could share with you how to cope with and conquer any challenge you may face.   Anything and Everything is Possible !

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