A HAPPINESS SECRET (WELL, SO IT SEEMS!)

Have you ever heard “If only..xyz happened..., then I'd be happy.” Have you ever caught that thought crossing your own mind?

[Then I'll Be Happy – Joséphine Baker]

There is nothing on earth I can think of that has Happiness and Success intrinsically contained within it. Happiness and Satisfaction are No-things: so possessing a Something, no matter what it is, will not get you a No-thing like Happiness or Satisfaction. It's a fruitless quest .

A lot of people covet what others appear to have, and decide “they're just lucky”; that they stumble into their fortunes. Whatever you think, you are, of course, right. But you don't have the whole picture. How could you? If you can't remember the feelings of being naturally wealthy and happy, you can't possibly manufacture or reproduce it, nor can you pass it on to your children, either in your genes or by example. But it's really quite simple.

Happiness already is. Like sunshine, the way you see things and the way you think filter how much of it shines on you. You are as happy as you choose to be.

Now this is not a rant about “positive thinking”. I tried that; in the long run it didn't work for me. I found that if I wanted to be abundantly happy, I had to re-learn to feel, think and behave like an abundantly happy person.

[Get Happy – Caroline O'Connor]

First off, I had to get that I was seeing things back-to-front. I didn't have to be happy first  before I could see things the way a happy person sees them; I found the opposite -- that if I chose to see things as they are from a happy perspective, I became happy. I learned that the way I had been seeing things (ie. negatively) was an acquired habit, and habits are default choices. I was warned by a wise man called Colin Hayes that, if I kept on making the same default choices, I'd keep getting the same default results. What I needed to do was un-tick the “Default” box, get happy that I was back on track, and create some different choices and habits.

During my childhood and teen years I had drummed into me long and hard, that if I paid attention in school, got good grades, went to a respectable university, got a secure job, and followed the family faith, my happiness and fulfillment was somehow virtually guaranteed. But “joyful” and “content” are not words I would ever have associated with my parents or any of my extended family. The Barklas and the Friees were a dour, joyless lot.

[I've Got a Life – Eurythmics]

The reality is that few people who follow the hard work and sacrifice formula ever get rich, or happy. Not really. They survive, and some may become the most successful people in their families. But when you look around the living room at 3pm on Christmas Day, that's not saying much. But world-class satisfaction is rarely achieved by people who follow this model. The rich eventually figure out that training your mind and intuition to find solutions to difficult problems is the real secret to making genuine headway. They find that unusual results don't lie at the end of the freeway – they're off the beaten track.

The average person believes the harder they work, the more money they’ll make. That linear kind of thinking equates labour and effort with financial and emotional success. This is why most people aren’t either rich or happy. They’re following an outdated model of success and are confounded when they reach middle age with little money or satisfaction to show for twenty years of hard work. The older we become the behinder we get.

Wealthy people know that creative thinking is the highest paid skill in the world. The happy know that creative consideration is the most effective skill in the world. Independent, awareful, creative thinking is the most valuable asset anyone can practice. There's more available in life than struggling to put your kids through tertiary education and retiring on half of what you can barely exist on now. Even if you do better than that in the long run, if you haven't enjoyed and been excited by the journey, the destination is going to be one helluva disappointment.

[Is That All There Is? – Peggy Lee]

Meanwhile, others are building empires, living in abundance, and donating large sums to their favourite causes. This sets off a different quality of psychological domino effect, because once a person thinks and lives at this level of gratitude, they know even greater levels of success are possible through the vehicle of creative, optimal consciousness.

The good news is that this is possible for anyone who conditions their mind to think this way, and then transforms thought into a different kind of reality and action.

The secret is not in any technology or gymnastics of Happiness but in the quality of our basic operating principles, our attitudes, and the levels of thinking and feeling that reveal them. Once you learn to embrace this transforming shift, your potential goes through the ceiling. Happiness is closer than the end of your nose; you're actually soaking in it.

[Happiness – Heather Frahn]

A BRAIN/MIND DIET FOR HEALTHY LIVING

Are you using your brain, or is your brain using you? And where is your mind while all this is going on? In the control room, or the mail room where it belongs? Even more importantly, what do you feed them on?

As one who is usually less than complimentary about the limitations of the human mind, the fact remains that we need one to survive. A healthy brain and a healthy mind work together to sustain your well-being. As psychologist Dr. Dan Siegel sees it, both mind and brain need proper nutrition every day. I had never heard it put quite this way before; and I find that I can activate parts of my bodymind that can only thrive if they are healthy, awakened and aware. When I allowed myself to get fat and stodgy, my thinkin' turned stinkin'.

With the idea that a healthy mind and a healthy brain go hand-in-hand, Dr. Siegel prescribes a “healthy mind platter” of daily nourishment, On his mind platter he and colleague David Rock place seven “dishes.”

1. Sleep time
2. Physical time
3. Focus time
4. Time in
5. Down time
6. Play time
7. Connecting time

Years of brain research lie behind this simple menu, and since all aspects of life cycle through the brain and nervous system, the nutrition offered on Siegel’s mind platter could be far more important to well-being than any conventional medical advice. Your bodymind has an innate need and enormous capacity for integration. But more than that, if they are used holistically, the brain, neural and glandular systems thrive by putting everything together in concert.

In practice, adopting the mind platter comes down to two conjoined and interacting areas that need daily attention - Inner and Outer.

Inner nutrients: Sleep time, Focus time, Time in, and Down time

Here is the area of subjective experience. A healthy day, as viewed by the brain, follows a natural cycle. There is enough sleep to be adequately rested. There are periods of intense focus interspersed with enough down time of no mental work; time to let the brain and nervous systems recover, and the mind rebalance by letting them simply be. A period is also set aside for what many Westerners neglect: time to go inward through Meditation, Reflection and Self-awareness. This tragic casualty of ego-driven living is the most precious time of all, actually, since it opens the way for harmonious integrating, possibility-creating, evolution and growth.

Outer nutrients: Physical time, play time, connecting time

There are areas of outward activity, which cannot be activated solely by work. As the user of the brain, you alone can apportion time for recreation, and although physical time focuses primarily on getting your muscles to move, the holistic effect is to balance the whole mind-body system.

The healthiest time of all is Connecting time. Although Connecting Time ensures social and emotional intimacy, it becomes yet another casualty in the impoverishment of modern life. It takes a conscious choice and intention to chat, gossip, exchange intimacy and bond. If you're ever going to reap the rewards of fulfillment, you do have to commit to purposefully building and maintaining relationships, a family, a tribe and a community and find things to do together. As many sociologists have pointed out, this area of life used to dominate everyday existence, at a time when families sat around the fire of an evening and ate every meal together, and families got together socially every week. Social habits change, yet it's still true, according to specialists in the field of positive psychology, that the happiest people tend to be those who spend one or two hours a day talking and chilling out with close family and friends, and a few hours a week clubbing with others in the neighbourhood.

Just as there is no dividing line between the inner and outer self, Inner and Outer nourishment can't be strictly divided from each other either. I've only done it here to point up the colours of meaning behind those labels. To separate them as activities is as impossible as separating a tree from the soil, the air and the forest. Without any one, the rest lose their purpose and die.

The point is that the mind and its machinery require conscious attention and care. The upshot of taking Dan Siegel's advice was that I am better able to use my brain and mind, instead of them using me. I urge you give your Mind Menu more consideration, too. You know the GIGO adage -- Garbage In/Garbage Out.

[Food For Thought – UB-40 – 4:11]

WHEN IT'S GOOD SENSE TO JUST WALK AWAY.....

TIME OUT

HANG IN, OR WALK AWAY?

[Nothing Lasts Forever – The Black Sorrows]

If you are at all successful in your life, you probably are not the type of person to give up easily. Neither am I. For most of my working life I was ambitious and skilled, loyal as a hound dog and continued to push forward regardless of what obstacles blocked my way. Loyal, dogged and driven to succeed, that was me. But ultimately I came up empty; successful and a failure. In this conundrum I discovered a secret: ie. sometimes it's wise to turn your back and walk away. Sure, it's embarrassing – maybe downright shameful – to admit defeat but when you are in a "no win" situation it's often the only action that can save the situation, you and your sanity.

[You Keep Me Hanging On – Prinnie & Mahalia]

It can not only be OK to walk away, sometimes it's even healthy. I have found that there's a world of difference between “giving up” and “surrendering”. In surrender, new options become evident, new possibilities emerge that I simply could not see before, and I get more creative and satisfied. You will find that, too. Try it.

[Walk Away – Leticia Maher]

Sometimes company, service, product, or relationship problems are just too great for you to do much about. Sometimes, some people are too full-metal-jacket insane to work with. It may well become wise to move on and invest your attention and energy into something that has a better chance of being satisfying and creating value for more people. But you must take personal responsibility for getting into and contributing to the situation, and you must earn your way out. Quitting is a cowardly way, and only ensures that you'll repeat your mistakes over again.

[Harry the Hairy Ape – Ray Stevens]

There have been a number of times in my own career when I took on a big hairy problem and after struggling against it for far too long, realised it was better to move on. There have been times when I've chosen to reverse earlier choices and forego career advancement in favour of something quite different like, for example, taking better care of family. And every time I've dropped a righteous crusade against something, my life has benefited and I have gone on to create more happiness for myself and others in other ways. The key is that I identified the real problem, spoke clearly about it with those who could help me resolve it, and only decided to give up when it was obvious that they weren't going to change, and I would be better off doing something else that would benefit those nearest and dearest to me.

In those instances, giving up meant looking for a new job and moving on in more ways than one. If you are in a long-term dysfunctional environment, continuing to do the same job and putting up with the same crap is disastrous for you and people who depend on you at work and home. Crap is crap, no matter how hard you try to polish it.

[Should I Stay or Should I Go? – The Clash – 0:40 (-2:32)]

The problem is that when you try to persevere, you are actually in survival mode: you are gluing yourself to a belief and a value that your ego decides you can't live without. How you justify what you do may make rational and moral “sense” to you, but it's not “you”. You get yourself into a personal hell. You just don't care about the quality of your work and results anymore. Just walk into your local Motor Vehicle Registry or Centrelink Office and watch the workers behind the counter: you'll see what I mean.

[I'm the Urban Spaceman-- Bonzo Dog Doodah Band – 2:24]

Now, for some people and in some situations it's easier to walk away than for others. Your perceived level of influence depends on your career and financial status and I do not want to overlook that. However, I suggest that no matter your situation -- you do have the power to pursue a different course which in most cases will ultimately lead to a new job that will improve many different areas of your life all at the same time.

How you know the time has come to move on? Well I really don't know if there is ever a “right” time. If you set off to work in the morning but wait in your driveway until all the lights along the route turn green, you'll never get there. 
 

First, let's start with what creates a happy environment and job joy. I think that job satisfaction is based on four forms of alignment.

• AMBITION
• SKILL
• REWARDS
• MANAGEMENT

The more your job is aligned in each one of these areas -- the happier and more productive you are likely to be.

And here are the signs to look for in each area that may be telling you it's time to walk away. However, just because you are not aligned does not mean that you can not become so. It's important to consider how creatively you have been trying to find alignment and your ideal place in the whole, and if it's likely that you will get there.

If you have been struggling for over a year in any one of these areas, it might be time to consider moving in a new direction. After all, if you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've got.

[Turnaround – Dru Chen]

Alignment with ambition Are you working in a role that is tolerably stretching you beyond your comfort zone, growing you, and getting you closer to your personal goals? Is what I'm doing now the best way of fully expressing what I've decided my life is about? Are there better options close by? What do I need to do to put myself in the best place to move into that niche? These are fundamental questions to ask yourself and unfortunately most people never do.

Without willingness, intention and a goal, it's impossible to know if you are headed in the right direction. If you don't know where you want to go, it really doesn't matter what direction to take, does it? I often recommend a "goal first" approach as you think about your own direction. Don't worry overly much if it's the “right” goal; just get moving. You can modify or even change your destination, and alter course at any time. But if you're not moving, nothing's going to happen except doldrums, apathy, rust and old age. If you have never taken the time to write down where you want to be in one, five, and 10 years, now is the only time you can start.

Alignment with your skills and proclivities.The most enjoyable jobs fully tap our existing skill sets and challenge us to grow new ones. Are you a master of the domain you are currently working in or are you on your way? If the answer is “Yes”, you are probably fairly satisfied with the work you do. If the answer is “No”, your confidence has likely been battered, your sensitivity to possibility numbed, and you are constantly on a defensive tack. Now, if you are out of your element a good boss and training can counteract any suffering and help you regain your mojo.

Alignment with reward expectations There are two types of rewards, Intrinsic and Extrinsic, and both are important. Intrinsic rewards are related to the sources of satisfaction I've just referred to, and based on the personal growth and fulfillment you get out of a job well done. External rewards include your salary, social status, power and influence, and any other fringe benefits you receive from your employment. Your reward expectations need to closely match what you actually get for you to be satisfied. If there is a disconnect for too long between your expectations and what you experience you're getting, there's a good chance you will grow disenchanted with the work you do, or worse, you might not be able to pay your rent and food bills.

Alignment with the company's management culture and style It's in vogue right now to suggest that people do not leave their jobs but instead leave their bosses. Well, that's not always true. There are many reasons for leaving a job that have nothing to do with your boss, but an unsupportive or insensitive management is at the top of the list driving folks to hit the highway. I have left bosses who were stupid, arrogant, bullying, insensitive, and users. My question is always “Does this boss appreciate I have his company's interests at heart, and are my best interests an important part of the mix in his/her mind?”

0-0-0-0-0

If you find yourself out of alignment with your ambitions, skills and interests, reward needs and expectations, and management culture, I suggest you admit it to yourself first and then review your own hierarchy of values, and possible alternative outcomes. You may decide that 3 out of 4 areas of alignment is OK, and that you'll persevere where you are; you may choose to move on and let someone better fitted have a go, or you may find something in between. Whatever you decide, have a conversation with your boss or a trusted adviser in the organisation who you think can help you find the state of play from all sides. Don't try to blackmail a solution out of them; negotiate for an outcome where everyone gets something of what they want.

I want to be clear that you are responsible for meeting challenges and you owe it to yourself and the organisation to work through them together. But, if you can look at yourself in the mirror and are comfortable saying out loud that you followed through as far as you can for now and you're being thwarted through no deficiency of your own, you may be wiser to move on to plan B. If there really does not appear to be a way out and your misery is increasing, it's OK -- no, more than that, it's good sense to surrender to the what-isness of it and walk away.

What do you think? When do you believe it's not only OK, but healthy to walk away? Where is the line for you?

[Cross Roads – Glen Heald]

DISCIPLINE, THE EASY WAY

I came across a quote this morning from American motivational speaker, Jim Rohn. He said, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

To this I would add my definition of “Discipline”, off the top of my head – Discipline could be a harmonious and edifying marriage of Values, Purpose and Intention.

You might get from this, and I hope you do, that true discipline is voluntary on behalf of all parties, not something imposed by some internal force of tyranny.

I leave you now with Roy L. Smith's realization -- "Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability."

I beg you to teach your young ones to assume the freedom of self-discipline, lest they spend the rest of their lives in thrall to childishness.

Food for thought?

ALL BY YOURSELF

 

You are all that you have that you can call your own. Everything else can be taken away from you at any time. You arrived in this life as pure awareness, and that's how you'll leave. Everything else you're going to have to leave behind. Everything other than that “am-ness” is temporary. Likewise, that awareness is all that you have that is worth anything. Same goes for me, too.

So if you think you are missing something, you know where to look – inside your awareness. If we find ourselves looking to anyone else to supply any of our needs, we're in for a mess of suffering. The whole idea is for us to grow up and be complete and self-sufficient. And until we can do that, we're worth zippo to anyone else except, of course, another dependent. But that gets tiresome after a while.

No-one..... no-one else can possibly love you enough, to make up for you not loving yourself. No-on can, and they're not supposed to; that's your job.

When you truly accept and value your self you'll find you're loved by all and sundry, except sometimes. And that's as good as it gets. Anyway, being adored by someone else is icing on the cake.

[All By Myself – Maria Muldaur – 3:35]

LIFE IS A MATINEE

One of the reasons I've devoted my life to as many forms of theatre as I can embrace is that theatre is the most perfect metaphor for the mysteries of Life.

We wash up onto a shore of Make Believe in the land of What-If . We willingly surrender, temporarily, to believe and act in a story so that we have an experience that otherwise may simply not be possible.

Like children at play, we suspend disbelief and pretend so that we can discover something real. Along the way we get to experience answers to the question “What am I now?”

How cool is that?

Just remember, though, it is only pretend. Heaven got boring, so we're out for a matinee. Enjoy it. We'll go home later and compare notes... OK?

[Land of Make Believe – Buck's Fizz – 3:48]

LOVE YOUR DISEASE

My message to you today is sharp, short and sweet – Love your diseases.

James McCuminskey  writes in The Ultimate Conspiracy -- "Being ill is God's way, Mother Nature's way of saying we do have a second chance, a chance to discover why we got ill in the first place, and an opportunity to cure ourselves."

But we seem to have got wildly off track. While our human need has been always for Healing, we have allowed the medical sciences and professionals to shortchange us with promises of Cures. Then in the face of abject failure, they've persuaded us to settle for "Relief" from Symptoms.


Symptoms are signs that your body and mind are doing their job, and pointers to where you could be profitably directing your healing awareness. Welcome the wisdom.

Baghwan Shree Rajneesh once said with a twinkle in his eye, “If you get a cold, you can soldier on and it'll be over in a week, or you can go to bed and rest – that will take about 7 days”.

Instead of hanging onto your story and going to war on the repercussions (you've tried that, haven't you?), try instead learning how to be at ease with your dis-eases. Just be with the feeling; yes that one – the one you've been avoiding. Go  Natural: drop your story and say “Yes”. Saying “No” pinches and hurts. Nature says “yes” to everything lets things flow on through, haven't you noticed?

[Make It Easy On Yourself – The Walker Brothers – 3:16]

WIPEOUT!!!!

Here in Australia we're rather keen on surfing. It's a major part of our culture. I guess that's not surprising – for two reasons: 1) we live on an island between the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans and most of us cluster within driving distance of the coast. 2) the island we live on can be a pretty harsh place to hang out. We have to learn to live with whatever mother nature dishes out, wherever and whenever.

I'm no sun-bronzed surfie – never was – but I'm sure those who are will attest that you cannot control the ocean. The ocean dictates the terms, and the conditions change moment by moment, wave by wave. The thrill and satisfaction in surfing is learning and playing with ways of working with all that power and energy. And if you wipeout, you learn the lesson, paddle back out and have another go.....

The greatest handicap we face surfing living is the negative image we have of ourself – that hidden dread we won't be with, the dread that drives us, for the most part unseen and unheard, to do what we do, why we do it and how we go about it. It's those parts of ourself that we avoid and deny, those parts that, annoyingly, keep showing up in our faces in the guise of other people we don't like.

My negative self image is of an irresponsible, untrustworthy and dangerous bully. But no-one would take me on like that, so for five decades I pretended to be something other than that. And I was successful – sort of, until I tripped up, and then tripped again, and again, and again. Then I got the message. Something's wrong! That's when I luckily met a fella called Colin Hayes, who to this day still does what ever it takes to get me to experience my negative self-image. You know what I found behind the irresponsible, untrustworthy, dangerous bully? Yes. A merciful, loving, loyal healer. I found who I am, and always have been – naturally and effortlessly.

Living life from your negative self image is a bit like like trying to surf a bombora on a dining table. Elegant and impressive, maybe, but useless for surfing.

[Wipeout – The Surfaris – 2:38]

SOCI-ABILITY = HAPPINESS

When I'm counselling, I sometimes ask questions to find out how sociable my client is – how active they are in getting out and about and interacting with others. Their answers give me an indication of the quantity and quality of their social engagement which, in turn, gives me a good indication of how happy they are. There is a proven, direct correlation between social engagement and personal contentment.

I recently spent time in Mullumbimby in the north of NSW, and was immediately struck at how happy was everyone I met in the street and the shops. They said “Hello” and engaged me, a perfect stranger, in conversation – a marked difference from Adelaide where I presently live. It was not a surprise, then, to find out in subsequent days how actively people in the district are involved in social, political, economic and welfare issues; the joint is humming with communal activities!

The next thing that struck me is the level of unselfish altruism – it seems everyone out there is actively engaged in doing things for other people. It was no surprise then to discover that local people's general mental and emotional health is much higher than the national average, and that there's a lower incidence of coughs, colds and flu. That's more than just co-incidence, by the way.

Happiness shows up in a climate of embracing. Unhappiness creeps in when people start thinking, feeling and practising separation. How long can you wallow in unhappiness? For as long as you like. While ever you live you're allowed to be unhappy about it. When it comes time to die, you can be unhappy about that, too. No-one is going to stop you either way.

But if you decide to change, here are two starters to help you change your mind.

Write a Letter of Gratitude to someone you love, noting all the things that you treasure in that person. Then read it aloud to yourself. (You can send it, too, if you like). Then write a similar Letter of Gratitude to someone who's not in your good books at the moment. Make a list of that person's admirable qualities, thank that person for the good you see in them, and wish them well for the future.

Try also going in through your body to help change your mind. Engaging in raised levels of exercise, yoga, balance exercises, and dancing raises your levels of motivation, self esteem and well-being. A balanced body and mind is a Happy bodymind.

[They're Changing Guard at BP – Band of the Blues & Royals – 0:48]

HANDLING REJECTION #101

Rejection is a part of life. You don't have to like it when it happens, and most people, including me, don't. But avoiding it is not a healthy option, and life's easier if you learn how to handle it so that no-one gets bent out of shape. If your parents didn't have the wherewithal to teach you Rejection #101 when you were a young sprog, then you're going to have to take a crash adult course, preferably from someone who does rejection with ease.

Avoiding or resisting rejection leads you into a life of certain loneliness, despair and estrangement.

Rejection is unpleasant because it directly triggers activity in the same area of the brain as physical pain. And Fear of Rejection triggers a reaction of “rejection-in-advance”, a reaction equally as painful as real-time rejection.

So when caught at the doorway to a new possibility, especially in the tender area of personal relationships, you have a choice = Avoiding the risk of rejection and facing certain separation and sadness; or learning, in practice, strategies for coping. And there are plenty of learning resources available to you, no matter where you live.

But here's a useful and very effective starting point: if you catch yourself doing anything other than gratefully and gladly embracing the possibility of Rejection, there's your problem right there. You are doing the rejecting up front. How else is the universe expected to respond to you, other than by rejecting you?

See your fears for what they are – Excitement and Anticipation, with negative labels attached – and welcome the adventure of Living Possibly.

[Hold Me – Jade Hurley (A) – 2:14]

END THE TUG-O-WAR

Our natural state – the blank canvas on which we paint all our stuff – is one of Quiet Happiness. A quiet mind is an effective mind. But one way or another we think our way out of Happiness. We think our way into disquiet, anxiety, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and suffering – infectious diseases that we catch from those around us.

The we get caught up in stratagems and strife to avoid the symptoms of our diseases, and end up feeling isolated and lonely. That lowers our biological immunity and places us at significantly greater risk of catching everything from coughs and colds to cardio-vascular disease.

Isolated and lonely also makes us feel rejected, suspicious of others and what we think their motives might be, and we get angry and resentful.

Then we get into a permanent tug-o-war between our feelings and our self.

Wow! Am I getting into familiar territory here?

How do you end the tug-o-war? Well, you could get with a shrink, trace back along the rope, locate the feelings and what caused them, and deal with those issues one by one. You could do that, and keep the shrink and his family in overseas holidays for the next decade or so.

Or you could just let go the rope. Yes, that's what I said. The quickest way to end a tug-o-war is just let go the rope. Nah, it's only unfair if tug-o-war is more important to you than being happy. Let it go!

That's my advice --  but it's your choice.

[Happiness is Tugging At Your Heart – Tim Fitz (A) 2:56]

THE LAST SURVIVING DINOSAUR

Once upon a time, many difficult years ago, there was a baby dinosaur called a Mens Humanusaurus Rex, living in a primordial soup of thoughts. One day, something unusual happened to this baby dinosaur, and a bunch of pure-chance ideas popped out of the thought-soup the dinosaur was swimming in. He grabbed a couple of those ideas and started thinking about them. Soon he formed an Opinion that he thought made sense of what had just happened. In order to appease his ignorance, he developed a Conclusion from his Opinion, and that conclusion quickly hardened into a rock-solid Belief.

And although, in his baby ignorance, he was mistaken in his original conclusions, he's clung steadfastly to his concepts, ideas, opinions and beliefs ever since. Older than the shark, the crocodile, and the Burrunjor, the human mind still roams wide and free, shoulding and musturbating over everything it considers a threat to its dominance.

The Human Mind is an arch parasite, using our species for its existence. In its addiction to be right, it will kill even its hosts – you and me – it has no choice about that.

But we do.

Consider this. Victims of mensis humanusaurus rex, otherwise known as Ego, hang onto memories of one or two wins they may have had decades ago with each of their beliefs, and have gone on ever since using them to justify their actions and losses. How's that for a definition of a Loser?

But it need not be so. We have a choice. Is my ego, or me in charge? Is it who I think I am, or “I Am” that has the final say?

That's up to me – and you.

[Jurassic Lunch]

[Jurassic Park Main Themes – Cincinnatti Pops Orch – 5:34]