Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year !!!

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

Benjamin Franklin



While I’m not too sure about Ben’s advice about vice...I do support, endorse and amplify his wise counsel for peace and a personal commitment to continued self development for men and women.

I sincerely hope that my “Extraordinary Minutes” have been useful to you in 2008 and promise more missives designed to educate, inspire and perhaps even irritate you in 2009. As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated:

May the New Year bring you abundant opportunities to create joy, success and fulfillment—an EXTRAORDINARY life!

Robert

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Do You Want Comfort or Truth?

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort, you will get neither comfort nor truth, only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

C. S. Lewis



For years I’ve been sharing in our Extraordinary Living Seminar that one of the keystone choices we all face in life is...drum roll please...

‘Temporary pleasure and permanent pain OR temporary pain and permanent pleasure.’

C. S. Lewis says it much more poetically though.

Everyone wants to be comfortable—an essential fact about human beings is that we always go toward pleasure and away from pain. Reality demands that sometimes we need to dive into the pain, especially when dealing with repetitive and dysfunctional patterns that are in the way of us getting what we really want.

Buy a book (mine comes to mind!), see a coach or therapist, do a seminar (ours!), in other words, do something. Don’t let your desire for comfort get in the way of living an extraordinary life!
With love and respect,

Robert

Friday, December 12, 2008

Validation

This is a long (16 minute) "watch" .... and worth it!

Robert

Thursday, December 11, 2008

When You Fall .......

“The real ‘it is well’ is something I say from the ground, having fallen.”

Antonio Porchia


I had to read this one twice before I “got it.” Perhaps that says something about my state of consciousness?

When everything is coming up roses (if you’re old enough you can hear that song in your mind right now!) we don’t need Robert White or anyone to motivate and inspire us. It’s when we have “fallen” that our inner and outer resources need to be called on so that we can re-frame those stumbles along the way as learning opportunities, as a chance to speak a positive future.

While I don’t recommend you go looking for a fall, I do recommend Antonio Porchia’s wise counsel if one should happen.

With love and respect,

Robert

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Never Give Up

I am so inspired by this video and thought you might be also.

Robert

The Language of Feelings

“One of my problems is that I internalize everything. I can’t express anger. I grow a tumor instead.”
Woody Allen


Well....Should we laugh or cry about this one?

Given my male gender status, I can only speak with any authority as a man and even then, really only for this man. One of my coaches in life is Tom Lutes who has taught me that in addition to our first or even second language, we also have an emotional language. For most men (that’s a sneaky way of saying ‘for me’) one or more of our emotional languages are, let us say, less developed.

I’m kind of fluent in expressing joy, sadness and fear. Anger is where I am somewhat or mostly illiterate. I haven’t grown a tumor but I have experienced some needless stress and some “incomplete” relationships as a result.

As a society it seems to me that we are moving in a positive direction in regard to further developing and responsibly expressing our feelings. The benefits are enormous and, if you’re interested in joining me in accelerating the journey toward greater “feelings fluency,” come and do our Extraordinary Living Seminar January 9-11in Denver, Colorado. For details go to www.ExtraordinarySeminar.com.

With love and respect,

Robert