Thursday, April 15, 2010
Play the Mistake by Alan Cohen
Play the Mistake
by Alan Cohen
www.alancohen.com
Just before Christmas last year, Rob Anderson went into a convenience store to purchase three $1 Powerball lottery tickets as stocking stuffers. The clerk misunderstood Anderson’s request and erroneously printed one $3 ticket. When Anderson called the mistake to the clerk’s attention, the clerk offered to nullify the ticket. Anderson decided to just go with the current of events, he accepted the ticket, and purchased the three stocking stuffers in addition. Rob went home and tossed the mistaken ticket on his nightstand.
The day after Christmas the winning numbers were announced and Anderson figured he would check the mistaken ticket just in case. That was when he realized the mistake was no mistake. He had just won $128 million, the largest Powerball jackpot ever paid in the Kentucky lottery.
Sometimes what seems to be going wrong is really going right. From a human perspective it may appear that things are working against you, when they are really working for you. That’s why it’s important to be vigilant for what errors might lead to.
When my friend Stephanie visits her parents every year at Thanksgiving, one of the highlights of the family’s traditional meal is “Mistake Salad.” “Many years ago mom was preparing a salad using a cookbook,” Stephanie explained to me. “When mom finished, she realized that she had accidentally merged the recipes for two different salads ― one portion of the ingredients for a salad described on the left open page of the cookbook, and another portion from a different salad described on the right open page. The salad turned out better than any other salad we had had, so now she replicates it every year as the famous ‘Mistake Salad.’”
Speaking of salads, have you ever heard how the famous Caesar Salad began? Cesar Cardini was the working in a small restaurant near a tiny airport near Tijuana, Mexico. One night during a rush of customers, the kitchen ran out of salad ingredients. When the next salad order came in, Cardini threw together whatever scant ingredients he had on hand. Behold the birth of one of the world’s most popular salads! (Originally it was called “The Aviator.”)
Robert Louis Stevenson noted, “Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.” Yet what is a poor hand, but a good hand in the making? What is a minus, but half of a plus waiting for a stroke of vertical awareness? And what is an error, but something to parlay to create something far more valuable than what would have come had the error not occurred? As Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, “A weed is a plant whose virtues have not been discovered.”
All of life is interpretation. It is not the events that occur that make or break a life, but your interpretation of them. You can make anything out of anything, so why not make it what you would choose?
Years ago I was looking for a new location for my office. I found a site that was suitable but not great. In expedience I decided to rent it, and I asked the realtor to get me a contract. The realtor kept delaying and delaying, unto just a few days before I had to move. When I asked him about the contract he confessed that the owner did not want to rent to me because he had seen one of my books and he did not agree with my philosophy. I grew angry and complained about discrimination. Yet when I consulted my inner guidance, it advised me to simply let it be.
That day as I was driving home I decided to take an alternate scenic route. Along the way I noticed a storefront for rent. When I inquired, I found the owner to be a lovely woman who had been using the space for tai chi classes. We liked each other immediately and I rented the space. The facility was in a beautiful area, close to my home, with more space and far less rent than the space from which I had been turned away. Ultimately I blessed the original landlord for denying me. He was the vehicle by which I received something greater.
Life is trying to love you, and apparent mistakes may ultimately serve you. It is said that “disappointments are the hooks upon which God hangs his victories.” Nothing ever gets so bad that it cannot get good, and often the good that comes after the bad is greater than the good that came before it.
The next time you encounter a mistake, Rob Anderson would be a good guy to remember. As he deposits his annual checks for millions of dollars, he would probably suggest that we, too, do not resist errors, but let them work in our favor.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Great Harvest
The Great Harvest
As a farmer lay dying, his four sons sat by his bedside awaiting his final words. “There is a vast treasure buried in the family’s field,” he whispered.
“Where is it, father?” the sons pleaded. But it was too late. Their father was gone.
Soon after his passing, the sons set to the field, trying to unearth the treasure. For many days the sons desperately worked pick and shovel, digging everywhere in search of their promised legacy. Eventually they turned over every inch of the field, but alas, no treasure was to be found. Finally, dejected and discouraged, they gave up their search and returned to their families and vocations.
The next year the farm yielded its greatest harvest ever.
This parable yields a lesson richer than the treasure the sons so fervently sought: The fortune their father hinted at was not a magical boon that would transform the sons’ lives in one glorious instant. The treasure was the untapped potential of the field, capable of yielding riches to the family if they worked with the materials and natural potential before them. The power of the treasure lay not at the end of the rainbow, but in the journey toward it.
I hear people talking about waiting for their big break; or for Oprah to hold up their book on television; or to win the lottery. Certainly these events would be wonderful if they occurred, but if you sit on your duff waiting for a record producer, Oprah, or a lottery number to save you, you may wait for a very long time and miss the wonder and gifts of the journey. Wisdom-guided action and integrity build success far more substantially than a magic pill.
The apparent goal of a journey is simply the carrot the universe dangles before you to call you to the adventure and learn the lessons the journey yields. Martin Buber declared, “All journeys have destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” If you think about most of the things you have striven for, you will realize that the lessons you learned in the process of striving were far more powerful and long-lasting than the material object at the end of the trail. While you sought for a soulmate, you may or may not have ended up with that person; but the self-knowledge you gained and the growth you experienced in the search ran far deeper than the form of the person you sought. Or perhaps you worked hard for a financial or career success. You may or may not have attained your goal, but what happened to you along the way made a far greater difference in your life than the specific goal itself. Then, when you obtained the car, house, or promotion, you were satisfied for a moment, but sooner or later you set your sights on the next achievement. Something inside you recognizes that the power of stretching to achieve something yields you more value than the something itself.
We are a quick-fix oriented culture. We want lots of stuff and we want it now. What we often leave out of the equation, however, is that we would prefer stuff that works. We want computer printers that last longer than a year, a job we can grow into a passionate career, and a soulmate we can love for a lifetime. Because we often sacrifice integrity for expedience, the art of quality engineering, true craftsmanship, and meaningful relationships is shrinking to the domain of a dedicated few. When I visited Japan, my friend Koichi told me that the oldest company in Japan ― and the world ― is 800 years old. The company is an architectural firm that specializes in building temples and pagodas. The company, Koichi explained, does not use nails in their construction. Instead, they make a series of tabs on the ends of wooden pieces and fit them together. Over eight centuries, when there have been earthquakes, this company’s structures, including five-story pagodas, have stood firm while buildings around them crumbled.
If you want a life that stands while others crumble, pay more attention to how you till the field than finding the buried treasure. The real treasure, you see, is buried within you. If you are going to mine anything, mine the gifts you already own. Don’t wait for a soulmate, talent scout, or Oprah to put you on the map. You are already on the map, but if you are holding it upside down, you won’t recognize and claim your true domain.
It’s a wonderful thing when people or events come along to change our life. But you must do your inner homework and own those changes by right of consciousness. Otherwise the boons that arrive will disappear as fast as they came. But if you have tilled your field with love, care, and integrity, the harvest will be bountiful, and you will have plenty for yourself and many others.
by Alan Cohen
http://www.alancohen.com
As a farmer lay dying, his four sons sat by his bedside awaiting his final words. “There is a vast treasure buried in the family’s field,” he whispered.
“Where is it, father?” the sons pleaded. But it was too late. Their father was gone.
Soon after his passing, the sons set to the field, trying to unearth the treasure. For many days the sons desperately worked pick and shovel, digging everywhere in search of their promised legacy. Eventually they turned over every inch of the field, but alas, no treasure was to be found. Finally, dejected and discouraged, they gave up their search and returned to their families and vocations.
The next year the farm yielded its greatest harvest ever.
This parable yields a lesson richer than the treasure the sons so fervently sought: The fortune their father hinted at was not a magical boon that would transform the sons’ lives in one glorious instant. The treasure was the untapped potential of the field, capable of yielding riches to the family if they worked with the materials and natural potential before them. The power of the treasure lay not at the end of the rainbow, but in the journey toward it.
I hear people talking about waiting for their big break; or for Oprah to hold up their book on television; or to win the lottery. Certainly these events would be wonderful if they occurred, but if you sit on your duff waiting for a record producer, Oprah, or a lottery number to save you, you may wait for a very long time and miss the wonder and gifts of the journey. Wisdom-guided action and integrity build success far more substantially than a magic pill.
The apparent goal of a journey is simply the carrot the universe dangles before you to call you to the adventure and learn the lessons the journey yields. Martin Buber declared, “All journeys have destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” If you think about most of the things you have striven for, you will realize that the lessons you learned in the process of striving were far more powerful and long-lasting than the material object at the end of the trail. While you sought for a soulmate, you may or may not have ended up with that person; but the self-knowledge you gained and the growth you experienced in the search ran far deeper than the form of the person you sought. Or perhaps you worked hard for a financial or career success. You may or may not have attained your goal, but what happened to you along the way made a far greater difference in your life than the specific goal itself. Then, when you obtained the car, house, or promotion, you were satisfied for a moment, but sooner or later you set your sights on the next achievement. Something inside you recognizes that the power of stretching to achieve something yields you more value than the something itself.
We are a quick-fix oriented culture. We want lots of stuff and we want it now. What we often leave out of the equation, however, is that we would prefer stuff that works. We want computer printers that last longer than a year, a job we can grow into a passionate career, and a soulmate we can love for a lifetime. Because we often sacrifice integrity for expedience, the art of quality engineering, true craftsmanship, and meaningful relationships is shrinking to the domain of a dedicated few. When I visited Japan, my friend Koichi told me that the oldest company in Japan ― and the world ― is 800 years old. The company is an architectural firm that specializes in building temples and pagodas. The company, Koichi explained, does not use nails in their construction. Instead, they make a series of tabs on the ends of wooden pieces and fit them together. Over eight centuries, when there have been earthquakes, this company’s structures, including five-story pagodas, have stood firm while buildings around them crumbled.
If you want a life that stands while others crumble, pay more attention to how you till the field than finding the buried treasure. The real treasure, you see, is buried within you. If you are going to mine anything, mine the gifts you already own. Don’t wait for a soulmate, talent scout, or Oprah to put you on the map. You are already on the map, but if you are holding it upside down, you won’t recognize and claim your true domain.
It’s a wonderful thing when people or events come along to change our life. But you must do your inner homework and own those changes by right of consciousness. Otherwise the boons that arrive will disappear as fast as they came. But if you have tilled your field with love, care, and integrity, the harvest will be bountiful, and you will have plenty for yourself and many others.
by Alan Cohen
http://www.alancohen.com
Monday, April 5, 2010
Gratitude From The Secret Daily Teachings
From The Secret Daily Teachings
Remember, if you are criticizing, you are not being grateful. If you are blaming, you are not being grateful. If you are complaining, you are not being grateful. If you are feeling tension, you are not being grateful. If you are rushing, you are not being grateful. If you are in a bad mood, you are not being grateful.
Gratitude can transform your life. Are you allowing minor things to get in the way of your transformation and the life you deserve?
May the joy be with you,
Rhonda Byrne
The Secret... bringing joy to billions
A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne
Creator of The Secret
Remember, if you are criticizing, you are not being grateful. If you are blaming, you are not being grateful. If you are complaining, you are not being grateful. If you are feeling tension, you are not being grateful. If you are rushing, you are not being grateful. If you are in a bad mood, you are not being grateful.
Gratitude can transform your life. Are you allowing minor things to get in the way of your transformation and the life you deserve?
May the joy be with you,
Rhonda Byrne
The Secret... bringing joy to billions
A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne
Creator of The Secret
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