If you don't like the weather, wait it will change.

Life only gives us two certainties, death and change! If you don't like the weather, wait it will change.

It is ironic that we spend so much of our time afraid of the only things that are a sure thing. Learn to embrace them both! Yes I said embrace them, cherish them, learn to love them! "What, what are you saying? I want consistency and the security that it entails. I also love life, and you want me to love death? Are you nuts?"

Although some may, indeed, question my sanity, I am quite in control of my faculties. Let's look at these one at a time. Change - too much angst is spent trying to combat it. If you were to accept it then you could plan for it, not only plan for it but be a force behind it, maybe even initiate it. In other words find the consistency your looking for in the very change you hate.

Death - no it is not a morbid thought to say love death. You see it is only by understanding and accepting that our time here is finite, that we can learn how important it is to LIVE each and every moment. Learn to live the NOW! Imbibe in the euphoria that is LIFE!

Life can only be experienced one moment at a time!

Carlos A. Bauta

When deep in "Stuff," look up!

When deep in "Stuff," look up! Looking down is not a pretty sight, and it does not let you see any other options.

Wallowing in self pity and focusing on your problems does not resolve them. Indeed, it increases them! The law of attraction tells us that we attract that which we think about most. Therefore, if we spend our time contemplating our woes, then we will get more woes.

However, some of you may not believe in the law of attraction, so let's look at Solrac's law of logic. If we are spending all or most of our time thinking about our "Stuff," then we are not using that time to plan and take action towards the solution to our needs!

In other words, take your head out of the "Stuff" and focus on your dreams and the actions it will take to accomplish them. Keep the blinders on; don't look down nor to the sides. Always look forward, and even if it is inch by inch, you will eventually get out of the "Stuff"

Carlos A. Bauta

Thank God, I am out of my MIND!

Some say "A mind is a terrible thing to waste". I, on the other hand, say that a mind can be a terrible thing to have!

Our MIND, the Maddening Involuntary Neurosis Designer, is like an early warning system. What if..., then what, and if..., oh my GOD, look out, be careful, oh no...

We humans have an incredible capacity for creating self misery. Usually it starts with our mind, the 24 / 7 story creator, we take small bits of information, some real, some perceived, and we proceed to weave an intricate tapestry of tall tales. What is worse, we then buy our own story and declare it to be the God given truth. To add insult to injury, we then react to our own concoction.

This reminds me of the one about a man who was traveling down a rural road when all of a sudden he has a flat tire. He gets out of his car to change the tire only to find that he doesn’t have a jack. Just as panic is about to set in, he remembers that he saw a house some two miles back, and he decides to walk back and borrow a jack. As he walks he starts to think (Oh! Oh!), “what if I walk all this way and no one is home?” “What if I walk all this way and someone is home, but they don’t have a jack?” “What if I walk all this way, they are home, they do have a jack, but they won’t lend it to me?” “What if I walk all this way, they are home, they have a jack, they won’t lend it to me, and to top things off, they’re rude?” Just then he reaches the door, knocks on it, and the man of the house answers the door. “Hello! And our stranded traveller replies “You can take your jack and…” I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. The poor home owner never knew what hit him!

Indeed it is hell reacting to our every thought, feeling almost paranoid. Is this real, or we making it up? Reality is a funny thing, and one of the reasons that psychotherapy is in such demand. Our reality may be nothing more than a story and our truth just an unmitigated lie. One’s reality is made up mostly of perceptions. Consequently, letting your mind run amuck is a sure way of creating anxiety and excessive stress.

How many sleepless nights do you spend dreading the apocalypse of the next day? How much time do you waste worrying about what is to come? How many different permutations of what is to happen did you react to? Countless! Each of these senseless concoctions erode your self-image, sanity and health thought by thought.

Yesterday’s tomorrow looks nothing like today. In reality our worst fears never materialized. Indeed things may not be good, but they are never as bad as we make them out to be. We put ourselves on an emotional mega roller coaster. How many times have you done this?

It's time to stop this madness! Take control of your emotions and consequently your life! Learn to discern the difference between valid concerns of the mind and the irrational ones. Don't get caught up in your own stories, STAY OUT OF YOUR MIND!

Carlos A. Bauta

this Blog is not Spam

Wow! My blog was marked as spam, of course I don't think it is but the automatic "robots" thought so. Now an actual human, hopefully living, has to check. Anyhow we should be up and running again in a couple of days.

If you get to see this, thanks for your patience, if you can't, you will in a couple of days and have a good laugh on me. Such is the price of progress.

Carlos A. Bauta

Breathe in, Breathe out

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out - a simple yet life sustaining exercise. When was the last time you deliberately took notice of your breathing pattern? We live our lives on automatic pilot, so much so that we don't even notice our body's most essential function.

I challenge you, stop for a moment and tune into your breathing, notice the rhythmic harmony of each breath, follow the air as it enters your body, feel you chest cavity expand then relax with your exhale. Breathe in, breath out. Now tune into your surroundings, listen intently. What do you hear? Look around. What do you see? Breathe in,breath out. Tune into your inner dialog. What are you saying to yourself. Can you be still? Will your mind allow you this moment of peace?

Stay attentive to each breath. Let every nerve ending come alive with the realization that everything around you is pulsating to a universal rhythm. Can you sense it? Listen carefully to the cacophony of sounds found in silence. This is where to find the answers to your most troubling questions.

Breathe in, breathe out - tune into the harmony of the universe.

Carlos A. Bauta

From the 8th grade to the Penthouse!

As a good friend, Dwayne Johnson, points out, "Our parents all teach us the same thing: get good grades in school so that you can get into a good college. Do well in college so that you can get a good job with good benefits."

Dwayne is correct; that is indeed what our parents teach us. It's their formula for success. However, most of us are never taught the most important ingredients for the proper formula for success. These include responsibility, self reliance, discipline, courage, commitment, integrity, and good old fashioned work ethic.

Yesterday I met a man that embodies all of these characteristics. Derrick Taylor is 41 years old, and he has an 8th grade education. According to our parents' formula, Derrick must be a miserable failure. A man barely able to speak a complete sentence, much less make anything of himself. WOW, how completely wrong that assessment would be!

Indeed I saw Derrick speak articulately, and motivate a group of 150 small business owners. You see, Derrick is in the top 1% of money earners in the country. He would be as comfortable sitting at the table with kings as he is sitting at the table with anyone of us. He is an engaging, knowledgeable, successful business and family man. How can this possibly be?

The answer is simple. Character! Derrick took responsibility for his life. He started work as a bus boy for a large restaurant chain and worked his way up to regional management. He embarked on a program of self development. Of course, as is the case for all of us, along the way he ran into road blocks and a couple of years ago found himself heavily in debt. Did he wallow in self pity? NO! Did he look for a hand out, or blame the government? NO! He accepted responsibility, learned from his circumstances, looked for an opportunity, showed courage, had commitment, and employed his good old fashioned work ethic.

Today, Derrick earns more in one month than he did in a year as management at the restaurant chain. Some would say he was an overnight success. I say that his character and experience allowed him to take advantage of a fabulous opportunity (in future blogs I will tell you about it).

Life is a journey fraught with obstacles, pitfalls and other assorted challenges and dangers. However, if we have the courage to face them, the foresight to learn from them, the discipline to persistently take action in spite of them, the wisdom to take responsibility, have an unyielding commitment to our hopes dreams and aspirations, and unflailing integrity, then we will live abundant and successful lives.

Abundance

by Carlos Bauta

On a long and painful journey
Life took me for a ride.
Through the grief and misery
You stood calmly by my side.

With fear and trepidation
We started down that road
Over peaks and valleys
You helped and lighten the load.

I am blessed to have been taken
On such a perilous travail.
My mind and soul have strengthened
My spirit freely sails.

.

Are you taking responsibility for your life? Are you on a path of self development? Do you have the courage and commitment to change your life? Could you have gone from the 8th grade to the penthouse?

Carlos A. Bauta

Courage to Fly

Have you written that book yet? Have you opened your restaurant? Is your new business up and running? What happened to your dreams? Do you even have a dream, or was dreaming to much of a risk?

Most of us don't take action on our dreams because we are afraid. Afraid to fail or, more often than not, afraid to succeed. How would our lives change if we succeeded, would we loose our "friends" (the people we commiserate with), could we handle the pressure of success? What if we succeeded for a short while then failed, could we handle that? What if we never succeeded, if we went after our dreams with gusto and failed miserably?

Yeah, most of us have decided either through direct thought, or through subconscious thought and inaction, that it is safer not to take the risk. What we don't understand is that avoiding risk, is indeed the riskiest thing we could do. Most of us die after a life of drudgery and with a great deal of regret. There aren't enough libraries to house the great novels that were never written, nor enough storage space to download the music never composed. The world is so much less for the feats never achieved!

Fear is a normal state of mind, we all fear that which is unknown. In order to reach your dreams, or even dream at all, it takes courage. I define courage as taking action in spite of fear. Marianne Williamson sums up the concept so well with her words "Our Deepest Fear" (from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles) , subsequently delivered by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural speech:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

So do you have the courage to fly and inspire the world? Will you stand up and accept the infinite power that dwells within you, or will your life be yet another chapter in the great book of could have been? The choice is simple and uniquely yours to make!

Carlos A. Bauta

Stories

Have you ever noticed that the stories we most retell are the ones that first caused us angst, frustration or aggravation? Most of these stories allow us to laugh at the absurdity of the experience. Indeed it is through the laughter that we cleanse any underlying negativity associated with the initial event.

Several years ago my wife and I were invited to a house in the Florida keys, that belonged to the parents of one of her students, for the weekend. We had a fabulous time, although we did have a moment angst. Some of the teenagers had gone out on the jet-skies and returned less than half an hour later. As we saw them returning we knew there was a problem. Typically they would have been gone for at least a couple of hours. As they drew closer, we noticed sever damage to the front of one of the jet-skies. Joel had been driving with Brad sitting behind him, travelling at a high rate of speed. They were moving so fast, in fact, that Joel was not able to turn the jet-ski before they hit the very large stone brakewater. Both riders were ejected from the jet-ski as it hit the rocks, and fortunately they didn't even get a scratch. It did take several hours for the adults to finally pry the truth from the kids.

After the initial shock and fear at what could have happened we were able to laugh at their sheer stupidity. We laughed and laughed, and I even wrote them a poem which I will share with you. Bottom line is that event made it a weekend I am sure to never forget.

Lunacy of Youth
(For Joel and Brad)


On the Jet Ski rode the pair
The wind and salt water in their hair
Riding at a thunderous speed
Upon their trusted fiberglass steed

Without a trace of fear in sight
They raced on as Poseidon stood in fright
The two young men with much audacity
Soon would have a test of their capacity

No mammal, nor fish nor living bird
Impeded their way or they’d be interred
Then on the horizon it did loom
The conquering colossus that spelled their doom

Ah! The immortal question was at hand
Turn and run, or make a stand
With uncanny nerves, and no brains in stock
Indeed they impale themselves, upon the rocks!

Carlos A. Bauta

Great Expectaions

Today is a day full of great expectations! Everyday I expect great things from myself, from others, and from the universe as a whole.

Some may say that I set myself up for failure and disappointment. I think just the opposite; most of us expect mediocrity or worse. We resign ourselves to our lot day in and day out, and while stuck in our rut, are incapable of seeing or experiencing greatness even if staring straight at it.

No, I'd rather have great expectations daily and be fully aware when great things come my way.

Carlos A. Bauta