Burning Bridges

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Burning Bridges

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These are some notes and ideas from the books of Napoleon Hill.

Burn Your Ships

Napoleon Hill spends a lot of time explaining this in his book “Think and Grow Rich.”  When a man has a goal and a plan in his mind, and he sets himself up in pursuit of this goal and blocks all his paths to retreat to the point where he must succeed or fail, this calls upon all resources of creativity, persistence, and efficiency to win.  It is the winning mentality.  Winners set themselves up in a win-lose situation to the point where their hand is forced to win.  

Decide Quickly

This is somewhat related to “Burn your ships.”  Deciding quickly and moving forward contains the secret.  This is because the decision is not as important as movement and action.  We can usually follow a bad decision with a better decision - and that is the point.  Decide quickly, move, and make adjustments when needed.  But, movement and action are necessary - and necessary as soon as possible.  

Making the “right” decision is not the correct approach!

Root of Fear

Hill’s point is that Fear has a root, and to get rid of fear, one must strike at the root of Fear.  Indecision produces Doubt.  Doubt produces Fear.  Thus: Indecision -> Doubt -> Fear.  Strike out indecision, and Fear goes away.  

Think about this the next time you are feeling even a little bit of fear.  Ask yourself, “What have I not decided that is producing this Fear response?”  Identify the Indecisiveness, make a decision, and the Fear will vanish.  Sometimes we are unaware of the things that are producing fear.  With this formula, you may backtrack to identify where you are being indecisive.  It is a simple procedure.

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Stay tuned for the next essay discussing Napoleon Hill’s “The Mystery of Sex Transmutation” chapter from the same book.

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Freddy Martini  

Random Notes 20150322

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Travel Notes

Travel is the fastest way to learn.  No other experience teaches faster.  Spending $300 on a flight can usually gain you $3000 in experience - perhaps $30,000 if you are an astute observer.

The other side of travel that is not glamorous is that travel is a process of waiting.  You sit in the car and wait to get to the airport.  You wait in line for your boarding pass.  You wait in line at security.  You wait in the terminal for the plane to be ready.  You wait in line to board the plane.  You sit on the plane and wait until the flight ends.  You wait to exit the plane.  You wait for baggage.  You wait for the rental car or the taxi.  You arrive at your hotel.  Then, you no longer wait, and can now enjoy the fruit of the destination!

Houston

I have spent three weeks thus far in Houston.  I do not need a jacket.  I wear short sleeves everywhere.  Wearing a sport jacket often meets with curious stares - not so much impolite, but inquisitive.  

There are stores and malls of all sizes and types.  You can find any type of food to eat.  You can find any sort of specialty shops.  The roads are always humming with traffic.  Large trucks are everywhere with heavy equipment, machinery and product.  

The atmosphere is that of the Gulf Coast.  There is always moisture in the air.  You can smell the water in the air.  The lower clouds are always thick, and you hardly see the upper atmospheric clouds such as Cirrus clouds.  The sky is bright blue - as opposed to the dark deep blue of the Midwest - Missouri latitudes and higher.

The people generally do not give much care to their appearances, as one would expect in a large city.  Perhaps hard labor wears on the body and the soul of many.

However, the people are excessively polite.  I have heard only one guy say the word “motherF**Ker” in a business office.  I have had guys say, “sorry” because they were near me and perhaps I looked at them like I needed to proceed forward.  Perhaps my stare is intimidating…  

I have seen a few cycling pelotons riding through a boulevard.  I have seen some runners, too, although I expected to see a lot more for a city this size.

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Freddy Martini  

Random Notes 20150321

Random Notes 20150321

Friday, March 20, 2015

Body-Mind

Life coaches such as Tony Robbins have posited that the Mind and Body are closely linked.  To change your mental state, begin moving your body differently.  When you speak over the phone, the other person will hear and sense on a subconscious level your facial expressions and your body movement even though they cannot see you - you cannot fake this.

If you are depressed, you body is turning inward and drooping.  Change your body and you can snap out of it (assuming no underlying medical condition).  

To get in Peak State every morning I do a variation from the following menu:

• Shadow box each fist until the count total gets to 20
• Resistance tubes 5 times on bicep, forearm and squat
• Do 80 jumping jacks
• Push fists upward, then pull into chest violently and shout “Yah!!”
• Make a foot fist with each foot alternating with each step and count to 20 then stop.
• 20 sets of Breath Walking (look it up on youTube)
• 5 very deep breaths imagining that water is pouring over you and in and out your lungs.

In summary, the body and mind are linked tightly.  Change your movement and you can change your emotional and spiritual state.

Napoleon Hill

Hill claims that the secret to wealth will reveal itself only when one is ready for it.  This is true for many things.  The clarity of seeing large areas of the Earth from a plane comes from being high above the ground.  In the same manner, age brings us, in a way, to a higher view of things that we did not see when younger.  I recall at the age of 16 when my brain suddenly expanded to the point where I understood things at an astonishing rate that I had not gotten before.  The same experience happened when I began the practice of focused meditation around the age of 32.  Now, at the age of 40, I am more “ready” for some ideas that five years ago I would have considered absurd or silly.  What are some of these things?  

• Peak State is not a luxury, but a necessary practice to get exponentially better results.  Being in Peak State is a hell of a lot of work, but well worth it.
• Spirituality is necessary for higher quality strategic thinking.
• Drama is Truth for some people - for these people scientific reductionism has no meaning at all.  And, they are correct in more ways than one.
• Decisions are made on an emotional level.  We merely use logic to justify what we have already decided to “get the story straight.”
• All human endeavors involve Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit.  We can also say, in other words, Material, Mental, Emotional, and Meaningful.  Neglect of any of these will lead to the destruction and poverty of the souls participating.

East versus West

After years of studying philosophy, history, theology, the split between the East and the West comes down to Plato versus Aristotle.  Plato’s world is that of an imperfect physical world as an opaque reflection of the perfect realm of Ideas, or heaven; Christianity is Augustine’s “City of God.”  Aristotle’s world is that of Four Causes: Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final causes.  The Protestant and Catholic West is Aristotelian, interpreted through Thomas Aquinas.  The Eastern Orthodox is Platonic, as interpreted through the Fathers.  The West takes argumentation very seriously.  The East takes the City of God concept very seriously.   

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Freddy Martini  

Random Notes 20150313

Friday, March 13, 2015

Ministry

Ministry, in all of its forms, is a transference of emotion from the Minister to the Ministered.  In government, Ministers advise the executive, and transfer their emotion certainty to the executives.  In Christianity, the ministers are charged with the transfer of the three emotions of Faith, Hope, and Charity to their parishioners.  In sales, the salesperson is responsible for the transfer of the emotion of certainty and trust from himself to the buyer.  When this transfer does not happen, the sale does not happen.  In the same manner of any ministry, if the minister cannot transfer the emotion, he is not in the right vocation.

When friends come around for counsel, they, as a rule, are uncertain.  They are looking for a transfer of the emotion of certainty.

Eastern Orthodox Spirituality

Working and sometimes living among those of the Eastern Orthodox persuasion convinces me they have something to teach we Westerners.  They instinctively understand spirituality, as far as I can tell.  They do not have the materialistic mental blocks we Westerners have when we attempt to stay rational, and leave religion up to the arena of “opinion.”  Life is a reflection of the Liturgy.  The Liturgy is a reflection of life heaven.  Partaking of Communion means standing in heaven with all the host of Saints past and present - an elevation of the mind and imagination to things not of this Earth. 

Spirituality

It is a reflection of the structure of All Things - the Universe, if you will.  Orbiting of planets, formation of planets, attraction and repelling of charge, the integration of the human body with blood, food, love, sex, reproduction, motive motion, birth, life and death - all these things are a reflection of the inner nature and structure of everything.  

Beauty

What is beauty?  Those who say, “In the eyes of the Beholder” are liars or fools!  It is a combination and the proper proportion of balance, harmony, symmetry, eccentricity, and all these things.  But the greatest measure comes down to Aristotle’s Final Cause.  You will find that all things called beautiful have a high degree of serving their purpose, and in some form, showing and revealing their purpose in form.  Things that are ugly do not reveal and serve their purpose as well.  

Fear and Fake Boundaries

It is amazing the number of people out there that limit themselves, cutting their selves off from success with imaginary boundaries and limits.  I hear people talk about dumb things like internet privacy, information stealing, security, germs, viruses, AIDS, terrorism, and making minor social mistakes like it is the end of the world.  They are stunned and frozen in fear.  The fear causes them to stay in one place, paralyzed.  All of these fears are fake.  They are all urban legends.  This is all hysteria.    

So, what is the Truth?  Relax.  That is the Truth.  Breathe.  Find what you are good at, and pursue that.  Fear not.  Stay away from the fearful.  Associate with those on a clear path of life and growth.  Fear is death.  

You can always find something wrong.  Your success depends upon what you are focusing on 80% of the time.  Are you focused on the upside or on the downside?  Are you pumping iron or are you scared because some obese person said that you may get injured?  Think clearly about this.  Fear not!

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Freddy Martini