How To Unveil Your Inner Genius

‘To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men – that is genius.’Ralph Waldo Emerson

When we consider the word genius we often attribute it to the Einstein’s or the Schubert’s or the Van Gogh’s of this world.

But let me enlighten you. There is a genius in you waiting to be unveiled. And as Simone de Beauvoir writes – ‘One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius.’

However, before I discuss this further, what is the definition of a genius? It is someone with exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability.

But my dear old friend Mr. Emerson further informs us that genius is defined when you believe your own thoughts. In addition he adds, that to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men – that too is genius.

And it is upon these two statements, made by my favorite mentor, that I wish to build this essay – for as a writer of motivational and inspirational material for well over a decade, and from the response from many of my readers, I have seen this truth played out time and time again.

Believe Your Own Thought

After more than a decade of writing this type of material I have no trouble in believing my own thought. Even when a small percentage of the human race that I reach with my words don’t like my thoughts, or even disagree with some of the ways that I express myself, I am not moved, for the pylons of thought and belief – my own thought – have been firmly plunged into the depths of my belief system. They are immovable.

But it hasn’t always been that way.

In the early days of discovering my own thoughts, defining my thoughts, and constructing them in a manageable and comprehendible manner – they were often challenged by my peers, my own doubts and the circumstances that surrounded my life at the time.

For I had not been raised on these magnificent life-changing thoughts. I was in my early thirties before I was well and truly influenced by the glorious world of personal development literature.

So as I read this material I had to remove a lot of excess thinking baggage from my mind – full of low self-esteem and lack of self-belief. The process took years to complete, for it required a 180-degree reversal of my previous thinking before I could begin to move forward with the confidence in my own thought.

But I never stopped. Like an unfinished marble statue being shaped by the sculpture – with each word I read –acting like a chisel – I slowly but surely created the beautiful structure of thought within – the genius – that had been waiting, all my life, to be unveiled. In fact it was how I discovered my purpose, and Melody Fletcher deals with that subject beautifully in her article  You Already Know What Your Purpose Is.

Believe Your Universal Truth

I never fully understood this until I self published my first book – and started to hear back from my reading audience. Then I created my Motivational Memo e-zine and then my Motivational Memo Blog.

Now I was in a great position to get feedback – and the continuing revelation from my readers was this – that what I shared from my ‘private heart’ was ‘true for all men’.

They felt the same way. They had the same fears. They reached for the same dreams. They had the same challenges. They wanted the same results.

All I had to do was share my story, open my heart, express myself – and before my very eyes I could suddenly see that my genius had been unveiled, and that I could now add value to my readers – inspiring, motivating, encouraging, steering, leading, mentoring, coaching, goading, girding, guiding – just like the ‘genius’ mentors who have guided me in my own personal journey to live the best life possible.

So my question to you is this: Have you found your genius within?

11 Must Read Life Lessons From Oprah

Oprah Winfrey has certainly stamped her influence on this generation. The transparency of her life, her desire to extend a hand up to help, and her generosity, all played out in the media and delivered in a spirit of humility, are refreshing expressions in a world that is so often on the take.

Her brand is global. Her mission is noble, and there is a wisdom that flows from this life that is being lived to the full.

So here are just 11 must read life lessons that we can draw from this 21^st Century icon.

1. Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.

I often say that it’s as you are in the light that you should be in the dark that defines an integrous life. It’s what is performed in secret rather than what which is broadcast from the mountaintop that defines the true quality of any life. Practice, practice, practice in a state of solitude, long before you ever step out into the light of day is so imperative if your influence will be long and lasting – for it is your integrity that will sustain you.

2. As you become more clear about who you really are, you’ll be better able to decide what is best for you – the first time around.

Life is an unveiling  – a discovery – and even at times a surprise. I personally have spent five decades discovering who I am. So for many of us it takes years – and for me, who has set a goal to live for more than ten decades, it has been worth every bit of effort expended to this point. Now I have another lifetime to decide what is best for me – ‘the first time around’.

3. Every one of us gets through the tough times because somebody is there standing in the gap to close it for us.

None of us can do it alone. Apart from my creator I can’t do a thing. And then there is my wife, my children, family and friends. Thank God for those who make up the ‘gap’ when we fall short. As the turtle sitting on top of the fence post we are unable to get where we’re going without a little help from our friends.

4. I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace – a connection to what matters.

Living in line with my purpose has definitely created a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace, because I am connected and engaged in, on a daily basis, with what really matters to me. I don’t try to live up to another’s dream for my life. I love my dream. I use the unique gifts endowed upon my life. I utilize my personal strengths, and because of this alignment, guided by my inner compass, I bound into each day with a renewed enthusiasm and a skip in my step – joy encapsulated.

5. I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.

To think is to be. So this is why I must dwell on the dream, ponder on the positives, consider the possibilities, and seek the solution – for they are all life giving.

I have seen the results of lives spent dwelling upon the negative – and many of those have departed this life prematurely or have lived a living death all of their days.

6. If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think.

The greatest battles I have ever fought have been in my mind. It has taken decades of consistent study to take a mind that was embroiled in a state of low self-esteem and impossibility thinking and transform it into the beautiful mind that it is today – full of possibility, positivity and profitability.

I had to change the way I thought if I was ever to live my life to its fullest potential.

7. With every experience you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice.

We are the artist. Our life is the canvas. We choose the colours that we will paint with each thought and with every choice. Some cover their canvas with dark colours, whereas I choose to take the brightest colours on the planet and splash them on my canvas. As I stand back to survey my creation I know that I have created but one thing – ‘magnificence’.

8. We are each responsible for our own life – no other person is or even can be.

Responsibility? Many would rather live in the realm of blame for the state of their life. But to do that is to live a life below possibility. It is when we finally stand up as a mature adult and take full responsibility for the good, the bad and the ugly in our life, and decide to move forward – reconciled and forgiven – that we will begin to hit our stride – all the way to success.

9. Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.

Immersed in holiness. What a picture that paints – to dwell in possibility. Choice allows us to experience this. To choose life, to choose our life, to use the passions we have, and position them to be distributed passionately is a privilege. You and I have been handed all that we need to live a life beyond mediocrity, and towards excellence. So the question is simple. What are you going to do with what you have?

10. The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.

To become complete requires an evolutionary process. Our gifts, in our early years, are often raw and rough requiring shaping and molding. Mine began in the solitude of a motel room and then in the basement of a university library as little by little I began to unmask the me that was waiting to be unveiled. It took years of study, pain and experimentation – and yet as I passed through the fire and the flood of life – each time I passed through to the other side transformed – for the caterpillar had become the butterfly, and that is when I learnt to fly.

11. Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it’s right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.

As you grow responsibility increases – and that at times creates stress. But if your intention is true to who you are, your passion, your dream, your path – then when you say ‘yes’ it is amazing to watch how you suddenly find that you have the capacity to rise to the occasion and surround yourself with a team who can assist you in the execution of your expanded self.

With that expansion your influence, your wisdom, your light, your substance flows out and over to the multitude – refreshing and revitalizing the hungry and the thirsty – for that is the purpose for which you were born – not to contain – but rather to expand.

Who, In This Day & Age, Can We Really Trust?

‘All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently read an interesting treatise written by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer called The Shift, where he discusses the transition from ambition to meaning.

As part of the discussion he draws his readers attention to his discovery that mankind is a spiritual being that spends a portion of his or her eternity in a physical form. He also explains how through the force of our ego – particularly in our ambitious years – we tend to ‘Edge God Out’.

But then there comes our ‘bump in the road’. His was a heart attack, and a painful separation from his wife among other things, where all of a sudden his ‘secure’ egocentric world started to fall apart.

From here he began the process of understanding the importance of knowing, and pursuing the meaning of his life.

My Discovery

Since a child there has only ever been one piece of wisdom literature that I have read consistently – that being the Bible.

But recently, after living on this earth for over five decades, I decided that I should expand my horizons and embark upon a journey that would begin to expose myself to many of the pieces of wisdom literature that find their roots in some of the other major world religions. At present I’m in the midst of this wonderful adventure.

Now in doing so I have not been, nor intend to be, converted from Christianity, and yet I am gaining a far better understanding of my fellow spiritual travellers on planet earth.

When I was a young adult I used my Christian belief to inflict argument and shock on those who didn’t believe what I believed. The fruit of such a strategy did not last. Recently, in a prominent social media outlet I have witnessed those who call themselves Christians inflicting that same strategy on that social environment – and all it has created is a slinging match of opinions fired by anger between grown adults. To be honest, I have seen greater maturity in a schoolyard.

All You Need Is Love

My response to such a scenario is simply what the Fab Four told us years ago – ‘All you need is love…’

Anger solves nothing. Argument resolves nothing. Love is the only force that can be of any lasting effect.

I may not agree with your beliefs, your religion, your wisdom literature, your interpretation of that literature, nor your customs – but I can love and respect you as a fellow spiritual being in a human body.

If you allow me I will even pray that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.

I will even lay hands on your sick, if you allow me, for I have tasted the miraculous. But only ever with your permission.

I will listen to you, and even share with you if you invite me to.

Above all else I will first seek to understand.

My faith is a faith of action – for without applied works accompanying my faith it is completely and utterly useless. So I forgive. I reconcile. I give what I have to feed the hungry. I give help to the poor. I share the wisdom that I have learnt from a lifetime of experience – as the opportunity arises and as it deems fitting.

But most of what I do is done in secret – for that is, as I understand it, the nature of true spiritual giving.

Whom Do I Trust?

Personally, I trust in the Creator – just as did my old friend Ralph Waldo Emerson…

‘Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go, he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!

Who Do You Want To Be?

‘I’ve learned that asking ourselves not just what we want to be, but who we want to be is important at every stage of our lives, not just when we’re starting out in the world. That’s because in a way, we’re starting out fresh in the world every single day.’ Maria Shriver

If we want to get better answers for our life, we must begin asking ourselves better questions.

Through the practice of solitude, which I endeavor to include as part of my life every day, I have found that these have been the times when I have posed the following questions to myself.

• Who am I?
• What do I believe in?
• What am I grateful for?
• What do I want my life to stand for?
• What will I change?
• What is my truth?
• Am I living an imitation?
• How do I value my self-worth?
• Who do I want to be?

Sometimes I have been able to receive answers to these questions immediately. Whereas for some of the ‘harder’ questions – the answers have evolved over time.

It really doesn’t matter how long it takes for the answers to be reached. What is important though is that we take time out of our busy schedules to ask ourselves these very important questions.

You may find that you have more questions to ask.

In seeking the answers to such questions you will surely find, as long as you are diligent in your search.

What Am I Going To Do When I Grow Up?

Even though I have entered the second half of my desired lifespan upon earth I continue to ask myself, ‘What am I going to do when I grow up?’

Life is meant for learning. There is no retirement featured in God’s plan for your life. There is only enlightenment and a growing understanding of the differences found in the billions of individual lives that inhabit the space called earth.

To think that you and I have all the answers is to put us in the position of God himself. We must resist this temptation.

• Judge yourself – not others.
• Love yourself – love others.
• Be yourself – not like others.

You & I Have A Gift To Give

From my uniqueness there needs to be an unveiling of the gift that was deposited into my heart the very moment I was conceived. Even to this point it has been a daily process of unwrapping that gift – and once discovered – now the generous distribution of that gift to the ends of the earth.

I was given this gift not to store away in some dark and dusty cupboard, but rather to bring out into the light and begin to share it with the hearts of men and women everywhere I go.

At first I was clumsy with the gift, and there were even times when I put it back into the cupboard of my heart from whence it came – but eventually I plucked up enough courage to take it out once again to share it with the world. For that is what a gift is given for – for the purpose of sharing.

And the wonderful thing is this. The more that I give away my gift the bigger my gift grows so that I can give even more. The five loaves and two fishes of my gift is now feeding the multitude in the safe hands of the one who first gave me the gift to give.

Have you identified your gift, and if you have how are you giving it away?

52 Inspirational Quotes That Have Changed People’s Lives

It just keeps growing and going. Since I posted this request – Give Me One Motivational Quote That Changed Your Life – in the Motivation Nation Group found in the social network of LinkedIn, the response has been overwhelming and continues to grow with every passing week…

So here are 52 more contributions that have been made in response to that request.

Maybe you have a quote that you would also like to share with us.

In addition to the quotes some of the contributors – whose names appear at the front of each of the quotes – have added some of their own personal insights into the quotes.

I trust that the wisdom shared by these ones, whose lives were changed by a motivational quote, will add great value to your life.

Dennis James Deegan CTM • Sally: “What you think about you bring about” (not sure of author)

Judy Osuna • Hi Dennis, maybe your quote is from Dr Dimartini, it sounds like him. “What you think about you bring about”

Paul Wearmouth • Don’t go looking for love…it’s already looking for you!

Paul Wearmouth • One person can’t change the world, but you can change your own part of it!

Paul Wearmouth • Success is like a blood group…it can either Be Positive or Be Negative!

Dennis James Deegan CTM • Thanks, Judy. Reminds me of another quote from Claude M Bristol. “You are not what you think you are, but what you think, the thoughts that habitually possess your mind; that is what you are”

Lori King-Kocsis • Oh — this is great! Who’s quote is this?!!! I want to post!

Judy Dick • If you want something you’ve never had, You’ve got to do something you’ve never done.

Edward Aldama • I am a Zig fan too. This is my fav… “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

Juan Aguilar • “I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.” John D. Rockefeller

Georg Wanek • Wo ein Wille da ein Weg! (Ger.)  Engl: Where a will is, there is a way!

Claire Takacs • My quote is 2 parts of one poem by a Sufi poet, Rumi.

“Be with those who help your being.

Don’t sit with indifferent people whose breath comes cold out of their mouths.

Not these visible forms, your work is deeper……………………………………………………..

If you don’t try to fly, and so break yourself apart, you will be broken open by death, when it’s too late for all you could become.”

Richard Oppenheim • Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t. -Bach

Judy Dick • “What you commit yourself to determines what you are, more than anything that ever happened to you yesterday, or the day before.”

Dennis James Deegan CTM • The most important factor in a sales persons success is what he or she thinks of him or herself.

Barbara Bemus • What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail!

Brian Cohen DTM • It is not what happens to you, it is what you do, when it happens to you.

Paul Wearmouth • If you make change a habit…you’ll never have to change your habits again!

Megumi Ebiko • Life is too short, lets do it ! Believe In Yourself

Shirley Maritz • “You can if you think you can”. Norman Vincent Peale

Dr. Thom A. Lisk • “People do not care how much you know… until they know how much you care (about them).” From my mentor Carl Stevens, CPAE 1975

Jennifer Campbell • I have two that have changed my way of thinking:

Follow your dreams. Give them time to become realities. AND

Every obstacle contains an opportunity. Live by the philosophy there is good in everything.

Lori King-Kocsis • Jennifer those are great and so true. We can easily become daunted by obstacles. I just read that “The Help” was submitted over 50 times, soundly rejected (and not so nicely either) but the author persevered, followed her dream and the book became a best seller and movie. Here’s a way to look at it; Rejection means you are doing something. Losing means you are doing something. Better to Do something than do nothing! Thanks. Lori

Warren Little • The richest people in the world build networks . . .everyone else looks for work – Robert Kiyosaki

Barry Doyle • Achieve your target or you are fired 

Liz Trotter • Funny, Barry! You must have really liked that job~

Gracie Pimentel • Build the people and they will build the business – Earl Tupper

John Carl • “For things to change we must change, for things to get better we must become better” when I heard this I swear a light bulb turned on over my head. I finally understood what taking responsibility would do for me. It allows you to have power rather than give it away by placing blame or leaving it up to chance.

Christine Ware • If you do what you’ve always done – you’ll get what you’ve always got!

Kecia McManus • “Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.” – Mary McLeod Bethune

Marion Namusone Kibalama • ”All that i am and all that i will ever be, i owe it to God. Even as death occurs at any moment, then I know that it is inevitable. I want my life to be seen as a blessing. I want to leave a legacy, not just an estate. I want to be found faithful”. This sums up the reason i live.

Gaurav Sareen • Begin With The End in Mind! – Steven Covey

Dr. Thom A. Lisk • “With God all things are possible” Ohio, USA, motto (from Luke in Bible)

Helen Lingard • There are so many…one of the many that I love is something like when your cup runneth over into your saucer, then you can help others. This is from the Wonderful Lisa Nichols and its so great because it shows you that until your FULL UP, until your feeling great yourself – your unable to help others. But when you are Full up – and you help others – Boy does that feel great  )

Sue Z. Hart • Helen, there are so many great quotes but I hadn’t heard that one before, thanks for sharing! It’s so great to be able to help others but we have to make sure we put our oxygen mask on first!

Paul Fay • Every day is a school day

Yolanda McIntosh • “What God ordains; He sustains.” – The Granny of Dr. Thelma Wells

Julie Cantu • Imagine driving at night by headlights: You don’t have to see the whole road, just the next 200 feet, keep driving and trust the rest will be there.

Alan Philippe • My life motto is: “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger”… it works every time!

Kim Hellyar • Alan, That happens to be one of my favorite quotes as well and has served me lately! In the past two months a 15 ton tree fell on our roof during a tornado (I was in the house), my mom passed away and my dad has been hospitalized 3 times (surgery scheduled today). I’m still standing and not in a straight jacket yet! Oh, I was audited by the IRS 5 days after my mom died too. 

Mickey Blake • The law of attraction is not about asking for what you want, its about putting your energy and emotion into what you want.

Sue Z. Hart • Mickey, you are right. Dreams come true but we have to the action behind them!

Nigel J Wall • My favorite quote saved my life, literally….”Nigel, if you don’t stop smoking, lose weight and get some exercise you will be dead before you are 50″ – My Doctor.

15 years later at the age of 55, I am 70 pounds lighter, an Ultra-marathon runner, Triathlete and all round fitness nut. I also coach on quitting smoking.

Quotes don’t have to be from famous people….. Nigel

Lori King-Kocsis • @Wohoo! That is great Nigel. Thank you Mr. Doctor!!!

Dennis James Deegan CTM • One of my favorites: “All kids is good kids peers to me, even the bad ones is jes as good as they can be”. James Whitcomb Riley, Poet from Ohio.

Farnoosh Brock • The one quote that finally led me to resign that lucrative 12-year Fortune 100 career comes to you by the one and only Khalil Gibran who said: “The lust for comfort kills the passions of the soul.”

Dennis James Deegan CTM • Another Gibran quote that I like is: “Your children are not your children; they come through you, but do not belong to you; they are life’s longing for itself”.

Having two grown son’s, this insight has come around full circle. I rarely imposed a vision for their lives as they were growing up. I seemed to have Gibran’s message within me. As it turns out we have the greatest Father/Son bond; fishing together annually, for a week, in the Canadian wilderness. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Patricia Sadar • Love that Peter!!! Just a few of the quotes that I have in my office:

The Champion’s Oath: I am not remembered by how many times I’ve failed, but by how many times I succeed, and how many times I succeed is in direct proportion to how many times I can fail and keep on trying!

Anthony Robbins Quote: There’s always a way – If you’re committed!

Walt Disney: Do what you do so well that people can’t resist telling others about you!

Diane Minnich • “If God brings you to it, He’ll bring you through it.”… that being said… I could add a hundred more that are my “favorites” : )

Andrei Mincov • Ayn Rand Fountainhead: Howard Roark to Peter Keating: “… You see, I’m never concerned with my clients, only their architectural requirements. I consider these as part of my building’s theme and problem, as my building’s material — just as I consider bricks and steel. Bricks and steel are not my motive. Neither are the clients. Both are only the means of my work. Peter, before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences. The work, not the people. Your own action, not any possible object of your charity. I’ll be glad if people who need it find a better manner of living in a house I designed. But that’s not the motive of my work. Nor my reason. Nor my reward”.

Carol Dorn • Nigel I like that doc !

Carol Dorn • “JUST KEEP MOVIN’ DARLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!