Living & Working On Purpose

From Confusion to Clarity about Your True Life Purpose

The first how-to manual to take individuals from confusion to clarity about life’s greatest question, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life(EliteBooks, 2007), an award winning finalist in the Self-Help: Motivational division of the Best Books 2007 Awards sponsored by USA News.

"A gentle and heartfelt guide to the fundamentals of living a life rich in joy and contribution.Brad’s style is accessible and user-friendly, and his book a compendium of thought-provoking questions and deep convictions.” —Gregg Levoy, Author of Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life

Enjoy an excerpt from this life transforming book that is enhancing people's lives around the world, and receive a subscription to Purposeful Pondering Ezine for a regular serving of inspiration and insights into how to bring more purpose, passion, and play to your life.

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How to Share the Truth Without Shooting Yourself or the Other Person in the Foot (or Head)

One of my favorite and often used purpose principles taken from the 28 Attraction Principles for Living On Purpose (found in the book, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life) is #26:

RECOGNIZE AND TELL THE TRUTH
Develop the skill to be able to tell the truth in a way that it can be heard. Orienting yourself around telling the truth allows others to get in touch with their own truth and purpose, and it a great way to express your own.

Now, I'm mostly talking about your truth -- your perspective on a subject -- rather than the Truth, like the Cosmic or Universal Truth. I think we all have much of value to share with another and while there's a connection between my truth and the Truth, I also know they're seldom if ever exactly the same.

There are really two major parts to this principle:

1. Sharing your truth means you have to discern your truth that arises from your connection with your Inner Guidance from your opinions or judgments that arise from your ego or Inherited Purpose.  Not always an easy job but an important piece to start with, for it's this connection between your truth and the Truth that gives value to what you want to share.

2. This second part is where many people seem to fall down and either shoot themselves in the foot (or sometimes in the head) and/or shoot the other person or people involved.

How do you share your truth in a way it can be heard, not only heard but heard as a contribution or a gift?

Well, simply hanging out with that question for a little while can be a great start to actually being able to accomplish your intention to contribute to the other person rather than simply dumping your 'infinite wisdom' or opinions on them. The thought process might go like this?

"Hmm, I see something with Mary's relationship with her husband that I believe is quite similar to what I was doing in my relationship.  She appears to be holding onto all his mistakes and storing them up to use against him, over and over.  Now, how can I share what I'm seeing without her being offended or becoming so angry with me that she misses the point?

"Perhaps I could start by simply sharing from my own experience and how destructive I found it to be?  Or maybe I could let her know that I've observed something that I think could help her resolve some of her issues and ask her permission to share it?  Maybe I could start by sharing that I've noticed something that I'm curious about."

Each situation will be different, so taking a little time to 'purposefully ponder' upon what to say and how to say it will be most helpful.

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A Few Guidelines to Get You Started
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Here are a few suggestions that I've found often helps to share my truth without shooting myself or the other person:

1. TAKE THE TIME TO CREATE SOME CONTEXT -- blurting out the truth, especially about delicate or sensitive matters rarely work out well.  Take a little time to create some context for what you want to share.

2. BE AUTHENTICALLY CURIOUS -- often times coming to an issue with an authentically curious nature will take the edge off of a potentially volatile situation.  Something like, "I've noticed something about your work lately that I'm curious about...."

3. ASK PERMISSION -- No one is under any obligation to listen to us or to take what we have to say seriously, so it's often helpful to ask permission to share your truth, and be really OK if the answer is no.

4. TRUST THAT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING CAN BE RESOLVED THROUGH COMMUNICATION -- This can be a very powerful principle to operate from.  If your first attempt to share your truth in a way that will contribute doesn't turn out, then wait a little while and try again.

5. BE SURE YOUR WORDS ARE BEING SHAPED BY YOUR TRUE SELF -- and not from your ego or the fear and lack-based Inherited Purpose.  If you find yourself getting defensive or positional, be suspicious that you've slipped over into Inherited Purpose land.  Take a few deep breaths, or even suspend the conversation until a later time.

So, how did I do in sharing my truth in a way you could hear it as a contribution?  Let me hear from you right here by leaving a comment.

Simplicity & Saving -- The Practical Side of Mindful Abundance Balanced with Simplicity

I recently created a new category on the blog entitled "Simplicity & Saving" with this entry being the first one placed under that category.  Often times one of the most practical aspects of voluntarily simplifying your life is that you get to save money.  The more money you save the less 'nose to the grindstone work' you have to fill your day with.

I know, the idea is to have your work be so aligned with your life purpose that you just love, love, love working.  That's true and yet that doesn't mean you want to be in a position where you need to work, work, work.  There's this thing called living a balanced life.  As I describe it in my life purpose statement -- "a life of mindful abundance balanced with simplicity."

Now, Ann and I don't claim to be masters at this. We're really operating more from the premise of 'you teach what you most need to learn,' even though we've been voluntarily simplifying our life for the past 20 or so years.  Yes, it's an ongoing endeavor. And yet we continue to learn and so, we'll be learning along with you. In fact, we strongly encourage others to share their simplifying and money saving tips here as well.

Here's one that we instituted just recently. In fact, it's a work in progress.  We reduced our monthly phone bill. Since Ann handled this, I'll let her tell you how she did it:

"We previously had 2 phone landlines: one for Brad and one for me. The phone bill every month was approximately $130.00. So after thought and consideration we decided to have only one phone line and use the other phone number as a ring tone. This reduced our monthly phone bill to $58.51 per month. That is over $600 per year."

Now you may be thinking, but won't you have an issue with just one phone line, especially during business hours?  Not really, because at the same time I started using Skype -- the internet-based phone service -- as an additional line.   

We had two landlines, one for our home and the other for our home-based business.  It seemed like we just needed to keep both phone lines, even though we also have a cellular phone family plan with 3 phones.  Ann didn't want to release the home phone number that we'd had for over 15 years, and it didn't make sense to me to not have a separate business line.  After all, there's plenty of time that we both need to be on the phone.

I knew about making free Skype-to-Skype calls to anyone else that has a Skype account, but how about all those billions of other people not on Skype?

I then learned that you could get a Skype account for $2.95 per month and call to anyone in the USA or Canada -- that's landlines and cell phones.  And on top of that I could get my own 'Skype Number" so people could call me through Skype for about $4.00 per month. So, for about $70 per year I have my own computer-based phone service with great audio quality, and it's convenient and great fun to talk to people from my laptop.  (My new number is 252-654-0477.)

Okay -- your turn. How have you simplified your life recently and saved money in the bargain?  Let me hear from you.

Purposeful Play Produces First "Pay What You Can" TeleRetreat On Purpose

~~~ Experience the Life On Purpose Process on a "Pay What You Can" Basis ~~~
   
A favorite part of my life purpose is 'playful' which includes the "willingness to explore and to experiment" in life and in my business.  It's led me to combining some winning combinations with a few new 'twists,' resulting in our first ever Living & Working On Purpose TeleRetreat.  Those twists include:

1- It's takes the winning combination of a weekend retreat and makes it more economical and convenient by being conducted as a series of teleclasses. No travel expense and you can enjoy it from the comfort of your home.

2- We're opening it up to the world with a hope and intention that we have 80 people participating in this life-enhancing weekend.

3- It's going to be on a "Pay What You Can" basis.  There's no up front tuition. Simply come to the 5 sessions that run from Friday night through Sunday afternoon, and at the end pay what you feel it's worth and that fits your budget.

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Why are we offering the TeleRetreat in this Fashion?
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Times are tough, turbulent and troubling for many people right now, and I believe with all my heart that knowing your life purpose with real clarity can make such a tremendous difference that I want others to experience the joy and fulfillment that is possible even in tough, turbulent and troubling times.

So, here's my recommendation:

1- Read about the Dec. 4 - 6 TeleRetreat here.

2- If it resonates with you, register as early as possible so you have time to thoroughly prepare and won't miss out on the 'limited seating' that's available. Remember, no need to pay anything up front, and only what you feel it's worth at the end.

3- Do it with one or more other people that you know so you can support each other during the TeleRetreat and after.

It's that simple. Oh, one more thing.  Who do you know that would enjoy and benefit from the weekend?  Why not share the TeleRetreat with them?  After all, we're creating a world on purpose.  Be a catalyst for change.

Building Your Life On Purpose Upon the Ground of Gratitude

Purposeful Point:  The 'ground of gratitude' is the foundation from which to launch any true creation -- i.e. Anything you want to manifest in your life will be brought into your life more easily and more magnificently if you start by being truly and authentically grateful for exactly what is in your life right now.

So, let me elaborate on this purposeful point just a bit.  I know for much of my life the process of creating what's next in my life was more motivated by the perception that something was wrong and therefore needed to be changed.  This is the old paradigm of problem solving vs. true creating, and as Robert Fritz points out so well in his book, The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life, problem solving, even creative problem solving isn't creating.

He writes: "When you are solving a problem, you are taking action to have something go away -- the problem. When you are creating, you are taking action to have something come into being -- the creation. Notice the intentions of these actions are opposite."

And one of the soundest ways to avoid dropping into the 'creative problem solving' approach to life is to start by being grateful for your present reality exactly as it is. (Can you imagine Michelangelo looking at the huge block of marble that would later be carved into the masterpiece, David, and saying to himself, "Oh no, this will never do. That marble is all wrong?")

So, let's look at an example that I've been engaged with for awhile and that prompted me to write this article, because I want to make my own shift from changing something that's wrong to a more authentic form of creating and manifesting what's next in my life.

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To Be or Not to Be...Debt Free
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Like many Americans, Ann and I have accumulated a fair amount of debt over the years, both consumer debt in the form of credit cards and an equity line of credit, and also long term debt in the form of a mortgage on our home and on two investment properties.

I think it's important to make a distinction between consumer debt and long term debts, As Robert Kyosaki, points out in Rich Dad, Poor Dad consumer debt is 'bad debt' while long term debts like mortgages, especially mortgages on investment property, is 'good debt.'

So, Ann and I have decided we want to be debt free, starting with our consumer debt and eventually also eliminating our mortgages.

But where I've started this "Purpose Project" hasn't been the most empowering perspective.  First, I've not yet tied it closely to my purpose, so it's really more of a goal at this point, and not a particularly empowering one.  It just seems like it's going to take a lot of hard work and something we 'should' do to be responsible. (And if that sounds like it's coming from the fear and lack of the Inherited Purpose...well, you're right.)

Still, there's something underneath all this that still calls to me, so let's see how I might go from creative problem solving with my Inherited Purpose mostly running the show to truly creating this as a Purpose Project that will enhance life, starting by answering this question:

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What's There to Be Grateful for About Being in Debt?
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After all, being in debt is bad, and the more in debt you are the worse off you are, right?  So, what's there to be grateful about? And with that question I start building a foundation of gratitude. I'm grateful:

* That we're not more in debt than we are.
* That we're able to meet our monthly credit card payments.
* That Ann handles most of the bookkeeping on all this so I don't have to.

So far, these are not the most empowering things to be grateful for but they are a start, and they are true for me. So I continue.  I'm grateful:

* That we have good credit so during this time of economic downturn we can tap into our credit for unexpected expenses (like when our renters in one of our investment properties lost both their jobs for several months and couldn't pay the rent.)
* That we were able to use the equity in our home to buy one of the investment properties at under market value, thus creating significant equity in the property.
* That we have the convenience of using credit cards for handling some of our monthly expenses that we then pay off each month, and that most of the consumer debt was not use on frivolous spending but on building our spiritually based business and for our family's needs.
* That we're able to do what we both love to do as life coaches that gives us the means to pay off portions of our credit card payments each month. Also, having built good credit has allowed us to use that credit to supplement our business during low cash flow times or times when we need to invest in the business without needing to go through the process of acquiring a small business loan.
* That Ann and I have over the years become more knowledgeable about how to manage our money so that we're not in the tough economic situation that many others find themselves.
* That even with significant credit card debt, we enjoy our lives and what we're building together.

Okay, these are all pretty much off the cuff, and I'll probably continue to add to the list, but I think you can begin to see the point.  The more I look for what I'm grateful for, the more I find, and the more empowered I begin to feel about the present reality.

And you don't need to stay 'on topic.'  You can expand on this by being grateful for things not directly related to that which you intend to create. For example, I'm grateful:

* For my life and business partner, soul mate, mother of my child, and best friend, and that they are all the same person -- Ann.

* For the miracle that my daughter is, and for her wonderful gifts and talents and how much she has taught me through the years, especially about love.

* For knowing my life purpose with crystal clarity and the close and growing connection to Divine Spirit this gives me.

And now we're cooking.  I can feel my energy growing as I become increasingly present to the many blessings of my life even in the face of having some consumer debt, and the debt begins to disappear as an issue or problem and becomes just a part of what's so about my current reality.

And from that 'ground of gratitude' I can begin to create a new possibility and a new Purpose Project, which I'll save for another time and article.

What are you grateful for that could serve as the foundation for building your life on purpose?  Why not share it on the Living & Working On Purpose Blog and make it more real for yourself.

Counteracting the Grip of Doubt & Second Guessing

Do you ever doubt yourself or find yourself second guessing your decisions and choices?  I know I do and I find these are common 'off purpose patterns' of many of my clients.

You do everything you can to align with your true Self, your inner guidance, to connect with the Divine spark within, and maybe you do a really good job of it...and out of all that inner work you determine what's next for you.

Maybe you even take the time to formulate it as a Purpose Project. (At least I hope you do <G>) And it feels good, it feels right.  You're inspired by the new direction and goal.

And then one morning you wake up and wonder -- is this really what I'm meant to do?  Do I really have what it takes to pull it off?  And before you know it, you're deeply immersed in doubt and second guessing.

Yech!

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The Antidote to Doubt and Second Guessing
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Doubting yourself and second guessing your decisions are common 'moves' of the fear and lack-based Inherited Purpose -- that story from the past that you've been telling yourself about yourself and about life for so long that you've come to believe it to be true.

The ol' Inherited Purpose is masterful at keeping you safe and secure. Unfortunately in the process it also keeps you small and often living a life of quiet desperation.  And two of the moves or strategies it uses, oh so effectively, are doubt and seconding guessing.

I've seen amazingly powerful men and women frozen in place in their life -- like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car -- frozen by doubt and second guessing every decision they've made.

The good news is that there's also a highly effective 'antidote' or way to counteract this 'off purpose pattern.'  Replace it with the 'on purpose pattern' of finding evidence for the manifestation of your dream/goal/project.

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A Real Life Examples
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Even though I've been a life coach for over 20 years and deeply committed to living my own life on purpose for over 14 years, I'm not immune from the same doubt and second guessing of the Inherited Purpose.

But I do know of a highly effective way to counteract them both.

FIND EVIDENCE THAT YOUR DREAM/PROJECT/GOAL IS BEING MANIFESTED

For most of this year, I've been hard at play bringing the On Purpose Program Project into existence. The long range intention is to have the On Purpose Program be the premier program in New Thought Spiritual Centers (and other spiritual centers as well) for creating powerful teams of passionate people who know their purpose and are thrilled to express it in service to their communities.

It's one of my boldest and most exciting projects I've ever taken on, so not surprisingly my Inherited Purpose has been serving up massive amounts of doubt and second guessing. 

So I serve back equally large doses of evidence that this project is coming into being.  Just this past week I spoke to two people -- one is a life coach in Greensboro NC whose thrilled to be one of our first On Purpose Guides who will be facilitating the On Purpose Program in his center.  The second person is another life coach in Virginia who wants to bring the On Purpose Program to her spiritual center so she can also become an On Purpose Guide.

This is wonderful evidence that my dream for this project is happening. (And I thank both of these people for their energy and support.)

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So What's Your Dream? Start Collecting the Evidence
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Really, what's your dream?  I want to know.  I want to give you the opportunity to share it with the world and to begin to collect evidence that it's possible and is destined to be.

So post it as a comment here and in the process begin creating a bit of evidence for it coming into being.

I've even posted the Visionary Reality of my Purpose Project here as well:

 

Life Purpose: My life on purpose is an inspired and inspiring life of purposeful, passionate and playful service, a life of mindful abundance balanced with simplicity and a life of spiritual serenity.
 
Project Name: On Purpose Program – 5 P’s for transforming the world (Purpose, passion, play, prosperity & peace)
 
Project Vision: It’s been such an inspired journey to bring ON PURPOSE to the New Thought Spiritual Centers (NTSC’s).  It was clearly an idea whose time had come as exemplified by the way the project flowed, was so much fun, and overall so well received.  I would categorize it as a ‘duh’ moment like, “Duh, why did it take me so long to really start this project. It’s such a natural.”

We now have established On Purpose as the program of choice for New Thought Spiritual Centers that are ready to infuse their congregation with a deeper sense of purpose and meaning that naturally flows into a greater call to serve.  It has also become known as a powerful and effective ‘spiritually based leadership development program’ that has transformed many ‘wall flower’ type congregants into natural leaders and ‘love in action’ volunteers.

One of the noted features of On Purpose is the strong support that we at Life On Purpose Institute provide to the On Purpose “Guides” -- the term we coined for those who facilitate the 8 week program.  This support includes a weekly teleconferencing call where the Guides can receive coaching and get their questions answered from a Life On Purpose Coach.  It also includes a private support web site which includes a series of video tutorials and an online forum.  Interestingly enough, it’s become quite common for Guides to further their spiritual journey through taking the Life On Purpose Coaches Development Program and becoming Life On Purpose Coaches.

And the amazing reports we hear back of the contribution being made in the local communities and spiritual centers from the Purpose Projects that are being created and fulfilled may be the most satisfying part of the whole inspiring project.

On the business end, this has truly been integral to moving Life On Purpose Institute into high momentum and stability.  We have planted our flag in the NTSCs and they have reciprocated with love, loyal and a true following of fans, while also generating a steady and growing income stream that has turned into a river.  Then, there’s all the off shoots of this project.  The book sales that have naturally increased in part because the book is part of the course materials, but also because others around the On Purpose Program ask to purchase books.  Also, the Coaches Development Program is a steady program we offer with many Guides requesting this training.  And then there’s the steady stream of program participants who also seek out our LOP Coaches for more in depth one-on-one work particularly for support in designing and living their life on purpose.

Upline, Downline or a Circle of Collaboration and Creativity

Since becoming involved with iJango these past few weeks I've been wondering about how a networking marketing enterprise might be 'reshaped' as a Business On Purpose.

Today, I began to see an image of a circle in my mind.  If you've ever been involved with a MLM you are probably familiar with the upline/downline concept.  The person who sponsors you is your upline and the folks you sponsor are in your downline.

Okay, that's one possible arrangement and one that doubtless has worked well. And now let's play with it a bit.  What happens if you connect the two ends of the 'line'?  Well, you get a circle right?

You see, for me, I don't see myself in a position of knowing more about the business (or anything else for that matter) than those I've invited to join my team. (Notice, 'invited' rather than 'recruited.' I'll shave that for another day.)  We all have something to offer, and in a circle I think we're more likely to hold each other in the spirit of collaboration, cooperation and creativity.

It's no longer a 'command and control' type of world, least not in a life or business on purpose.  As much as it pains for little IP to say it, I'm not really the head of my family, though Ann is good at letting me have that illusion from time to time.  We're in a purposeful partnership and as Amber continues to grow and develop into womanhood, she is joining us in that family partnership.

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A Circle of Mutual Empowerment
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In a circular team structure, we're there to empower each other, to learn from each other, to collaborate and create with each other.  There's really no one 'team leader' or boss, or upline, just fellow collaborators committed to supporting each other and service the greater good of all.

I know in the old paradigm of the boss at the top model, it can be real lonely at the top, and there's a lot of pressure to be the leader and to know what's best for everyone below.  And often from this comes the mindset of 'command and control.' Ugh!

Here's a real life example.  I'm going through some of my own stuff right now regarding iJango.  I notice I'm doubting myself just a bit, and I can feel a little of the initial excitement waning just a bit, not a lot, but I know where this can lead if I let it. (Fortunately, I also identify it a my little ol' Inherited Purpose trying to keep me safe and secure, so that help too.)

If I hold to the up/down -- command and control model, then I've got to be strong and probably silent and work it all out myself. But if I place myself in the circle with the rest of my team, then I can request support and encouragement. I don't know about you, but the second one feels much better to me.

As I imagine sitting in the circle with my fellow teammates, I look to see what would empower me that would also empower the rest of the team.  Being willing to be authentic and share what's been going on with me is a start. I next recognize that hearing from the other team member, especially reminding ourselves why we're together as a team and what we're building -- now that's empowering.

So will 'circle of collaboration and creativity' replace uplines and downlines in network marketing?  I don't know, but I offer it as a possibility and that the IJ Business On Purpose Team is the first one to give it a go.

Let me know what you think of this idea.

Empowering Entrepreneurship thru Kiva.org

As I've been purposefully playing with creating the iJango Business On Purpose Team I've been wondering what worthy cause could I support with some of the 'good green energy' that we'll be attracting to us. 

As I've pondered upon this idea, I realized that I've been involved in my own business for more than half my life, first as a small animal vet, and later as a writer, speaker, life coach and founder of Life On Purpose Institute.  I love being an entrepreneur as well as empowering others to take charge of their professional life as entrepreneurs.

And since a big part of creating the team is to support others who share an entrepreneurial spirit, I also realized the 'worthy cause' was right under my nose...well, actually saved in my favorites of my browser.

It's Kiva.org.  Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

So, it just makes sense to me and makes my heart feel good that as my iJango efforts generate revenue for my own personal Purpose Projects, that I share some of G3EOM (my shorthand for God's Good Green Energy of Money) with other entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva.org.

After all, isn't part of our job here on Earth to keep that green energy circulating, especially in ways that are consistent with our Divinely Inspired Life Purpose.  I think so -- what about you?

Here are two small business owners whose business that Ann and I have helped through Kiva.org.

Sitha Sin

Services, Cambodia

Kely Aurora Diaz Neyra
Recycling, Peru

Focus Wheels for Targeting Your Intentions

I recently shared this with our new and growing iJango Business On Purpose Team so it felt right to share it on the Living & Working On Purpose Blog as well:

Are you familiar with focus wheels?  They are a great tool for optimizing the law of attraction offered by Abraham-Hicks.  Ann and I created one the other day just two days from the deadline for qualifying for the regional directorship. 

The focus, i.e. The intention of the focus wheel was to reach the regional director position, and it worked very well. Even though we had only two days remaining we reached the position with...well, hours to spare. <G>

So, while they're not strictly a tool from the Life On Purpose tool box, I wanted you to know about them and perhaps try them out for yourself.

Here's a couple links:

1. For a good quick overview via utube -

2. For where you can get a template to use online:

Life is, Oh, So Precious -- A Tribute to R. B.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Words by Cecil F. Alexander

Life is, oh, so precious, and nothing brings that in sharper perspective then the death of a loved one.  Now, least you think my wife or daughter has passed, let me assure you they are well, though saddened as I am by the tragic death of R. B., our beloved cat of 3 years.  You may recall or would like to read of his miracle recovery a couple years ago.

Our family disagreed as to what R. B. actually stood for.  I said it was short for Rocket Bullet, Ann and Amber claim it meant Rascal Bullet.  In truth I think they are probably right, for he was both a Rascal and a Bullet, though evidently not fast enough last night in crossing W. Blue Ridge Road, where I found him lying on the side of the road this afternoon.

I'm still in shock about the sudden loss, and shocked as well at how hard it has hit me. Perhaps it's the suddenness of the loss.  I was just starting a bike ride heading towards Carl Sandburg's home just a few blocks away, using the ride to clear my mind, with plan to walk the forest paths behind Sandburg's home to contemplate an approaching meeting with my business coach.

And there suddenly in my path was the crushed body of a cat...but as I approached closer I realized it was not just any cat...not a neighbor's cat, or a stray, but my own.  I stopped my bike and bent down to check more closely, praying that it was someone else's cat, but knowing in my heart that it was R. B.

I called Ann with my cell phone and told her the news, trying to prepare her for something that one simply cannot be prepared for. Still, I thought hearing about it first, before seeing his body might soften the blow just a bit.  From the sound of her anguish sob on the other end of the phone, I doubt it eased the pain much at all.

I realize as I write this that some people reading this might say, 'Hey, wait a minute.  It was just a cat, get over it.'  Well, for me, our pets, be it dogs, cats, birds, fish, iquana, or whatever, are just as hard to lose to death as our human friends and loved ones.  I know for me the amount of love they give and allow us to share with them is unequal.

And yes, I will get over it...time will heal the ripping pain I feel in my heart from the heart strings that have been broken.  Writing this is part of the healing salve.  Remembering R. B. as our 'miracle cat,' and the vivid image of him lying regally on our bed just the other night, as contented as could be as Ann gently rubbed his gray fur...good memories all.  Painful to remember, and yet so important to keep.

R.B. I will cherish those memories and the wonderful lessons you shared with me, including the most recent one -- that life is, oh, so precious, and can be suddenly jerked away, without warning, without any apparent rhyme or reason, at least not one easily discerned by us, mere mortals.  To expand on that lesson, I realized today at a new and deeper level....I will also die, and while I hope and pray that day is far into the future, none of us have any guarantee, so cherish the moment, as well as the memories for life, even at its most difficult, painful, even awful times...yes, even then it is, oh, so precious.

I know not where the spirit of animals go.  I pray it is on to new adventures where love is in bountiful supply.

iJango Business On Purpose Telegatherings Recordings of Monday, August 3rd

We had two informative calls today introducing the iJango Business On Purpose Team concept. Here's is call #1 that took place at 12 noon:

And here is call #2 that took place at 7 pm:

Both calls were around 45 minutes. 


and to stay in compliance with iJango, here's their address - complicance@ijango.com