It started this past Saturday night when I got a phone call from a delightful lady named Helga Hiers. She called me after reading this blog, which she was led to when she bought a used copy of Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life, in which Louise, an old friend, calls Moneylove the best book she ever read on money. Helga is an award-winning poet and
an entrepreneur. In fact, during the 1970s, when I lived in Miami, she had a candle shop in one of my favorite places to visit, Sanibel Island on the West Coast of Florida. And she is very likely going to become one of my superstars in my healthy dark chocolate business.
She read me a poem of hers, and one line leapt out at me, so I want to share it, with her permission:
when you get up and have a mood that is low, you will attract people you don't want to know
Isn't that the truth? It also fits so well with the quote I've mentioned from Norman Cousins, that the most successful wake up each morning with "robust expectations." I notice that when I have robust expectations, there are a certain type of people who are attracted to me.
The next morning I went to Unity in San Francisco, here's their website:
The Rev. Sonya Milton took as her theme for the morning, the story of Joseph in Genesis. She told how his brothers mistreated him, throwing him in a pit and selling him as a slave to passing traders. He was apparently a typical know-it-all 17 year old, and they hated him for relating a dream that showed them submitting to his authority. He ended up in Egypt, and when his master's wife came on to him and was rebuked, she trapped him into ending up in prison. But as he had in slavery, he succeeded in building a positive life in prison. Eventually he interpreted dreams and had a very powerful post under the Pharoah, as the sort of food csar of Egypt. When his brothers traveled from Israel to beg food from him, not knowing who he was, Joseph had evidently forgiven them, saying that famous line to them:
"You meant it for evil, but God meant if for good."
Now, there's a sentence you can build a seminar around! How many times are we confronted by adversity, or apparent adversity, and then it turns out that by transcending the challenge, we reach a higher state than otherwise possible. I certainly feel this is true of my own experience in prison. Yes, the police, prosecutor, judge, and jury meant my 12 year sentence for evil--but God meant it for good.
And then I called Rupa Cousins in Vermont, who is a Sufi and one of my spiritual mentors. She told me that Joseph's master's wife was named Zulieka,
which isn't in the bible, but does appear with an in-depth version of the tale in the Koran, and also in many Sufi writings, including some by the great Persian poet, Rumi.
And the final sentence I'll share with you in this post is from a remarkable young man with a remarkable story. His name is Sean Stephenson, and he's three feet tall, thirty years old, and has suffered unbelievable physical hardship in his life. Sean was born with "osteogenesis impefecta" or brittle bone disorder. But he considers his life amazing and wonderful, and said in an interview with Barry Dunlop on Neckers Island, Sir Richard Branson's personal resort, a single sentence that reflects his astonishing spirit:
"I go to bed every night wishing I didn't have to, because my life is more exciting than my dreams."
Check out the whole interview:
Not only a great line, it sounds like one of those wonderful traditional Irish toasts, "And may your life be more exciting than your dreams!" Is yours? Jerry
And by the way, one way a number of people are making their lives more exciting than their dreams is by joining with me and a group of fun-loving, prosperity-committed, chocolate worshipping entrepreneurs. It's not by far the only such path, but it sure is the best-tasting. For more info, contact me: JerryGillies@gmail.com
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