STRAIGHT TO THE HEART

FROM BLOG CREATED FOR: http://www.powerthink.com/

From my author website, http://www.jmpratt.com/, I have been making opinionated commentary evaluating cultural, social, political, and personal conduct as it relates to positive results and personal growth. These opinions and musings are titled: James Michael Pratt Straight From the Heart. I figure a man has got to be straight up honest and who he is in this information age. We live in a time of inescapable transparency. In this "Golden Information Age," what we say, write, even wear, (or embarrassingly not wear) all may be captured for a world-wide audience to hear, read, or see.

As a kid I was asked to read a scripture in Sunday School class (my parents were mean; while other kids were playing they made me go to church) about men being "...judged and their sins shouted from the rooftops for the world to see." (Paraphrased.) I couldn't figure how God was going to do that (1967)...until cable TV came along (1980's CNN). It hit me while watching a US President's embarrassing White House closet secret come in to the open for the entire world...(1990's) I mean ALL the world to literally see while sitting in the comfort of their homes.

With the growth of the Internet, and email, and text messages, and IPhones, cameras everywhere, privacy has vanished and our actions literally "speak" for us. An ancient scripture spoken by Solomon 3,000+ years ago but repeated by many since: "As a man thinketh in his heart...so is he," makes alot of sense in 2008.

THOUGHTS ARE THINGS: Neuroscience is finding that out. (More later on the magnificent mind.) Thoughts are the "blue prints" to inevitable actions built from them. Beware what you think about; it will be known for others to see or hear. Who would have "thought?" Of course "right thoughts" make things "right." Take heart; there is a great deal of positive about the science of thought; and a great deal to consider when we decide what our life will be for a world to see. You have far more control than you may be aware of. AND... It takes no more energy to focus the mind on useful information that shapes us, than it does on the useless and mindless information that makes us stumble and humbled.

YOUR SUCCESS: I care deeply about fundamental success, not only for myself but the world at large. See... there are truths that are indispensable for living a happy and successful life. And the more of us attempting "happy" and productive lives creates a literal ripple effect that continues on to touch others. (I won't ask you to sing Kumbaya with me now.) In the end "joy" is what makes one successful. Rather a subjective thing, real success does not depend upon "having" stuff to make one happy; not like the hyperbolic "success principles" for wealth that the late-night TV gurus of slick training programs and seminars pitch. What we think about in our heart is where heaven or hell begins, bliss or its opposite. It's all about knowing you are in control of life and your circumstances, through the garden of the mind. Sow seeds of serenity, contentment, and "joy" is a result - and a better definition for success. So let's have at it.

CHALLENGES and BULL: But just when you think you are headed on the right path...more bull manure than a man or woman should have to wade through makes its way toward you even if you are sitting still. Noise and stuff you don't even want to see or hear is literally floating in the air for you to simply "tune in" to in our hyper-connected world of non-stop information flow.

Nothing like the "information at light-speed" age to guarantee serenity will have its share of challenges. It can be innocuous like a music lyric, or shrill from a radio "shock-jock" or pundit. It can be pornographic, or masked in "feel good" theory; man-made theories about living without consequence for actions. No different from the 1960's "If it feels good do it," (oops, got an STD... Hum...) or "Just once won't kill ya." (oops, tell that to Lenny, Alan, or Marty - teenage friends... all dead from "1 time.") I believe in Freedom of Speech, BUT all information is NOT equal, or useful. Choices about what we tune in to determines what we think about. And in turn what we think about...literally becomes us.

POWER THINKING: I am a partner in a small, but focused, publishing and training enterprise called PowerThink. The birth of Power Thinking is given in my newest novel, AS A MAN THINKETH…In His Heart, available today at http://www.amazon.com/, but not yet circulated in retail stores. The novel is a first person journey, fun-loving in its approach, Og Mandino (1923-1996) style inspired, and is calculated to invite the reader to examine proven principles for success...

Time tested - as delivered succinctly by original author/philosopher James Allen (1864-1912) in his timeless masterpiece on personal growth and self-improvement, As a Man Thinketh (1902) - these success principles have been proven by a modern audience for over 100 years. His book has sold to tens of millions and as a testimony to well-written words that change lives, continues to sell well almost one hundred years after his death.

Given to me by my mother and father for my 19th birthday (a long, very long time ago in a land far away, before the invention of smog less cars, calculators, Internet, telephones to fit your pocket, color TV, [in our house] pizza delivery, cable news, and deprivations of the modern kind too numerous to count) James Allen’s little book, As a Man Thinketh, helped me formulate a view of personal conduct for living in an increasingly complex world.

(Everyone should take 30 minutes and read James Allen's popular prescription for personal happiness. FREE in the back of my novel, AS A MAN THINKETH...In His Heart.)

His Victorian world of horse carriages, motor cars, and slowness doesn’t diminish the the impact his meditations may have for a more modern and sophisticated world. If James Allen were alive today he would not sound the trumpet less for what he called "right thinking," but in fact double his energy to get the word out on the "root" of the problems afflicting individuals who suffer, and to the "root" born from what he called the "seed of success."

I can never forget his line about thought and circumstance. I memorized it at age 19 and it has kept me away from alot of the "Danger Zone" signs of life offering peace and satisfaction instead. It goes like this...

"Mind is the master power that moulds and makes, and man is mind and evermore he takes the tool of thought and shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys; a thousand ills. He thinks in secret and it comes to pass. Environment is but his looking glass."

In fact…

More coming soon…