HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR CONSCIENCE TODAY?

Voting Your Conscience - The Right Answer?

I've been pondering this concept of "voting your conscience" for a long time now. I am one who has been completely disgusted with the results of our national political process for many years now. As a nation we are allowing ourselves to be "hi-jacked" by an entire generation of political corruption masquerading as "progress" and "change". This progress and change are actually destroying our nation and the freedoms that we supposedly hold so dear.

Why is it happening?

Because very few of us are actually willing to study and learn the true principles that govern obtaining and maintaining true liberty and freedom in this world. This world and in fact our entire universe is governed by unchangeable principles or laws of nature that say, if you take this action, then this will always be the result. Those things are real. We cannot change them. The concept that there is no such thing as absolute truth, is one of the biggest falsehoods that has ever been perpetrated upon mankind. It is so misguided that it holds within itself the obvious truths of its own foolishness!

We can either learn to live in harmony with these true principles and bring great results upon ourselves or we can play with fire and loudly proclaim that they do not exist and that we can act any way that we want to and still get the results that we think will happen just because we say so. The only possible outcome of the second choice is a loss of our freedoms and our liberty.

So why this discussion on the eve of this election? Because I am still hearing so many of my friends loudly proclaiming that they are going to "vote their conscience" rather than vote for either of the two major candidates. Is that a legitimate, principle-based position to take? Many, many people think so. I happen to disagree.

Here's why.

At my age, I have had the distinct misfortune of living through two of the worst presidencies in the history of this country. Why were they so bad? Because they have managed to do more damage to the principles that this nation was founded on, which have produced an absolutely unprecedented amount of freedom at every level of society than ever before in the history of the earth. In their combined years in office they have introduced measures and violated powers that have set in motion forces that will ultimately destroy our nation and wipe true freedom from the face of the earth.

All of their misguided actions have been tolerated because they were done in the name of greater freedoms for one specific group or another or to protect us from ourselves. Both of these concepts are in direct violation of the true principles that govern real liberty.

Again, back to why I am so opposed to "voting your conscience"... Both of these presidents were handed the office because we had a major chunk of our voting population who were philosophically opposed to that candidate and would never vote for them. However they also didn't like the other major party opposing candidate either and couldn't "morally" bring themselves to vote for that one either.

Unfortunately both of these races were close enough that  when a large enough block of the potential supporters of the "lesser of two evils" candidate were distracted by the misguided notion of "voting their conscience" for a third party candidate who may have been a "morally" stronger person but who had no statistical chance of winning,...we effectively handed the most powerful office in the world to the worst possible person we could have put there.

I see that exact scenario developing again today.

Now anybody that knows me knows that morals are deeply important to me. What we must never fail to understand is that we must carefully watch ourselves to see that our "morals" are actually built upon a foundation of true principles and that they (our morals) actually bring about a correct result when we apply them. If when we follow our beliefs (morals) and they bring about a result that we really didn't want, then we must question whether we really acted upon a true principle or just upon our own personal belief system which, by its very nature, has the inherent potential to be flawed because we may not have taken the time to evaluate it properly.

If our "morals" lead us by default to place the person who is most dangerous to our freedoms into office because we pulled our vote away from the one candidate who had any chance of defeating them, then our "morals" and our "conscience" failed us!

The sad reality is that one of the two major party candidates WILL BE our next president, period...end of story. Like you, and almost everyone else I talk with, I am deeply disgusted with our choices.

In my never to be too humble opinion, one of them has a distinct agenda that will destroy this nation and the freedoms and liberties that its principles have created. The other, no matter how misguided and morally bankrupt they may be, at least believes that they are going to strengthen our nation.

That is a fundamental, philosophical difference that matters a tremendous amount to our future. 

The race is close enough that you can put the worst possible choice of the two into the most powerful office in the world by either voting directly for them or by "voting your conscience" for somebody who has no possible chance of winning and thereby drawing away your vote from the only person who could defeat them. It is as simple as that...period.

Now, I've got to address two critical arguments here.

First, the "lesser of two evils" - Many of my friends are attributing this comment to a certain person whom we all have a great deal of respect for. From everything I have been able to ascertain, this is a misquote. Besides that, I think I have made a reasonable argument to support that it is a principally flawed concept in the first place. Voting for the lesser of two evils still being a vote for evil, doesn't really hold water in the first place because many, many of our political choices boil down to that same scenario whether we know it or not.

The bigger answer lies in the real truth behind "voting your conscience".

The real place for exercising our "conscience" is in what we do in the next four years leading up to the next election. We as a nation should be working together to prepare a candidate who would be worthy of our vote because they actually understand the principles that govern true freedom and liberty. We also, if we truly have a conscience, should be doing everything that we can to educate ourselves, our friends and neighbors more on the true foundational principles of freedom and liberty.

Our founding fathers clearly stated that the freedoms and liberties that they put into motion for us could never be maintained by an ignorant people. Why? Because ignorance leads to selfishness, and selfishness opens you up to being manipulated by a more powerful group of people with an agenda that could destroy everyone's freedoms by deciet and false promises.

I hope you will ponder this thoughtfully and that it has an impact on what you do at the polls.

Besides that, I hope that you have an awesome day!

COMMUNITY

The Power of Community in Your Life

I wonder if most people really understand how much the communities that we associate with can influence all of our habits, actions, choices and outcomes in our lives?

If we do realize that, do we also understand that we have the power to choose who we do associate with?

There is a principle out there called "The Power of Association". What it boils down to is that we as humans have a natural tendency to become like those who we spend the most time around. Think back to your childhood. Did your parents ever tell you that they didn't want you hanging around "Little Johnnie" who lived down the street because he was always getting into trouble? They didn't want you to be drawn in to joining him in his delinquent activities.

Never had your parents say something like that to you? Maybe you were the "Little Johnnie" in your neighborhood? Food for thought!

Here's the funny part about that whole scenario. At what age do we grow out of that tendency? Is it 18 or so when we finally get out of high school? Nope, all you have to do is look at how many college kids get sucked into all kinds of bad habits when they are off without parental supervision 24/7.

What about when we finally get out of college and become a working adult? Nope, wrong again!

The real truth is that we never grow out of that stage. It is a fundamental trait of human nature. If we never learn the concept and the power it has to shape and mold our lives, we will unwittingly begin to conform to the actions, habits and thought processes of those people who we spend the most time around.

This will continue happening to us even when we are 90 years old, if we survive that long! I do suspect that as we approach our more elderly years that many people begin to discover this more and more on their own and at least develop some tendencies to be slower to adopt new traits from the community around them. You know, the old, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" concept! However, I'm sure that it still exists as a fundamental human tendency.

There are long term studies out there that show that, if we take the average of the 5 people around us who we spend the most time around, in almost any category, that will be a pretty good description of our personal condition in that category. That can apply to areas like our jobs, our marriages, our children and family life, our finances, the general types of cars we drive, our social habits, our religious beliefs and on and on.

We become like the people we spend the most time around. Either that or we tend to find and settle in to communities where the majority of the people are much like ourselves because that is where we find ourselves the most comfortable. THEN, we begin to assimilate many other of the traits that our chosen community possesses.

Do we have the power to resist or control this process in our own lives or is it inevitable?

Yes we do...IF we are aware of the fact that this tendency exists.

It is not hard to look around us and find those within almost any group of people who choose not to conform to the norms around them in every way. Take a work situation for example. There may be a few people in any job setting who feel compelled to be in a certain work environment because they feel like they don't have any real choice in the matter. Yet, they are aware that the social norms among their fellow workers do not conform to their religious or moral standards so they make a concerted effort to consciously keep themselves from accepting and slipping into the thought and action patterns of their co-workers.

However, if we look outside of the narrow parameters of their existing belief system, we may find that many other parts of their life still conform to the group!

So why all of this seemingly negative discussion here?

Because the fact is that there is a flip side to this principle as well! That is, that if we wish to change some aspect of our lives in a more positive direction, we can do so by consciously changing the communities of people that we spend the most time with! We can change the influences that surround us on a daily basis by changing the people we choose to spend our time with!

Look for groups of people who are where you want to be in your life or seem to have habits that you want to develop. For instance, if you want to begin taking better care of your health, wouldn't it make more sense to quit hanging around your group of buddies who value coming home in the evening and popping a can of beer or soda and sitting in front of the TV all evening. Instead of that, head down to the gym and start spending your time around people who are working out and talking about taking care of their health every day!

This can apply to any area of your life.

Want a better marriage or family life? Find a group of people with great results in that area and spend time with them.

Want to make more money? It will be hard to do if you allow the thinking processes of your current group of friends to influence your decisions in that area. If they don't have the results that you want, be very cautious about taking their advice seriously.

Want to get your spiritual life in order? I can promise you that those who are influencing you in that area right now are not going to help you grow your faith all of a sudden. It is going to require that you seek out a new community to associate with where a healthy spiritual life is the norm instead of the exception.

It works in almost any area of your life! Beware of your "Little Johnnies"!

Here is a special danger zone to watch out for too. Sometimes our "Little Johnnies" are lurking in groups of people who we have been taught to just naturally trust. Those can be in groups that can seem to be pretty benign on the surface. A couple that come to mind are our families or our schools and even our churches. All of these areas, under normal circumstances should be places of refuge and safety from bad thinking processes. But they are not always so.

Keep a weather eye out for people in your community who tend to be negative, critical or caustic about the areas where you wish to make changes and improvements in your life.

Our God made this world a place of marvelous abundance and also made us with the incredible ability to chase excellence and literally change ourselves to become anything that we desire. Never let your community obscure that truth from your thinking processes! Surround yourself with those who will support your aspirations and encourage your pursuit of excellence!

Have an awesome day!

STOP HONORING YOUR FEARS!

Stop Honoring Your Fears!

What?

What do you mean HONORING my fears?

Yep! It's a real problem in our society. We have taught ourselves to honor our fears and put them on a pedestal to allow them to control our lives instead of doing everything in our power to rip them off of that pedestal and crush them under our feet!

I was reminded of this again last night as I was talking to some new friends and experienced an oft repeated scenario in my career of trying to inspire people to chase after excellence and their passions in their lives.

So often when I talk with someone about chasing after some great desire or dream in their life, I find them reluctant to do so. While the object of their desire, be it a thing or a purpose, is something that they really want to obtain or accomplish, they allow themselves to be held back from its attainment by some type of a fear.

These fears don't always manifest themselves as some big scarey obstacle that could easily be identified as a fearful thing or consequence. Sometimes it is a weakness, a lack of talent or skills, a lack of financial means or some other thing that impedes or holds us back from attempting to do something great or wonderful.

Still deep down at the heart of the matter, the solution to each of these problems is for us to push ourselves out of our comfort zone to develop a new skill. Or maybe to simply do the hard thing long enough so that we develop the ability to do it well enough and without fear and trepidation so that it finally becomes second nature to us and eventually becomes a new habit that begins to produce the desired results.

So often when I talk with someone about overcoming a challenge with their finances, I hear things like, "I just don't have time", or "I'm not a salesman", or "I don't like to talk to people".

Sometimes it's someone who really has a passion to serve the world or share some message, but they will bow to a "fear" of public speaking or a lack of money.

Other times it's someone with health or weight issues who says, "I'm just not the type who likes to exercise", or "I don't want someone to see me out trying to walk, run or ride my bike looking like this."

All of these things and many other excuses that we give ourselves and willingly accept from ourselves are literally fears or are based on things that we are choosing to say are more important to us than our desires or dreams.

We are literally sacrificing some of these these deepest desires at the altar that we have built to our fears.

We are giving those fears so much power in our lives that we allow them to become more important and powerful to us than the things which  are our hearts deepest desires. We are literally giving more honor or value to the obstacle than to our desired outcomes.

I challenge each of us to look around our lives right now and ask ourselves, "What are the things that are holding me back from accomplishing something great in my life?" "What fears or obstacles in my life have I given more honor to than what I am giving to my deepest dreams, goals and desires?" "Am I bowing at the feet of a fear or obstacle in my life rather than standing up and smacking it in the teeth and taking control of my destiny?"

Why do I ask these crazy questions? Because I am facing them just like you and every other human being is too. Our world today has truly unlimited potential and yet our society has taught us to cower before fear instead of standing up and confronting it head on until it gives up and goes away!

Smash the idol of your fear and the pedestal that it rests on! Stop honoring the unimportant things in your life and begin to give honor and allegiance to the dreams, desires and purposes that were placed within your heart by the Divine Hand that created you! Live your life the way you were designed to and never stop believing in your Divine Destiny!

LIVE A GREAT LIFE!

AMAZING KIDS!

Ten Keys To Amazing Kids!

Lately, Penny and I have been getting lots of comments about how much people love our kids and the positive influence that they are having on the families of their friends and neighbors. That is something that is deeply gratifying to a parent and has caused me to try to share some of my thoughts on how this has come to be.

First of all, lest anyone should think that I am assuming a "better than thou" attitude here, I hope that you will understand that we still have plenty of flaws and meltdowns! Just about the time when you think you are really something special, Heavenly Father has a way of gently reminding you that you're still not perfect!

Fortunately for us, most of our challenges happen within the walls of our own home where we can deal with them, hopefully, properly. We have found over the years that if we are willing to put up with the molding and shaping in the private moments of our own home, then when they go out into the world, they tend to actually perform in the way we have been trying to teach them. 

One thing that I will share about us is that we haven't just lucked out. We have been on a search from very early on in our marriage to find out if there really are some true principles that would govern raising great kids. Fortunately, over the years we have come across a piece here and a piece there and those ideas have all come together and born the kind of fruit that we were searching for.

So what are our Ten Keys To Amazing Kids?

I think you will notice quickly that we couldn't narrow the list down to just 10! The second thing that you will quickly note are that a huge percentage of these principles aren't really things to teach your kids to do, but instead, things that you need to work on becoming and doing yourself! Ouch!

Lastly, if you don't agree with something I say, think about this; if you are not getting the results that you want with what  you are already doing and someone else is, maybe it's time to really ponder why their thinking process is so different from yours? That could mean that maybe, it's time to let go of some long held paradigms of what we think is proper parenting. We have definitely had to do that ourselves on a couple of topics!

I promise you that very few of these principles were arrived at without some serious thought and searching and also some trial and error. Several of these ideas are even a vastly different direction from the one we started in. But we came up with them by trying one course of action and finding out that it didn't produce the results that we were looking for, so we changed... sometimes completely! 

So in no particular order and with very little explanation, (that would require a seminar!) these are some of the most important principles we have found.

First, get your priorities in the right order: God first, SPOUSE next, Kids third! Not kids before spouse except in very rare instances where the spouse is dangerous to the kids. In that case, find a new spouse! Be on the same team as your spouse!

Teach them Who and What God is, Who they are in relation to Him, and Why He went to all of the trouble to create this earth. Teach them what their ultimate potential to become is! If you don't know, find out! It's important! This one concept alone probably has more power to change the behaviors and outcomes of your family than any other single principle all by itself!

Understand your true relationship to your children. They are not your property, they are your spirit brothers and sisters and we have a stewardship to help them grow up learning how to become like our Father!

Get rid of all of your "Victim Mentality" thinking and teach them the same thing. Take total responsibility for all outcomes in your life. No matter who might do something else to you, the only positive solution is for you to own the problem and take responsibility for fixing it. No one else will ever fix it for you!

Examine your traditions and your paradigms about life and raising kids with a critical eye. Know WHY you do and believe WHAT you do and believe. Be willing to change when you find more truth.

Expect the best out of them, not the worst. They will rise to the level of your expectations. (Or Fall) Accept, Approve and Appreciate instead of Criticize, Condemn, and Complain! Be the Sunshine in their lives instead of the Rain-cloud! 

You can't teach self-discipline and obedience by teaching obedience and harshly disciplining them. What? The only way to truly teach them these things is by Inspiring, Teaching, Mentoring, Encouraging, Praising and Leading by Example. The way to teach obedience is to teach them WHY they would want to be obedient...to God! (It has an amazing upside!) They will obey you when they love and respect you and feel valued, not when they are taught to be obedient. Obedience is a gift that is given to one who has won your heart!

One of the most important chunks of parenting information that we have ever learned and applied has been "Personality Styles", "Love Languages" and "Love and Respect". These are vastly important! They are taught in 3 of our favorite books. ("Personality Plus", "5 Love Languages", "Love and Respect") Don't just read about them, STUDY them in detail! Repeatedly!

You can't have Quality Time without Quantity Time! Quality Time is and out growth of Quantity Time - Not a replacement for it!

Inspire curiosity in the world around them! Teach them to ask Why, What, How, Where types of questions about their surroundings.

Inspire them to READ, LISTEN, and ASSOCIATE to learn to grow. Read to them from inspiring stories not just entertainment books. Constantly read, learn and work on improving yourself! Consider paying them to read good books, (your list) instead of doing chores. Chores are a part of being a family not work.

Help them to associate with people who are pursuing excellence in their lives.

They need to see you pursuing a passion instead of arm-chair quarterbacking the world around you and them. Include them in a family goal and vision instead of just being the "soccer mom" to their every whim. It's okay for them to understand that the whole world doesn't revolve around them. (Nicely)

Find ways to work together on projects and make work fun and rewarding instead of drudgery. Teach them the joy of creating and becoming!

Make sure that their goals are really THEIR goals! Not just yours for them.

Teach them how to choose, set, pursue and accomplish goals. Start small. Teach them to be a finisher. Sometimes a goal requires course correction, but adjust and push through to the finish. Teach them to chase passion and purpose and let things be rewards instead of the main issue. What you become is more important than what you get. 

Teach them to be active, healthy and physically fit whether they do a sport or not.

As teenagers, teach them that great privileges come when they choose to Teach You To Trust Them.

When looking for more great parenting principles, only look to and listen to those who have fruit on the tree AND KNOW EXACTLY WHY they do! Choose to learn principles over strategies!

Like I said earlier, this subject could require a full seminar to really even begin discussing this subject adequately. Actually we could arrange to do that if it was important to you! Most importantly, don't take any piece of new info at face value until you have examined it carefully to see if it really is a true principle instead of just someone's pet theory!

Have an awesome day and Happy Parenting!

WELCOME TO MY NETWORK!

Welcome to my network of friends!

With some recent changes in our lives, one of the biggest of which is a move to a new city in a new state, I have been asking myself how I can best serve this new community that I am now a part of.

For the last 10-15 years I have worked on becoming a great connector in the lives of those around me. Part of the reason for developing a large network of friends and acquaintances is so that I can keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening in our community. By developing and maintaining great relationships with many people, I can put myself in a position to serve others by connecting them with the resources that can benefit them most at any given time.

For instance if  you or your friends are looking to buy or sell a home, I can serve you as a licensed real estate agent or help you to find someone who has more specialized experience in your particular area.

If you are looking for ways to innovate and improve in your business or professional life, I can connect you to a vast background of knowledge, experience and resources to help catapult you forward to greater success.

If you are looking to expand your client base for your business or profession, I would highly suggest that you make plans to attend one of our Business Mixer Events and connect with new friends from a different circle of influence.

Sometimes the connection that we find ourselves needing is to some new information that can help us solve a personal or family problem. As you read through some of our blog posts here you will find that this is one of our specialties. For several years now Penny and I have taught classes specifically for those wanting to find better information on Marriage, Family and Parenting challenges. Contact us to learn more.

Need a keynote speaker or an instructor for your next big event? We've been teaching for years on the topics of Leadership, Innovative Thinking, Relationship Development, Personal Growth and Pursuing Excellence!

Or...What other connections do you need to make? Let me see if I can help!

I encourage you to take a few minutes and dig through my "Live A Great Life" blog. I believe that almost anyone will find some principles discussed here that will enhance and expand their lives if they will ponder what is written and commit to dig in further and apply this new information in their lives.

Ponder the power of correct principles, consistently applied, over time! It has the potential to change our lives for the better forever!

I hope you will take the time to read and ponder the blog posts that I send out ever so often. My goal is to stay in touch with those in my network and offer them something of real value that will make my association with you something that will always be mutually beneficial and uplifting and who knows, maybe someday we will find a connection that needs to be made!

If you enjoy the blog please star or favorite this email so the following ones don't end up in your spam folder or better yet subscribe to the RSS Feed for the blog to receive it directly!

I look forward to developing a long and positive relationship with you that produces great fruit in your life! Have an Awesome Day!

Eldon