With spring in the air I thought I would share this poem of spring/summer time, enjoy.

Lawn

How shall I compare thee o work of steel blade

Thy green plastic canopy is like a rolling hill

Munching up tender grass in the summers shade

Where smell of gas and clippings linger still

Buzzing across perpendicular rows

Moss covered rock and bark covered tree

A far ‘tis the sprinkling by the gardeners hose

Splendid chirping, setting the blade to level three

Weeds have all been plucked and tossed away

Hedges all clipped and flowers in bloom

Children embark on triumphant scenes of play

Grab the chips the BBQ’s starting soon

There is no lovelier vision to be seen

Than a beautiful well-groomed lawn of green

For my Post this week I was inspired from a book I am currently reading. It is called “As a man Thinketh” by James Allen. For those of you not familiar with the text I highly recommend it. It is about remembering to be continually seeking after more positive growth and inspiration, striving to reach our full potential. To have thoughts that sow beauty, creativity, morals and genius.

I have been trying to put into practice the concept of the mastermind by surrounding myself with positive thinkers, creative and inspirational people. Hero’s that broke barriers and did what others said they could not. Recently I came across some inspiring blogs; cultivategreatness created by Travis Wright, fearlessdreams.com and Future Millionaires of America by Sean Rasmussen. These are the type of people that I want to surround myself with. These are the people who will make their life great and be prosperous because they know the secret to life.

A quote from Napoleon Hill -”THERE are ten weaknesses against which most of us must guard ourselves. One of these is the habit of trying to reap before we have sown, and the other nine are all wrapped up in the one practice of creating alibis to cover every mistake made.” My interpretation of this is that those who do the least complain the most. All of you know that where ever you go in life you will come across opposition and naysayers, quitting is weak, those who grow are the ones who “start paddling upstream!” as Janice McClanahan said. We are all a part of the Univers, intellects seeking growth and freedom. When we exchange our ideas we in essence create wealth. Benjamin Franklin said, “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

We all have the power within us to choose. We can choose to focus on the weeds or the flowers. Are you bringing knowledge and wealth to share with others or are you a consumer sucking up negative ideas and thoughts?

Ideas have consequences, look at the idea Bill Gates had, look at the idea Hitler had or Mother Teresa. Their ideas had very different consequences. One last thing I wish to say, how are your ideas and thoughts working for you? Because if your thoughts are not working positively for you, you will sink deeper and deeper. I am a optimist and try to see the good in life, my hope is that we can create a community of people on a quest to improve their lives and the lives of all they come into contact with.

Thanks to all of you who are creating and contributing to the online Mastermind and sharing your thoughts with me. BTW- I got something up in my potfolio now, check it.

-Glen

“He who knows himself has insight.”

Wisdom of the ages. I have been seeking this self knowledge. Traveling and exploring the depths of my mind.

Can I know myself by the answers I give to questions?

Q: Distinguish the difference between refined utilitarianism and simple utilitarianism.

A: simple utilitarianism as Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy is understood by me is, that people and society at large would be more agreeable and generous toward well-fare and state support for the needy and unfortunate if they realized that it would benefit them in the long run as well.

Where as refined utilitarianism as coinciding with Jhon Stuart Mill’s philosophy go, is one that people or society should act as best they can for the greatest amount of people not because it is good for them but because it is best for the society as a whole.

There. Maybe that helps. Helps me in my philosophy class, but where else?

Some small warm glow sinks through as I read.

“Superior evaluations create superior lives” I think that was Socrates, or maybe that was Anthony Robins. Anyways, It is interesting.

The old School of Stoicism taught that suffering is not the absence of luck, but the blessing of God. Explained further because they said that God only tests the strong. Not the weak. Why should he test the weak. He knows they will fail. Quite a positive outlook on suffering. It reminds me of the Buddhist teaching. You know, life is suffering and we suffer because of our greed and selfishness. There is much truth to be found in these words.

How can I embrace my suffering and see the positive influence? Its not hard months or years after the matter. It is the present.

Suffering. We can not know joy without it. There is no Heaven without Hell. I have this little question for the cosmos. If levels of pain are linked to levels of pleasure, then does it not make sense to seek a high level of pain in order to reach a higher level of pleasure? I mean it sounds idiotic to cause pain to yourself, but if you look closer we do it al the time. Take a look at any physical activity. It always involves a level of pain in order to gain, Or do away with weight or just to get in to better health. This of course is a short term example and one that is easy to see. I think it is the long term suffering that we will avoid at any cost.

“Of great struggle a great character is produced”

Old hip hop daddy Acey Alone has a song that goes something like,”Hardship belong to me, I will never give it away or sell it for a fee, I regret to inform you of how hard it can be.” Cause hardship teaches you to be strong and humble and never crumble.

I feel open as a book to the cool wind, flowing over my pages, caressing the hills, mountains, deserts and traveling to the sea. I am in a constant flux, continually consuming and producing and contemplating this eternal reflection.

Thinking long term, evaluating a future that is not.

Words have power. I realize I must choose them wisely.

Consider for a moment the following quote “Fortune favors the brave” - Aeneid Virgil. I believe in life that most people are living life in “quiet desperation”, they fill helpless, they fill like victims, they have the mentality that the world or someone owes them something. Too many walk around with hang-dog expressions on there face, they don’t know who they really are and they are clueless as to there full-potential, their God-given gifts and talents.
I know because I to have felt this way. I have questioned my purpose in life. But fortunately, slowly I have woken up from a deep sleep, I have begun to really think and better yet to really understand myself. “Prosperity begins with self-interest” As an intelligent creation I am self-aware and realize that I must help myself before I can help anyone else. I must choose to be brave and so do you otherwise you will spend your life in misery.

Being brave does not mean having certainty, in fact it’s usually uncertain but it is significant and in most cases pushes us toward growth. What are you doing that requires bravery? Sometimes it is a simple thing like the courage to face the death of a loved one or choosing to stand up for what you know to be right even when everyone else seems to be enjoying the wrong.

When choosing to be an entrepreneur bravery is required. In my quest I will be brave. Again I ask you; What are you doing that requires bravery?

I would like to give some thoughts on the quest which I am undertaking, where that point began and where I hope it will take me. Not long ago the new year was approaching and a relative of mine came to my house to talk with me and my wife about our financial goals and some services he could do for us. Long story short I didnt sign-up for anything but it really got me thinking more about my own financial knowledge, I decided that I needed to get more self education on the subject.

Driving home from work a couple days later I thought that I would turn on the radio in hopes of finding some kind of talk radio discussing finances, business and such. Well I ended up catching the end of Free Capitalists Radio and was really drawn into it. The next day at work I downloaded a podcast and since then have simply been feasting on all the good thoughts and ideas flowing from the Free Capitalist movement.

I picked up the book “Why we want you to be Rich” by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki, Along with what I read on other entrepreneurs blogs such as www.bornentrepreneur.com and millionaire mommy and my brain has turned on. Its true that once a mind is expanded by a new idea it never returns to its smaller shape (ok i quoted that wrong for sure). I’m not saying that I concur with evything I hear and am blindly looking for a way to get rich, it is the exchange of ideas that have really fueled me.

For the previous 18 months I have been waiting and worse expecting to receive wealth and glory from my job. Nothing at all against my work, which I love a lot, but I have been waiting for my company to make it so that I could ride on the coat tails and enjoy the pleasures of all my wild dreams. Well now that I have woken up I realize that I am the only one who can start the journey that I need to be following. That is a journey of education, self-exploration and discovering others ideas.

I am now learning to take control of my life, to take responsibility for EVERYTHING that happens to me, to realize true freedom, to accept truth, I’m going to allow myself to try and to fail, to learn and to grow. I am seeking to understand the principles of prosperity, where real value comes from and how to transition from consumerism to being a producer.

The greatest rewards will come from the personal growth and the ability to help others. The true wealth of family , friends and a closeness to God are the treasures that I will seek. Peace, prosperity and Positive vibrations to you all.

I think that it is time I shared some good resources that I use and enjoy when it comes to web and graphic design. In no particular order, here they are.

1. Lorem Ipsum. This is a simple, simple site but so very useful. If you don’t know what Lorem Ipsum is here is a quote from their site: “Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.”
2. ColorBlender A great resource when creating a color scheme for your website. You can download PSD and AI files. It is nice because you can look at and/or borrow other peoples palettes.
3. www.thinkvitamin.com/ “Vitamin is a resource for web designers, developers and entrepreneurs” cool AJAX, design, CSS and tons of cool articles, tools and tricks.
4. layoutgala a great CSS layout gallery, 40 of them i think, quick and easy to use and change.
5. factoryjoe This dude has been all around the net capturing screen shots of everything a UI designer would want to see. Examples of Interfaces, applications, menus and the like.
6. www.1001freefonts.com/ as the name implies there is more fonts than you can throw a stick at, or whatever.
7. http://www.totaltraining.com/ has a bunch of really good videos for any product in the Adobe Creative suite, You can watch quite a few for free and they are done well.
8. The Painter Canvas Newsletter is more inspiration for me than a pure resource, but it’s fun and occasionally I will try a trick or tutorial. Follow the link and you will find the subscribe off to the right.
9. masterfile. Every designer needs some creative photos, I like this resource even though it is pricey, often i just get ideas for simple photos I can take myself. Note the photo of money falling from the sky in my one million in a year post, this is a photo i took myself and created the effect of money dropping, the idea came from masterfile. I might do a how-to on this in the near future.
10. http://alistapart.com/ Another great resource similar to thinkVitamin. The goods in these articles go way back, clean and simple to use, I really love the consistency of this site on a pure design level.

Well there you have it. I hope that you too can find some good information here and if you have a resource you use a lot share it with me, thanks.