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I grew up between divorced parents, from the time that I was 3 years old – flying back and forth between parents by the time I was 5 – living with each parent for 1 or 2 or 3 years before being “transferred” to the other…

Let me assure you that it was HELL on my school records and class schedules! And since I was always the “new kid in town”, I was always having to prove myself all over again, every couple of years…making friends and losing friends…repeatedly starting over…

From all accounts relayed by my parents, siblings, and other relatives, I was a very happy, outgoing child – but all of that changed soon after my parents divorced…

I have 2 younger sisters from the same mother (my youngest sister has a different father) – our mother was a single working woman with 3 children in the early 1970’s…it is tough enough NOWADAYS for a single mother of 3 to survive, so I can only imagine what difficulties that she faced back then!

Unfortunately for all 4 of us, the next 2 men whom she attracted into her life were NOT of very high quality or character – the 1st one was VERY strict and controlling, and the next was verbally and physically abusive…

Needless to say – once our mother was married to the 2nd guy – I quickly learned that to be quiet and to stay out of his sight/way were the best ways to stay out of trouble…so my once happy-go-lucky nature morphed into an extremely shy and timid one…

I have since fought shyness and a HUGE lack of self-esteem for the majority of my life, while struggling with a general fear of authority and being internally compelled to always “follow the rules”…

IT REALLY SUCKS WHEN GROWN-UPS TRAUMATIZE THEIR KIDS IN THESE WAYS – OR WORSE…

While I have learned to discard many of the limitations of my past – and have largely overcome the fears and shyness that were debilitating to me in my younger years – those “personality quirks” have already haunted me for nearly HALF of my life!

I finally drew a line in the sand, though – I told myself that “enough is enough” – I REFUSED to continue to allow those feelings and emotions to haunt me for the remainder of my life…Life is TOO SHORT to waste with self-imposed suffering…

I mentally and emotionally forgave those men who had “warped” my mind and personality when I was still just a child – and it was FORGIVENESS that finally released the negative hold that I had unwittingly allowed them to have on me for DECADES…

I am still in the process of “re-discovering myself”, so to speak – after all, I have only just recently FREED MYSELF from those limiting beliefs…

I want to share with you a letter that was forwarded to me in an email message – points to ponder…

From: David LaBonte

“My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to eh Editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So I decided to ‘print’ it myself by sending it out on the internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. It was written in response to a series of Letters to the Editor in the Orange County Register”:

‘Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.’

‘Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today’s American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900, when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households, and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.’

‘They had waved good-bye to their birth place to give their children a new life, and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them, to trade for a future of prosperity.’
‘Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought alongside men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini, and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.’

‘When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German-American or the Irish-American – the people of France only saw AMERICANS. And we carried ONE flag that represented ONE country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were – it would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the Melting Pot into ONE red, white and blue bowl.’

‘And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I’m sorry, that’s NOT what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900’s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those LEGALLY searching for a better life.. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those who are waving foreign country flags!’

‘And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the Immigration Bill. I wouldn’t start talking about dismantling the United States, just yet.’

(signed)
Rosemary LaBonte

Have you ever wondered WHY you fail?

I guess that the better question to ask would be – have you ever wondered why YOU fail, when other people who have similar skills and talents to yours always seem to succeed?

Do not beat yourself up about it any longer – it happens to all of us, sooner or later – the trick is to not allow that failure to continue to plague you long after you have learned the associated “hard lesson”…

Yes, I hear you – “easier said than done”, right? Well, stick with me to the end because I will shed some light on the WHY that lurks behind most failures, which could then lead you to determining (for yourself) how you can successfully move beyond them…

Have you ever heard of the “Pike Syndrome”?

I recently heard this story, myself, while listening to the “Go For No” audiobook – and it is quite telling…

Researchers placed a Pike and a bunch of Minnows into the same large fish tank, separating them with a clear glass divider – the Pike would charge the Minnows, only to bump its nose on the invisible glass divider – this went on for HOURS, until the Pike finally gave up…once the Pike had stopped ramming the glass divider, the researchers REMOVED it from the tank…

What do you think happened then?

SPOILER ALERT – the Minnows survived!

That’s right – the Pike continued to swimming circles on its own side of the tank, with dinner just a few inches from its snout…the Pike had “trapped” itself inside of its own imagined barriers because it had gotten tired of bumping its nose on the glass divider…

Another sad example of this phenomenon involves training elephants for the Circus – the trainer drives a large stake into the ground, in the middle of a practice performance circle…the trainer then ties one end of a thick rope to the stake and the other end to a harness that has been placed around a baby elephant…

The elephant continuously struggles to break free from the rope, but to no avail – no matter how hard he/she pulls, nor in which direction – the elephant cannot escape the circle…this “training” continues until the elephant finally ceases to struggle – inside its own mind, the elephant has realized that there can be no escape, so it simply gives up trying…

From that point on, a rope is no longer necessary – the elephant will not leave the circle under its own volition because of the imagined barrier of the rope…

Those same imagined barriers can be seen in many human beings, unfortunately – as you live your life, you will encounter various forms of negativity and/or rejection from both strangers and those whom you care about…

At some point – and that point will be different for each person, based on numerous factors (how you were raised, your associations with friends, family & acquaintances over the years, your abundance or lack of support from others in your goals and dreams, etc) – it can be all too easy for you to simply “give up”…

REJECTION associated with certain endeavors can then become your “imagined barrier” to whatever it is that you are trying to achieve, which can lead you to no longer want to try – you then become paralyzed by your own mind and/or limiting beliefs about yourself and your abilities…

It is sad, really – not that this phenomenon occurs – but that we allow it to CONTROL our thoughts and actions…sometimes right up until the day we die…

I have recently challenged myself to never again allow negativity and/or rejection to cloud my judgement – and I hereby pass along that same challenge to YOU because I know that you have that ability inside of you – it has been there since we were infants…

Do you remember NEVER taking the word “no” for an answer from your parents when you were a small child? If you do NOT remember that far back into your life – but you are a parent now – then you should currently be experiencing and/or have experienced (if they are already grown) this trait in your own children…am I right?

When we are children, we instinctively know the meaning of the phrase NEVER GIVE UP – it is only after years of accumulated experiences of both negativity and rejection from others that we begin to place imagined mental barriers ON OURSELVES…

I say that – here and now – we all karate-chop that s@#$, and get on with our Amazing Lives!!!

1) Having amnesia is a good metaphor for GETTING STARTED in Online Marketing – when you are a “newbie” who is just getting started, it all can be very confusing…there is so much information available online, so many “gurus” out there who claim to represent “the next big thing” that it can be hard to know in which direction to turn…hard to know who to trust…hard to know the RIGHT questions to ask…

2) PERSISTENCE will always lead you to the answers/goals that you seek – have faith in yourself and just DON’T QUIT…too many people give up on their goals a little bit too soon, when those goals are actually lurking just around the corner…remember that everything worth having TAKES TIME to materialize…

3) DETERMINATION in your search for the truth (goal-seeking) can uncover/unlock skills that you never knew you had, and/or never knew that you were capable of…BELIEVE in yourself and your Dreams – do not allow the negativity of others to steal them from you!

4) Finding people in whom you can TRUST along your journey is crucial – these people can serve you as Mentors and Guides who can help you to fast-track your success…you do not need to reinvent the wheel here – simply model the behaviors of those people who have already achieved levels of success in whichever endeavor it is that you are interested in…

5) CLOSURE – the achievement of your desired goal(s) will make all of the struggles along the way WORTH IT…you must realize from the beginning, however, that it will take Time, Patience, and Persistence – know and practice these three traits, and you WILL achieve success!

I HAVE to share this with you – it was forwarded to me via email so I cannot personally verify the original author – but he shares an extremely important message for EVERY voter in America:

*”**Who is Donald Trump?” * *The better question may be, “What is Donald Trump?” *

*The answer? *A giant middle finger from average Americans to the political and media establishment.

Some Trump supporters are like the 60s white girls who dated black guys just to annoy their parents. But most Trump supporters have simply had it with the Demo-socialists and the “Republicans In Name Only.” They know there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between Hillary Rodham and Jeb Bush, and only a few cents worth between Rodham and the other GOP candidates.

Ben Carson is not an “establishment” candidate, but the Clinton machine would pulverize Carson; and the somewhat rebellious Ted Cruz will (justifiably so) be tied up with natural born citizen lawsuits (as might Marco Rubio). The Trump supporters figure they may as well have some fun tossing Molotov cocktails at Wall Street and Georgetown while they watch the nation collapse. Besides – lightning might strike, Trump might get elected, and he might actually fix a few things. Stranger things have happened (the nation elected an[islamo-]Marxist in 2008 and Bruce Jenner
now wears designer dresses.)

Millions of conservatives are justifiably furious. They gave the Republicans control of the House in 2010 and control of the Senate in 2014, and have seen them govern no differently than Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Yet those same voters are supposed to trust the GOP in 2016? Trump did not come from out of nowhere. His candidacy was created by the last six years of Republican failures.

No reasonable person can believe that any of the establishment candidates [dems or reps] will slash federal spending, rein in the Federal Reserve, cut burdensome business regulations, reform the tax code, or eliminate useless federal departments (the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, etc.). Even Ronald Reagan was unable to eliminate the Department of Education. (Of course, getting shot at tends to make a
person less of a risk-taker.) No reasonable person can believe that any of the nation’s major problems will be solved by Rodham, Bush, and the other dishers of donkey fazoo now eagerly eating corn in Iowa and pancakes in New Hampshire .

Many Americans, and especially Trump supporters, have had it with:
· Anyone named Bush
· Anyone named Clinton
· Anyone who’s held political office
· Political correctness
· Illegal immigration
· Massive unemployment
· Phony “official” unemployment and inflation figures
· Welfare waste and fraud
· People faking disabilities to go on the dole
· VA waiting lists
· TSA airport groping
· ObamaCare
· The Federal Reserve’s money-printing schemes
· Wall Street crooks like Jon Corzine
· Michelle Obama’s vacations
· Michelle Obama’s food police
· Barack Obama’s golf
· Barack Obama’s arrogant and condescending lectures
· Barack Obama’s criticism/hatred of America
· Valerie Jarrett
· *Holiday* trees”
· Hollywood hypocrites
· Global warming nonsense
· Cop killers
· Gun confiscation threats
· Stagnant wages
· Boys in girls’ bathrooms
· Whiny, spoiled college students who can’t even place the Civil War
in the correct century… and that’s just the short list

Trump supporters believe that no Democrat wants to address these issues, and that few Republicans have the courage to address these issues. They certainly know that none of the establishment candidates are better than barely listening to them, and Trump is their way of saying, “Screw you, Hillary Rodham Rove Bush!” The more the talking head political pundits insult the Trump supporters, the more supporters he gains. (The only pundits who seem to understand what is going on are Democrats Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell and Republican John LeBoutillier. All the others argue that the voters will eventually “come to their senses” and support an establishment candidate.)

But America does not need a tune-up at the same old garage. It needs a new engine installed by experts – and neither Rodham nor Bush are mechanics with the skills or experience to install it. Hillary Rodham is not a mechanic; she merely manages a garage her philandering husband abandoned. Jeb Bush is not a mechanic; he merely inherited a garage. Granted, Trump is also not a mechanic, but he knows where to find the best ones to work in his garage. He won’t hire his brother-in-law or someone to whom he owes a favor; he will hire someone who lives and breathes cars.

“How dare they revolt!” the “elites” are bellowing. Well, the citizens are daring to revolt, and the RINOs had better get used to it. “But Trump will hand the election to Clinton!” That is what the Karl Rove-types want people to believe, just as the leftist media eagerly shoved “Maverick” McCain down GOP throats in 2008 – knowing he would lose to Obama. But even if Trump loses and Rodham wins, she would not be dramatically different than Bush or most of his fellow candidates. They would be nothing more than caretakers, not working to restore America’s greatness but merely presiding over the collapse of a massively in-debt nation. A nation can perhaps survive open borders; a nation can perhaps survive a generous welfare system. But no nation can survive both – and there is little evidence that the establishment candidates of either party understand that. The United States cannot forever continue on the path it is on. At some point it will be destroyed by its debt.

Yes, Trump speaks like a bull wander[ing] through a china shop, but the truth is that the borders do need to be sealed; we cannot afford to feed, house, and clothe 200,000 Syrian immigrants for decades (even if we get inordinately lucky and none of them are ISIS infiltrators or Syed Farook wannabes); the world is at war with radical Islamists; all the world’s glaciers are not melting; and Rosie O’Donnell is a fat pig.

Is Trump the perfect candidate? Of course not. Neither was Ronald Reagan. But unless we close our borders and restrict immigration, all the other issues are irrelevant. One terrorist blowing up a bridge or a tunnel could kill thousands. One jihadist poisoning a city’s water supply could kill tens of thousands. One electromagnetic pulse attack from a single Iranian nuclear device could kill tens of millions. Faced with those possibilities, most Americans probably don’t care that Trump relied on eminent domain to grab up a final quarter acre of property for a hotel, or that he boils the blood of the Muslim Brotherhood thugs running the Council on American-Islamic Relations. While Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s greatest fear is someone giving a Muslim a dirty look, most Americans are more worried about being gunned down at a shopping mall by a crazed [islamic] lunatic who treats his prayer mat better than his three wives and who thinks 72 virgins are waiting for him in paradise.

The establishment is frightened to death that Trump will win, but not because they believe he will harm the nation. They are afraid he will upset their taxpayer-subsidized apple carts. While Obama threatens to veto legislation that spends too little, they worry that Trump will veto legislation that spends too much.

You can be certain that if an establishment candidate wins in November 2016 … [their] cabinet positions will be filled with the same people we’ve seen before. The washed-up has-beens of the Clinton and Bush administrations will be back in charge. The hacks from Goldman Sachs will continue to call the shots. Whether it is Bush’s Karl Rove or Clinton ‘s John Podesta, who makes the decisions in the White House will matter little.

*If the establishment wins, America LOSES. *

I turn my car into a “mobile university” on a daily basis, as I drive to and from work, by listening to personal growth & development, political, and historical CDs

I will share a brief synopsis of each developmental CD that I listen to as my Blog progresses, but the only true way for you to benefit from them yourself is to pick up a personal copy and ABSORB it…

Today I will be sharing with you one of the ideas introduced by the late, great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, in his best-selling program “Born to Win”.

In one section of this eye-opening program, Zig relates the power of NEGATIVITY to the training of fleas – he says that in order to train fleas effectively, you must first collect them in a jar that has a lid on it…”fleas JUMP, you know, so you’ve got to keep them contained before you can train them.”

The fleas will continuously jump in an effort to escape their captivity, but in so doing they will repeatedly hit their little heads on the lid of the jar
Still, they continue to jump…

After a while, though, the fleas learn to adjust their jumping height so that they no longer bump their little heads – once this adjustment in jumping height occurs, you can safely remove the lid of the jar because the fleas have now “trained” themselves through negative results to no longer jump high enough to escape

The same phenomenon holds true for HUMAN BEINGS, as well…

You start out life with high hopes, knowing NO limits – a child with the World at your feet – but as you grow older, you accumulate influences from your family, friends, teachers, and various other acquaintances

You tend to become somewhat “jaded” because even though you develop your own internal value system, those values tend to be strongly influenced by the others who were mentioned above – and too many times, unfortunately, you are susceptible to allowing your high hopes to be dashed by the opinions of others…

Those “others” may be operating under the best of intentions, based on their own personal values and beliefs, but they do not always know what is best for YOU – only YOU can truly know that…
Yet you continue to value the opinions of others as TRUTH when it comes to living out your daily life…

How many times have you started a new endeavor with the highest possible levels of personal motivation, only to be tripped up by the “good intentions” of others – stopping your motivation in its tracks?

By allowing the negativity of others to deflate your motivation, you lose your self-confidence because you mistakenly believe that those others know you better than you know yourself…
Before long, you second-guess yourself right out of your previously-motivated mindset, which robs you of the ability and focus necessary for achieving your Dreams…

Therein lies the similarity – the negativity expressed towards us by others is akin to the lid on the jar of fleas – the more often that we allow the negativity of others to minimize our Dreams, the LOWER we set our sights for a successful life…the fewer the number of dreams that we actually pursue….

Do NOT allow this to continue to happen to you – this is YOUR life

Only YOU know what you are capable of…

Live your life according to what YOU believe!