When I was sleepwalking through life, for about forty years or so, I always thought that life was happening to me and I had to keep reacting to the people, places and events in my life. Then I went through a period where I started to open myself up to looking at life from a different perspective than the one I had been conditioned to believe from birth.

The main concept that really caught my attention was the idea that I was not a victim of life; I was the creator of life. Whoa. Hold on there Betsy. I finally realized that we are not here to discover life but we are here to ‘create our life’ in any manner that we choose. Now, once I got this concept deeply entrenched into my belief system the game was on for me and I have never looked back.

Once you understand that you are creating your life as you go along you begin to see your whole life and the whole ‘game of life’ from an entirely different perspective. Instead of wondering what is going to happen next you begin to ‘create’ what is going to happen next. And when this starts happening you begin to ask the question “why do I want what I want?”

The answer is always the same. I want what I want so that I can be happy. That is the end game of every choice we make in life. We are always trying to be happy. Now that makes a lot of sense. Once I got this in my head I realized that you don’t have to do anything to ‘be happy’ because happiness is not something you strive for and attain. Happiness is the essence of who you really are. So in fact, you have the capacity for happiness at any time. All it takes is a choice to “be happy” and you can reach that state of being.

Your true authentic self is made up of unconditional love and unconditional love expresses itself in the world as happiness and joy. Joy is the highest state of happiness and when you are experiencing joy you can be assured that you are totally aligned with the source energy from which the entire universe comes.

So the real key to a successful life is to be in a state of joy all the time, right? And in order to be in a state of unconditional joy all the time you would have to choose that and make it your priority above all others. Intellectually this seems like a very doable thing because you know that in order to experience unconditional joy you would have to accept every condition, experience, person and event in life as a joy to you. It would have to be ‘unconditional.’

There could not be any situation whatsoever that would change that for you. Nothing. And guess what, you get to put the meaning to everything that happens in your life. So you are the only one who can call forth a ‘condition’ which is not joyful. Would you do that if you really wanted to experience unconditional joy all of your life?

Theoretically you would not choose any conditions that don’t bring you joy but in reality you do it anyway. Why? Because you have a mind that is not on the same path of unconditional joy that you are. You have a mind but you are not your mind. You, the real you, observes your mind. You, the real you, observes your body. You, the real you is not your mind or your body but is the observer of your mind and your body. You, the real you, is perfectly capable of living in unconditional joy because that is your true nature.

When you are aligned with that nature you feel the joy. When you are not aligned with the truth of you then you experience the conditions that are not joyful to you. It still all comes down to choice. You are the observer and you are the choice maker. Try choosing unconditional joy in your life. Just try an experiment with your life and see how you like it. If you choose it you will be ‘Joyful.’

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

It is mid-July as I write this and the days here are long and hot, into the 90’s, which is pretty warm in this part of the country. So taking a ride on the river has a lot of great advantages right now, not the least of which is to cool off a little and take in the nature that comes along with this assignment.

So a friend from out of town is visiting and we decide to float down the river from the nearest point of entry to the south, which is a bridge at Creswell. It is about 4 miles on the odometer from my house to the bridge. Only about 4 miles as the crow flies, which I came to find out is different than that same four miles on a meandering river. I still figure it will be about two to two and a half hours. Give or take.

Coast Fork of Willamette River

Let the floating commence. We started out in a very slow part of the river and then got to our first rapids that kind of shot us down the river and I reaffirmed my assessment of having a leisurely ride down the river.  And that is exactly the way it was for the first three hours. Just beautiful and warm and lots and lots of birds and nature to look at and appreciate.

By my reckoning we had to be very close to my house where we would take our ‘inner tubes’ out of the water and do our high fives. Well, one river bend turned into another river bend and nothing looked familiar and then the sun started going down over the trees. It is one thing to be floating down the river in the sunshine and quite another when you are in the shade. All of a sudden it is cold and then it is not quite so fun.

But it was funny. We had to keep laughing and making fun to keep our spirits up as the river bends kept coming but we were not close to home yet. The standing joke was that “I think the house is right around the next bend.” Ha ha. NOT.

We started shivering and then we started doing the backstroke on our inner tubes so that we could get down the river faster. Yahoo, it soon became an obsession of necessity to get as far as we could as fast as we could so that we could get out of the river and warm up.

‘Hey, I think it is right around the next bend.’ And finally, we were right. What a welcome site to see my house sitting on the river bank and pulling into the little beach where we could take the ‘inner tubes’ out of the water and then drag ourselves out as well. Wow, that was one wonderful feeling to be back on dry land where we could warm up and get some grub.

But first it was a lot of howling laughter as we danced around in the warm sunlight of the deck. The shivering stopped and the glow of the river showed in our faces as we high fived and headed to the hot shower about four and a half hours after we put in upriver.

Here is the deal: Perseverance and total belief that you are going to make it to your destination. No matter where you are going as long as you keep your end result in front of you and persevere in your actions you will reach your goal, no matter what it is that you desire. KNOW that it is already a done deal because it is as long as you BELIEVE it is. Then just keep going. Sometimes you are going to be going through rapids and seem like you are rocketing to your destination and then at other times you are just barely moving and it doesn’t seem like you are making any progress, but you are.

You are in a river, it is called the ‘River of Life’ and the current in the ‘river of life’ is ‘well-being.’ When you stay in the flow of the river you remain in this well being and it always takes you to where you want to go. You absolutely know that as long as you keep your destination in mind and stay in the flow of the river you will get there eventually. Never lose heart in the middle of the journey even when the going seems slow. The flow of well-being will take you to some rapids soon enough as long as you BELIEVE it will.

Faith, Perseverance, and Belief. Go with the flow.

Live in love,

I live in the country on one of the most beautiful pieces of property in the world. The house is situated on the banks of the Coast Fork of the Willamette River and is very private and secluded. It is ensconced in nature with lots of plants, animals and birds. The river is a natural bird fly-way and I get to see the birds playing all the time.

Coast Fork of Willamette River

The house that came with the property is a big manufactured home that is quite comfortable until I am ready to build my dream house and take this one out of here. In the meantime I am living here and really like the house. It is roomy and when I step outside my door I can see the river flowing by and the birds playing in the trees.

In the spring the birds start nesting and there are several families of swallows who have found a way to get into the eaves of the house and make their nests in my attic. That is perfectly okay with me because I like the idea of living with the birds in our little ‘bedroom community.’

Once the chicks hatched out a couple months ago I began to wake up to the sounds of the parents coming and going feeding their noisy chicks all morning long. It is not an unpleasant way to wake up; in fact I really enjoyed it. Every morning I can see the parents bringing food in and swooping under the eaves to enter their nursery and feed the hungry squawking chicks.

Well, this morning I woke up to silence. The chicks have all grown to the size and maturity that allowed them to take wing and move on from this temporary habitat. They have all flown the coop in the last couple days and so now I wake up to silence from the bird menagerie.

Such is the nature of nature. Now I can observe in the air what was once a baby chick in my attic and I am so grateful to be witness to the wonder of life as a bird and my relationship to one of the most wonderful creatures in my world.

I am so blessed and I thank the universe for this opportunity to witness my connection to Source Energy in such a wondrous and magnificent manner.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Tony Burroughs is the founder of the “Intenders” which is a grass roots organization dedicated to helping people learn the fine art of manifesting by consciously using our ‘intentions’ to create what we want in our lives. You can check out the ‘Intenders of the Highest Good’ at www.Intenders.com.

The “Vision Alignment Project”  is designed to manifest a new world model based in love instead of fear. We see a healthy and whole planet earth where everybody is loved and thriving, just as we were meant to live life.

Check out our first intention at our new website:

http://www.VisionAlignmentProject.com.

This is an interactive website because we want you to be part of the movement we are initiating. We would love to have you ‘Align’ with us by just reading the ‘intention’ and then clicking the button that says “YES, I align with this intention.”

If you really resonate with the intention we would like you to tell your friends as well so that we can take this idea and move it around the world. This is how you change the collective consciousness, you start thinking about ‘a vision whose time has come’ and then you pass it on to your friends and then they start thinking about it and the next thing you know we are living within the new intention.

Thank you so much for checking out this new website and putting in your vote. We are taking this viral so thanks again for being a pioneer in changing the way life is lived on planet earth.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

I had some errands to run yesterday and it was late afternoon when I finished up and decided to stop by and see a friend of mine who had just recently returned from a two month trip to the east coast and back with his mate. They stopped and visited friends all across the country and did a ton of site-seeing. One of those trips of a life time.

So I stopped in to catch up on his trip and then I was going to catch the very late afternoon sun by going for a run down by the river. It was one of those sunny fall days where it is fairly warm when you are in the sun but not so warm when you are in the shade. So I wanted to catch the sun before it went down, which comes earlier and earlier this time of year.

For some reason we kept talking about subject after subject and by the time I left his house it was about a half hour to forty five minutes before sundown. Okay, I am still going for a run. So I get down to the park where I can park my car and start my run and I realize why I kept being delayed at my friend’s house.

I was supposed to be here at this right and perfect time for a “Sunset Run.” This is where I start my run about a half hour before sunset and end the run about a half hour after sunset. It is just the perfect time of evening and tonight was one of those perfect nights.

When I start out a run like this I am so full of gratitude that just being thankful for my life is about all I can think about for the first mile or so of my run. As I write these words I am thankful again for the most wonderful life I am creating. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My run is along the bike trails that border the Willamette River here in Eugene, Oregon. It is one of the most picturesque bike trails in the world. Especially at this time of the year when the trees are aflame with color and the leaves cover the path and make a mosaic carpet to run on. It is gorgeous.

About half way through my run I have to cross the Owosso Bridge to get to the other side of the river. I love crossing these bridges because you get to see up and down the river and all the birds and animals that populate the river.

Birds are moving right now to get to their nesting place for the night. Lots of ducks and geese flying around. Still lots of light even though the sun is going down. So I cross the bridge and make my way back on the other side of the river.

On this side of the river I can see the sunset and tonight there are these long pinkish rays that play on the clouds to the west to make this really cool pink light in the sky. Totally awesome. This is what a sunset run is all about.

It is hard not to be grateful for everything in life when you experience this kind of show in nature. Me, the river, the sunset, the trees, the birds, the animals, everywhere I look I am privy to this spectacular nature just showing off. Wow, double blessed.

I finish up my run at the Valley River Bridge and as I walk across the bridge to the park where my car is I marvel even more at the way the river water adds so much to our lives. I used to think that the running was the thing I was after but now I realize that the running is just a byproduct of the real thing.

And the real thing is just being out in nature. When you are walking in nature you are attending the theater of life and there is no better show in town.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

The reason most people feel like they are in a rut that they can’t seem to get out of is because they are continually micromanaging their lives in the day to day activities that keep them stuck doing the same things over and over.

The definition of insanity is when you continue doing the same thing again and again but expect to get different results. Albert Einstein put it this way, “You cannot change your current situation by thinking the same thoughts that got you there. You must change the way you are thinking and think different thoughts.”

The most effective way to change your thinking is to get out of your current comfort zone of micro-managing your life and create a schedule where you consciously and consistently start looking at the big picture of your life and begin the process of macro-managing your life. In order to macro-manage your life, you have to think different thoughts.

What would your life look like if you were on a track where everything that you ever wanted began to manifest into your life experience? Can you imagine that?

You begin with your imagination. First you imagine your life the way you really, really, really want it to be. This takes you out of the micro and puts you into the macro. You are no longer thinking about the same old things that you think about every day. You are thinking different thoughts and it is in these different thoughts that you begin the process of creating a different reality.

 “Create a Vision” of what you want your life to look like. This requires you to think different thoughts because now you are fine-tuning your imagination into a more vivid and accurate picture of how you choose your life to be.

Once you have created your vision you serve yourself by making your vision as concrete as possible by writing down your vision, by creating vision boards with pictures, by writing and speaking affirmations concerning your vision and all manner of positive things that keep your new vision in the forefront of your mind.

Invoke the ‘Law of Attraction’ by constantly thinking about the new vision you hold for your life in the macro while you engage in the day to day living of your life in the micro. The ‘Law of Attraction’ tells us that you bring into your life that which you put your attention on. Keep your attention on your big picture vision and the law of attraction has no recourse but to bring into your current experience those things you are constantly thinking about.

Don’t worry about how this is all going to happen, just keep focused on the ‘Big Picture’ and let the universe work its magic.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

I have always been successful although I haven’t always known it at the time. When I was sleepwalking through life, for about the first forty years or so, I was pretty much conditioned to interpret success in terms of money and material possessions.

Hey, it seemed to be the thing to do at the time because the television and all my peers kept telling me that those were the best parameters of ‘Success.’

Well, according to those guidelines I actually got to experience “success” but not all the time and not in a way that was gratifying to me. Oh yeah, I enjoyed the idea of having money and having new cars and all the material stuff that comes along with this definition of ‘success’ but it is nothing like the ‘success mind-set’ that I live with now.

Every aspect of my life is a success now because I am not confined to those silly parameters that a life based in fear tells me is the only manner of interpretation. I live within a love based paradigm of life now and because of this expanded way of living life I get to enjoy unlimited success in all aspects of my existence.

Now, isn’t that a lot more fun than just having the occasional success and only getting to enjoy it every once in a while?

It all has to do with the concept of ‘Love’ and its companion “Total Acceptance.” Love requires you to accept all the people, places, events and circumstances of your life and when you do that you get to see the benefit of everything that comes into your life and actually put the meaning to it that serves you. Whereas I used to judge and condemn most of the things that showed up in my life, now I accept everything that shows up because I know that if it shows up in my life, then I had a hand in somehow ‘creating it.’

And if I created it then I certainly don’t want to judge and condemn it, do I? I want to see what kind of hidden treasure there is for me. I can only do that by accepting what shows up and then putting the meaning to what shows up so that it serves me.

It takes a little while to get the hang of doing this but once you do you find that you are able to see all of the things that you couldn’t see before because you had immediately dismissed them as ‘bad’ or ‘unworthy’ or ‘whatever.’

Seeing with new eyes is how it all happens. Those new eyes are the eyes of love. Love opens up, expands, reveals and heals. Wow, I love to live in love. And I really love the concept of putting the meaning to everything that shows up in my life because it always reveals ‘Success.’ Yes, it’s a Mind-Set.

Live in love,

Richard

 Yawn Patrol is a very special club in the annals of Toastmasterdom because of our special distinction of being a “Presidents Distinguished Club” award recipient. In order to receive this award from Toastmasters International, the governing body of all of ‘Toastmasters’ clubs, you must complete nine out of the ten requirements for receiving this award. Every toastmasters club has the ability to receive this award but only a few have the tenacity to accomplish this feat.

 What makes ‘Yawn Patrol’ so special is that we have been awarded the “Presidents Distinguished Club” award for the last nine years in a row. Nine consecutive awards is quite an accomplishment for anything and we are very proud to announce that we are on track to get our tenth consecutive award this year. Ten “Presidents Distinguished Club” awards in ten years.

 So the current President of our club, Jill Whitmore, got in contact with Toastmasters International and asked them if they would be interested in an article for the “Toastmaster Magazine” about our club and what it takes to accomplish this feat. Of course, they were very excited about the prospect of our story so we are now in the process of creating an article to present to the magazine for all of our fellow Toastmasters around the world to read and learn from.

 We had a planning meeting last night at Jill’s house and did some brainstorming about what should be in the article and how we should structure it and all that. We talked about how we had great leadership and how we followed the guidelines of ‘Toastmasters’ and we talked about all the things required by the ten things you can do to earn the “Presidents Distinguished Club” award.

 Then we came to the conclusion that you can read about all of that stuff in the ‘Toastmasters’ manuals and magazine but what really makes our group special is the people and how we have all come together as an extended family that honors and respects each and every member. So we decided to shift the focus of the article to reflect the individual personalities of our members.

 We decided to have each member write a short paragraph about why ‘Yawn Patrol’ is so special to them and I would like to submit my paragraph right now. Here is why ‘Yawn Patrol’ is so special to me and why I believe that we have created this special Toastmasters experience.

Why Yawn Patrol is special to me: By Richard D. Blackstone

Fellow Toastmasters, my name is Richard Blackstone and I have been a member since August of 04’. Yawn Patrol is special to me because of one thing; LOVE. This group of diverse and exceptional people all came here with the intention of being better at public speaking, including myself, but once you become a member of Yawn Patrol you begin to realize that there is something going on in this special group of people that is way beyond the simple concept of learning the ART of public speaking. You have joined a family that honors and respects all its members. Yes, we all become better speakers, but during the course of this learning curve we all become better human beings. We have a very spiritual base in our club that demonstrates itself as Love, the kind of love that heals and grows and shares. I look forward to 6:15am on Friday mornings because I know that I am going to be immersed in a ‘feeling of love’ for an hour and a half and I can’t wait to get there and enjoy the company of these extraordinary people. Part of that love reveals itself in our mutual pride as a club that has been a “Presidents Distinguished Club” for nine years running and we are keeping it going. Yea, Yawn Patrol.

 I love ‘Yawn Patrol.’

 Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

 When you are an author you understand the fun part of that adventure, the actual writing of the books. I love writing and when I set down to write a book I am totally in the present moment and just focused on the book and the writing. It is my creative outlet and I love it.

 The other part of the equation is that you need to sell the books. They don’t do any good just sitting on the shelf collecting dust. You have a message and you need to get it out there so that other people can share the message and use it to help them on their journey. In other words you need to ‘Market the Book.’

 So that is what this Amazon Best-Seller campaign is all about. Marketing books so that people know about them and can use them. Here’s the deal, marketing takes a lot more time and effort than writing. It is a whole different mind-set but one that must be done if you want to get your message out.

 The Amazon Best-Seller campaign is a useful tool in marketing books. The premise is that if you get a lot of people to go to Amazon and buy your book on a particular day then the increased sales of your book on that day will take it the top one hundred in your category and you will have a Best-Seller.

 You get a lot of Joint Venture partners together and have each of them provide a valuable free gift and then you create a lot of value for the potential purchasers of your book. They not only get your book but they also get all of the valuable ‘bonus gifts’ that run into the thousands of dollars, all for free.

 It is a very good system for all parties concerned and that is what we are doing today. You can check out the webpage at http://www.nutsandboltsspirituality.com/amazon.htm.

 Even though the formal campaign is today, many of my Joint Venture partners will be mailing out to their lists in the next few weeks so if you want to get in on the free bonuses and also get my award-winning book, “Nuts & Bolts Spirituality, Waking up the Sleepwalkers,” this would be a good time. Just click the link above and check it out. It is a great ROI, Return On Investment.

 Thanks again for being on the path of self improvement and creating a new world model based in love.

 Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

I was playing on my computer in my office and had the radio going as a kind of background noise that was also entertaining me when I heard them mention my name on the radio as one of the contributors to the station. It is always kind of fun to hear your name on the radio or television so I stopped what I was doing for a minute and acknowledged my role as a member of “Listener Powered” KRVM Radio.

You see, KRVM is not a commercial radio station; it is a publicly funded radio station under the administration of the 4-J school district. It is a High School Radio station and it is probably, no, not probably, it is the BEST radio station in the world. Not the best radio station in our state or the best in our country, it is the BEST radio station in the world.

Can you see how blessed I am? This radio station has the best programming and variety of music anywhere with no commercials. Most of the people who host the radio shows are volunteers with no pay. They just love the music and want to be part of this phenomenal public service. Many of the DJ’s have been with KRVM for over ten years as non-paid volunteers who love what they do.

They are following their passion because they are doing this and doing it very well without pay, just for the sheer joy of being of service with something they love. That is why every program that you listen to is filled with a variety of fantastic music specific to the theme of the show. You aren’t going to hear the top forty over and over and over and over.

This is Real Variety in Music. That’s the RVM in KRVM. Real Variety in Music. You hear music that you never hear anywhere else because the commercial stations have all figured out their demographics and done all their testing and made sure that they are playing only and exactly what their niche market tells them they want to hear. And then they bombard them with commercials to make it all work. None of that with KRVM.

They don’t even have any news, which is another blessing. Plus a lot of their shows are hosted by High School students who are learning the ropes of radio broadcasting as part of their curriculum.

Okay, so why am I a member of ‘Listener Supported’ KRVM? Because they have cut all of the funding for the station. The state and federal government used to be the major funders of this non-profit educational station but all of that funding is gone. The only way the station stays on the air is through listener supporters and some underwriters.

This station is so popular that it has established a good base of support, of which I can proudly say I am one, and it has not only kept the station on the air but also allowed it to invest in some better broadcasting as they recently went from 1100 watts of power to 15,000 watts of power. I am so grateful for this better ability to transmit because I get much better reception where I live now.

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. I am so grateful for this wonderful radio station.

If you would like to check out KRVM for yourself go online at www.krvm.org. You can actually listen to it online around the world. If you like it enough you can also be a member supporter. Try it out and be grateful for the opportunity to witness Real Variety in Music.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone