Politics Shmalitics

One of the rules I have is that I don’t talk about politics. Unfortunately this is one of those times that I have to get on my soap box. All through this year I have been saying that we should fire all of congress and the senate and replace them with people who really care about what we the people want. It’s just insane what is going on. They are giving billions of dollars out to bail out companies yet they put no restraints on what those companies. Case in point is AIG who is now being bailed out for $150 billion which is more than what was originally projected yet they are still having weekend outings at posh resorts to “reward” their hard working employees in these difficult times. What ever happened to cutting costs in difficult times? Then there’s American Express who gets authorization to become a bank holding company who now sticks their hand out for $3.5 billion bailout by the government. Excuse me? Last time I looked American Express was the company charging the highest fees to their merchants. Where has all that money been going? I also thought of an idea that might assist the economy. Why doesn’t congress mandate that all credit card companies drop their interest rates to 0% for say the next 6 months or so. As far as I see it but I could be wrong, this would not only help the hapless consumer who is drowning in debt to repay their debt and actually see it go down rather than going no where because of the finance charges and the credit card companies would still get their money rather than none at all. Why can’t everyone just stop being so greedy. Enough said about that.

On another note, I really wasn’t thrilled by either presidential candidate but I did vote and I believe that everyone needs a chance to prove themselves. Here’s the problem I have at no time in history have I ever hear of thousands and thousands of people massing to watch and celebrate the election of a president. I know we needed a change but come on let’s celebrate after his term and elect him again if he does a great job. What amazed me even more was the reaction of the people almost deifying Obama as if he is our savior. It’s not about Obama being our savior. It’s about we the people. Obama was quite clear in his election speech that it is our responsibility and duty to get this country back on track. In the words of JFK “Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country!” What further amazes me is that they actually want to declare a national holiday on his inauguration day. Let’s get real people. He is not God. Yes a precedent has been set with the election of the first African American but does that mean we declare a holiday for that? There was no holiday when John F Kennedy was elected yet he also set a precedent as being the youngest president and also being the first Catholic to become president. I wonder if there would have been the same reaction if Hillary had been elected president. There’s no doubt that Obama has a long hard job ahead of him and I look forward to the changes which will be coming.

As a final note I want to compliment the Obama supporters. At no time during Obama’s speech was there any booing when the name of McCain was mentioned. The same cannot be said for the McCain supporters who booed every time Obama’s name was mentioned. Just because the other guy got elected doesn’t mean we need to be disrespectful. Whether Obama was the right choice or wrong choice can only be seen from what he accomplishes or doesn’t accomplish during his term. Everybody deserves a chance. Remember that it’s not only Obama that will be responsible for bringing about change. There are 100 Senators and 435 Congressmen who hold that same responsibility. Obama is just the Director the members of Congress and the Senate are the Actors.

COMING FROM LACK

Lately I have had the opportunity, because I have chosen to live my life full out, to take some incredible trips and create some experiences that I could not ever have imagined doing in my life. As I share these experiences with my colleagues and friends there are some constant refrains that I hear;

“I wish I could do that. I wish I had the time to do that. I wish I had the money to do that.”

I realize that those were thoughts I was having years ago under similar circumstances. So why the change, why is it that I have chosen not to allow these thoughts to enter into my conscious or subconscious thoughts?

There are many books out there in this world which talk about how to succeed in life and how to attract abundance to your self or even how to attract the lifestyle you desire and deserve. One book “King Solomon, The Richest Man in the World” tells us that King Solomon was granted one wish by God. He was allowed to choose anything he wanted. Solomon after some thought asked God for Wisdom and nothing more. Because he made such a modest request and did not ask for abundance God gave him not only the wisdom he requested but also incredible wealth. It was the wisdom that God gave him which allowed him to not only keep and increase his wealth, but to also share this knowledge through the book of proverbs allowing others to learn the secrets of attracting abundance. Then there is Napoleon Hill’s book, “Think and Grow Rich” which has become the bible for many millionaires, “The science of getting rich” and of course “The Secret”.

One of the reasons that I have chosen to remove the thoughts of lack from my consciousness is that all of these books basically say the same thing. If you live the life that you KNOW you deserve and you live your life with integrity, consideration for others, and gratitude you will get everything back many times over. The other reason as I thought about it was WHY should I be living my life for other people. Working my tail off for wages that were forcing me to work two sometimes three jobs in order to survive while others are making a fortune off my sweat. Even more so why should I live hand to mouth and deprive myself of the life I deserve? What does it get me? We are all familiar with the expression “No pain no gain!” Don’t we experience pain from regret then why shouldn’t we at least benefit from the pain rather than wallow in it and gain nothing.

Coming from a place of lack will only get you lack. Coming from a place of commitment and conviction in the belief that you deserve better, and living that life will only bring you what you desire. The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews reviews the seven decisions that we can make in life which will lead us to achieve anything we desire.

Its funny how we always say have a great day to each other. Does this get delivered to you does someone hand it to you? Nope what we should be saying to each other is MAKE IT A GREAT DAY! We are the only ones who can make or break our day.

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY YOU DESERVE IT.

FEAR OF FAILURE

Fear of Failure, what an intense subject. Some may not agree as they accept fear and failure as a fact of life. BUZZER!! Many people don’t realize that it is fear of failure that is holding us back from moving forward in our lives or even achieving success.

So what is fear? The dictionary defines fear as “A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain etc., whether the threat is real or imagined “. FEAR is an acronym for False Experiences Appearing Real. So truly what is fear? Many say fear is a good thing, it makes us humble. While I agree that fear is a good thing when you’re looking off a cliff and thinking about jumping off it’s not fear that’s going to change your mind, its choice. Fear in itself is a scary thing. It ages you, it makes you sick and it prevents you from excelling in your life. As a child, did fear enter into your thoughts? I can’t believe that it did as you would have never walked, swam or left home for that matter. How did that word fear enter into our lives? Do you remember phrases like be careful with that pencil or you’ll poke your eye out? I remember being told by my mother not to go play in the park because the other kids would steal my basketball or don’t play with matches you’ll burn yourself. Wow! So that’s where I got fear from! So it’s not something we inherit, its not something that’s instinctive. ITS SOMETHING WE LEARN FROM OUR PARENTS AND PEOPLE AROUND US! So here come the limiting beliefs, the belief that we cannot succeed, the belief that we don’t deserve better. Amazing that such a word, a four letter word at that can have such an impact on our lives. Remember the now famous quote from Winston Churchill,” We have nothing to fear but FEAR itself.”

So on to failure. It has more letters in it than fear but holds as much of an impact on our lives as fear. The dictionary defines failure as “the condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends”. So really what is failure? Let me throw something else at you. What is a mistake? What’s really the difference? Isn’t failure really just an event in our life, a mistake? Isn’t it really just a learning experience or event in our life? As a baby when we took our first steps did our parents chastise us because we fell or did they encourage us to keep trying? So what’s the difference when we grow older? Why are we chastised for failure rather than praised for the attempt whether we “failed or succeeded”? More often than not you will hear in society that we spend more time chastising people for their mistakes rather than congratulating them for their successes. Why? Why do people thrive off the failure or pain of others? Is it so difficult to be happy for other people in their victories? Sure a lot of it relates to jealousy and envy but isn’t that just something that we have manufactured in our lives by creating the belief that we have to keep up with or surpass the Smiths without accepting the fact that WE have created the place we are in ourselves. There are so many stories in life of people who refuse to accept their lot in life and make the choice to ignore the judgments of other people. Look at Ford, Carnegie and in more recent times Bill Gates. If they had allowed the judgments of others to influence their lives where would we be now?

Well that’s enough about failure so now imagine these two words, fear and failure, together in the same sentence. Want to talk about judgment, fear of failure is the most devastating judgment that we place on ourselves. Fear of failure is the reason so many people remain stagnant in their lives. So what’s the big deal? Isn’t it all about choice? We all have the choice in life to allow the fear of failure created by the limiting beliefs and judgments of others to determine the path we choose to follow. Rather than being envious or jealous of others doesn’t it make sense to burn the boats and move forward for our own success, or should we remain complacent and dwell in the place of being satisfied with what we have rather than creating that which we deserve.

Success or Failure the choice is yours.

LETTING GO

The other day I had a dream. I was preparing to do a tandem parachute jump. I was at the door poised to leap. As I jumped from the plane I suddenly realized that my instructor was not with me, but this was ok since I could feel that the parachute was on my back. I wasn’t frightened. As I drifted down I also recognized that I did not have an altimeter but this also did not frighten me. As I looked down at the others below me, I said to myself there was no need to worry about when I should open my chute as I could see where the others were opening theirs. It was all cool and I just enjoyed the free fall. When I reached the level where the others had opened their chute I reached back to pull what I believed to be the rip cord and all I pulled out were the strings that held the chute to my pack. Still without panic and finding my dilemma interesting I reached for the cord on my other side and when that was pulled I ended up with a handful of sheet. For whatever reason there was still no panic. I pondered the situation as I watched the ground get closer and closer. Struck with a brilliant thought, I rapidly started pulling out the sheet hoping that I could deploy the parachute before crashing to the ground. As I saw the chute deploy, I found myself having landed on the ground. What struck me was the ease of the landing in spite of the chute not opening. I went to greet my wife as she landed and pointed out to her that my descent was a lot faster than hers because the chute did not open and told her how easy it had been.

What was the lesson that I learned from this dream? It’s ok to let go. If you read Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich there is the episode where the Cortez when he is invading the yucatan tells his troops to burn their ships after they had landed, as an invading force on the enemy’s beaches. When questioned by the troops about the fact that this will leave them no possibility for retreat, the captain response was that this leaves no option but to move forward as retreating is not an option. This dream to me basically says the same thing it is ok to let go because things will work out as long as you go forward with commitment and without fear.

A leap of faith is just that – a leap from what you know and trust in to the unknown.

AN INDUSTRY IN TURMOIL

The airline world/travel world is in turmoil. Airlines are going out of business left and right, and it’s getting harder and harder for travel agencies to make a buck due to the removal of commissions.
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I have worked in the airline/travel industry for over 25 years. From the time of Freddie Laker and the start of the low cost carriers through the fuel crisis, deregulation, the recession of the 80’s, the hijackings and the first war in the desert to present. In each case the refrain has been that people will always travel and this is still true, however, now there is a noticeable reduction in those numbers. Airfares have increased minimally since the 70’s but fuel surcharges and taxes have almost doubled the cost of an airline ticket. Governments decide that they want to raise money for third world nations and for the environment. Who better to pass the tax on to, than the airlines who of course pass it on to the consumer. What does this mean? While people are still traveling, the numbers by air are less. More and more people are making trips close to home or saving up for that once in a life time trip. The low cost carriers aren’t low cost any more and flight operations are being reduced or discontinued. The end result of this is that with increased fuel prices more and more airlines are suffering. Airlines are beginning to collapse. In the last few years several airlines have been forced into bankruptcy and last year were coming back to a solvent position, however, now the situation is worse than it has ever been. So far 25 airlines have gone out of business both passenger and cargo and its not over.

The CEO for BA at a conference stated that he expected an additional 30 airlines to shutdown before the end of the year. Nine airlines that have announced layoffs account for 27,000 employees. The outlook for the airline industry is bleak. Even my job is in question either because a merger is in the wings, or the possibility that due to a delay in a decision by the European Commission, we will be driven into bankruptcy.

This is why I have sought out another venue for raising the capital required to live the life I lead. Another job is not an option as the market is saturated with people looking for jobs and why should I place myself in a similar position of uncertainty as many other companies, not just airlines are also laying off employees. There is a choice we make. Do we hold out in hopes of getting that golden handshake or should we be looking for that out? The choice is always yours.

Iata warns of Airline bankruptcies
http://www.lloyds.com/CmsPhoenix/DowJonesArticle.aspx?id=406675#

BA CEO warns more airlines to follow XL
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Willie-Walsh-And-Paddy-Power-Predict-More-Airlines-To-Follow-XL-Out-Of-Business/Article/200809215098361