Pique through freedom illustration and picture-words

A picture is worth a thousands words. Most of us have heard that before. An interesting take on this concept, however, is that it doesn't necessarily take a thousand words to describe a picture.
Contained within the many wonders in this world of ours are the seasons. We all can relate to the weather, and, ultimately derive it from the current season, for the most part. Living in New England, however, we have become accustomed to frequent, perhaps even non-seasonal weather changes. This year we seemed to suffer from a perpetual cool and rainy spring. Not cold, but not really warm either. A darkness that seems to evoke gloom and hunkering down is present. Sounds, of rain drops in a pitter-pat in puddles, of splashing foot-steps, as people want on their way, of cars seemingly surfing on stream-like waterways, with their wheel-splash glide and then of cascading waves of whoosh and crash of foaming walls of water all permit us to hear the effects of the rain, we also feel and see. A natural cleansing cycle, where dirt and grime are actually washed away. An chance in contrast without equal to observe the brightness inside. The light of our inner self, keeping us on course and cheerful. Casting off the gloom, we can also embrace this as a refreshing change; a chance to enjoy the shower (To join our Master Mind and experience a life-changing process, start your own 30-Day Cleanse. You need it more than you need oxygen. The only cost is your commitment to yourself. You’ll get a download of the unabridged “Think and Grow Rich”. To get started, first download your free copy of Michael Dlouhy’s “Success In Ten Steps” by clicking HERE. I will send you the link to get started with your mental cleanse.).
This picture-painting, with words, is one way we can present the freedom opportunity that network marketing represents to those we meet and interact with; welcoming them to join us in our success journey, ever growing our numbers, and spreading all the positive emotions, leading us to accomplish.

A note to anyone who's considered MLM ...

I've been doing MLM for about 25 years, but it had never become more than a resource sink, until recently. It's very easy to spend your money on tools, or leads or products, or to spend countless hours (really your MOST VALUABLE ASSET) and go nowhere.
It certainly is NOT get rich quick, even for the super stars, who tend to have bursts, then lulls of growth. It is, certainly, about hard work, and a good (healthy) work ethic.
I think the secret is NOT about companies OR products, but about PEOPLE.
Building a spider-web of real contacts is the key, and, the current explosion in social networking, and how traditional marketers are trying to target it is just one piece of evidence.
Having part of your spider-web contain a mastermind mentoring group, where you can balance your primary personality against others, complimenting your effectiveness is crucial.
Download Michael Dlouhy's (my mentor and very successful MLM'er) FREE ebook, that discusses MLM in general from here http://tkoker.successin10steps.com, and the 10 hours of additional training that is made available for FREE (audio, live phone calls, eBooks, too), I can provide (all free, no strings at all), if you're interested.
This is really free, no spam, no hidden agenda, no companies or products, just heart-felt mentoring.

Specialized Knowledge

Re-reading Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", "Chapter 5 - Specialized Knowledge (personal experiences or observations)" puts a floodlight on an area in my recent personal development, allowing me to see with great clarity and focus a major course correction that was needed in my life. I am a practising Computer Systems Engineer. So, clearly, having a specialized knowledge of technology is required. And, although I have had a reasonably successful journey, somewhere along the way I succumbed to a narrow focus on the knowledge and lost sight of the bigger picture. I had allowed my mind to become distracted and stimulated physically (stimulants, yes, like coffee and alcohol) and through events, rather than the ideas that set me on the path in the first place. I had stopped dreaming. I had stopped focusing on the goal. I stopped to savour the accomplishment, but forgot it was supposed to be just one more piece in the puzzle. I had unwittingly traded a position, part of a building master mind group, and instead had become swallowed up as someone else's staff employee.
With wide open eyes (mindful thoughts, renewed desire, faith and a resurrected auto-suggestion habit-building), I am moving again on a path with even greater goals. I have found that we each have our own abilities, strengths and weaknesses. I'm piecing the puzzle together again, finding additional sources for specialized knowledge for which I lack, staying mindful that together we will be rebuilt. We will accomplish goals we have yet to even conceive. The clouds are evaporating from the sky, the sun is shining bright and our convoy is picking up speed.

With Enthusiasm and Gratitude

Auto-suggestion

Since I was very young, I recall visualizing thoughts being planted, like seeds thrown over a wall to the other side. To complete the picture, however, I also experienced thoughts being returned, more like a tennis ball, over a net. Unlike tennis, however, the balls sent over the net (to the subconscious), don't come back, for a time, but seem to allow many more to be sent over, before a new creation is returned. It's not clear that these pictures were entirely about the subconscious, but may actually have been influenced by Infinite Intelligence as well. I also discovered that thoughts planted at night and first thing in the morning, somehow, had more significance. Similarly, those planted, at the end of focused activity, like work on Friday, may lie buried, until dug up, with effort, at the resumption of the activity, like work on Monday. Often my weekends were spent, free from cares, dedicated to anything but work; the rest and refreshment we all need, but rather than being balanced throughout, were binged and squandered.
As I evolved, I found myself desiring a better continuity, from the Friday burial, to the Monday rediscovery, and that forced me to become more of a workaholic, focused on the next thing, over-scheduled, overworked, and under-refreshed. Pride heralded "super man!", but the tangle was building, becoming a strangling weight. It then took greater effort to find ways to rest and refresh.
At each different stage, I found myself planting specific thoughts, but, in retrospect, find that I neglected the weeding. My garden became overgrown, and an under-brush of tangled wannabe trees strangled by all manner of undesirable growth.
I ended up in a mode of auto-pilot; doing what had to be done, rationalizing detours of flight as needed breaks.
Then a wake up call. I slid my car, on black (clear roadway) ice, into a telephone pole. Thankfully I was the only one in the car. I awoke to find myself in the hospital, for the next 30 days, and then, for 7 more months, at home, recovering. This forced me to spend time with myself, like I had never found the time to do before. I began a self-guided mental-cleanse then, but the overgrowth was too deep and tangled. I found myself back on the wheel once more.
Another wake up call. Slowly being strangled by an out of control addiction, headed for certain death, I was again shaken awake. This time, with outside help and guidance, I slowly began actually clearing the unwanted growths in my garden. Calling out to the Infinite Intelligence, I was able to focus on those things I am grateful for in my life. This became my first daily auto-suggestion list. This list has also evolved, over time, but remains the foundation of the garden-clearing upon which the tallest, strongest and forever expanding new growth flourishes.

Desiderata

- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --
Not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church"!

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata