Blessings Experiment Update info@bettertobless.com

Hello from my heart, Tony,

I just had to share with you that even though last night's first teleconference was, in many ways, a real comedy of errors, it was also a wonderful blessing in the most surprising way. Find out why by reading today's post on my Brighter World Blog. You'll find it down below.

Those who attended the teleconference and were able to listen to Karen Wright speak, now know firsthand what an amazing teacher she is. But did you also know that on March 7-9, she will be hosting a women's weekend retreat in beautiful Yuchats, Oregon and teaching on the Power of Choice? (You can click on the link below to look over the retreat brochure and find out more.)

If you can possibly make it, please do. This is a gift you'll always be glad you gave to yourself. In beautiful and relaxing surroundings, you'll have a priceless opportunity to get in touch with your inner spirit, exploring the way you think, the beliefs you embrace, and the effect they have on getting what you want out of life.

Attention Husbands, Fathers, Brothers and Sons: This may be a women-only retreat, but before you dismiss it casually as being not for you, take a moment to look at the brochure and think about what an amazing gift it would be for the woman -- or women -- in your life.

As she relaxes on a beautiful secluded beach along the Oregon coastline, her heart responding to the mystical beauty all around her, her inner spirit dancing to the music of the ocean's roar, she may well decide that this is the greatest gift she has ever received.

And she is worth it. You know she is.

To learn more about this powerful retreat, click here.

One last note: Lower pre-registration prices for the event officially ended January 7th, but if you mention that Kate sent you, I think Karen will make an adjustment just for you.

Until next time... May you be blessed with all things good,

Kate Nowak, Creator of the Worldwide Blessings Experiment

Have You Accepted the Challenge Yet?

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Posted by Kate at 1/16/2008 6:01 PM and is filed under uncategorized

It was a comedy of errors, one of those times when if it could go wrong, it did. A last minute but very necessary change in call-in numbers caused those who missed the email announcing the change to also miss the call. A typo in an earlier message stating that the time for the call was Central Standard instead of Eastern further added to the confusion and caused some callers to spend unnecessary time waiting in an empty conference room for a call that was an hour a way. Of course, the callers didn't know that, so hung up long before the actual call did start.
A frustrated registrant sent me an email suggesting I try being more grounded. In my own frustration, my first thought was, "Ya think?!"

When the call finally began the comedy continued. A new conference room meant unfamiliar control codes. To make it even worse, the static was so great that I had trouble hearing what anyone was saying, including our guest speaker, Karen Wright. Though those in attendance were filled with encouragement, patience and the most incredible and loving energy, I found it necessary to press the mute button just so I could hear what Karen was saying. And when I tried to press the record button, I actually bumped myself off the call and had to call back in. By the time I "re-arrived" I was jittery and feeling totally incompetent. The record button never did come on, and the back up I purposely planned "just in case" was so static-filled it was useless.

For any of you out there who are fans of the old sitcom "I Love Lucy", you may remember the episode in which after having written a cookbook, Lucy is ecstatic to learn a publisher is interested. Her ecstacy is short-lived, however, when she discovers the publisher is keen on using the book as an example of how NOT to write a cookbook. After last night's call, the memory of that hilariously funny episode popped into my mind as I was sharing with my husband the countless goofups I'd bumbled my way through during the call, and I began laughing. The more I laughed the more laughter came. Soon I was laughing so hard my sides hurt. "I can write a book on how NOT to host a teleconference!" I announced, words so garbled in giggles as to be unfathomable to anyone but me.

It wasn't until after my funny bone had finally righted itself again that it began to dawn on me that anything that could make me laugh so hard wasn't really a goofup at all. It was, instead, a blessing of the most wonderful sort. And so in my gratitude journal I wrote, "Screwed up teleconference royally and laughed 'til I hurt. Awesome, awesome day!"

There's a wonderful scene in Larry McMurtry's novel, Lonesome Dove" in which Gus is trying to get Captain Call to lighten up a bit and not be so afraid of admitting he can be wrong. He tells his good friend that personally he's glad he gets to be wrong so often and when it is obvious Call can't fathom why, Gus continues on to explain that since nobody's perfect, we should all get used to it. He tells his friend that if you only mess up a couple of times in your life, then those mistakes become instantaneous big deals, the kind that cause anguish. But if you're lucky enough to mess up once or twice every day, well that's different. Then you're so used to it, that being right or wrong doesn't matter anymore.

I agree with Gus. I think most of make way too big a thing out of striving for perfection. We expect it in ourselves, we expect it in others, and we expect it in our world. And folks, as Gus might say, a steady diet of perfection ain't gonna be likely any time soon.

You know, I actually began thinking about starting weekly teleconference calls over a year ago. Truth be known I kept putting it off because I was afraid. "What if I didn't do it right?" "What if no body called?" What if what I had to say didn't matter to anyone?" These were the kind of questions that rumbled around in my mind and caused me to keep putting up big "delay" signs in my thinking every time I got close to scheduling that first conference call. And then a few weeks ago, as I was choosing quotes to go in the new Heartfelt Blessings I came across one by Epictetus that, like a mental bulldozer, rumbled in to obliterate every delay sign in my path.

"Unremarkable lives," Epictetus said, "are marked by the fear of not looking capable when trying something new." And I knew at once that as long as I kept listening to those questions in my mind and letting that idea that I had to be perfect keep me from moving forward, I wasn't living up to my full potential. None of us, you see, can really succeed in life until we've given ourselves permission to fail.

In today's world, however, that's not easy to do. We have grown into a society that expects perfection in everything. From our pop stars to our politicians we demand perfection and are outraged and accusatory when it is not forthcoming. And we don't stop with those who appear bigger than life. Everyday we grow more intolerant of any inkling of failure in ourselves and our neighbors.

It's easy to see why. After all, anyone with a television knows we are inundated daily with shows that tell us what to wear, how to create a perfect physique and how to throw a party that will make our friends green with envy. We are told over and over again that it's not important what we know, but who we know, and that as parents, if we're too lenient we will fail and if we're too strict we will fail and heaven forbid we strive for moderation because studies have shown that's a certain path to failure, too. We're told that we can't be thin enough, rich enough or successful enough to ever reach the perfection benchmark, but we're damned if we don't try anyway. We get so tied up in that idea of a perfect outcome, that it's a sheer wonder we're able to do anything at all.

Success in life doesn't come from perfect outcomes. It comes from our willingness to take action, it comes from moving forward, from not being afraid of falling flat on our faces because we know we can always get up again. As the old adage goes, it's not how many times we fail that counts, but how many times we get back up. And we can always get back up. It's that getting back up, after all, that makes us human. And it is our imperfection that makes us capable of blessing all in our life that is less than perfect. It is our imperfection that gives us the ability to love unconditionally. It is through our imperfection and our willingness to bounce back when we fall that we learn to truly live.

In the Talmud there is a story about a wise man who, while walking in the country, is surrounded by a pack of wild dogs. Struck with immediate fear, he sits down in the middle of the pack. He sits there because he knows that we do not conquer a fear by running from it, it conquers us. He sits there because he knows that as long as he stands frozen by fear and imagining what will next, he is wasting an amazingly precious moment of life. He sits down in the midst of those dogs because he knows waiting for them to get bored and wander away may be waiting in vain. He sits there because in his wisdom he understands that the only way we can travel the path and enjoy the journey is by dealing head on with whatever gets in our way.
Last night I dealt with my fear. I stumbled, I fell and I got back up again. It was, I believe, a smashing success. It was, I know, a red-letter day in my life and one I am grateful to have experienced.
So what about you? Is there something you've been putting off because you're afraid you might not get it right the first time? If so, why not take it down from your shelf of fears, dust it off and bless it for being the teacher it has come to be. With that small step, you move from living a life filled with fear to a life brimming with blessings.

That's not a bad trade, you know? Not bad at all.