Author Archive

The neat thing about flow is that it comes in handy in the most unusual ways. Take what happened to me the other day.

I’ve been buying these rice chips at Trader Joe’s that are sold under the Trader Joe’s brand. I’ve been buying them for at least six months, at the same Trader Joe’s grocery store. Well, I really like these chips and had suddenly run out of them. No big deal, right? Wrong.

I head to the same store, go the same aisle, and couldn’t find my chips. I asked three Trader Joe’s employees where the chips were. Not only had none of them ever heard of them, but they literally suggested Trader Joe’s never carried such an item and that maybe I was thinking of something else! I felt like I was in some sort of Twilight Zone episode where everyone says I’m crazy but I know I’m not.

Which brings me to the part about flow. While this grocery incident is minor, the fact is there are many, many bigger similar instances going on every day. The news is notorious for this. I’ve literally seen two totally conflicting news stories two days apart. Most are about hot topics like jobs or the economy. For example, Monday the story is how the  jobless rate is at its highest level. Tuesday’s story is how more jobs were created than ever and the economy is on a rebound.

Of course, there are more insidious versions of this. You’ve heard the phrase, “always get it in writing.” Well, this Twilight Zone stuff is the reason why. You need only look at political candidates before and after the election to see cases in point. Car dealers, business people, and similar are notorious for promising things and then later acting like they never uttered a word. And if you’re like me you’ve encountered this with technology as well. Take E-mail. The same way you’ve always accessed it, day after day, is suddenly totally different. Yet you’re supposed to think this is the way it always has been, especially when customer support says so.

That’s why flow is so important. Even if you never got it in writing and everyone around you is saying it never happened/was said, through flow you know it DID happen and that you’re not crazy. In this way you can take logical steps to rectify the situation without coming from a “crazy” point of view. It’s very empowering, and works!

So the SuperBowl is over for another year and everyone is celebrating one way or another. The news was full of Packer fans partying away and, of course, reviews of the best commercials from the event.

But, like so many things in this media-driven world, all the jubilation is masking something the complete opposite. What you won’t hear about in the media, at least not yet, is that the NFL players’ union and the team owners are at such loggerheads with contract negotiations that the 2011 – 2012 season may not even take place.

On March 3rd the union contract is up and then all bets are off. And the players have already created a “union fund” of $60K per player in case there is a strike. The NFL has deeper pockets (happens with billionaire owners) so both sides are prepared financially.

The reason I bring this up is because of America’s hypocrisy around this issue. What am I talking about? The current American consensus is that unions are bad and have ruined this country. This, of course, has been fueled by both the Republicans and the most ‘obvious’ union in America – autoworkers. If you read blogs or commentary on unions most people will cite the autoworkers union as the prime example of how ‘evil’ unions are. Wal-Mart even forces new hires to watch a video about how bad unions are for today’s economy.

So unions are incredibly evil  . . . until you start talking about professional sports. Then suddenly unions are okay and people want the strike resolved and players to ‘get their fair share’. As I’ve mentioned before, this is similar to a roommate I had in college. He and his family were very racist and truly thought black people were inferior – unless you were talking about sports figures. Then, suddenly, ‘these’ blacks are to be admired if not envied. Huh?

And that’s where your flow comes in. Whether you like unions or not, the point is you cannot be hypocritical on such things. Yeah, overpaid football players probably aren’t the #1 worry in your life. But with what other issues in your life are you using a double standard?

I used to think I didn’t live with double standards. Then I looked at various issues on which I was acting that way. So I made a conscious choice to “stick to my guns” whatever the issue, which really means I stick to flow. I will not tolerate hypocrisy in anyone or any organization (like when the Boy Scouts claim to be training boys to be solid citizens yet teach them to hate gay people and atheists), and NOW I won’t tolerate it in myself!

You probably heard that a Florida district judge, Roger Vinson, ruled that the government healthcare mandate, commonly called Obamacare, is unconstitutional since the Constitution says (in HIS opinion) that the federal government cannot force individual American citizens to pay for insurance.

The reason this issue has a lot to do with flow is that this argument brings up a huge can of worms, one that has been there for decades. What do I mean? Do an internet search and you will discover many people have said the existence of the IRS is unconstitutional as the federal government is forcing individual citizens to pay for taxes.

What is the difference between this healthcare ruling and the legal existence of the IRS? Basically, nothing, depending on the INTERPRETATION of the Constitution. Take what Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently said about the 14th Amendment – equal protection under the law. He claims this amendment does NOT apply to sex discrimination, so therefore women and gay people can be discriminated against if individual states feel it’s okay. I find his comment hilarious since, as always, he’s not talking about a level playing field. He’s talking about allowing rights for certain people that the majority (males, straight couples, etc.) already have. A curious stand given America is supposed to be the land of the free where all are equal. As they say, some are clearly more equal than others.

I also see all this hypocrisy and paradoxical rulings/statements like the existence of the tobacco industry. If you invented a product that killed/caused immediate damage to humans when used as directed (as opposed to something like a pesticide that has warnings for use) it would never be allowed on the market. And if it was you would be sued out of existence. Yet tobacco companies, firms that create products that kill/injure when used as directed, continue to prosper and have yet to be sued out of existence.

All of which leads to your flow. Obviously there are NO set rules in this world, even when it comes to “set in stone” things like the U.S. Constitution. So rather than relying on laws or lack of laws to tell you how to live, you have to turn inward and find what makes you successful (and how you should live) yourself.

One of the greatest benefits of understanding flow is managing change. Like it or not, change is nonstop and can seem very scary. Things you thought were “set” are no longer there, or have altered dramatically.

Take cotton. In America, most people associate cotton with the deep south, and an industry that goes back to slave times. Well, even that’s changed, and in a very strange way. It seems an Australian company (yes, a totally different country), developed a high quality, long-staple cotton called FiberMax. While FiberMax is a great invention, it doesn’t like the deep south weather that much. It works best in the south-west. Result? Half of America’s cotton crop now comes from . . . drum roll please . . . Texas! This has radically changed the cotton industry as many of the traditional ways of doing things literally no longer apply. Keep in mind we’re talking centuries of cotton production suddenly being upended.

The same holds true for American car production. For the first time in its 102 years in business, General Motors sold more cars in a single foreign country than in America. What’s even more bizarre, from an historic perspective, is that that country is communist China. So here is this big traditional American company that is clearly going to focus its efforts on a communist country as American car sales aren’t going to significantly rebound for years.

Both examples, cotton and GM, again prove that the world constantly changes and the only way to find success is with flow. Flow enables you to manage and triumph no matter how bizarre things seem to get.

With all the chaos going on these days it’s easy to come to the conclusion that the world is ending. Indeed, watch any given news program, especially one with a religious bent, and you will hear this loud and clear.

Businessweek recently had an article on Consumer Reports and how they “dared” take on Steve Jobs and the problem-ridden iPhone 4. While the article itself was interesting, it was the bit about how Consumer Reports came about that intrigued me most.

Back in the midst of the depression the 1930’s no one trusted banks, a fact borne out by the nation’s love of notorious bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. This truly scared the nation’s elite business people as they thought that consumers would have no faith in their products or services anymore. And then this upstart organization called Consumers Union began independently testing products like Alka-Seltzer and breakfast cereals to see if the makers’ claims were truly valid. Results were published in a magazine called Consumers Union Reports, now renamed Consumer Reports.

The concept that big business could possibly be wrong was truly considered unAmerican at the time. Readers Digest, one of the biggest magazines of the time, literally called the organization members dangerous subversives. Good Housekeeping told its readers that Consumers Union was extending the Depression. Coincidentally, those two magazines relied on big business advertising for their revenues while Consumers Union has never accepted advertising ever.

Of course, today it’s easy to find unbiased or pretty much unbiased reviews of products and services. But the powers that be, using the media, still lull people into a sense of “not questioning”. The entire Iraq war, still going on at this writing, is a classic example. I have yet to hear anyone explain to me why we had to invade at all, or why we are still there. Claims of weapons of mass destruction or Iraq being a threat to America were proven false. Yet most Americans associate the Iraq war with “defending our country”. It’s just media spin.

This is why understanding both your flow and the flow blockages of things around you is so important. It’s easy to get sucked in by claims (“Asbestos is safe”, “Doctors approve of cigarettes”, etc.) that can appear unimpeachable on the surface but are, in reality, the exact opposite. This goes double during this recession, where no one wants to hear any bad news about any product or service they invest in. But such “ignorance” is extremely detrimental.

Due to overwhelming demand I have made the free teleseminar “I’m lost! Where do I go from here?” available for listening anytime.

Click here to check it out!

I’ve talked about this before but the issues keep proving my point over and over again.

Sarah Palin, arch conservative and evangelical Christian, claims to carry the torch for “real America” and family values. Keep in mind the concept of “family values” basically started with the Reagan administration, so we’re talking 30 years ago. Family values, as defined by Republicans, include such things as no sex before marriage, heterosexual marriage, monogamous dating (you don’t date multiple people), and so on. It was only sinners and liberals who didn’t follow these strict edicts, and of course the Bible backed it all.

Fast forward to 2010. Sarah Palin, who claims to adhere to family values, has a teenage daughter who got pregnant and wasn’t married. This was supposed to be a sin and something very shameful. In fact, Reagan era Republicans clearly stated that any such teenage pregnancy was essentially the fault of the parents. The parents didn’t raise their children in the proper Christian way.

Instead, the following has happened and is now praised by Republicans as evidenced by Sarah Palin’s huge popularity as the Tea Party’s lead spokesperson:

- Bristol Palin, the unwed teenage mother, gets up to $30,000 a speech telling other teenagers why being a teenage mom is bad (no mixed messages there!)

- Bristol Palin and her baby’s daddy Levi Johnston make the cover of many popular magazines including Harper’s Bazaar. Reason? They are allegedly engaged and getting married. (Over two years since she got pregnant)

- Levi Johnston, good Christian that he is, posed for Playgirl magazine in nothing but boxing gloves

- Levi Johnston, good Christian that he is, is one of three possible fathers of his ex-girlfriend’s new baby. Seems when Johnston and Palin were “broken up” Johnston decided having unprotected sex with his ex-girlfriend was a good thing. His ex, Lanesia Garcia, was with two other guys having unprotected sex during the same week

- The Palin family claims that they do not want their daughter to marry Johnston even though this, again, runs counter to the family values mantras stemming from the Reagan era. Basically, if you get a girl pregnant you must marry her to be right in the eyes of God.

The above are yet more clear examples of flow blockages. Society, in this case conservative Republicans, said family values were set in stone. This is how you MUST behave in order to be “moral” and be “right” in the eyes of God. Yet today none of this applies anymore, and society is praising the exact opposite.

This is why it is so vital you follow your own flow. Society changes its definition of what is “right” and “proper” all the time. Only flow stays constant and only through flow can you find success in any circumstance.

Religious fanaticism offers an endless supply of flow blockage examples. Rather than tackle real issues, such as helping the unemployed, homeless and so on, it’s much easier to pick a target and say God is mad at it. That way you can raise funds, add membership, get media exposure and more. This past week had a treasure trove of such examples:

• At the Comic-Con convention in San Diego, Margie Phelps was protesting. Margie is the daughter of Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. You may have heard of the Phelps troops before — their mission in life is to protest soldier funerals, “gay related” funerals, and high profile events in order to show America that acceptance of gays is dooming the country. No other issue is as important to God according to the Phelps. In an interview with Margie, reporter Bob Calhoun asked her why she was doing what she was doing. Her answer boiled down to this – she and her Westboro Baptist Church clan were right and approved by God, all others were sinners (including most other evangelists). All other discussion was futile.

• Which brings me to another news story. In New York City and other cities in America people are protesting the building of mosques. (In NYC they want to construct a multi-story one on the site of the 9/11 disaster.) Seems mosque = Islam = terrorism. While these people claim no racial bias, one protest group beat up two Egyptians who were there to protest the mosque building. Seems Arab = terrorist. Except, of course, if you’re hungry. Protesters had no problem buying hot dogs from a nearby middle eastern vendor.

The above is especially ironic since, according to these same people, all Muslims are exactly the same (read: terrorists). Yet clearly not all Christians are the same. Tell these protesters Hitler was a Christian (look it up), Ted Bundy was a Christian, pedophile Catholic priests are Christians, and so on and you will get an earful. Seems only “good” Christians are Christians, and that definition varies from one group to another.

• On September 11, 2010 the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, will have an “International Burn A Quran (Koran) Day”. This is the same nondenominational church that has an “Islam is of the devil” sign on its front lawn. According Pastor Terry Jones, author of the book Islam is of the Devil, the purpose of these activities is to give Muslims an opportunity to convert. Hands up if you think this primarily white congregation is going to welcome non-white ex-Muslims with open arms.

• This is an addendum to my original post. Such outrageous claims are so prevalent they appear daily. I won’t keep updating this post but I had to add this one. Tim LaHaye, evangelical Christian minister and author of the Left Behind book series, told Fox News today that the Obama administration’s policies are bringing the Apocalypse (when God smites everyone but “good” Christians) closer. LaHaye claims we are “definitely living in the end of days”. The message is clear: if you don’t want to make God angry don’t support Obama. Of course, I find it hilarious that all these fundamentalists are praying for the end of days (LaHaye’s entire book series is devoted to it) yet are afraid for it to come. Logic dictates these same people would want Obama to continue his “sinful ways” so that God will come sooner.

I fully admit these examples are extreme and are driven by a few people seeking to gain huge media coverage. But what they represent, flow blockages via religion, are present in virtually every aspect of society from government to school curriculum. That’s why understanding flow is so vital. It’s easy to get swept up in all-Muslims-are-terrorists hysteria or something similar (immigration, gay rights, Obama is the devil, etc.)
Remember, anytime someone or some organization uses God as a weapon they are trying to block your flow one way or another.

While I was sick I got to watch a lot of movies. I especially love older movies as they often represent what society considered flow (or what those in power wanted society to say was flow) at the time. Two particularly interesting movies I viewed were from the 1930s. One was a talkie called Son of India from 1931. I say it was a talkie (meaning sound and picture as today) since its star was Ramon Navarro, one of the biggest silent picture stars ever.

Son of India, a story about a rich white woman falling in love with a rich Indian merchant, was a tale of prejudice and “knowing your place”. What made this movie stand out was its morality. The interracial couple was desperately in love, a fact the movie ever denied. Her white family naturally protested her marrying an “inferior race” no matter how rich. That was to be expected given this film was geared towards intolerant white America. What was different was the Indian perspective. An Indian swami, representing the movie’s spiritual voice (its morality), tells Navarro that he and his white love can be together in heaven but it was a grievous sin (offensive to the gods) to be together in the real world.

Thus this 73-minute movie clearly (and blatantly!) shows both flow and flow blockages. To do “the right thing” the main characters must suppress their flow and follow what friends, family and society say is flow — even though they themselves admit it is wrong.

The second movie I found fascinating from a flow perspective was a drama from 1939 called Five Came Back, starring Lucille Ball of all people. Not a comedy, twelve passengers and crew crash land in the Amazon, right in the midst of “savage country” as the movie explains. Towards the end of the movie three people are left behind as the “savages” are approaching.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Traditionally Hollywood followed the Catholic belief when it came to suicide — suicide was an unforgivable sin in any way, shape or form. Only evil characters committed suicide. But in Five Came Back that morality suddenly didn’t apply. Two survivors (both elderly so it was “okay” that they die as the movie makes clear) had a choice of dying by suicide or suffering torture at the hands of the savages. They chose suicide. This morality was a highly noble act (confirmed by the background music).

Yet if this same couple committed suicide under different circumstances, say dying rather than face jail time, it would have been seen as a sin. Even in old Hollywood movies where “morality” is set in stone the definition of flow would change with the wind.

My point in telling you this is to, once again, point out how crucial it is to understand your own flow. Especially when those around you subscribe to a “morality of the week” philosophy. One need only look at Sarah Palin to see this in action. In 1992 Vice President Dan Quayle caused a huge stir by saying the Los Angeles riots were caused by a “poverty of values” that included the acceptance of unwed motherhood.

Today, twenty years later, Sarah Palin’s STILL unwed teen-mom daughter gets $30K a speech and is celebrity. Grandma Palin is praised for being a great mother and raising great children.

Morality, as usual, changes with the wind.