Success Strategies, Gurus, New Age and Idolatry

Yes, perhaps that is a much too heavy title for a simple blog post.
But somehow I want to convey something about all of those four things listed.

First of all, I just want to say out loud, that I love success, and I am determined and have been for many years to be increasingly successful. What I learn today is the foundation upon which I will build my tomorrow's school of thought.

But that being said.....  in my many years of studying success "gurus", success "strategists", and after having read a boat load of their books, I have come to a few firm convictions.

First of all, we all have to have the courage to throw out the teachings of folks which are simply promoting the opposite of what we value most. For example, when I was given the recordings of the teachings called "The Secret".... I listened patiently for a while and appreciated some of the teaching. But then the alarm bells started going off when I realized that there were some portions of the teaching which were completely opposite of what the Bible teaches about Heaven and Hell. Therefore, when friends or coworkers or clients talk about "The Secret" I can appreciate certain aspects of the principles being taught, but I can also say confidently that not everything that is taught in "The Secret" is scripturally accurate.

And so, I had a similar experience again this week, when I had received a reading suggestion from a blogger that I follow regularly. Therefore I leaped to the library to find a couple of the specific author's books to drag them home and begin to greedily consume the contents. But again, lo and behold, I found again more teachings that were blatantly idolatrous and against the teachings of Christianity. Big sigh....ugh....and disappointment.

I must say that I personally don't find any moral contradiction between studying the principles of success and I find it to be in keeping with my Christian values. However, when I, who am no expert, can easily discern when a teaching is not biblical, I know when I need to stop reading. With my faith in Jesus Christ,  my guard goes back up tall and strong and I have a personal recognition that when I can not trust a certain author to respect my christian world or life view.

The "New Age" has brought a refreshing hunger for ALL things spiritual. But just because a teaching is "spiritual" doesn't mean that it is biblically accurate or trustworthy. Well, you might be saying to yourself....how do we then know if a book or author or teaching is biblically accurate?  Well , my simple answer is this.....we all need to get regularly tanked up on the reading and speaking of the Holy Bible. Read the bible often, or listen to it on line or on your smart phone. Bible gateway has a great Audio Bible app that is free to download. When we fill up our brains with His word, we become more sensitive to be able to discern when something sounds off kilter. We become better able to guard our hearts and minds from false teachings and half-truths.

So, I am not going to recommend that you throw out all your "self help" or "success strategy" books or cd's or tapes. I  am just going to say, that you have the duty to yourself to not submit to every teaching that comes up on the radar as trendy or popular. Use your common sense, prayer and your own understanding of the Scriptures to glean the goodies from the baddies. Don't fall into the temptation to become a "book burner"
and don't become fearful of bookstores or audio teachings. Just pray and ask your Heavenly Father to honor your quest as you seek to learn more and become more. God wants to bring you success even more than you want to achieve it. Let's just not be so gullible as to fall for every spoken or written word that comes our way.

Peace and prosperity.
Carla



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Assessing Your Own Work

Yes,yes, as talented as we all are, there are times when we have to get frank...not Frank, but frank.... with ourselves and what we are trying to create.

Time to ask ourselves....is what we are making or writing or molding or painting or designing really good?
Better yet....is it good enough?

Well 'tis a tough question. Really.. are we qualified to even assess our own works?
Or is it smarter to hire an outsider with a critical eye to give us the real goods on our own work?

Well, as Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is a time and a season for every activity under the sun.
Therefore, I do recommend one thing, don't apply a critical eye to your own work when it is in it's infancy stages. Nobody criticizes a toddler for wobbling when he/she takes their first steps from the couch to the coffee table. Nobody argues with a baby for missing their mouth and smearing strained peas onto their cheeks the first time they handle a spoon.

Therefore, you must be gentle to yourself, especially if your work has not yet ripened to maturity. Perhaps you need to read one of my older posts "Your First Try Isn't Going to Be Your Best Work" and give yourself a break. You might, after all,  have the extra sensitive soul of an artist.
We don't take criticism lightly...in fact we are more likely to sob into our pillows for nights on end over one harsh comment. Even if our work is brilliant our hearts remain soft and vulnerable.....because that is simply what it takes to stay good at what we do. Crusty hard hearted folks are rarely creative and when they are, it comes out in vicious ugliness. Therefore learn to guard your sensitive creative soul. It thrives only when protected.

Let me just say rather mystically, that you yourself will know when you need to take a more critical look at your own work. Maybe the page views are down, maybe the online sales have stalled. Maybe your banker is not returning your calls. Time to take a second look.

On a final note, when you've bitten the bullet and decided it's time to assess the merits of your own work, don't be too harsh on yourself unless of course your ego can handle it. Be just honest enough to be able to make the changes that are going to usher in your newer better work. Give yourself that courage to make clever changes by allowing yourself to note what is no longer working and what can be let go of.

Some ambitions are temporary  occupations. Other ambitions deserve your years of faithful persistence and
determined efforts. But know the time and the season that you are in. Is it time to tweak your strategy? Is it time to acknowledge that you are actually a better artist than your family thinks you are?

Self assessments can go both ways. They can either convince you to stay the course and build momentum and stick-to-it-ive-ness....OR.....it can challenge you to accept that something you're doing was an unfortunate mistake in judgment and needs to be let go of. Have the strength to say a firm YES or an equally firm NO to yourself once in a while. Trust me, it's easier to hear it from yourself than from an outsider.

You be the judge. Your eyes and ears and heart will know what to say..

Peace.



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Update on Soylent

I blogged some months ago about the creation of a new
food replacement system named "Soylent" which was invented by Rob Rhinehart.
I'm still intrigued, but must admit I haven't yet tried it out.
Perhaps I'm waiting for it's big release into Canada.
That's the big new update. Soylent is going to soon be available in Canada according to the latest gossip.

So that's good.
There's something so wonderfully geeky and straight forward, to be able to cut out at least one meal a day and replace it with something chemically designed to replace all the major food groups.

Now, since I am a natural girl and prefer earthy whole foods, one might be thinking....why on earth would someone like me be attracted to a powdery chemically blended product such as Soylent?
Well, as much as I am a gluten free granola, organic, wild berry picking cotton wearing earth loving gal, I also happen to be a bit of science geek,and proudly so.

What is equally as interesting as the product Soylent, is the story of it's development by a twenty something start up who raised much of his over million bucks via crowdfunding online and started mixing it up
in a nondescript warehouse straight from the bags of supplies he ordered online. It is truly synonymous with every other geeky breakthrough in that the creator, Rob Rhinehart, just went ahead and did it, without waiting for permission and without asking everyone and their cousin for their approval of his grand idea.

Perhaps there's a wee bit of computer nerd in all of us, that prefers to chill infront of our laptops and sip a meal in a bottle instead of cooking up yet another uninspiring meal.

Well, nuff about me. What do y'all think about Soylent?
To glean more data straight from the horse's mouth click here straight to Soylent's website: http://www.soylent.me


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