What matters most is how you walk through the fire

 

Before we start our little adventure into the human condition, I would like you to do something for me. I want you to find some music, something that makes you feel alive, makes your heart sing and your eyes well up. I want you to put on those headphones, I want you to sit back and completely immerse yourself in it. Visualise a time when you felt alive, when you felt a passion for life that almost felt like it would make you break. Just one song, that’s all I ask. Go on, I’ll wait for you, no rush now.
Ok, you’re back. Of course some of you never left.

“Oh, I’ll do it later”
“well I’m sorry, I just don’t see the point”

Why didn’t you do it? You had the time. Oh well, your loss.

Life is an interesting experience, I’m sure you will agree. The disappointing thing, in my eyes, is that most people don’t live their lives. Their lives live them. They get up, grumble that it’s so early, try and wake themselves up, go to a job they hate, and then grumble on the way home about the traffic that’s stopping them from retreating to their box filled with its trinkets and electronic distractions.

This is not life. It is barely even existence.

They leave school, get a job, get married have kids, grow a bit wider in the middle, take up a hobby, potter about, watch a lot of TV and wake up one morning feeling strange. Then they look at themselves in the mirror and, with shocked silence realise they don’t recognise the person gazing back at them. They did what they were supposed to do, what they were told to do, and life just passed them by and visited some other more deserving fellows.

So much time lost. So much time wasted.

Life tries to give you a little nudge of course. It is only fair that life gives you a chance, an opportunity to WAKE UP. There you are plodding along, a few pounds in your pocket, got your stuff going together and then, wham, something completely unexpected hits you right where it hurts, knocking you flat on your face.
It happens to everyone, and when it happens it is very easy to believe that you have experienced a GAME OVER situation. Some people check out. Some people become broken. Some people stand up dust themselves off and shout

NEXT. COME ON, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT.

If you are alive, it’s never game over. If you are breathing, and you mind still works, you always have choices. As Napoleon Hill once said, “Opportunity comes wrapped in impossible situations”

Pick yourself up, slap yourself a few times and walk headlong into the fire.
There is a very important lesson you need to realise here. Life does not just happen to you. You have control. You have control by how you react to Life’s little games. The decisions you make, and the way you make them will determine the quality of your life. It’s all up to you, no matter what your circumstances. Because as long as you are here there is always another way.

You live in the greatest society the world has ever known. You have information, opportunity and experiences available to you that your ancestors couldn’t even imagine. The guy in a minimum wage job, living in a one bedroom apartment in the crappy part of town has a life infinitely more superior than Pharaohs and Kings from the past. Don’t believe me?

• Electricity
• Safe, running water
• Wireless internet, giving him access to a library not even the gods had imagined
• Public transportation
• The simple telephone
• Food from every continent packaged and available for his convenience
• Free health care
• A life free of Cholera, Diphtheria, the Plague, Smallpox, and Tetanus
• Movies available that would be unimaginable even 50 years ago
• The ability to travel to every part of the globe

You don’t have problems. You have challenges. The challenges are put there to see what you are made of, to see if you have what it takes to walk through the fire. They are there to teach you, to humble you, and to enlighten you.

They are there for you.

You think the contents of your bank account, or the baubles in your home are important? You think you are successful because you drive a nice car and can travel business class........ you think this because you have forgotten that success is an illusion. It is an irrelevance, a phantom. If you were given 6 months to live tomorrow, all your material goods would mean NOTHING.

The most important thing in life is HOW YOU LIVE, every minute of every day. It is your experience, you soul and your character that matters. That is what sets you apart from another human being. It is WHO YOU ARE deep inside that matters, and what matter even more is who you will BECOME. Not that suit you wear, or the gold shiny things hanging from your anatomy.

So who are you? And who do you want to be?

And now the most important question of all.

Are you Happy?

It’s a simple question. Are you happy? Is your heart almost stopped by the beauty and the majesty of life. Is your breath taken by the very passion that life can allow you? I’m talking about the passion of being alive that you can feel any time you damn well please. Or are you too worried about the credit card bill?

Yes our society is troubled. Yes we are being assaulted on all sides by regulation, laws and pointless political ideas. Our police are becoming corporate revenue collectors and our entertainment is 2 generations away from the Running Man.

But have you ever asked yourself why? Why is the greatest society the world has ever seen starting to feed off itself?

BECAUSE WE SIT THERE AND DO NOTHING.

We have forgotten that life has to be grabbed by the throat and shaken until it gives us what we want. Instead most of us just bend over and grab our ankles. We have to fight for our wants, or we will simply be left with our needs. Get off your backside. Decide what you want. Decide, or the decision will be made for you. This is after all why I created the Mastermind Alliance. What most of you don’t know is that it was created by myself and a friend......... for us. It was our guide, our beacon on a path with one final ending. Without a guide, you just wander aimlessly in the wilderness. And I wasn’t willing to accept that.

Now some of you will already know all this, because you are doing it. You are living it, breathing it, tasting it. Life is your passion.

Others amongst you are almost dead inside. You world is a collection of reactions and opinions to the thoughts and actions of others. Let that spark grow, that dream, that light that shines within you. Please, be all that you can be.

And some of you are in a dark place. A realm of heartache, illness, financial stress and depression. I’ve been there, we all have. Remember there are always choices. Even if you have just 6 months to live, you get the choice of how to experience those six months. There is always another way and there is always hope.

Remember that what matters most is how you walk through the fire.

And also remember that there are people infinitely worse off than yourselves. Which is where I now make a plea. Every year I choose 2 charities to donate either my time and/or money to. I believe that what you give out is returned a thousand fold.
One of the causes I chose to donate money to this year is Bridge2Aid, which as it happens is being supported by our old comrade Chris barrow. Just so you know, Chris hasn’t asked me to mention this, I just feel it a worthy cause, and why not donate through someone most of us either know or know of? If you want to know more, then here is his donation page http://www.justgiving.com/coachbarrow/
No pressure.

And to answer the question I was asked the other day as to why I write these newsletters............. it’s because of the passion I feel when writing them. The day they become a chore is the day I stop.
Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book at Choose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities

PS: Please feel free to pass this newsletter onto anyone you feel may be interested in it

GDP Resources

Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.

SNOW

Hello again

Did you see it? It snowed the other week. Small white things fell from the sky and coalesced into a blanket of cold wet skiddy stuff.

Driving was, let us say, a bit of a challenge.

If only someone had told the Met Office, because they didn’t seem to know this weather was coming. So a BBQ summer and a mild winter turned into a “we had a summer?” and a winter that harks back to the Victorian era.  Funny how exactly the same thing happened last year.  In fact that's three year in a row the Met Office have got it completely wrong.  Good to see their £33 million computer is doing its job
It’s safe to say we don’t seem to handle snow very well. But I’m sure the “lessons will be learnt” and that those responsible for the failings will be suitably rewarded. You don’t get the sack for incompetence these days.......... you get promoted!  The closure of Heathrow is a national scandal.

Now 2 years ago I was in New York when it snowed big style, something like 6 inches in two hours. This occurred the night before a public holiday. And yet, the next day when I left my hotel, all the roads were clear of snow and most of the sidewalks too.
People actually came in on a public holiday to clean the snow off the pavements outside their property. Dumper trucks were fitted with ploughs, and gritters were absolutely everywhere.  But then of course, they are used to it so we are told.

It was like a military operation (where the military were actually kitted out with the equipment they needed to do the job).  That was why it was so effectively dealt with.  Admittedly they had a bit more of a challenge this year, but then, did you see how much snow they had to deal with???

Unfortunately WE live in a country where you can get sued for doing the public act of clearing the front of your house or business. Grit the path to your practice, and if someone slips, they can sue you. Leave the snow where it is to turn into ice, and they can’t, because it’s classed as an act of god.

The preceding paragraph is all you need to know about this country and the state it’s presently in. That and the perception that nothing works anymore. Well actually, there is one thing that works and works very well. The strange phenomenon where money just disappears from your bank account.

Many of you will have noticed that you often have more month at the end of your money. It’s like it evaporates into the ether. Where does it all go? You earn a lot more than the average person, and yet still you don’t seem to be able to accumulate enough to actually have anything that you could call savings.
And then your tax bill comes.

There is a law called Parkinson’s Law that states “Expenses rise to meet earnings”. If you do not break Parkinson’s Law, you end up in debt. You end up working to provide food and shelter for other people. Which brings me to a question:
Why do you work?

Do you work because you enjoy what you do, or do you work to pay for your THINGS? You work to pay for your house and your nice car and your oversees holiday and your trips to Waitrose. You work so that you have a level of lifestyle that you feel comfortable with.

Most people work 5 days to enjoy 2..... and they don’t really enjoy the 2.
To me this is utter madness. If you’re not enjoying what you are doing......... why do it? If your job is a chore, your life is basically slavery. You become a slave to your lifestyle. You think your IPods and your fifty inch flat screen TV’s make up for it, but they don’t.

They don’t even come close.

As Tyler Durden once wisely said, “The things you own end up owning you. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives”. Your life is not about your trinkets, it is about experience. It is about joy and love and fulfilment. You cannot get lasting meaningful happiness by using your credit card. That can only come from within. You don’t need a new food [processor and a microwave to be happy. You can just be happy. Now, this instant. There’s only one person who can decide if you are happy or not..... YOU. So make your own rules up.

And to be honest I kind of forgot that this last year. I forgot who I was and wandered onto a path of inaction and sloth. It’s a tempting path, it feels comfortable..... at first. But then you stop growing, and the mind starts to claw at itself. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and a lot of changes to make. Fortunately I have the perfect tool at my disposal for this, my Mastermind Alliance goal setting product.
But back to the white stuff. Watching how people reacted to the snow made me think. The kids loved it. The adults hated it. The kids (and the big kids....... you know who you are) built snowmen. The grumpy grownups worried about slipping.

So when it snowed and you found yourself unable to get to work, what was YOUR reaction?

• “Ah good, I can have a day off from those annoying patients” – time to change jobs perhaps?
• “I can spend some quality time with the kids for a change” – were you not spending quality time already?
• “Damn, how am I going to make my UDA’s in this kind of weather? I’ll get claw back” - fear is no place to live your life.
• “Bloody council haven’t gritted the road” – well, do you really expect every council to be able to grit every road to perfection? Be realistic here.
• “Let’s have some FUN” – now that’s more like it.

Your response to the snow will tell you a lot about who you are. Who you are determines the results you will have in life. The question is, do you know who you are? Perhaps you should take a moment to answer that question.

Money

This is how I understand the situation we are now in...... and just so you know, I'm probably completely wrong.

A long time ago, you would have been paid for your labour in either gold or silver coin.

As populations grew, coins became impractical.  They were then replaced by bills of exchange that represented, and were redeemable against a fixed amount of gold or silver.  You would be paid for your labour in notes, and could then swap these at the central bank for the actual gold.  For safety you could store your gold in a bank, but they would charge you a small storage fee.

Unfortunately most western countries were made bankrupt many years ago, and all the collateral (including you) were seized by the creditors (the banks).  You became the property of the banks.  All the worlds central banks are private corporations.

Look at the £20 note - "For the Governor and COMPANY of the Bank of England".

Because all the land, gold and silver had been seized (leaving only your labour as the sole source of collateral) , the central banks produced FIAT currency.  This was a means to engage in commerce whilst in bankruptcy.  However, you were not told this.  you were told it was just like money.  Fiat currency can be created out of thin air.  If the central bank produces £1000, and releases this into the population, how then can a bank land you that £1000 and charge you £10 interest.  Where did that £10 come from?  That's right, the ether.  This means the debts can never be repaid, and countries must wait 70 years (based on Roman canon law) until their bankruptcy expires.  Unfortunately this bankruptcy lark works very well for governments, so they invariably go back into bankruptcy due to some "event", allowing the perpetuation of the FIAT system.

Look at the symbol for the British Pound - £.  It used to have two strikes going horizontally across it, now it only has one.  The same with the US dollar - $.  That used to have two vertical strikes, now it has only one.  So?  What about it?  This means your currency is a phantom, a fiction, meaning that the currency no longer has substance.

The pound in its physical note form is an IOU.  The central bank gives this to you to purchase things with.  Unfortunately you don't own it, it remains the property of the central bank.  So let's give an example.  You "buy" a car.  You hand over 10,000 IOU's and the dealer gives you the car, which you then register with the government (who acts as agent for the central bank).  You are allowed to keep possession of the car, so long as you follow the rules of your registration.  As soon as you break the rules (for example by not paying your road tax) the car is seized, because it never was yours.  It belongs to the central bank.  It would only become yours if you returned the IOU's to the Central bank.  As I understand this, the only way to do this is to put your thumbprint on each and every bill, record the serial numbers and present this list to the central bank.  The car dealership then presents your thumb printed IOU's to the central bank, discharging your debt, and allowing the central bank to issue new IOU's to the dealer.

Your debt is clear, and the dealer still has his 10,000 IOU's.  This is why it says on the Bank of England note "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of......"

Of course try and buy a car with £20 and see what happens.  Ok, I'll buy it with gold I hear you say........ ok, but how did you buy that gold?  With British pounds?  Anything you buy with IOU's becomes the property of the central bank until you return those IOU's, or pay them off with assets that were not purchased with FIAT currency.

Interesting what you uncover isn't it.

This from Infowars.com

#1 The official U.S. unemployment rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009.

#2 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 6.3 million vacant homes in the United States that are either for sale or for rent.

#3 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit with China could hit 270 billion dollars for the entire year of 2010.

#4 Back in 2000, 7.2 percent of blue collar workers were either unemployed or underemployed.  Today that figure is up to 19.5 percent.

#5 The Chinese government has accumulated approximately $2.65 trillion in total foreign exchange reserves.  They have drained this wealth from the economies of other nations (such as the United States) and instead of reinvesting all of it they are just sitting on much of it.  This is creating tremendous imbalances in the global economy.

#6 Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs.  In the year 2000 there were approximately 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.

#7 The United States now employs about the same number of people in manufacturing as it did back in 1940.  Considering the fact that we had 132 million people living in this country in 1940 and that we have well over 300 million people living in this country today, that is a very sobering statistic.

#8 According to CoreLogic, U.S. housing prices have now declined for three months in a row.

#9 The average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage soared 11 basis points just this past week.  As mortgage rates continue to push higher it is going to make it even more difficult for American families to afford homes.

#10 22.5 percent of all residential mortgages in the United States were in negative equity as of the end of the third quarter of 2010.

#11 The U.S. monetary base has more than doubled since the beginning of the most recent recession.

#12 U.S. Treasury yields have been rising steadily during the 4th quarter of 2010 and recently hit a six-month high.

#13 Incoming governor Jerry Brown is scrambling to find $29 billion more to cut from the California state budget.  The following quote from Brown about the desperate condition of California state finances is not going to do much to inspire confidence in California’s financial situation around the globe….

“We’ve been living in fantasy land. It is much worse than I thought. I’m shocked.”

#14 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California are currently unemployed.

#15 The average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.

#16 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a new way to save money.  He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.

#17 The second most dangerous city in the United States – Camden, New Jersey – is about to lay off about half its police in a desperate attempt to save money.

#18 In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market.  Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent.  More older Americans than ever find that they have to keep working just to survive.

#19 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China’s share had soared to 20 percent.

#20 The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November budget deficit on record.

#21 The U.S. government is somehow going to have to roll over existing debt and finance new debt that is equivalent to 27.8 percent of GDP in 2011.

#22 The United States had been the leading consumer of energy on the globe for about 100 years, but this past summer China took over the number one spot.

#23 According to an absolutely stunning new poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to bail out of the profession over the next three years.

#24 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer.  Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#25 All over the United States, local governments have begun instituting “police response fees”.  For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has come up with a plan under which a fee of $365 would be charged if police are called to respond to an automobile accident where no injuries are involved.  If there are injuries as a result of the crash that is going to cost extra

An absolute MUST read

http://johnpilger.com/articles/have-a-nice-world-war-folks

Communism

In 1848, Marx threatened to organize a worker's revolution unless European governments:

1. Abolished property rights and applied all rents towards public purposes. [Modern equivalent: Don't pay your mortgage, lose your house. So who really owns your house?]
2. Levied a heavy, progressive income tax to equalize wages. [Modern equivalent:  income and payroll taxes approach (or surpass) 50% in many western countires.]
3. Abolished all rights of inheritance. [Modern equivalent: The estate tax.]
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants. [Modern equivalent: The 2008 "Hero's Act" which forces people leaving the U.S.A to pay the equivalent of their estate taxes on the global assets before they turn in their passports.]
5. Centralize access to credit in the hands of the State by means of a national bank and an exclusive monopoly. [Modern equivalent: UK state owned banks]
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. [Modern equivalent: Most of the US media is owned by 6 corporations, and the UK BBC is controlled by the state]
7. Free education for all children in public schools. [Note the emphasis on public schools. Paying for education isn't enough. What counts is indoctrinating the kids in how to be good little worker drones.]
8. A common agricultural policy to maximize the productivity of the land. [Modern equivalent: EUROPE.]

Imagine trying to explain to your neighbors that public education is a communist idea that's meant to indoctrinate children. Imagine trying to convince them that the estate tax is a bad idea, or that progressive income taxes are the key to communism.  Imagine trying to explain that the problem with the "greedy banks" isn't down to capitalism, but is in fact due to the corruption of socialism.

My advice...... don't bother.