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Who Knows Who do you live, work and strive for? |
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As a young girl, Toni wanted more than anything to become an artist. She enjoyed working with many media, and fantasized about the day when she would make an exciting career expressing her talents. At the age of twelve, Toni took an art class with her sister Jackie. At the end of the course the teacher, Mr. Jamison, took Toni's mother aside and told her, "Jackie is very talented, but I don't have much hope for Toni - she erases too much." At first Toni felt crushed, but her disappointment turned into determination. Mr. Jamison's criticism did not thwart her, but made her more determined to succeed. She took up pen and ink drawing - a medium in which erasing is impossible, and later she went on to exhibit her work at a street fair. At the exhibit many people complimented Toni, but one man's comments really got her attention. He shook her hand enthusiastically and told her, "These are the most fantastic pen and ink drawings I have ever seen!" Toni chuckled inwardly to receive this compliment from Mr. Jamison. Who do you live, work and strive for? Do you express yourself to please others, or yourself? Do you evaluate your creations by external opinions, or your inner knowingness? Do you allow the words or reactions of others to make you or break you, or do you find nourishment by proceeding from your inner spirit? Often professional critics are poor judges of real talent. Several months ago I was reading the movie review section in a popular entertainment magazine, where a half-dozen prestigious movie critics rated current releases. When I looked to see the grades that Patch Adams received, they were the worst of the lot, ranging from "C" to a dismal "F." Then I noticed another column which did not reflect the grades of professional reviewers, but that of many moviegoers who saw the film. In this column, Patch Adams received an "A" - the highest grade of all the movies. This disparity speaks a very important message: the only people critics speak for are themselves, and their opinions often bear little reflection of the quality that viewers ascribe to a movie. If you want to know the worth of a film or a book, ask someone with a value system similar to your own. The outer world is not the place to look for your values and answers, which must ultimately issue from within. As I entered a cafeteria line at an airport, I saw a large sign which announced, "It is impolite to pass others in the cafeteria line." Okay, I thought, I can live with that rule. The next time I visited that cafeteria, the sign had been changed to, "It is acceptable to pass others in the cafeteria line." Somehow, in just a short time, the rules of politeness and acceptability had changed. A Course in Miracles reminds us, "I am under no laws but God's." Within you is an infallible guide to right action, relationship, creativity, and self-expression. When your energy is aligned with your inner being, you have limitless power to create and you will be supported by the universe in miraculous ways. When I finished writing my first book, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore, I mailed the manuscript to several publishers, all of whom rejected the book. I made phone contact with one successful publisher of self-help books, and he asked me, "What's this book about?" I told him, "the healing power of love and forgiveness." The man scowled and suggested, "Write something more dynamic." Quickly I realized that if anyone was going to stand behind my book, it would have to be me. I decided to self-publish with borrowed money, and I made a deal with a printer. As I was walking out of the printer's office, he told me, "They say you don't make any money until your third book." I answered, "Perhaps that is what they say, but what they don't know is that my agent is God." The book went on to sell out its first printing in a short time, and quickly became a bestseller in the inspirational market, selling over 200,000 copies to date, and still going strong. "They" did not know Who "they" were dealing with. After Dr. Wayne Dyer's book Your Erroneous Zones became an international blockbuster, an excerpt was incorporated in a college entrance reading comprehension test. For fun, Dr. Dyer took the test, and he was amazed to receive a grade of 85%. When Dr. Dyer asked the graders how they explained the author of the excerpt getting only an 85, they answered, "Sometimes even the author does not fully understand what he wrote." I suggest that the author does understand his own writing, and you understand your own destiny. You must follow your passion, move with your instincts, and trust that what brings you joy to express will ultimately bless others and nourish your soul as well as your pocketbook.
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