HOW DID I GET HERE, AND WHY AM I STAYING?

Dear Friends:

In moving on toward meeting our most important personal and professional goals, we fall prey to the indisputable power of Human Irrationality -- the inexorable notion of "emotional investment" overrides logic, and causes us to take improper action and to waste precious, limited, uncertain time.

If it is true that in order to optimize one's opportunity at success by being, "In the right place at the right time," then why do we, in complete defiance of the Laws of Physics, spend excessive time in the wrong place? This defies intellectual logic, but it suits our emotional frailties. These frailties are worth mentioning, labelling, and be vigilant about:

1. SUNK COSTS - When we have invested funds or other resources in a failed (and likely unsalvageable) project, we should consider these to be irretrievable "sunk costs", and should, logically speaking, cut out losses and leave. In reality, as we get more emotionally invested in the project, and it ceases to become an invest and starts to become our baby, we irrationally continue to nuture it, to expend additional funds ("in for a penny, in for aplound..."), and to be protective of our original decision to partipate. This combination of self-justification, messianic delusions and denial cause us to continue sepending money and other resources on a losing proposition. Recognize sunk costs, and cut your losses early on. The object of an investment is to win, not to validate your undernourished ego............................................................................................................................
2. OPPORTUNITY COSTS - When we spend our time or money on one thing, we have sacrificed the opportunity to spend them on another. When we decide in favor of one thing, we decide against all other opportunities. If we invest money on the wrong project, we are sacrificing the opportunity to invest in another. If we spend time in a bad job, a bad realtionship, or a bad environment, we are losing irreplaceable time which we could be spending elsewhere, on other things. The solution is to be able to admit when you have made a mistake, and to get out of the wrong cirucumstances and into the right ones immediately. If your trained instincts tell you that you are in the wrong place, get out in a hurry. As long as you remain in the wrong place, you cannot be in the right one.........................................................................................................................
3. TIMING ERROR - Sometimes we find ourselves in the right place, but at the wrong time. In these cases, the intelligent thing to do is to leave and to come back another time. While you sit (or stand) idly waiting, you could be investing time more productively.........................................................................................................

Know these common errors of human irrationality, and avoid being entrapped by them. Your time, as well as your financial resources, is precious.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Click on all of the other blogs which are linked to this one -- many have already been updated.

QUESTIONS (?)

Dear Friends:

I would be honored if you would read my updated posts, especially at SENDING SIGNALS! and TAKING COMMAND! I would recommend that you read those posts first, and then proceed down the line through the rest of the blogs which I have encumbered myself with.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. The person in the photograph used to be me, but he no longer is.

PLACES TO VISIT - NO GASOLINE REQUIRED

Dear Friends:

In the interest of providing wonderful travel opportunities without imposing the high cost of fuel upon my beloved readers (and also Scott), I have provided a number of places for you to visit without leaving your computer. That's right! You heard correctly (a point of clarification: if you actually "heard me," you were likely hallucinating, as I have merely been writing so far).

With a mere click on any of the hyperlinks, your mind can go on a refreshing and stimulating vacation from the mundane and the tedious.

Click on TAKING COMMAND! to learn about meetings, and how to make them more effective. In fact, learn about what doesn't ever work, and what always works.

Click on INTERNAL ENERGY PLUS to learn about "Reports vs Results." Are your reports standing in the way of your obtaining results? Are they actually giving the responsibile parties a valid reason to miss crucial deadlines. What do good reports accomplish? Why do simple, short-term results matter more than obsessive conversation about either the incremental steps involved, or the "big picture."

Click on SENDING SIGNALS! to learn about the fine art of SEEING ORDER IN THE CHAOS.

Click on THE GLOBAL FUTURIST to learn more about the challenges facing the United States...as well as some strategies and opportunities.

And of course, click on LIFE LINKS, CIOF ON CURRENT EVENTS, and THORIUM ENERGY, INC. to read about some interesting developments and surprising study results.

Enjoy them all.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. A Human Being is truly just flesh, feelings, thoughts and actions.

p.p.s. Smoking is hazardous to your health, and to the health of others around you. If you must smoke, don't do it in my car or in an elevator. Gasoline pumps can be problematic as well.

PASSIVE ACCEPTANCE OF HARMFUL CHANGE.

Dear Readers:

With so much idle time on my hands, I pledge to you (and you know who you are) to update this blog with a new post each week. Additionally, I implore you all to go directly to the LINKS Sections below after you've read this post to enjoy the posts on all of the other linked blogsites and websites.

And now, to today's subject:

A frightening irony of the Human Spirit, is that although we generally fear any type of change asked of us or imposed upon us, if that change is foist upon us by those in power, we ultimately accept it. There may be a few questions, concerns and doubts...but invariably, we accept it. As the more feeble and plentiful constituents of the great mass of voters (or taxpayers, or servants, or serfs, or subjects, or victims or captives) come to be accepting of the change, we "fall in" with the fold. We allow ourselves to abadon thought and accept the concensus. After a time, in order to protect our frail psyches, we begin to forget about how things were before the change. In some cases, we even succumb to the Stockholm Syndrome, and start to justify, excuse and accept the people who have forcefully imposed their will upon us.

To make matters worse, we even accept the flimsiest excuses (as well as out-and-out lies) for why the change took place. We are, ultimately, too frightened of the truth, and of its implications. We do not want to see monsters under beds and in our closets, so we cover our eyes...like frightened children.

Never give up your power without a fight. Never surrender yourself, unquestioningly, into the hands of a possible enemy.

The world deteriorates because a few truly evil people are entrusted with too much power. Although Lord Acton 's addage about "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. The energy and dynamics of power must be balanced. Doubts about the actions or intentions of others are healthy, and should be encouraged.

People who never ask questions ultimately become slaves, and become subject to the decisions of others.

Can you do two things simultaneously? Of course you can, gentle readers. I believe in you.

Excellent.

Then pull into a local gasoline station and start filling up your gas tank while thinking about the meaning of democracy at the same time.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Never give up. Never surrender.

TOOLS

Dear Friends, Fellow Thinkers, Success Aspirants and Exemplary Human Beings -

The theme of "Tools and Modalities" throbs like a heart's steady beating throughout INTERNAL ENERGY PLUS Training -- training of both the mind and of the body.

A tool is merely a device. It is the hand that wields it which determines if it will be used to build or to destroy; to hurt or to heal; to liberate or to enslave. I believe that tools are mindless things -- that they are merely an enabling extension of the individual's truest intentions.

We are not puppets, unless we choose to abdicate our responsibilities to ourselves and to all of Humankind. Neither are we puppeteers, as mere puppets cannot turn and rebel against their masters.

The world is filled with tools and with choices; with devices and decisions. Will we provide energy for the world, or will we blow it up in a giant, swirling ball of lethal dust?

To be Human is to be torn between forces and pulled in different directions by urges and inklings. To be Great is to acknowledge and accept one's Humanity, as well as the Humanity of others, and yet to strive to make right choices and to build a noble legacy for generations of yet-unborn strangers as if we knew to love them before they were even conceived.

Always,

Douglas Castle

This post is dedicated to my friends, Lola and Thomas, and to their beautiful new baby girl, Maya.

It is also dedicated to my former comrade-in-chains, Bob, who passed away two weeks ago, but not before having taught me that Atheists can "secretly" be Christians, and that Christians can "secretly" be Atheists.

The sun sets, but it rises anew.

--With Great Love, DC


www.CIOFoundation.org VISIT TODAY. YOUR GIFT COULD HELP SAVE A CHILD'S LIFE.

p.s. Please take a look at my last Post to this Blog for an exhaustive list of updates. Also, if you haven't already done so, please take a look at THE NATIONAL NETWORKER and the newly-developing NATIONAL NETWORKER WEBLOG.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING UPDATES! (22 April 2008)

Dear Friends:


From the moment we are born, we are programmed with self-limiting beliefs by those around us. And these same persons (who shall remain nameless, even if they, in fact, have names, and even if they may use them on occasion) seldom indulge us in any "possibility thinking." They would have us believe that we are beaten before we even set out to run the race.

One evening in August, many years ago, my friend Brady (who shall not remain nameless) and I were sitting atop a toolshed in his parents' backyard, discussing the idea that we all might possess amazing abilities which we never even discover because nobody tells us that we might actually have them.

Naturally, I immediately thought of the gift of flight. To soar with the eagles! To ride on the wind! To look down at the vast panorama of my old neighborhood from a vantage point in the clear, blue sky! Volare!

Brady immediately picked up on my enthusiasm, and challenged me to "give flight a try". He even dared me. I was far too impetuous (e.g., moronic) to back down. I gauged the height of the toolshed. I filled my lungs with fresh, jasmine-scented evening air. I stood up, straight and tall, back slightly arched, arms at my sides, nose in the air.

I jumped off of the toolshed, into the night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Years later, long after my leg and hip had healed fully, Brady and I revisited that fateful night.

Do we have amazing but underdeveloped powers and abilities? I believe we do.



Living fully demands that we explore ourselves, that we test ourselves, that we use "possibility framing" in every question that we ask of ourselves, about ourselves. Sadly, it also requires some common sense, and an understanding of the Laws Of Physics.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

EPILOGUE: Brady ultimately became a political strategist for the "Ralph Nader For President" Committee in the U.S., and eventually had loads of people jumping off of buildings.

*******************************************************



And now, dear Friends (those of you who are still reading), we get to the THOUGHT-PROVOKING UPDATES part of the program. You'll be glad that you decided to stay. I promise. Really. Please try to avoid clicking on the YouTube clip to "CONGO SQUARE" below -- Those ornery-looking fellows capture a genuine New Orleans mood. But once again, don't click, or you'll be tempted to listen. And if you listen...

The new updates are:

DOUGLAS CASTLE: INTERNAL ENERGY PLUS

THORIUM ENERGY, INC.

THE NATIONAL NETWORKER WEBLOG (under construction)

TAKING COMMAND!

THE INTERNATIONALIST PAGE

THE GLOBAL FUTURIST

THE CHILDREN'S INTERNATIONAL OBESITY FOUNDATION

SENDING SIGNALS!

and, just for fun, you might wish to click on the ALPHA BETA SLIDESHOW .

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

UPDATES: BRAIN WAVE ENTRAINMENT and THEANINE

Dear Friends:

If you are as serious as I am about realizing your goals and expanding your intellectual and physical capabilities, there are two new posts which will be of tremendous interest to you.

Click on http://douglascastleiep.blogspot.com/ to learn about the nature of brainwaves, the various states of consciousness, and how to cultivate each of them for maximum advantage using BRAIN WAVE ENTRAINMENT. You will find this an excellent treatise on the whole notion of "entrainment" versus traditional learning. Astounding efficiencies in learning are possible, and within anyone's grasp.

Click on http://unlimited-mind.blogspot.com/ for a discussion about the nootropic supplement THEANINE. This inexpensive nutritional supplement holds great promise for alpha-state induction, anti-depressant benefits, creative thinking, longevity, and improved quality of your living experience, as well as for general Braintenance. With virtually no side-effects and no dangerous addiction potential, this may indeed be a fantastic addition to your nutritional regimen. Read about it and find out.

As always, thank you for visiting, and I hope that you enjoy these new posts.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle