Category Archives: podcasts

Can you pinpoint your attitude with 100% certainty?


How do you know, how can you tell what is your attitude?
I have always wondered where good acting comes from… acting that almost no American actor does well… almost, I said.

But where do the attitudes that give the foundation of a scene originate.

But this morning I got really lucky. I saw a few interviews with Larry Thomas who played the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld.

In all of Seinfeld that I never saw on television but have the whole however many seasons, downloaded onto my PC, that was my favorite part… the Soup Nazi.

I was sure, until today, that the episode and the character wasn’t an actor. Why? It was so real… Authentic. I think I have even written about it before…

Anyway, watching and FEELING this actor create the inner dynamic of this character brought it to my conscious awareness that I FEEL the muscles of my face move, documenting the creation of the attitude… whether it’s mine or someone else’s.

I knew that my ‘homepage’ attitude is ‘I am personally offended’ and it is all in the mouth curving downward…

I needed to know that or I’d never become the person I am… I’d always remain that ‘it’s all about me and it should be different’ twirp.
But today I realized that all behavior, all attitudes come from the micro muscle contractions, and a good actor initiates everything from there.
This is, maybe, the reason I can ‘watch’ a movie not seeing it at all. Except for the environment, which I can’t feel, I don’t have to see the actor to feel what his facial muscles tell me he feels.

And this is how I know that American actors don’t know that (except the few good ones), because they don’t play they follow instructions, nobody home.

When I ask students and clients what is their attitude, they don’t go to their faces. They go to their minds, their stomachs, or their chest… but not where it comes from.

Unless you get familiar with the invisible or hard to see, you’ll be always blind and fly blind… and that is dangerous. Deadly.

Start paying attention to your facial muscles.

It is part of self-awareness… or we could say it is 01% of self-awareness.

And whatever you can’t see/feel you can’t manage, you can’t change, you can’t be responsible for.
And because responsibility is your access to power, you can’t experience power… boohoo for you.
This is why I will do two (2) live workshops teaching you to feel your face and your facial muscles… I can’t and won’t attempt to teach you to feel someone else’s, because you can’t… but you can learn to pay attention and evaluate the meaning of that micro expression…

We’ll attempt to identify these attitudes and feelings ON THE FACE.

Personally offended, disappointed, disgusted, distrust, doubt, hesitation, contempt, etc.

These are different than what ‘they’ teach, these are from MY ’emotional/attitude vocabulary’. They are powerful in that when you can identify them, you can own them… you can change them, you can manage them, so you
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How I learn and other stories you can learn from


Let’s see if you have a sense of humor? If you don’t… stop here and go darken someone’s day

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons. ~ Woody Allen

When I first came to the United States in late September of 1985, my trip was paid by a lawyer somewhere on the Palisades of NJ. I asked his secretary to type up my resume. She did it, on a computer.

There was something I wanted to change, so I asked for permission to go to the office and change that thing over the weekend.

That was the first time ever I did anything on a computer. I remember it took me hours of reading the manual to figure out what c-drive was and what to type in to make the computer do something, and open the document of my resume.

It was DOS time baby… I know that NOW but then I could not tell my arse from a hole in the ground.

And when I found the resume it fell apart in one keystroke… oops.

I spent the day and the evening in that office, but in the end I had a resume.

I was reminded of this incident this morning when I was trying to make a ebook readable for my new hero client who wants to start a business. And the word document of the book did look just like my resume back in 1985 and was formatted with as much ‘savvy’… meaning none. Using none of the built in capabilities of MS Word.

And when I look: I see this same ‘attitude’ everywhere. I call it arrogance… the arrogance of the ignorant.

What I call ignorant is

doesn’t know
doesn’t find out…
just makes up their own b.s. answer.

i.e. reduces the world to stone age level, where there was nothing…
Some people read a book, take a course, hire a coach and then do what they have always done… stone age… or at least ‘before they learned anything for a lot of money’ age.

Boggles the mind.

So… What is missing?

I say openness.

And… What is there?

Rigidness. Rigidity. I will use by club and clobber you to submission attitude.

The hardest clients to make a difference for are the rigid ones… They will, maybe, humor you to take them to the water, but they won’t drink. And they won’t tell you straight that you are wasting your time either.
Anyway, Rant for this morning… check. All done.
On a brighter note: I had a call with Amy, longtime student, great conversationalist. This was our third call, and I’ve come away from every call with something akin a gold nugget for myself…

But this time it was even better.
I had been sulking for a few weeks about some stuff, and I may even say that it’s been about a month.
I knew it was my racket… because every time you are not happy, it is always your racket.

But the racket is a tricky machine, and I could not see what I can do about becoming happy again.

WARNING! when you work with your racket, please know that what you’ll see won’t make you look good, make you smell like roses… No. You’ll look like a creep. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
It began with my birthday.
My
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What will it take to become a human being aka a Mensch?


Where is the value in a workshop, or a consulting call? What are you really taking home? Where is the value in my paid podcast: the recording of my private conversations with selected individuals?

I am looking for that myself, I am looking for that for you… to identify what is the value.

As an aside: seeing value is surprisingly a gene… a capacity, that is on, meaning active only for about one percent of humanity.

Some genes need other genes active to stay on… I think foresight needs the seeing value capacity to be able to stay on.

People’ behavior boggles the mind… because people are spending untold amounts of money on stuff… so what guides them if they don’t see value.
And the answer is both surprising and obvious: what guides them is their wants.
You want something and you buy it. And, obviously, you don’t see value… this is why so many people buy something that they don’t know what to do with. They don’t know how to get the value out of it.

You don’t even ask if you can, you just whip out your credit card and you buy it.

And then it sits there, unused, and surely unappreciated.

Earlier today I offered to turn on the foresight gene… but do people send me emails: please tell me more about it… how to use it, how to keep it alive?

No, they just send me money as if it were an ice cream cone, with absolutely no obligation on their part.

But it’s $45! Yeah. It is only worth that much if you need it. If you know how to use it because it has been what is missing. And you have been trying, and looking, and pondering, and could not see the consequences of your actions… Yeah, then it is worth $45 and more.

I have both seeing value and the foresight genes active.
I didn’t always have these genes on… I have been forcing them on with painful and consistent practice…
If you compare a gene or capacity activity to a light bulb… those two capacities are on, but the light is dim.

About 10%… not very bright.

So I am still working on it. Before every call or activity, I commit to come away with one piece of value, something that has the potential to last me and keep on providing me with value for a lifetime.
So I am training myself to not go for the want, go for finding the value and then… gasp… mining it. Mining it like a gold mine.
Or making it work for me… for a long time to come.

I am accomplishing the first part every time, but the mining it, the making it work for me is still limping along on one leg… Unless I remember to take a note of it, and contemplating it is what’s missing.

I have found out that unless I turn around and teach it, it becomes as good as if it never happened.

I have a few calls in a week. And if I get one nugget out of each, a nugget that I can identify during a call, just one even if the call is a 3-hour call and the nugget is… ahem just a nugget, I am golden… especially if I teach it… because then I’ll use it.
As a leader of a call I often fret
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How is the human DNA is like a Christmas tree


The Human DNA is like a Christmas tree
It has lots of light on, the active genes, and even more lights off, the inactive genes.

Some genes are supposed to turn off at a certain level of individual development, others are supposed to turn on, but most genes need to be needed by the person’s activity to turn on or even to stay on.

A light on is a human capacity that is active. It signifies that the organism considers it worthwhile and needed to keep it on… because it produces a benefit commensurate with the energy expenditure the body needs to put out to keep it on.

A light off is a human capacity that is not active.

Evolution of the human species is an inside job. It happens entirely on the DNA level: some capacities turn on, other capacities turn off.

One of these capacities, or genes in this case is the entitlement gene. This gene allows the child to be taken care of, instead of resisting it or working against the caretakers. This gene, when it stays on beyond age 3 wreaks havoc…

It keeps a person from seeing what is theirs to do. and it makes them have their hands out for alms all their lives.
The Law of Attraction and other religions preys on these people.
But how do these genes turn on, and why isn’t everybody the same on the level of DNA?

A DNA capacity turns on when it’s in dire need. Comfort, peace, smooth living don’t turn on new capacities.

You don’t need them. You could benefit from using them, but you don’t need them.

When I came to America, I spent all my money… it wasn’t much anyway. Eventually I made a habit of asking myself every time I wanted to buy something: do you want it or do you need it?

It was hard to tell. I wanted most things and therefore I felt I needed them.

This is not the kind of need I am talking about when I say that DNA capacities turn on when you need them. The need I am talking about is a dire need: have it or die. Have it or perish.
The result of extreme difficulty overcome.
You have to be seriously challenged, and there has to be tremendous energy demanding of you to have that capacity.

Remember ‘Run Forrest, Run!’?

Forrest Gump wore braces and didn’t know he could walk without them. But when the bullies were chasing him, he ran, first with the braces, and then the braces fell away. He never stopped, he won races, he just ran.

That was a new capacity for him. He ran for his life…

There is a difference between the chaser and the chased, the fox ad the rabbit. The rabbit runs for its life, the fox runs for his dinner… and there are other rabbits…

See the difference?
When were you last in a life or death situation? Probably never.
Some life or death situations are invented, do or die promises are like that. You promise to do or die… like when Hernan Cortes sunk the ships to force his crew to win on the shores of Mexico in 1519…

But it takes a person with a desire burning enough to create a do or die promise. It is not a dime a dozen: in
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If you want to make a difference you have to start with…


One person. Yup. One person. If you can’t make a difference for one person, then you seriously need to overhaul your entire operation, meaning your whole life… and start observing what it is about you and how you do it that leaves people … hm… (note: read the PS about this… please.)

So let’s look at what it means to make a difference, shall we?

I don’t know it exactly either, so we’ll look together. Willing?

OK, it came from Werner Erhard.
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The lost art of catching mice with what they want


It got suddenly cold in my area… and the troubles with it came…
I live in an area of Syracuse, the city, where my house is next to a wooded area… lately it has gotten a name…

There is wildlife. I can observe the white tail deer families, I can observe the badger taking its brood to a discovery tour, same with raccoons, skunks, millions of squirrels, birds of all kinds… and, of course, field mice.

I have lived in this two-family house for 18 years. And I have used hundreds of mouse traps during this time.

My favorite is the mice-cube…

It is one thing to put out a lot of traps, and it is quite another thing to observe what the mouse likes, and give it to them… inside the trap.

I know when I have a mouse, because I can smell it. I can smell the animal, I can smell its pee, I can smell its poop.
So when I do detect the smell, I start playing detective, and see what they have eaten…
It is fall, and it is getting cold, last night it was freezing. So the mice want fat… little volume, lots of body heat…
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This is how can you become sane in an insane world?


Falling in step, do it my way, destroy everything in the process
There are two ways to live.

One is to force, complain about what you don’t have, suffer
The other is to work with what you have

Roughly 3,000 years ago humanity moved towards the ‘my way or the highway’ direction.

Judaism was a religion that required submission to Life
Christianity was a new religion that fosters the sword
Islam was a tradition that went one step further: if you are not with us you are against us

Christianity and Islam took it upon itself to declare itself and its god superior to Life, to Nature, to all-of-it.
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I am Harold to your Maude… said one of my students


I am Harold to your Maude… said one of my students
I feel gratitude. I love that movie. And I loved Maude in that movie. I loved Cat Stevens’ music.

She says:

When I think of Maude I smile: I see you like that. And we, your students, are like clueless Harolds. But eventually even Harold turned his life around. Such a great movie.

Maude is 79 in that movie from 1971… and Harold is in his very early 20’s. Maude is ready to die, Harold is not ready to live.

Maude knows how to be happy, joyful: she lived full out, whatever the circumstances.
Harold hasn’t lived at all. Unless you call seeking attention from his mother living.

And that is a 90% accurate assessment of our relationship. 90%.

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Is it disappointed or frustrated? What is the difference?


Clarity of language reflects your clarity of thinking…
It is becoming clear that the parts that maybe are the most important ones (to you) in my articles are too new for you to hear.

I didn’t realize that I need to bring special attention to them, explain them, or they will be lost, maybe forever. And give me an unwelcome experience: frustration.

This is a great opportunity to bring some clarity to the use of two words that you, mistakenly, have been taking ans synonyms… meaning the same. They don’t.

The two words are disappointment and frustration.

They feel similar, yes, but the underlying cause is different.
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About THAT picture and the pumpkin plan… get unstuck


About WHAT picture and the pumpkin plan… isn’t it Halloween tonight? NOT Thanksgiving.

Oops, I am such a foreigner… I forgot Halloween pumpkins…

Well that is not what this article is about…

OK, stop yelling… settle down, something important in this article… promise.
It’s about YOU.

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