July 31, 2010
Five Years of Insights
This article marks the fifth anniversary of this web-log, or blog, as venues such as this are more commonly referenced. And, during these last five years, as much as I would like to say that I write this blog, I can't. It may sound rather cryptic: but this blog writes itself.
If you logged into my computer, you would see the large number of articles that I started to write during the past five years, but didn't finish. You see, halfway through writing many articles, articles which I considered to be very timely, insightful, and well-written, I just stopped writing and didn't finish these articles. Why? Because they were absolute garbage. Crap.
Oh, I know some of you might be thinking that the ones that I DO post are just that, but that's fodder for another time.
Regardless, let me attempt to clarify what it is I'm trying to impart via this 5th anniversary insight article.
You see, a place inside of me 'opens up' during times like this and reveals to me that the blog entry isn't being written by the part of me that has the insights that I like to share with my online readers, and others. And so once that happens I stop writing the article because it simply isn't 'flowing'. It's being thought about: it's not being written.
These unfinished articles are being created by the mind. That is, the part of 'me' that isn't having the insights in the first place. The mind is but a repository for the memory of the insight. It's not the creator of the opening which the insight occurred within.
All the mind can create are thoughts, and external creations and objects. The mind can't create insights. Insights are graced upon an individual when the mind is not being focused on.
Analogously, it's as if the mental clouds part and the light is allowed to shine down upon the ground and shower the area with brightness and clarity.
When I first started this blog five years ago, it was being written from a place of mental thought. And that quickly changed whereas now it's mainly being written from a part of me that is very quiet, silent, and full of clarity and free-flowing connection with what is.
Is this something that I'm creating? No. It's something that I'm allowing.
It's in all of us. It's in me, I know that for a fact. It's also in you, and perhaps you've known it when you've had those moments that simply caused your mind to just stop dead in its tracks. Akin to having it shut up, or as I've heard people sometimes say - "I had a brain fart".
That's a very apropos way of stating the obvious. The thought was expelled and room was made in the space previously holding the thought. Of course, the space was there all along, but now it is purely empty. Void of anything, and so simple clarity of presence is seen and experienced.
It's truly a wonderful way to approach life. Doing what one can to accumulate as many of these times of clarity and insight as one can. They are so pure. They are so full of peace, and fun to boot.
Like anything in life: what's occurring is what is meant to be occurring. It's when life comes at us from a perspective that we weren't planning on that we do all that we can to stop it from happening.
But, it's already happening. It already happened. It already occurred. And yet we want it to be different than what it is.
This is akin to my experience with my insights blog. I thought that there would be an absolute potpourri of things that I would find myself wanting to write about. Absolute hundreds and hundreds of articles and all written on such a multitude of topics that it would be a labor of love over the years.
Has it become that? No. Not by a long shot.
Instead, I've just gone with what presence wants me to write each month.
As I sit here typing away on the keyboard and keeping my eyes closed so that I can focus on allowing the words to flow out of me, it becomes clear that there hasn't been a 'me' writing this blog during almost the entire past five years, but this still, silent presence inside of me.
I know, I know, this is sounding pretty esoteric. And this is correct.
This is not something that is commonly related to during our days in the world. Even when alone. This space of presence is something that doesn't need to think to know what needs to be shared to be seen.
It just shares. It just knows. It just sees. It just is.
It doesn't need to want to figure out what it needs to write so that it is clear, because it is simple clarity itself.
It truly is a simple and amazing place to be opening up to and sharing with others. Or at least doing one's best to share, and still failing miserably, as I am prone to experiencing with these articles.
But, nevertheless, this is what is so beneficial for me. So selfishly beneficial for me. Every time I sit down and begin plinking away on the keyboard to put words to computer screen I find myself entering this place of presence that opens up to me and allows me to exist in this space of peace and wonder and absolute simplicity.
And then I open my eyes and stare at what was just revealed and expressed as best it could be. So, this really isn't 'my blog'. It's a space that one opens and another, or many, enter and a subsequent sharing occurs. An experience is created, and all are touched deeply or lightly, or not at all.
There is a space in each of us that continues to read the words of others because we think that something they share will impart something upon us that will help us understand what it is that we're seeking to understand or find out. But, when the words are such that they elicit a feeling inside of the reader, that reader knows that that resonance occurred that allowed them to not just know, but to experience that resonance.
Sometimes it's known as "What the hell was that?" or "I don't understand what the dude is writing, he's weird". They're all the same thing. They're all creating an understanding, an experiencing of sorts that is resonating with the reader, you, at some level inside. Or not. And even that is a resonance in and of itself.
This whole act of writing is truly wonderful in that it allows a world to be created via these things called letters and words and then an opening inside the reader of these things called letters and words. In my case, the particular insights that have been written about during the past five years have caused people to wonder, mostly, what the heck it is that I'm trying to impart.
But, the rare few do understand because that resonance, and maybe even a similar insight, occurs revolving around what was attempted to be imparted to cause that internal opening to occur.
It's really not that complicated, but it is something wonderful to experience. Especially when the writing and the sharing is occurring from the place of presence inside. The mind can go about and create so many amazing and wondrous descriptions of so many beautiful images and concepts. But the place in each of us that lives as presence and causes insights is truly something that is not creating what is experienced.
Rather, it's revealing what already is.
That's why it's so powerful, or scary, depending upon the ability of the person experiencing the opening to allow what is occurring to transpire.
Being able to share from this free-flowing place and doing one's best to make the sharing in such a way that it is helpful to others is something that I've found that I enjoy doing during the past five years of writing this web-log. I know that sometimes my words take a second read to understand what was attempted to be relayed, as I sometimes don't do the best effort of relaying via my writing what is being felt and experienced and living inside.
But when the feeling, the experience, the presence, and the descriptive words are synchronized with the person on the receiving end of the writing spectrum and then married as one, then the true impact and meaning of the insight is experienced and known.
And, to me, that is why I do this. That is why the title of this blog is 'insights'. That is why it is subtitled '...from material to spiritual ...and everything in-between.'
Because it is about everything. And nothing. And that's all. That's the insight.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 9:17 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2008
Insights Blog: Day 1000 - Blog Entry 91
It has been three years now since I began this digital e-rag, and sometimes I'll admit that I regret starting it. I wrote about before, a couple of years ago, about what it means to undertake blogging and exactly what a blog is. Well, I'll tell you what it is...
It's work.
It takes dedication, and passion, and commitment to the cause, and actually believing that one has something worthy to share. Nevermind holding onto the tenuous belief that others think that what one is sharing is worthy of their precious time.
To think that many tens of thousands of people read this writing of mine each month now is staggering. I never would've thought a mere three years ago that anyone would be interested in what I have to say. Nevermind commenting on it, or thinking about it or -- heaven forbid -- actually linking to my site from their similar work of Internet effort. This weblog is something that I never thought would amount to anything worthwhile, or worthy, to anyone.
But, like I wrote a couple of years ago, this is something that has more meaning for me than anyone else. It's a place where I can spill my guts, so to speak, and by throwing caring to the digital wind, let the e-crap fly at times when it comes to the particular type of sharing I'm inspired to relay.
Sometimes the sharing is so obtuse that I wonder if anyone can gather what it is that I'm partaking with my words. And that comment is not made from a posturing position or one of higher knowledge or superiority insomuch as from a particular inability on my part at times to conscisely and easily relay what it is that I'm working so hard to share.
And, other times I know that I drone on about subjects and don't really impart new knowledge to the cause overall yet it is something that allows me to release the veil from my brain and show what is really lurking under the cover of the grey matter upstairs.
There are so many subjects to write about that one really can't even make a blog like this about just one. But I have been shown through the many similar topics that I have written about that I lean towards writing about subjects that I hope will make this a better place after I'm gone then what it was before I came onto the scene.
Sometimes I know that my somewhat esoteric subjects only apply to a very select few people, perhaps to just people in my particular circle of influence, but nevertheless there are embedded lessons that I hope have meaning to others whom I shall never have the pleasure of meeting face to face. Regardless, that doesn't stop me from sharing as I see fit and as I'm inspired to by whatever insight happens to cross behind my forehead.
This blog is a passion for me. It is something I'm realizing that allows me to hang onto the belief that I'm doing something for the good of the cause. Essentially, that what I say matters to at least one reader of my e-words. If so, then it's all worth it.
There is something gratifying about sharing, especially when that sharing can be viewed as helpful, that allows one to believe that they have more substance on this plane then what they heretofore believed.
I know that that's all imaginary, but it is what it is for me nonetheless.
In writing my 1000+ word articles I've found that this blog and even the subject of it, insights, has caused me to have a different perspective through each day. That is, I go through my day, now it's a habit, wherein I wonder if what I'm experiencing at home, at work, with others, or alone, has some tangible lessons in it that others might benefit from, and this has become a way of relating to the world for me.
At times it's really sweet and delightful to view the world as a place of so many lessons that one just has to reach up to the proverbial fruit tree and pick off the branches whatever sweet insight that one chooses to.
But, it's all so sweet after all.
There are so many lessons in life that one can only begin to separate the wheat from the chaff and throw away the dross of life to find what the real meat of life is. At least to that person.
I know that I'm rambling and not really making sense overall but this is just something that has particular meaning to me. Sometimes it's good just to spew forth whatever comes to mind and then see what settles out from that release. Isn't it?
Sometimes it's good to stay awake to the moment and see what it is made up of and how much of one one is imparting to that release and how much of ourselves we can see in the event. Next time we'll see more and therein become more 'complete', if you will.
Life is so inviting and willing to show us everything that we want, if only we'll look the way it is asking us to and speaking to us from. But, so many of us are too too busy with us and our petty existences that we don't want to get up from the dredges of Life and rise up and smell the fresh air above the dirt and the filthy channels we daily trudge forward through.
There is so much sweetness in life that can be gleaned from the smallest experience. I don't have to relay examples here as there are millions to choose from. They are all there, in your life, in your day, in your existence, right now, and they always have been. And they are right in front of you right now as you read these droning-on words of mine.
Yes, even my spewing has meaning to you. It has particular meaning to you that you may not be aware of. And, if you find yourself consciously resonating with what I'm writing, even if it doesn't make a bit of sense to you then my words have participated in a slight awakening of you and your spirit.
And, if so, don't you agree that that is enough reason to go on writing something as insubstantial as a blog called 'insights' from a guy who thinks that his words have little relevance to Life for others, in general?
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
January 5, 2007
A Blog Comment Is Worth A Thousand Words
Isn't it interesting how one situation can elicit as many different responses as there are people involved in that situation?
What comes to mind is recent occurrences of comments and submittals to my blog here at andrebest.com
The comments range from the one end of concurring with what I write and praise and admiration for my words and my sharing all the way to the other end of comments about my blog having a holier-than-thou style.
I find it most interesting that people who comment on my blog most likely are not aware that their comments are not so much about my blog, but, rather are a clear indication of themselves inside and how much darkness or Light their soul is showing at that point in time.
I'll explain.
When I have, say, a person stating that my blog is wonderful and offers such cogent writing on a variety of topics that really resonate with that particular person, the feeling and the agreement that they are writing to share with me is not something that I'm putting out there in my writings, but something that is being touched on inside them.
We all know the old saying 'like attracts like'.
Well, this is not only a statement about two people liking each other but can and does also apply here.
Let me offer hopefully a better and prettier analogy to what I'm trying to relay here.
Say you're driving in your car and you come around a bend in the road and 'lo and behold you're presented with a suddenly stark and incredibly beautiful scene of nature that literally takes your breath away with its intense beauty and splendor.
Perhaps it even brings you to tears like Jodie Foster's character in Contact was experiencing when she first saw those space constellations that were beyond words for description.
Now, most people would automatically think that the feeling inside the viewer, the sensations of beauty, were created by the scene; however, what is actually happening is the scene AROUSED the feelings inside the viewer.
Like attracts like.
The person in the car views the beautiful nature scene and feels a sense of awe and splendour inside and attributes that to what is viewed. But the awe and splendiferous feelings are actually inside the person and were only AWAKENED by the scene outside of them.
The beauty outside gave rise to the feelings of beauty inside the person.
Like attracts like.
This would apply to every other feeling in a person.
Sadness.
Anger.
Loneliness.
Jealousy.
Fear.
Hatred.
Rage.
Someone or some situation outside of you causes you to feel a feeling in you and you attribute that to the person or situation outside of you.
But the feeling is inside of you, was always inside of you, and yet was only 'awakened' by the event outside of you.
It's all an inside job.
So, getting back to the comments from the many people who read my blog.
Are they REALLY about what I wrote? Is there really any way that I could have somehow written articles here that are both splendiferous and cogent and at the same time holier-than-thou in attitude?
Based on what I wrote above, I say "no".
And I bring it back to 'like attracts like'.
Someone who thinks that my blog has a holier-than-thou attitude obviously is feeling that way inside themselves. My words somehow just awakened that darkness inside them.
They're the one feeling holier-than-thou. I just wrote an article or articles for my blog.
Someone else feeling grateful and peaceful inside after reading my blog and saying that they feel a connection to my words is simply reflecting the feelings that were awakened inside them after internalizing these words I e-shared via my blog article(s).
What's going on inside the person is not a result of what's going on outside the person, contrary to massively accepted public opinion. That is, rather, it's an inside job.
The person reading my blog having the holier-than-thou comments IS the person feeling holier-than-thou.
And my blog reader, many of them, with the peacefulness and sense of connectedness comments IS the person feeling this way inside. They're feeling what they're feeling because they already had the feelings inside of them.
I didn't make anyone feel this way. People reading my blog and articles make their own choice to feel inside as they do after reading.
Now, what does this have to do with anything?
Well, perhaps one can use it to help them throughout their days and interrelating with others as an indicator, a window, into the 'soul' of the other person. More specifically, where these other people are 'at' inside.
Do you really want to be in relation with someone who offers nothing but angry words and comments about things they read (and see, and experience for that matter)? Or would you rather be in relation with someone who has an opinion revolving around common sharing and positive integration and usefulness to them as a person after reading/seeing/experiencing things. Even writings that 'appear' to be controversial.
Reading a writing DOESN'T have to illicit angry comments in a person. That person is making that choice inside. And people like that I personally don't want to be around. Ever. There is enough darkness in the world, and I do what I can to minimize it in mine.
I know who I would rather hang around with and have in my life. And I hope that an insight like this, as simplistic as it appears at first glance, is useful to you, my committed readers, during your daily relations with other humans and situations on this plane.
After all, it's all for fun, isn't it? Really.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 9:08 PM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2006
Welcome to Blogaholic's Anonymous
Hello. My name is Andre and I'm a blogaholic. Here's my story...
Let me start out by stating that if you don't have a blog, you should get one. Why? Well, outside of the typical benefits of blogging that are tossed around Internet websites and blog software forums I've experienced a rather pleasant benefit via my personal blog that not many people mention.
Let me explain...
I was prodding my lifelong friend during the last year to get on the blogging bandwagon with me but he continued to state that he didn't see much need for it in his life, nor his potential to contribute anything worthwhile to the Internet blogging community. However, that changed recently after he realized that there were a fair number of insights he had about his business field that could be useful to certain people.
And so his life coaching business blog was e-born after many months of indicisive cyber-labor. I'm glad he did this, as we all have something that could be beneficial to someone, if even our-self.
You see, one can go about spouting out the benefits of blogging and describe how a blog is a shortened moniker for a web-log, or weblog. And professionals can go about stating that web-logs are a network of blogging communities, or rings, and so on and so forth. But no matter how the term is coined by Internet blog guru's I like to view my personal blog at www.andrebest.com as a different beast with a different purpose.
Prior to andrebest.com I solely focussed on my MLM blog at one of my other websites which focuses on this home-based business concept but I found that it was way too restrictive for all the thoughts that were jostling around this ol' noggin of mine. I was fine writing about home-based business stuff as it relates to MLM, but I also wanted to write about LIFE. And since that is a much broader topic, to be sure, it needed a much wider spectrum of potential coverage.
And so andrebest.com was born in the summer of 2005.
What I've learned since starting andrebest.com is that it turned out to be an online 'diary' of sorts and even though this was a rather unexpected outcome of my blogging effort with this website I am rather pleased that it turned out as it did.
Many blogging guru's tout that people should get into blogging so as to improve links to their other sites and to add to their content pages online and to monetize their website traffic by advertising on their blog. Well, that's all fine and dandy and true to a certain extent, but there is this secondary outcome of these efforts that I've discovered for those who are more serious about the intent of blogging in the first place.
You see, when one likes to write and share information and 'help' others this person is going to experience the added benefit of releasing this information out of their mind and putting it onto e-paper, so to speak. Even though one's external intent may be to improve their online 'business', the inner benefit is in my opinion a cathartically therapeutic one and can perhaps be even more beneficial to the blogger herself.
Stating this another way, have you noticed how you feel better when you 'come out' through verbal expresssion with whatever is bugging you about a situation, a person, or an event? How about when you feel all stressed inside and you go out into nature, or call a good friend to chat about your stress, or take a warm shower to cool off? Wouldn't you agree that all of these actions amount to a beneficial release of sorts because what is inside comes out cathartically through exterior actions?
Well, in my opinion, writing online via a blog is no different. It's a release of information -- be it an opinion, a fact, a neat tidbit, a diatribe, or a simple commentary about (fill-in-the-blank).
Whenever I write for my blog I make sure that I have something worthwhile to share for you, my readers, so that I too can have this release via this intrinsic sharing I'm undertaking via my words onto a webpage. And because of this I find when I have thoughts in my head that they are there for a reason, that is, they're wanting expression outside of me. And, voila!, another entry is born at andrebest.com for people around the world to read and hopefully glean useful insights from.
I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone even considering the possibility of starting their own blog, or even pondering the usefulness of such an endeavor, to start blogging right away. Just make sure that you are a person who likes to write, likes to share, and that you are someone who continues to have many thoughts or insights throughout your days that pertain to your blog's subject matter.
You see, after a while a blog kind of becomes a labor of love. That's because there is a fair amount of 'labor' involved with writing, so you better 'love' adding to your blog on a continuous basis over the years.
Again, everyone has something to share. Everyone has experiences and useful information that someone, somewhere, can benefit from.
And as I explained through my personal cathartic experience since starting andrebest.com that it is actually beneficial to release this information out into the world, it only makes sense to take advantage of an avenue that allows for all of this sharing and cathartic releasing to occur.
And, hey, if one can make money at it or become known as an expert in a chosen blog subject that's only an added bonus that I think no one would complain about.
So if you're someone who genuinely enjoys writing on a chosen subject(s) of a personal or business nature, do yourself (and the online blogging community) a favor and get your personal blog going today.
Okay, that's the end of my story about how I came to be here at Blogaholics Anonymous.
Who wants to go next?...
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 6:12 AM | Comments (4)
August 19, 2005
A Great Movable Type Site
As I'm new to this whole blogging thing using Movable Type, I've found that there is one indispensible site that I'm using to help me figure all this out.
And that site is Elise.com
The part of Elise's site that focusses on Movable Type is extremely user friendly and intuitive to what a newbie like me would need to know about Movable Type, in my case the MT 3.17 version.
Elise shows her extensive knowledge of Movable Type throughout each tutorial. I've read a couple dozen of them to help me figure this blogging stuff out. She writes each article as if it were a personal letter or email response to an inquiry to her. That's a nice style to learn from.
None of the multi-syllabic words and run-on sentences with her trainings.
The main reason why I think you should, as I have, bookmark her site - especially if you're a newbie to all this Movable Type stuff - is because her teachings are considerably more user-friendly then that actual Movable Type online 'manual' offered by Six Apart (the makers of Movable Type).
I started reading the online manual and could barely make heads nor tails of what they were teaching. They seemed to be writing based on the assumption that the reader is a good techie, or at least seriously technically inclined. That's not especially the case with me.
And so fortunately I found Elise's site and now share this information with you - the Movable Type newbies out there.
Do yourself a favor and be sure to check out Elise.com and get yourself up to speed with all this blogging stuff. Good luck.
Andre
Posted by Andre Best at 6:17 AM | Comments (0)