Tickling the Trees...

It has been a very busy week here on Apple Valley Way...so this evening I took a little extra time to spend with David, my three year old son.

We went to the chicken house and collected the eggs for the day...checked on the week-old baby chicks, counted the flock to make sure every one was roosting for the night and locked the chicken house.

Next we listened to the tree frogs and spring peepers singing around the pond; then we threw sticks in the pond which of course frightened the frogs into silence.

The Labs were barking so we gave them some rawhide treats to chew on...they wanted to run and play but it was getting too late.

Feeding the goats and ducks was next on the agenda. Bread crumbs from an old loaf of bread and french fries from McDonalds were on the menu. (They do get normal animal food--grain and hay--but this was "snack time".)

Having fed all the animals, David wanted to walk around the house, so we did--four times. He told me how we were making a circle as we went around the house. Then he wanted to walk close to the walls of the house and decided that now we were walking in a square...(actually a rectangle, but I thought it was interesting that his three year old mind conceived of the difference between a wide sweep around the house being a circle and the close walk around the house being a "square").

The last time around the house I noticed that the goats were disturbed and staring at something down by the lower pond. I went in the house and got a high beam flashlight. Well, the "varmint" turned out to be the neighbor's cat who just needed a drink from the pond.

Since there was a gentle breeze blowing, I decided to set a spell on the front porch and watch the animals and enjoy the country evening. David wanted the flashlight so I let him play with it.

He was shining it up in the trees, moving it back and forth rapidly, saying, "Daddy, look at the fire...look at the fire."

Then he changed his strategy. He started shining the light on one tree and then moving it up and down the tree branches and laughing. "I'm tickling the tree, Daddy. See, I'm tickling the tree."

I laughed with him, gave him a big hug, and thought how blessed I was to have a three year old that could "tickle" trees with just a flashlight.

Just part of a DAY in my JOURNEY...

Be blessed,

JDB

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing that snippet from your day....

Sounds like you're having a FANTASTIC journey! :) (And it sounds like your family is also coming along for the joyful ride! :)

It's an inspiration to all ofus! :)

I believe that a large part of success is definitely (as Julie Jordan Scott often says) finding your PASSION..... Certainly doing something you are passionate about helps a long way in giving you the desire to keep going....

I was reading something recently, and it reminded me....

Self-esteem, confidence, is best when it comes from WITHIN....

Often, we look to (not yet obtained) achievements to boost our self-esteem.... We look towards the "outside" to get our self-esteem and confidence....

Instead, we should be finding our self-esteem and confidence first. Finding it WITHIN ourselves.... Success often flows from that... Many people have it the wrong way around....

Thanks John for sharing your wisdom here.... :)

- Dien

I've noticed something....

Confidence RADIATES! When you have confidence, everyone aound you can sense it....

It's like the glow of a crackling campfire.... People come around to bask in the warmth....

Confident people have a glow about them. They shine.... they SPARKLE!

But..... as I mentioned before, confidence must come from within if it is to have strength.... For the most successful people, their confidence comes from within themselves.

It's like a magnet which can't help but draw people and opportunities towards themselves....

Sometimes it seems elusive (especially when you don't have it), but when you have it the world is an ocean of incredible opportunities.... :)

The choice then boils down to which one do you pick... :)

By the way, I can explain where my personal confidence comes from... For me, confidence has often been tied to knowledge.... The more knowledgeable I am about something, the more confident I feel....

However, it doesn't seem to necessarily have to be that way.... Others have other ways to become confident....

Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic? :)

- Dien

Hello Dien and All!

> Confidence RADIATES! When you have
> confidence, everyone aound you can sense
> it....

***This is ABSOLUTELY true! I have used this "Amazing Tactic to Get Absolutely Anywhere with Ease and Flair"....really quite simply!

> It's like the glow of a crackling
> campfire.... People come around to bask in
> the warmth....

***Or allow you into anywhere to get the top secret information you are after....(my favorite anecdotal evidence of this is when I worked for the County I spent lots of time at the local hospital. Carrying a clipboard, wearing the right clothes and striding confidently around the hospital, I could get anywhere and say anything my heart desired! It was actually frightening to think that simply by EXUDING confidence, THINGS HAPPENED!

Thanks for the pleasant memories, Dien! I hope other people will share their "Confidence Findings" as well.

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE




Dare to Discover Your Passion, Decide to Live Your Destiny!

Hi Dien,

Excellent Topic! Let's Talk about Confidence! Hmmm. First a question. In your post you wrote that the more "Knowledgeable" you are, the more confident you "Feel".

I'm curious as to how you are DEFINING the word knowledgeable? I'm getting confused between "knowledge" and the word "COMPETENCE" (not in the dictionary definition, just in how you are describing it here)

I could be "knowledgeable" (depending on your definition) about an area....like MAILORDER/Marketing. After READING tons of books, I could 'RATTLE OFF definitions, and even give advice on strategies of what to do (like College teachers). In this case I am an ACADEMIC that could probably teach a good class...HOWEVER give me a mailorder project and make it PROFITABLE in the REAL WORLD, and see how "under CONFIDENT" I feel.

For years I would state that In order to feel confident, I must establish a certain level of COMPETENCE in an area. The more COMPETENT (skillful) the more Confident I feel in my ability.

From reading Tony Robbins, he had a different Viewpoint to both of us. For him, he would just "PUT HIMSELF INTO A CONFIDENT STATE FIRST ...THEN HE WOULD CONFIDENTLY ACHIEVE ...KNOWLEDGE/COMPETENCE." He would argue that confidence is nothing more than a state which we can manipulate by Acting AS IF we were confident. For him he could confidently achieve ANYTHING...

Tony's viewpoint is in amazing contrast to yours and mine....

Food for thought :->

Duane

> I've noticed something....

> Confidence RADIATES! When you have
> confidence, everyone aound you can sense
> it....

> It's like the glow of a crackling
> campfire.... People come around to bask in
> the warmth....

> Confident people have a glow about them.
> They shine.... they SPARKLE!

> But..... as I mentioned before, confidence
> must come from within if it is to have
> strength.... For the most successful people,
> their confidence comes from within
> themselves.

> It's like a magnet which can't help but draw
> people and opportunities towards
> themselves....

> Sometimes it seems elusive (especially when
> you don't have it), but when you have it the
> world is an ocean of incredible
> opportunities.... :)

> The choice then boils down to which one do
> you pick... :)

> By the way, I can explain where my personal
> confidence comes from... For me, confidence
> has often been tied to knowledge.... The
> more knowledgeable I am about something, the
> more confident I feel....

> However, it doesn't seem to necessarily have
> to be that way.... Others have other ways to
> become confident....

> Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic?
> :)

> - Dien

To me, confidence is knowing that you can do
something. The more you prove to yourself that
you can do something, the easier it gets, because
you have the experiance and convidence.
Helplessness is the cycle going in the opposite
direction. You don't know what to do and then
nothing you do works, and pretty soon you're
totally convinced that nothing will work...and
other people, picking up on this, agree.
There is or was a site www.buildfreedom.com
and one of the articles was on overcoming the
feeling of helplessness. Something about the
cognitive links being broken.
If I do x, I will get y result gets messed up
so you're not sure if I do x, will I get y or z.
And the solution is to start with something simple
that you can do and get results immediately and
then build with regards to complexity and length
of time involved...good old delayed gratification.

By the way, since 80% of our communication is non-
verbal, it's easy to see why if one acts con-
fidently, one can achieve a lot. Confidence games,
cults, etc are all predicated on the fact.

Hi Julie!

> ***Or allow you into anywhere to get the top
> secret information you are after....(my
> favorite anecdotal evidence of this is when
> I worked for the County I spent lots of time
> at the local hospital. Carrying a clipboard,
> wearing the right clothes and striding
> confidently around the hospital, I could get
> anywhere and say anything my heart desired!
> It was actually frightening to think that
> simply by EXUDING confidence, THINGS
> HAPPENED!

Julie, thanks for sharing your story.... I find it very inspiring to hear. :)

One of the toughest things in life to achieve is balance, and I feel you are one of the most balanced people around.... :)

Your confidence inspires me too!

I hope everything goes well for you Julie in these coming weeks, please don't leave us in the dark!

Warmly,

Dien

Hi Duane,

Sorry I've gotten a bit behind in my posts on this thread.... Sometimes my mind gets so focused and I go off on all kinds of tangents in this forum.... :)

> Excellent Topic! Let's Talk about
> Confidence! Hmmm. First a question. In your
> post you wrote that the more
> "Knowledgeable" you are, the more
> confident you "Feel".

> I'm curious as to how you are DEFINING the
> word knowledgeable? I'm getting confused
> between "knowledge" and the word
> "COMPETENCE" (not in the
> dictionary definition, just in how you are
> describing it here)

> I could be "knowledgeable"
> (depending on your definition) about an
> area....like MAILORDER/Marketing. After
> READING tons of books, I could 'RATTLE OFF
> definitions, and even give advice on
> strategies of what to do (like College
> teachers). In this case I am an ACADEMIC
> that could probably teach a good
> class...HOWEVER give me a mailorder project
> and make it PROFITABLE in the REAL WORLD,
> and see how "under CONFIDENT" I
> feel.

Hmmm.... I guess, for me, the more knowledge I have, the more competent I feel.... However, experience adds to that feeling of competence even more....

I tend to do things the "long way" in a sense (but the "short way" in another sense) -- I immerse myself in studying it, looking for the "keys" to success in that area. Sometimes I seem to find these "keys" quickly, sometimes it takes longer....

I've found business (in general) to be a tricky area. For example, there are people who succeed in business, who clearly don't know precisely WHY they succeeded! When they try to repeat their success, they fail.... There are many people who have written business books who have really only had one success, and who, when they have tried to repeat that success, have failed....

I got misled by these books in the beginning! A large number of books are written by people like this.... Their intentions in writing are good, but they haven't really understood the "keys" themselves, but it seems they just happened to get lucky....

But then, there are those who have repeat successes, the "serial entrepreneurs." I figure these people are more likely to know what they are doing right!

Another group to study, I've realized recently, are *cultural* groups which have had a lot of business success. I recently bought the book "The Jewish Phenomenon" by Steven Silbiger -- looking through it, it looks like a great book (but I haven't read it yet). There have been lots of Jewish successes in business (as well as in science and entertainment, for example), and it's good to learn why that is, so we can use the same approach too.

I guess this is a long way of saying that I'm always studying, always trying to learn from other people's successes (and their mistakes), which I think helps me get a "short cut" to success, no matter what it is that I try to do. I'm a very intense researcher, and I believe in total immersion in the topic I'm focusing on.

> For years I would state that In order to
> feel confident, I must establish a certain
> level of COMPETENCE in an area. The more
> COMPETENT (skillful) the more Confident I
> feel in my ability.

Maybe this is so.... I guess I already feel I am competent in physics, for example. I've never really had much doubt about my own *potential* competence regarding almost anything.... I like to think of it as supreme confidence that I will *eventually* succeed (though some have told me that it sounds more like arrogance!).

> From reading Tony Robbins, he had a
> different Viewpoint to both of us. For him,
> he would just "PUT HIMSELF INTO A
> CONFIDENT STATE FIRST ...THEN HE WOULD
> CONFIDENTLY ACHIEVE
> ...KNOWLEDGE/COMPETENCE." He would
> argue that confidence is nothing more than a
> state which we can manipulate by Acting AS
> IF we were confident. For him he could
> confidently achieve ANYTHING...

> Tony's viewpoint is in amazing contrast to
> yours and mine....

Yes, I'm interested in learning about this point of view too!

> Food for thought :-> Duane

Thanks Duane.... I really enjoyed your post! :)

- Dien

Hi Joe,

> To me, confidence is knowing that you can do
> something. The more you prove to yourself
> that
> you can do something, the easier it gets,
> because
> you have the experiance and convidence.
> Helplessness is the cycle going in the
> opposite
> direction. You don't know what to do and
> then
> nothing you do works, and pretty soon you're
> totally convinced that nothing will
> work...and
> other people, picking up on this, agree.
> There is or was a site www.buildfreedom.com
> and one of the articles was on overcoming
> the
> feeling of helplessness. Something about the
> cognitive links being broken.
> If I do x, I will get y result gets messed
> up
> so you're not sure if I do x, will I get y
> or z.
> And the solution is to start with something
> simple
> that you can do and get results immediately
> and
> then build with regards to complexity and
> length
> of time involved...good old delayed
> gratification.

Thanks.... Very interesting comments.... Thanks also for the link to the Build Freedom web site -- interesting site!

> By the way, since 80% of our communication
> is non-verbal, it's easy to see why if one acts
> confidently, one can achieve a lot. Confidence
> games, cults, etc are all predicated on the fact.

Yes, "con-man" really stands for "confidence man," of course. I've come across some strange stories of people who, it seems are addicted to "conning" people, and routinely pass themselves off as lawyers, doctors, or other professionals, when they have no qualifications. Sometimes they keep this up for years! I guess this is one side of having a lot of "confidence" (or at least appearing to)....

Well, I guess that's taking it too far, but it's still interesting to know about, and in a way it really proves the point of the importance of confidence (and not to misuse it)!

- Dien

> Hi Duane,

> Sorry I've gotten a bit behind in my posts
> on this thread.... Sometimes my mind gets so
> focused and I go off on all kinds of
> tangents in this forum.... :)

This board is very addictive! Good Job!

> Hmmm.... I guess, for me, the more knowledge
> I have, the more competent I feel....
> However, experience adds to that feeling of
> competence even more....

> I tend to do things the "long way"
> in a sense (but the "short way" in
> another sense) -- I immerse myself in
> studying it, looking for the
> "keys" to success in that area.
> Sometimes I seem to find these
> "keys" quickly, sometimes it takes
> longer....

I'm with you on this one. You look for the common denominators to success in different areas!

> I've found business (in general) to be a
> tricky area. For example, there are people
> who succeed in business, who clearly don't
> know precisely WHY they succeeded! When they
> try to repeat their success, they fail....
> There are many people who have written
> business books who have really only had one
> success, and who, when they have tried to
> repeat that success, have failed....

Yes! If they can duplicate successful results, or if anybody else using what they know can, then it is more Scientific and Objective.

> I got misled by these books in the
> beginning! A large number of books are
> written by people like this.... Their
> intentions in writing are good, but they
> haven't really understood the
> "keys" themselves, but it seems
> they just happened to get lucky....

> But then, there are those who have repeat
> successes, the "serial
> entrepreneurs." I figure these people
> are more likely to know what they are doing
> right!

Agreed! But some of these people have difficulty teaching/translating what they do. They are not teachers. Unless a person can learn to "SEE" the underlying PRINCIPLES, Too many people will just try to duplicate the successful persons actions without understanding "WHY" it works.

> Another group to study, I've realized
> recently, are *cultural* groups which have
> had a lot of business success. I recently
> bought the book "The Jewish
> Phenomenon" by Steven Silbiger --
> looking through it, it looks like a great
> book (but I haven't read it yet). There have
> been lots of Jewish successes in business
> (as well as in science and entertainment,
> for example), and it's good to learn why
> that is, so we can use the same approach
> too.

WOW! I have actually read that book, As well as more than half of the other books you have mentioned. Talk about the same wavelength!

The Jewish Phenomenon, is a very interesting read! I'm sure you will enjoy.

> I guess this is a long way of saying that
> I'm always studying, always trying to learn
> from other people's successes (and their
> mistakes), which I think helps me get a
> "short cut" to success, no matter
> what it is that I try to do. I'm a very
> intense researcher, and I believe in total
> immersion in the topic I'm focusing on.

As is noted by this very forum!

> Maybe this is so.... I guess I already feel
> I am competent in physics, for example. I've
> never really had much doubt about my own
> *potential* competence regarding almost
> anything.... I like to think of it as
> supreme confidence that I will *eventually*
> succeed (though some have told me that it
> sounds more like arrogance!).

Arrogance?? NOOH! Tell them that you "Trust" yourself and have "FAITH" in your ability to learn, apply and grow! (O.K, O.K that's what I tell people *G*)

> Yes, I'm interested in learning about this
> point of view too!

His viewpoint originate from the book Psychocybernetics. In which it states that if you want to change your self image,....Then...ACT AS IF.(fake it till you make it!)

> Thanks Duane.... I really enjoyed your post!
> :)

And I yours!

> - Dien