Paul Luvera Journal

The late Robert H Schuler, a pastor and motivational speaker, once asked “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” In fact, there’s a real life example of the answer to that question. It’s the true story of mathematician George Dantzig who died in 2005. The incident in question resembles a scene from the movie Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon and Robin Williams. There is a famous scene, early in the film, when Damon’s  character, working…

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Motivation In the 1929 Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day Georgia Tech fumbled the ball and California’s Roy Riegel picked it up and ran it back 65 yards, but in the wrong direction. After running 65 yards his own players eventually tackled him. When California ended up having to punt, Georgia Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety. During halftime Riegel expected coach Price to be really angry about his stupid mistake. But, Price didn’t say anything about in…

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The idea behind the phrase "the map is not the territory" comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is an approach to communication and  personal development created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder of California in the 1970's.Part of the doctrine involved is the idea that "the map is not the territory." It refers to the difference between reality and our beliefs. It applies to the fact that our perception of the world is being generated by our brain as a "map"…

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That's the title of a best selling book written by Jess Lair a Montana university professor and published in 1977. In it he talks about self worth and how we should see how wonderful we were created to be even with all our faults I was reminded of the book one day  while listening to the radio in my car to a sermon by evangelist Joel Osteen which he titled "Seeing Yourself as a Masterpiece." In his talk he  said too…

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A friend sent me an article by Dr. Daniel Amen who is a physician, psychiatrist and best-selling author http://ahha.org/selfhelp-articles/ant-therapy/  The title is "ANT Therapy." By that he means "automatic negative thoughts" or "ANTs." These are the cynical, gloomy and complaining thoughts that just seem to keep coming all by themselves. He makes the point that every time we have a thought, our brain releases chemicals with an electrical transmission going across our brain. Thoughts are real and have an impact on…

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When faced with challenges that make us feel insecure let’s remember that the most powerful force we have is what we tell ourselves and believe. It’s all in our attitude because we create our own reality. Even the Bible gives us examples of courage against what appear to be insurmountable challenges. In 1-Samuel we have the famous story of David and Goliath. The Philistines had gathered their forces for war in Judah with a pitched camp. Saul and the Israelites…

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My father was a great believer in motivational ideas. He read motivational books, had motivational slogans and was a  believer in goal setting. He was also a very positive minded person which stood in stark contrast to my mother who tended to worry. I'm afraid I took more after my mother's viewpoint in spite of every effort of my father to influence me with a positive outlook. As a young man I worked on developing a goal oriented and positive outlook through reading and…

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Unless we get rid of our TV's and radios plus stopping reading newspapers we will continue to be  subjected to an infinite number of things to worry about. The  most recent is Ebola, but we have terrorist attacks, unpaid bills, political incompetence and multiple other things both personal, national and international to occupy our worrying. So, here are some thoughts about the subject. Let's start with Scripture. Matthew Chapt 6 says: "I tell you, therefore, do not worry about your life, about…

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Here are a collection of inspirational thoughts from a file i kept on motivation which I repeat here without any particular order. Maybe something here will touch your spirit. I hope so. "I shall not pass this way but once; any good therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." (Unknown) Winston…

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I'm trying a jury case in Seattle which started last week and has proven to be a challenge. I am reminded, however, about the butterfly as I contemplate my trial.  The adult butterfly lays eggs resulting in young caterpillars that begin eating without stopping for two or three weeks. They increase body size and change appearance. At the end of that time they bodies prepare to create a chrysalis or outer covering. They find a place on a branch and…

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