Are You a Victim of Your Inner Caveman?

As I got to the office this morning I needed to fax some papers and found the fax machine in an extra finicky mood. It was too greedy; it kept trying to gobble up the entire stack of 9 pages at one time causing a paper jam.

And try as I might to solve the problem I found myself entertained with how the fax machine is just like one of my sons. Just a few nights ago my son came home from playing basketball with a few friends and was so hungry when he got home that he made himself a stack of peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

Now I have to tell you that when this son is having peanut butter and honey sandwiches it is more of a ritual than preparing a meal. He has traditionally had at least one peanut butter severing every day.

In fact we have teased him that when he is threw growing up he will look just like the planters peanut man with a hat and a cane. He has it on ice cream, on pancakes, in sandwiches and without fail daily.

Well on this particular day he was very hungry and had made 3 very large sandwiches, he had the peanut butter ½ in thick and the honey was pretty close to the same. But it wasn’t the quantity or the quality of the sandwiches this day but the speed that he was eating them.

Now this is not new for him because I have done the Heimlich maneuver on him on two different occasions. And yet his inner caveman says I need to eat very fast.

Well just like the fax machine he got all jammed up. He laid there on the couch for about 1 hour moaning over the pain and then the jam came out and just like with the fax machine the jam needs to come out backwards.

This might be a simple thing for you to fix in your life, not to eat too fast or too much at one time but I know the truth, that everyone and I mean everyone has an inner caveman living inside.

The cave man might overpower you when it comes to food, it might overpower you when it comes to patience, and it might even overpower you when it comes to love. But the caveman in you is waiting to take charge of that thing in your life that teaches you about yourself.

And the interesting thing is that I can’t tell you how many times myself and his mother has recommenced to slow down and chew his food. But in the end, just like all youth they will always need to learn on their own.

But ask yourself, if you are paying attention to what you are trying to learn, were does your Neanderthal comes out in you. The interesting thing about the inner creature is sometimes you cant even tell that it is there teaching you and when others tell you about the weird stuff you are doing that you simply feel it cant be true. But in reality you have seen others expose the inner Neanderthal and say boy they are weird. You might even point out to the person what they are doing and they deny it.

But unlike the fax machine, you can’t through away the over eating giant within, but learn to accept the lesson so the beast can be loved into safety and then into a trusting place, because if you try to discipline the inner you by ignoring or chastising yourself, your ultimate outcome will also be a chocking experience hoping someone can help you with a Heimlich maneuver to get out the bad stuff stuck in your life.

All ancient wisdom from every culture teaches of inner discovery for inner peace or joy and self satisfaction. Learn to master your inner self by accepting, then loving then teaching yourself and others to do the same. Because when you become the teacher your ability to understand becomes understood.

And self discovery is by far easier than the Heimlich.

Your Life Strategist

Jeff Allen

Where has your life taken you?

Our first snow in Boise came today and as I walked up to the office door and looked back at the parking lot, I thought about the foot prints and how one can never really fake their life. The place our feet have walked tells more about who we are that any amount of words that could ever be used to describe our personality.

For example; there have been many devoted people in life but if you say Mother Teresa or Gandhi you get a whole new picture of devotion. The most beneficial approach to taking a look at where you have been is through the eyes of accountability. Through the eyes of a forgiving soul that is willing to look at the past a perfect method to learn your life lessons.

A phrase I use often in my classes is, “You never deserved all the negative things that came in your life but at some level you asked for it.”

I have a basic belief that the energy of the Universe that we live in was organized in a way that everything has a purpose. And I mean everything – because God is a God of Mistakes or Miracles.

And I choose to believe that God works Miracles. In doing so, God does everything through love and not force. So each event that takes place in our life we ask for at some level of spiritual growth.

Let me give you an example; my mother took me to a church social as a child. As we entered the doors to the gathering hall she grabbed me by the hair and quietly scolded me while yanking my hair. She gave me specific orders to stand very close to her the entire meeting.

Now I have to tell you I did not deserve to have my hair yanked or scolded like that but I had been asking for it. Just think what a 4 year old boy was doing 1 hour before leaving the house, what was I doing in the car and what had I done coming in the building.

Now if I would have chosen the easy button I could have heard the first warning but do to my stubbornness or lack of willing to listen I took the hard button.

The same is true in all aspects of life, everyone knows today that going to college gains more income and a better life but many still don’t go to college. No one deserves to live a life in poverty but they commonly ask for it.

Now I know some might be reading this thinking what about those that die at birth or have terrible things happen to them? Well the same is true, if you completely trust that the universe is divinely operating then at some level- (probably spiritual) the combined effort of all involved in the terrible thing becomes the lesson of having hair yanked.

Now before you get to shocked can I ask you a question? If the only way to find the love of God is to do drugs and spend your life in prison is doing drugs wrong?

I have to remind you we all have an easy button or a hard button and I think going to jail is the hard button but if that person could have learned another way they would have.

To make your life simpler by being accountable – be accountable on how you are going to make tomorrow better based on your lessons of life. You always get what you give at the true bottom of your intention.

The foot prints that you have placed in life can tell you where you have been and how you choose to learn you lessons. It is now time to choose the easy button by choosing to learn an easier way.

Living a life filled with intention will remove your fear. Fear is the lack of knowing and Intention is trusting your outcome.

Your Life Strategist

Jeff Allen

The lessons of a Lemonade Stand

On this first day of December and after a great Thanksgiving Holiday I hope I can keep this peaceful feeling I am having throughout the rest of my life.

The reason I am in an extra sensitive mood is I just came back from my Aunt Jenny’s funeral. And what a wonderful 85 years she lived.

One of the greatest points of inspiration that came to me through the funeral service is how her 6 adult children felt that they were their “momma’s” favorite child.

And I must admit I feel like I am her favorite nephew. You see it was something like this; she would stop whatever she was doing, look you in the eye, listen closely, and then respond with some positive words about having more faith in yourself or in God. She always had a calming voice and a pleasant smile that would cause you to know you were the most important thing at that very moment.

As a youth, it was a common practice in my mother’s family to pass around the cousins in the summer months to get to know each other and to learn about life through others life experiences.

On one of my stays my aunt talked me into setting up a lemonade stand in front of the house. Now I have to tell you this was something that never happened where I grew up, mainly because none of the 283 people in the whole town would come to my house clear on the outskirts of town just to buy a glass of lemonade.

But in my best attitude and with a lot of hours sitting on the street I finally sold some lemonade to neighbors that were just walking by. Now that I am older I know that they were just helping out some kid on the street but that day really meant a lot to my growth and personal development.

Aunt Jenny recommended that I not spend the money but to save it and buy some more lemons and sugar and she would help me again set up the stand for more sales. But my need to spend the money got the better of me and I bought a large banana ICE at the corner 7-11 convenience store.

But Aunt Jenny did not tone down her spirits, and she again stocked my lemonade stand with lemons, sugar, and ice. She was so determined that I could come into my own at the age of 10 that she even sat out there for what seemed like hours, coaching me to bark out the message of cold fresh lemonade to every one that passed buy.

But the real lesson of selling lemonade turned into a life time memory. Aunt Jenny went in the house and left me to sell all the lemonade. I was barking out to all passer bys fresh cold lemonade and I make it while you wait.

Two boys that were much bigger than myself stopped across the street making fun of me and mocking every word. After a few remarks I yelled buy some lemonade or move on. Their remarks back was I’ll shoot you with this bb gun if you don’t shut up. Well I jumped up and put my hands on my hips and said you couldn’t shoot me if you tried.

The next thing I knew was I was running into Aunt Jenny hoping she could relive the pain. As I ran in the house screaming,” I’ve been shot,” she calmly knelt down looking at the blood coming out of a small hole on my stomach and as she pinched the spot like a pimple out came the bb.

And her shocking words to me were what did you do to deserve that.

Boy I thought that those boys should go to jail for the rest of their life but all she said is what did you do to deserve that. Now that was a new frame of reference and I must admit a good one.

Then she started to explain how some people simply have sad lives and take it out on others and those that look for the good in others usually can find it. And when you help them find the good in themselves they become your friend and not an enemy.

You always get what you give and in this case if I would have offered a free lemonade they would have moved on without any conflict and my suffering would have not happened and I would have gained another good customer.

You always get what you give and the givers always get the most by becoming a favorite friend like Aunt Jenny. Listening with real intent to become the winner in the game of life.

You’re Life Strategist

Jeff D. Allen