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Isn’t that a great title! This is my first blog. I am new to Facebook as of 2 months ago. Twitter and linked in a month ago. Now I am blogging. It’s another great adventure of possibilities. The ugly side of dreams is an article I am in the process of writing that refers to the unknown prices we will have to pay to make dreams happen. I recently made some of the toughest decisions I have ever made involving friendships and the business of Klemmer & Associates Leadership Seminars Inc. I had no idea I would have to make those kinds of decisions when I started Klemmer & Associates. It has caused me to reflect on other prices I have had to pay for any dream I have had. My wife and I just celebrated our 25th anniversary. To make an exciting intimate relationship last that long I have been challenged and stretched and paid prices that never crossed my mind when I proposed. When I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ as both my Lord and Savior I never suspected that my biggest critics would be Christians not non-believers. When I enrolled at the United States Military Academy in 1968 to serve my country I knew I would have physical challenges but I had no idea of dealing with drug addicts returning from Vietnam who were good people or having a gun held to my head by someone in our army. Maybe it’s good that we don’t know all the prices up front or we probably would not start or follow very many dreams. At the same time there seems to be a need to prepare people that nothing in life comes free. When we start a dream we are infatuated with possibilities which are good. I think we also need to have someone as a mentor who toughens us up for the onslaught of resistance we will meet. I have often said that “nothing great becomes great without overcoming great resistance”. So share your thoughts with me on a dream you have and prices you paid to get there that you had no idea you would encounter when you signed up for the dream.

Fulfillment Comes From Fulfilling a Purpose
Source: By SARAH TRELEAVEN

How to be happy. That’s really what it all comes down to, isn’t it? Even if life has been chugging along at a fairly joyous pace, most of us would admit a little more happy couldn’t hurt. Often all that requires is a gentle reminder of how good we already have it or a simple tweaking of our glass-half-empty perspectives in order to turn the tide. This column will do that just that. Each week, Sarah Treleaven will seek out someone who has gained wisdom and insight into how to live a happier, more fulfilling existence and she will get their best advice.

Brian Klemmer, an international consultant, author and speaker, believes that finding your purpose and exercising compassion are the keys to an abundant life – in both personal and financial realms. In his best-selling book, The Compassionate Samurai: Being Extraordinary in an Ordinary World, Mr. Klemmer describes how to live by the code of the Samurai, which includes an emphasis on personal values and civic service. Here, he explains how thinking big and giving to others is the true measure of success.

Last week: Daniel Nettle, Reader in Psychology in the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution at Newcastle University in England, and the author of Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile posits that maybe we don’t want to be happy.

Q: Are you happy?

A: Yes, I am happy. I believe happiness is knowing that you are where you are supposed to be. It is being in alignment with your purpose. This is very different than the feeling one has when they accomplish something or buy something new, which I call gratification. Gratification is dependent on circumstances whereas happiness or contentment is not subject to circumstances as one can be in alignment with their purpose EVEN when they have circumstances they don’t like. Pain eliminates gratification but not contentment.

Q: Why are you happy? When was the last time you were happiest?

A: Every day I am happy because I am constantly aligning myself and whatever circumstances I am in to support my purpose of creating bold ethical leaders [who are] committed to creating a world that works for everyone and where no one is left out. If you are talking about the state of gratification, related to circumstances, then I would say the week our graduates donated half a million dollars toward ending violence amongst youth and raised another $127,000 to build homes for the homeless.

Q: What or who is a Compassionate Samurai?

A: The Samurai were feared and respected warriors who lived by a strict code of values and whose life was about service. There is a similar dichotomy between nice people and result-producers. I want people to realize that it is possible to be both. That is what a Compassionate Samurai is: Someone with strong values who can absolutely make anything happen and yet whose whole life is about service.

Q: You acknowledge you live in a big house and drive a luxury car. Do material things make you happy?

A: No, material things do not make you happy. Neither does success. Look at all the famous wealthy people who get messed up on drugs because they are unhappy. But material things are not the problem. Mediocrity is also the height of selfishness. It is saying I have enough for me and I don’t care about you. Being in alignment with your purpose makes you happy and you can do that with or without material things, in good health or poor health, married or single. It is critical to know one’s purpose and to look for a way to align current circumstances to support your purpose.

Q: Why do most people think that material things will make them happy?

A: North Americans have been brainwashed into believing that success is measured by accumulation. This leaves many people, who are compassionate and kind, thinking that in order to be successful we must be greedy and self-centered. I’ve met many people who make large annual salaries but feel unmotivated. It’s because they are selfish. I want to re-define success as making a real contribution in society. Most people feel incomplete and are trying to fill that hole with material things.

Q: How do you reconcile the drive for commercial success with the desire to lead a fulfilled life? Is it possible to be totally ethical and makes lots of money?

A: First of all, the world’s predominant view or definition of success is oriented around consumption, acquisition and accumulation. A Compassionate Samurai has success defined around contribution. A Compassionate Samurai will accumulate things for the purpose of contributing more. Average people accumulate just to accumulate. There are plenty of people who say they are following their purpose but deny commercial success only to be able to serve less people. Ethics or character is actually a key to creating financial prosperity and keeping it. Show me a person, company or country without ethics or character and I will show you one that won’t last. So yes, you can be ethical and create wealth. I want to let people know that it is possible to be a mover and shaker in the business and political world, to enjoy great relationships and the finer things in life, and still be a caring person aware of the needs of others.

Q: You contribute to a number of charitable organizations. Why does giving to others help you to feel happy and fulfilled?

A: Giving and causing thousands of others to give at a bigger level is in alignment with my purpose. I also believe we are all connected – not just in a realm where the human eye can see. So any time one contributes to another, they [have an impact on] themselves and it feels good.

Q: Is it difficult to give when so many people are taking?

A: No. My behavior is not dictated by what others do or what others think of me. I have consciously decided the values and principles I want to live my life by. Compassionate Samurai hold principles above personal gain. Average people hold personal gain above principles.

Q: What advice do you have about being happy and living life to the fullest?

A: Read the Compassionate Samurai and make a practice of applying it. Knowing one’s purpose is a first step. Fulfillment comes from fulfilling a purpose. That’s different than being successful or productive. It is acting from these ten traits of a Compassionate Samurai – such as boldness, personal responsibility, honesty, abundance – that will create an extraordinary life that is fulfilled and happy.

http://lifestyle.aol.ca/article/how-to-be-happier-brian-klemmer/230695/

‘Compassionate Samurai’ author Brian Klemmer

Trevor Hunnicutt

Even as readers snap up the books of Stephen Covey, Suze Orman and Tony Robbins, critics of self-help insist that the books peddle empty advice to the narcissistic.
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But Novato resident Brian Klemmer, who conducts leadership seminars and whose new book, “The Compassionate Samurai,” combines themes of personal success and personal ethics, says he’s not trying to engage the skeptical.

“Unless there’s some need to, I’m not about debating people,” says Klemmer. “They’ll be very clear that – if they read the book – that it’s not about self, but about contribution.”

Klemmer says the book charts the difficult path to a life of financial, professional and social success that won’t compromise one’s ethics. The lessons are ones that Klemmer, whose Petaluma company Klemmer & Associates boasts corporate clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Walt Disney and Suzuki Motor, says he learned from Thomas Willhite, a businessman-turned-motivational-speaker who mentored and employed him. Willhite died in 1983.

Shortly after Willhite’s death, Klemmer split with the company his mentor founded. Klemmer says Willhite had inspired him to become a Christian and taught him that while prosperity is an appropriate goal, “don’t make having a Lexus the endgame.”

Those sorts of maxims are reflected in Klemmer’s book. He defines character as “core values that you operate from even when no one’s looking.”

“Samurais, they were known for their ethics,” he says. “They hold principles above everything else.”

Even though Klemmer says he won’t charge clients for his services unless they see measurable results – “talk is cheap,” he says – talk is big business for Klemmer. He charges about $10,000 to be the keynote speaker at a corporate conference, and he argues, in echoes of his first book, “If How-To’s Were Enough We’d All Be Skinny, Rich and Happy,” that people can’t really implement his lessons unless they participate in his seminars and have an “emotional experience.”

“To make change in a human being, you have to change the heart, and that requires usually some kind of an emotional experience,” he says.

Klemmer supplements his corporate activities with pro bono work, and he says he helped the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, a San Diego youth anti-violence organization, raise $750,000.

“I believe that ethics does pay,” he says. “Sometimes you get your posterior handed to you. You have to train yourself.”

The author discusses his book at 2 p.m. Sun. Free. Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. (415) 927-0960, www.bookpassage.com.

- Trevor Hunnicutt, thunnicutt@sfchronicle.com

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/21/NSP51297VQ.DTL&feed=rss.books

by Bob Harrison

CITY BUYS STATE A UNIVERSITY

The California State University system newest campus is located in the Palm Springs area. What is unusual is that this university campus opened without the state putting up any money.

Last week, I had meetings on the West Coast and I drove by the beautiful campus of this university. I was reminded how the funds were raised for its construction. In this season of “tight money,” the story is particularly meaningful.

For years, officials in the Palm Springs area tried to get the university system to open a campus in their area. Repeatedly, they were told… “If the state has to pay for it, it will take decades. In fact, it might never happen.”

However, two individuals would not accept that as a final answer. They invited the California State University Chancellor to come to town for a luncheon attended by dignitaries. During their time together they asked him, “What if we donated a campus to you? Would you then build it and furnish a staff?” He answered, “Yes.”

The city of Palm Desert agreed to donate the land for a 200-acre campus site. Then by piling municipal money on top of private donations, in 90 days the two raised $9 million and then $10 million more. Now the thriving campus is training thousands of students, plus the campus is surrounded by retail stores and motels which provide a continuous revenue flow for the city.

This story is a great example of “The Formula Of Champions” taught by Brian Klemmer – one of the featured speakers at our upcoming Hawaii Increase Event – which is as follows: Intention + Mechanism = Results. Brian maintains that the key to making things happen, and getting fresh ideas and strategies, is not to focus solely on the mechanism (on the How Tos). One must also increase the intensity (hunger/desire) of the intention (the dream or desired outcome). When the intention is strong enough, the mechanisms (How Tos) will begin to appear. Brian teaches that one of the ways of raising the intensity of one’s intentions is through visualization. He states…

While needing to raise funds for a building project I was involved in, every week I used to walk the land that I wanted to put the building upon. That caused my subconscious to work on creating mechanisms to raise money. Drawings of the project were made before any money was raised, and I constantly looked at them. That also raised my intention. I actually would take time to mentally picture the grand opening of the building and see people using it. Remember…

…your subconscious is already seeing a picture of what it believes is the current reality.

Therefore, to achieve your goals you must control those images. Surround yourself with pictures of the desired finished state. Go and see and/or touch something that represents your dream or desired outcome. Also create a psychological trigger device: anything that reminds you of that picture of your achieved goal.

By using the above techniques, you can help unlock the powerful potential of your subconscious and accomplish what may seem to be impossible or insurmountable.

In times of negativity and/or economic uncertainty, do not get so busy and/or consumed with problem solving that you neglect to invest time and money into those activities that will enable you to “break out” of the normal and experience exciting unexpected increase.

INCREASE THOUGHT
What can you do to increase your intention mechanism?
INCREASE VERSE
“Write the vision and make it plain.” Habakuk 2:2

October 23rd 2009
Nature’s Sunshine Keynote
Topic – Secret success formula of champions
Ontario, Canada

Sunday, May 3rd 9:15am -11:15am
Trilogy International
Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina
700 South Florida Ave
Tampa, FL 33602