With free will we have opportunity to decide who and what we want to be. This is something that just a hundred or so years ago was difficult.

A hundred years ago we were what we were. If my father was a shoemaker, I was a shoemaker. If my father worked in the factory, I worked in the factory. If my father worked on the farm, I worked on the farm. Of course there are hardly any farms anymore. The world is changing quickly, and we need to adjust our thinking to the fast pace of change or get left behind. Of course, this gives us a new opportunity to explore our lives and what we want in totally different way.

Of course people don’t like change. They resist change, and what in their life is the paradox they keep hoping for? Positive change. I hope I get a raise. I hope that I get a better job. I hope and hope and hope. And when the change actually comes, I hope I don’t screw up with the new promotion. So while secretly hoping for the raise, the promotion, the sale, the scholarship, when someone gets it they are afraid of losing it.

It seems that a lot of us live our lives in confusion about what we really want, and when we get it we are not sure that we want it. Ever hear someone say, “Be careful what you wish for, it could come true”?

So if we have carefully thought out our goals and the values that we want in our life, and then we do get the things that we wish, we are prepared to move forward and get other things that will satisfy us in this life.

Are we old enough in this life to determine that we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience?

What kind of perspective does that put on the human spirit of the world? We no longer are what we were in the past, but we have grown up to be something more in the future. Your future, your life, your happiness. We have evolved right before our very eyes.

You have to love this one. Alabama state senator Hank Erwin says the reason Gulf Coast is suffering from hurricanes is because God is judging Americans for sinful behavior. This could be a Steve Lopez column in the LA Times.

Quote from the senator (thanks for making my job easy, keep it going): “So why were we surprised when finally the hand of judgment fell? As harsh as it sound, those hurricanes do say that God is real, and we have to realize sin has consequences.”

But wait there is more, “The catastrophic storms are part of a pattern evident in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. God has removed an umbrella of protection from America due to an increase of abortion, pornography, and prostitution.” Is there more than one umbrella, is the burning question I want to know. Ouch.

Al-Qaida hailed the hurricane deaths as the “Wrath of God”.

Louis Farrakhan had this take on the hurricanes: the devastation caused by the hurricanes was divine punishment for the violence America had inflicted on Iraq.

Pat Robertson said the hurricanes might be linked to legalized abortion.

Some Rabbis (I don’t know who I am just reporting from Yahoo, and yes I went from Fox News to Yahoo for this story) that the hurricanes are retribution for supporting the Israeli pull-out from the Gaza Strip.

Erwin reminds us that the wages of sin are death. Thank you for that update. How are the people of Alabama going to live this one down? I have an idea: don’t vote fruity tuity in the next election.

Barbra (did she change the spelling of her name, or have I not been paying attention?) Streisand and Robert Kennedy claim the hurricanes are from Global warming, not God. Barbra has issued a “global warming emergency.” That puts Barbra on my list of people to vote for before Hillary. Glad to know we have sound principles weighing in on both sides.

It couldn’t possibly be the weather, could it?

Besides that, I don’t believe God judges anyone anyway. We have all the free will to do and say whatever we want. Argument above.

One of the things we emphasize here at Life Motivations is the difference between self-help and the need for professional psychological assistance. The Maple Counseling Center in Beverly Hills, California provides low-coast services to people in the region, as well as crisis response assistance to people across the country in situations like the recent hurricanes. Their annual fundraiser, the Crystal Ball, takes place next week.

Enthusiasm is a great thing to have. Not over the top, but being genuinely enthusiastic about what you are doing. Enthusiasm can make a company go forward, or a lack of enthusiasm can make a company go backward, let alone an individual. Can you recognize a person with a lack of “E”? How about you, do you sometimes lack enthusiasm about what you are doing? Does it make you tired not to have vitamin “E”? Try this, when you are feeling a lack of enthusiasm: Tell yourself that if you get excited about this, the work or situation that you are in will happen quicker and you will do a better job or have a better time. How about this, the next time you go over to your in-laws take enthusiasm with you and see how much more fun you have. A little enthusiasm can make all the difference.

PS: Check out the recent Weekly Challenges as an introduction or to find a new success technique.

“Do or do not: there is no try.”

Do you understand what motivates the customer? If you don’t, then you won’t be as effective as you could be. If a customer wants security and protection as a motivating factor in the sale and you are selling comfort and convenience, do you think you are going to make the sale? I don’t think so; understanding the customer’s motivations are very important. There are six motives that people have to buy things, and you have to know which is the dominant buying motive. If you don’t know, you are wasting your presentation and features, benefits, and advantages on something they don’t care about. So understand the one dominant buying motive and sell, not tell, to that motive and your chances for success go up dramatically. For more information on the buying motives: desire for gain, fear of loss, comfort and convenience, security and protection, pride of ownership and emotional satisfaction, please visit StepJones.com for more sales information.

PS: See the recent Sales Tips of the Week from Step Jones

This music star of yesteryear was a truck driver earning $1.25 an hour. He really thought that he wanted to be an electrician and started evening classes to fulfill his dream. Then one day he recorded a song that he paid for himself and the rest is history. Who was that successful musician?

1. Jerry Lee Lewis
2. Elvis Presley
3. Mitch Ryder
4. Paul Anka
5. Brian Wilson

Answer the question correctly and get a free MP3 download of Step Jones’s CD Help Yourself Be Better  from his upcoming new audio product Jump Start

The answer to last week’s trivia question is #4, Lucille Ball.