Articles

December 2004

I began the month of October with a surprise celebration for my dad who turned 70 years old, my mom who turned 65, and their celebrating 45 years of marriage, in Toronto Canada. To those of you who came to the party sending your greetings, photos, stories and your appreciation for my parents, thank you so much for participating. I created a 120-page album that included all the printed materials you sent to me, and photos from the party decorated with the Canadian fall leaves.

The party was a great success, and you can view the photos by clicking on this link here

Since I got back from this trip to Toronto I have been in party mode. Another great event was a birthday celebration of my friend Ruben; we hired a limo for the night and drank until we dropped. The next morning I swore I would not be drinking or partying for a while, but that lasted only 24 hours before I went to the next party.

I spent the month of November sleeping in, working out, coaching, and going out. I also attended a Tantra workshop in Sedona, and a spiritual retreat for a weekend with Katar. These were both transformational weekends. The biggest thing I got out of it was a clear definition between illusions, reality, and fantasies. Consider that illusions are everything around us, reality is what we choose to believe in, and fantasies are the illusions we choose to believe in, but are also attached too.

Surprise, surprise, I was holding on to a bunch of illusions and fantasies, believing they were real. The impact for me was that they were holding me back from what I really want. You want to hear about some of my illusions and fantasies? In red are my fantasies (not the kind you are thinking about) and below each one is my new reality once I let go of my illusions:

I believed that I can sit at home doing nothing and receive checks in the mail. My truth is that I love creating and that is what will bring in the checks. 

I believed that only hard work produces results and success.
My truth is that results sometime come from doing nothing and sometimes from been in action. Having a life creates success.

I believed that I am not as good as anyone else, and only when I get good enough I can get out to show it.
My truth is that I can't wait to be in action and show up in the world. As I always say, "I was born ready," and I am; and so it is. 

I believed money is not important to me and I don't care about it, I am too spiritual for that.
My truth is that I love the game of making money. Why do you think I started businesses in the last 25 years? I love the game of creating, and making money is an indication of how well I played my game. The only difference today is that I am no longer attached to it, after creating and letting go of money several times, I believe I got the point. (It doesn't mean that I gave up my passion for spending).

I believed that my soul mate comes in blond, blue eyes, with a specific look I have always had in my mind.
The truth is that what I am really seeking is being in love, with myself, you and life. The only reason I created my fantasy girl was to avoid being intimate with anyone, telling myself "she is not the one". The funny part is that I really believed it.

I believed that my opinion doesn't really mater because in the end, it is all in divine order.
I do matter, and my opinion is important. I was afraid to commit my opinion to anything first, to avoid a commitment, then to have the illusionary freedom that I can change my mind without you knowing it. It is all because I was concerned about what you were going to think of me. Can you relate?

I believed that I have to have a grandiose purpose, a spiritual one like world peace or better yet, being love to make my life worth something to get up in the morning alive.
I learned that my soul does not need a purpose; it is my human condition and my ego that needs one. The only requirement for this purpose is that it gets me up in the morning, inspired and motivated to create. Are you curious to know what I came up with for year 2005? Here it is: more MONEY, more TIME, more FUN. That's it; this is my big, important life purpose for now. How am I going to create that? Stay tuned...

I just got back from Toronto, Canada, after an amazingly powerful weekend with Chris Barrow, an Englishman business coach who got the point of life. He is also the first who created a million dollar coaching practice.

My flight back was first delayed due to the late arrival of the airplane to the terminal. Then we sat on the ground while the captain announced that we had a fuel leak but not to worry, he would top of the fuel tanks, and go as far as we could, and when we ran out of fuel we would land somewhere, refuel and continue on to Phoenix. I was reading the Four Agreements at that time, the chapter about the Word being authentic, so it all made sense.

Then the captain announced that we had a problem refueling since the fuel caps were frozen, so we were waiting for a frozen caps team to work it out. We were finally ready to take off with full tanks and a leak, but had to wait another 30 minutes to get the bill for the gas we purchased. I was reading the chapter talking about how everything is a dream, and it made sense.

We took off and the captain announced that in order to make it we would have to fly at low altitude, apologizing for the extremely bumpy ride. I really didn't mind the ride and neither did the fifteen East Indians that surrounded my seat. They were sleeping and I was dreaming of Tandori Chicken. In the past this flight would have been a flight from hell, in the present, all I could see was how magical and funny life is. Can you?

My Christmas gift: For the first time in my life I got to sit on Santa's lap, when he asked if I have been a good boy I said "NO". He asked me what gift I wanted, and I said: "to be in love" and I pulled a gift from his magic sack and got three luxurious flannel cloths. The brand name read "Steven's TM" and it said: "Polishing * Dusting * Wiping". I knew that was all that was necessary before I can be in love. I woke up the next morning being in love. Sometimes the biggest things we want are only a request away, you just have to ask...

Love

Steven Ringelstein