Pray Better than a Billionaire and Earn Eternal Spiritual Joy

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

I'm going to address this question from a Christian point of view. If that perspective doesn't interest you, perhaps another of my blog posts will be more helpful to you.

I couldn't find any books or articles about how billionaires pray. My guess would be that most billionaires do pray . . . most people do. I also assume that most billionaires who do pray do so as Christians. After all, a high percentage of billionaires are from countries where most people are Christians.

Clearly, anyone who prays as a Christian has a big edge over those who don't pray, whether they be billionaires or not.

If you simply say the Lord's Prayer once a day, you have accomplished that. Just to remind you of the prayer, here's the version that I say:

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever. Amen."

How else can you pray?

Let me share some ideas that seem to be supported by Scripture as I read the Bible.

1. You can pray for forgiveness as soon as you sin and for the strength to avoid that sin in the future.

God will forgive us, but many of us don't humble ourselves to ask for forgiveness. If you are like me, sinful acts and thoughts slip out before they become part of my consciousness. The only thing to do is acknowledge the sin and move on better equipped to deal with the same circumstance in the future.

2. When you are tempted to sin, ask for God's help to avoid the temptation.

Sometimes the sin is one that you wrestle with for some time before sinning. Let God help you to avoid the sin before you do it!

3. Pray for God's help to do His will.

To some people, God is a little like their idea of Santa Claus. If you want something swell, you just keep asking until you get it. A wealth-focused billionaire might make this mistake. God wants you to put Him first in your life instead.

4. Pray for God to give you capacities to serve Him.

In the entire Old Testament, few people were as blessed by God as Solomon. As we read those parts of the Bible, God specifically says how pleased He was that Solomon prayed for wisdom, rather than riches. Solomon knew that he would have to judge the Hebrews and wanted to do a good job of it from God's point of view. Solomon enjoyed both wisdom and riches . . . while usually basking in God's favor.

5. Pray for Faith.

As Jesus often said, Faith is the key. Some people in the New Testament performed miracles simply because they had Faith. God will help us build our Faith, if only we ask.

6. Pray to God all the time.

The more you keep your focus on God, the better will you perform as His servant. God wants to hear from you. Share your needs and happiness with him as often as you want!

7. Pray to God to thank and praise Him!

Most of us have so many blessings that we cannot begin to remember what they all are. Show your gratitude with prayers of Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful feeling to realize how much God has given you.

8. Pray for increased awareness of ways you can use your special talents.

God has a unique purpose for you that's different from his purposes for anyone else. If you listen to the Holy Spirit within you, you will more often be in tune with that Holy purpose. Ask God to amplify the Holy Spirit's message.

9. Trust God to deliver what you've already prayed for.

Only God knows when the right time is. Many of us are like substitutes on the bench for His spiritual team. At the right time, He will put us into the game. If something you want hasn't happened yet, pray for other resources that will make it more possible. Avoid simply repeating the same prayer request.

10. Pray in new and inspiring places.

The fresher your spirit, the stronger your prayer's influence will have on you. Finding new places to pray can strengthen you spirit in wonderful ways. For example, I find God's natural world more inspiring than any house of worship I've visited. I like to look for new places to seek Him in His cathedral.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to check out

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Spend a Day of Leisure Better than a Billionaire

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

How does a billionaire spend a day not working? Well, it can be a lot of work. Imagine that the billionaire wants to take a brief spin on her yacht. She has to alert the captain to her plans, let her driver know to take her to the pier, be sure that her bodyguards have checked out the security of the route ahead of time and asked her personal assistants to reschedule whatever else had been planned. If she wants to take some friends along, she has to make suitable arrangements for them, discuss the menu with her chefs. You get the idea.

Being a billionaire gets in the way of her leisure. She still has to operate like a CEO . . . rather than someone simply enjoying a day of leisure.

For many people exhausted from a hard week, leisure too often simply becomes a day in bed or on the couch. For sports fans, those restful activities are done in front of a television, interspaced with trips to the fridge for snacks.

If being inert has been your usual source of leisure, let me suggest some alternatives for your consideration.

1. Go the most beautiful place you know and drink in that beauty.

On a beautiful summer day, that spot is likely to be outdoors. You can still be inert, but do it where the richness of your surroundings will warm your senses and make you feel glad to be alive. On a winter day, you may have the same sense of beauty by listening to a concert in a lovely museum such as the Isabella Stewart Gardiner in Boston.

2. Spend the day with a person you love doing something what brings you both joy.

Alternate the person you do this with and your activities. You will find your sense of love deepened and experience more refreshment.

3. Pursue an adventure you've never done before.

We all tend to be a little bit stuck in a rut. Nothing makes us feel better than to do something adventurous that turns out well. Ask friends, family and acquaintances for suggestions of things that they have found to be once-in-a-lifetime memories. I have found nature walks on beautiful estates in my area can provide such experiences. Others climb. Do what excites you into feeling like Peter Pan or Wendy.

4. Chill out where you will be lulled by near-by water.

I like both the ocean and waterfalls. Some locations like on the wet side of the big Island of Hawaii provide both. There's something about moving water and its sound that brings a deeper sense of tranquility than anything else for me.

5. Spend a Day Playing a Role as a Person You Admire

When you were a child, you loved to pretend you were someone else. You still can. Go to a place where no one knows you and be a person you would like to become. Spend as long as you can thinking, acting and speaking like such a person. Take on the role of St. Francis talking to the animals for a day. Would that be great, or what?

6. Do something creative you've never tried before.

When children are 3 years old, they almost all proclaim that they are great artists. By the time they are 10, they don't think they are any good. But the creative juices are still there. Take joy from the making rather than the results. If you would like to have a little help, sign up for a workshop for beginners. I had a fabulous time once creating a sculpture although I had never done one before and ended up with a piece that reminds me of Miro that I treasure.

7. Have a deep, unhurried conversation in pleasant surroundings.

I love to be outdoors enjoying a view from a hill to do this. There's a lovely outdoor restaurant in Salzburg, Austria that afford this opportunity. And my philosophizing is encouraged there by the helpful wait staff who simply show up to bring me more goodies from time to time as the conversation extends over the afternoon.

8. Do a good deed.

If you are like me, giving is often more rewarding than receiving . . . or not giving or receiving. Leisure days are times when good deeds that require time and attention become possible. I especially like to visit people who are elderly and don't have many visitors. Their joy becomes my joy.

9. Find a new way to be comfortable.

It's a great feeling to be comforable. Most of us know only a few ways. It's time to experiment with some others. Have you ever spent the afternoon in a hammock with your loved one? Well, what are you waiting for?

10. Spend time in silence.

You can quiet down your mind, your inner dialogue and your cares if you go somewhere you won't have to speak, listen or hear harsh noises. Just be . . . and let the silence sink deeply into your soul. There's a pool of tranquility there which you will be able to draw on more deeply the more often you visit it.

11. Be grateful.

One of the most relaxing things I do is to pray to God to thank Him for everything in my life that I'm grateful for. Within a few minutes, I feel so relaxed and at peace that it's hard to get up out of a chair. Try it. You'll like it!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

The Spiritual Benefits of Relaxed Weight Control

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Do you feel your best when you are overweight? I know that I don't. In fact, I am acutely aware at such times of feeling uncomfortable. My clothes are too tight. The seat is too small. My stomach feels bloated. You get the idea.

The worst part of those feelings is that the sensations often translate themselves in my mind into unpleasant thoughts about myself. The internal dialogue machine runs nonstop as I criticize myself. It's even worse than my high school English teacher who loved to run me down!

Imagine yourself feeling a little overwhelmed by your weight and all those negative internal messages. Now, try to think about God, peace, happiness, forgiveness and all the other spiritual subjects and states. I'll bet you're thinking about a hot fudge sundae instead. That's what I mean about being overweight. It takes you away from your soul's food which is nourishment for your spirit rather than your oversized waist line.

Anything that comes between God and you isn't good for you. Our purpose is to serve God. How can we serve God well when we're distracted by our weight?

The problem can become even greater if we obsess about our weight. Some people become even more spiritually distracted when they are on a diet. They feel rotten. They spend endless hours buying and preparing their meager meals. Even after they lose weight, they criticize their appearance when they look in the mirror.

A better approach is to focus on your spiritual side and spend as little time as possible thinking about your appearance and your body shape. Find a healthy way to eat that you can follow for the rest of your life (something like South Beach rather than Atkins) and simply do it. At some point, you will start feeling better physically, you'll look better, and the spiritual focus will help eliminate all those nasty cracks you used to make to yourself. What could be nicer?

Here's one piece of advice. Visualize God surrounding you with an energy field of goodness that will help you eat in a healthy way and reach and maintain a healthy weight. Then pray to God to help make that happen.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell