Last night I was sitting down at around 10:30 pm dreading the thought that I’m 3 Posts behind in this 30 Day Blog Challenge and somehow before midnight I had to come up with at least two 150 word posts to get back on track. The mind is a terrible thing to waste but its also a terrible thing when its fighting against you.

I kept resisting because I knew that I’d have to come up with at least 250 words because 150 is never enough. Then I came up with two topics but I’d have to do a little research to get my ideas together. Then as I thought of the topics They started merging together and the ideas got all jumbled as I started thinking about what else I had to do the next day. All the while I’m thinking all of this but not doing any of it.
Then I had an epiphany.

I decided to go out into my backyard and water my vegetable garden. Writing 3 posts in one day is child’s play. You can do it too. Stop stressing over what you “Gotta Do”. Everything has its proper place and time. If it don’t fit don’t force it. Just chill out & let it go.

Hey look at that under 200 words. Oh darn that’s 215. Oh well. On to the next one.

I can’t remember which one I learned of first but since about a year ago between Hootsuite and Tweetdeck I almost forget to even log into Twitter.  It seems like where Twitter may be a cool sports car Hootsuite & Tweetdeck are like the Porsche and Ferrari versions of the Social Networking site.

They are so much alike that outside of appearance they’re almost running neck and neck.  But there a few benefits that one has over the other.  For starters they both let you manage multiple twitter accounts and see the Twitterverse in multiple dimensions.  They both allow you to categorize your tweets and the tweets of people you follow so they’re all on the same screen.

Both allow you to manage who you follow and who follows you with just a few clicks although Its easier to to handle important tasks like blocking spammers through Tweetdeck.  But there are a few areas where Hootsuite takes the cake.

For starters Tweetdeck  seems to be having problems with their link shortening feature.  No matter how many times I login it says I must be authenticated to shorten links.  If I need to tweet a link I have I never experience that problem with Hootsuite.  Also Tweetdeck will only let you go back so far when trying to recover some interesting tweet.   With Hootsuite once you get to the bottom of a column it automatically loads more of your past tweets.

Of course the deciding factor for me is that since I use different computers in different locations I can access Hootsuite via the web while Tweetdeck has to be installed on your computer.

What has your experience been with either of these apps?  Do you have something better in mind?

Well here we are a few days before another 30 Day Blog Challenge kicks off and just like any other challenge I accept it looks like the rest of life will not go on standby while I try to work this out.

The next month will be fraught with peril and ….

Well not exactly but since I know its a challenge that I’m not going to back down from I’m taking a moment to focus on what’s important, decompress and enjoy(or create) some calm before the storm.

Over the next 30 days here are a few items I’ll be working on while I cruise on the High Road.

Six Weeks To Sunrise – Assisting people to accomplish the extraordinary in 6 weeks.  Great people doing some amazing things.

Family reunion in July – Right around the corner.  Coming together nicely but everyone is waiting until the last minute.  Geez

Study for Project Management Professional course – Not feeling motivated but Discipline must prevail.

Ending Long Term Relationship – Shocking since I’m an advocate for healthy marriages.   But If it ain’t right it ain’t right.  I learned many valuable lessons though.

Revamping Affiliate Marketing strategy – Looking to hit a milestone before July. Got to make it happen.  No choice.

I don’t know how it all is going to work and it probably won’t be smooth sailing but I have a plan.

And for now I’m just going to Focus on the calm before the storm.

By now just about everyone (and their mama) has seen the new video “Window Seat” by Erykah Badu from her new album that was released today. My Affiliate Link
Talk about a marketing machine. Nothing sells in this perverted world like controversy.

There has been buzz for days on Twitter, Facebook and even the Wall street Journal with lots of praise and plenty of criticism leveled at this woman, mother, artist, activist and creative soul. So much so that the message might have been missed. Well at least no one can say they don’t know about the album coming out.

Here’s what I got from the video. There are many norms and commonly held beliefs, thoughts and assumptions that society as a whole holds onto that may in fact be stunting our growth and conscious evolution into refined human beings that reflect The Creator’s original intent. The only way to truly rise above these real but manufactured limitations and become who & what we were meant to be is to shed the trappings of what we call lifestyle and reach a level of comfort with being authentic, naked and unashamed.

Now it may seem that the forces that sustain this world have the power to stop you from thinking outside the box and can impose consequences that are worthy to be feared. But in reality life HERE AFTER the superficial, group think, slave mentality that grips 85% of humanity is well worth the price of admission. So in reality there is nothing to fear.

No, if you’ve seen the video don’t think I’m advocating we all strip butterball naked and walk down the main street in our town. There are many ways to express a point or attract attention to a message and the symbolic gesture is never a greater prize than what the symbol means or represents.

So just like you shouldn’t shoot the messenger because you don’t like the message or make fun of a speaker with a stutter or a voice like mine, perhaps we can stop condemning Erykah Badu long enough to pay attention to what she was saying. Then give some thought to how to make it a reality in our lifetime.

I could have used different language to get my point across.  I could have done this in video format.   But it is what it is.  You observe, take the rough piece of coal & turn it into a diamond.

On The High Road With Me

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Can You Feel It?

Lately (really over the past few years) the idea of community and like minded individuals coming together to not just talk about it but to BE about it has been resounding in my heart and mind.   About what you ask?   Be about the business of change.  Where the rubber meets the road.

I’ve been really giving thought to the type of community I want to live in, the type of people I want to be around, what activity I’d like to be engaged in for the majority of my time and what is needed for a REAL community to sustain itself. I’m just not satisfied chasing the illusion of success that is The American Dream anymore.

In fact if it wasn’t for the idiot box called TV over the last 50 years, I think our collective goals and aspirations would go far beyond a high paying job, a fancy car, a plasma screen on the wall, small electronic gadgets to stare at & plug into our ears and an insatiable lust for pleasure. There’s more to life than this.

The words Authenticity, Preparation, Survival and Transformation have a whole new relevance for me now. I’ve got a strong urge to take better care of myself and start an Organic Gardening project in my back yard. I am getting more interested in Home Schooling my children. I want to unplug from the matrix and do the type of work that can be meaningful in my life and yours as well.

I’m just not satisfied with what isn’t working for me anymore. From relationships and associations to being entrenched in the dieing system which governs the day to day life in this country. There is more to life than this.

Personally I believe the Most High One (Allah God Yahweh) is getting ready to make a move to get all of our attention. If we are distracted and not paying attention because we’re too busy putting on airs & trying to keep up with the Jones’s we’ll miss out on something really big. (Such an understatement)

I”ll be frank. This world, its leaders who have proven themselves inadequate to solve the problems of humanity and establish Freedom, Justice, Equality and Peace and all the useless mind rot that distracts us from seeing the beauty in ourselves and each other has reached its expiration date and is about to be replaced.

Get to know who is around you. Form and treasure meaningful relationships. Realize that you need them, they need you and we need each other to make it past what is heading toward us. Change really is in the air and IF we can survive it then we’ll really have an attitude of gratitude. Plan to make it and be HERE AFTER one world goes out and a new one comes in wherein we can all live in peace.

On The High Road With Me

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Have you noticed the ratio of serious, business minded women to men in your social networks?

For some reason when I got started with internet marketing and social networking I only found women talking about what I was interested in learning.  So there are more women than men in my network anyway.

Initially I followed or friended anyone who friended or followed me.  Recently I realized that most of the women in my social networks are goal oriented, results driven, productivity minded while most of the men in my networks are content to talk about news, sports, entertainment, current events and controversial issues.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Any and all of of these topics are worth discussing.  But something occurred to me just a few days ago.  Many of the women I know are serious about empowerment as well they should be and they are doing what’s necessary to make it a reality in their lives.

While many of the men I know in the Social Networking arena are slow to make tracks.  I know more women bloggers, more women holding teleseminars, more women studying and teaching aspects of internet marketing, more women talking about niche selection and product creation.

My wife just enrolled in an 8 week course for women to learn the ins and outs of  marketing and social networking.  I’ve found numerous sites for work at home moms and  the topic of financial literacy is almost exclusively taking place among women while guys I know are blabbing on about Texas Hold ‘em and fantasy sport leagues.

Fellas, Guys, Brothers, Men…. We’ve got to do better.  When are we going to take action and responsibility for the conditions in our communities, quality of education and environment in public schools, Financial Literacy, Health, Business Cooperatives, Solid Marriages and other issues where more good hearted men of wisdom need to make their presence felt?

I didn’t mean for this post to turn into a rant but they say steel sharpens steel.  So I’m just sharing an observation I made in my hasty unscientific study of men & women in my web based sphere of influence.  This in hopes that I can raise my game to higher standards and you can too.  Lets not be content with making making By Any Means Necessary speeches on Twitter or quoting Rumi and Ancient Philosophers on Facebook all day long.

Let me know what you have to offer and how you intend on are changing the game.  Otherwise the world is going to pass us by and everything that I absolutely need will have to come from a brilliantly empowered, all wise and civilized woman.  Because I won’t be able to find any brothers to cut the mustard.

On The High Road With Me

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“Most of us work jobs that sustain us… But they don’t advance us… That make sense? Our livelihood is dependent upon this “job”. We work for others… Not for ourselves. We have no real plan of how we will free ourselves from this system. We aren’t working towards the goal of freedom, liberation, sovereignty… We work to pay bills. Never getting ahead. This is a problem and accounts for why we own less than other races.” ~ Beautiful Truth

An interesting comment was made today by one of my Twitterfriends about how most of us put so much energy into routines that don’t cultivate spiritual growth, refinement of the human soul and certainly don’t promote self-sufficiency.

This prompted me to respond with the following.  “Until enough people decide to ‘Form a real community AND live together in Righteousness & Oneness’ there’s no chance 2 advance.”  To which she responded “We can’t do that until we learn to be loyal to each other, trust each other and actually stand together.”

I thought she had a good point.  Without acting in our own enlightened self interest, as Cedric Muhammad talks about in his book The Entrepreneurial Secret , you’re benefiting someone elses retirement plan more than your own.  That reminds me of an epiphany I had back around the turn of the century or so.   If you don’t have a plan for your life someone else does and their plan may not be whats best for you. There’s your HighRoadism for the day.

In any case she got me thinking.  How do we create that spirit, mindset, environment or whatever its called among ourselves?  Loyalty to each other, Trust of one another, and a Common Sense of Purpose.  Here in America you can see Koreans, West Indians, Africans and Europeans settle here in the states stick together & prosper.

No one has a problem or sees anything strange about having a China Town, Little Italy or Crown Heights.   These places are almost as American as Apple Pie.  Is it so far fetched to see yourself and other like-minded individuals forming a community where principles like Freedom, Justice, Equality, Sustainability and Self-sufficiency are the common ground to stand on and build upon?

Well I think its true that there are some legitimate obstacles in the way. So what do you think?  How do you develop trust, loyalty and common sense of purpose among people in a “me first, self centered, faithless, wait and see” kind of environment?

Leave a comment.

Spirituality is the recognition that our true self is soul, and when we identify with our soul, we will realize our oneness with God. – Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

While the snow fell all last week & there was no where to go and once I got tired of watching the boob tube I started to really think about spirituality and what it means.  Now religion has become a bad word for many people but  whether a vehicle  is driven by a drunk or a safe driver its still just a vehicle.  Everyone  has a valid right to their own chosen path to oneness with the Most High and I do have mine.

However today I’m talking about the Science of Spirituality not religion.  There is a big difference.  I’m always happy to find other people who are striving to master the game of  life and serve humanity through love & compassion.  So when I found out that right here in Columbia Maryland, the group,  Science Of Spirituality would be holding a program on Meditation, and accessing the highest good within yourself I thought I had to share this one.

For all of you folks in Columbia Maryland who thought that the summer time is when all the action and fun events take place, there will be a program at the

Owen Brown Interfaith Center

7246 Cradlerock Way

Columbia Maryland 21048

Phone: 443-742-7038

on Saturday Feb. 20th at 2pm.

The program is sponsored by the Science Of Spirituality which is a Multi-faith international organization headed by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj from New Delhi India. Their focus and guiding principles are Peace, Love and Service to humanity cultivated by their particular form of meditation.

This free program will provide an opportunity for those of us in Columbia Maryland, to learn the art of Jyoti Meditation and hear from one of the international organizations spokespersons, Don Hoes.  Listen to the archive of The High Road Show where we had a great conversation on spirituality, meditation, and this upcoming event.

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