Julian Kaufmann

EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO LIVE AND LOVE, FULLY

Why I Did Not Drink To The New Year

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10970163 - drunken businessman after office christmas party
Too Much of A “Good” Thing Does Not Equal A Good Time

Cleaning the Connection

Happy 2017!

2016 was a tough year for many people and now that the year is in the history books we can begin anew. Today our resolutions go into effect. And many of us resolve to improve our lives by adopting a more healthy lifestyle including diet changes and perhaps more exercise.  I know I do.

Hopefully, you don’t have a ringing in your head this morning from too much alcohol last night. If you are hungover, drink lots of water and consider how you feel right now compared to a more optimal way of being.

As for us, we had a quite night at home with family watching the ball drop in Times Square.  In years gone by I could have been one of the drunken revelers that flashed across the screen. But last night I was sober, forgoing any alcohol and  I woke up clear headed and ready to go. At 12:05 AM, I was sipping kombucha, not champagne.  For the first five minutes of the new year, I was kissing and hugging!

For the past two (2) years, I have not had a drop of booze. This after a couple of decades of having on average at least several drinks per week.

What started out as a 100-day gong of giving up alcohol has become a way of life for me now.  If you would like to learn more about gongs, please see Pedram Shojai’s  Urban Monk for more information.

I am not preaching about the evils of alcoholic beverages and I do understand the social aspects of drinking. Truth be told, I enjoyed the taste of beer and loved sharing great food and wine with friends and family.

Beeing a teetotaller is a great way for me to practice detaching.  One thing that helped me was that I found out I was allergic to wheat so I could not enjoy beer like I used to.  Drinking beer was like a poison to my body. Once my favorite alcoholic beverage was eliminated from my menu, it made giving up the other types of booze that much easier.

Staying on the wagon of sobriety offers many benefits, including:

  • Better Sleep: Processing alcohol disrupts your sleep which is why you should not drink before going to bed. After giving up booze I don’t need to snooze in the morning. I wake up energized and ready to go, not bleary-eyed and slow.I found that the amount of sleep I needed to feel refreshed went down as well. Better quality sleep in less time!
  • Fewer calories: Each beer I would have was on average about 2oo calories, and I would typically have two. Add to that the “beer munchies” that would often follow, and I often found myself consuming an extra 1000+ calories a day.
  • Better Workouts In The Morning: It is hard to work out when you are hungover.  As we previously stated alcohol negatively impacts your sleep. Waking up well rested allows you better performance in the morning.
  • More Money: Drinking is expensive.  If you order drinks at a restaurant or bar, you can spend between $6-$15 per drink.  Of course, this can get much higher once you start ordering fine wines.  If you get a DUI as a result of drinking, this could cost you at least $10,000 or worse.
  • Less Regret: Alchohol lowers inhibitions, and many people have done things under the influence of alcohol they would never do sober. Keeping drinks from under your belt allows you to keep your wits better about you.  Now that I don’t drink I can clearly see the inebriating effects of alcohol on others, and as a consequence, I am more resolved to maintain my composure and equanimity.

Ben Greenfield has an awesome site with a ton of helpful information on your body. He has a 2-part post that details the before and after effects of abstaining from alcohol for just 30-days.  Please click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

We have the opportunity to live each day optimally. If you have not tried it already, I would encourage you to abstain from alcohol for 30-days and see how you feel.  Please let me know how it goes. I’d love to get together with you for a cup of coffee.

Meanwhile For more resources and recommendations on how to get more out of your life, please check out my ebook – Cleaning the Connection 

Namaste

 

 

 

 

Fulfilled Friday

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Happy morning after!

Fulfilled Friday
Fulfilled Friday

If you celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday, I hope you and your family enjoyed your time together. I know we did! I think I ate enough for two people, all the while being mindful of how fortunate I am to be able to indulge in such extravagances, especially multiple deserts after multiple servings of turkey, etc.

After our feasting, we put up our Christmas lights inside and outside of our home and heralded the beginning our observance of the Holiday Season. Like the songs says, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

As I awoke from a food-induced coma today, I thought about another holiday tradition that years ago, I would occasionally partake in – shopping on Black Friday. Black Friday is named so because this is the date when retailers become profitable thanks to all the shoppers that cram their stores or now on-line, foraging for the best deals. The merchants go from operating in the red (losses) to earning a profit (black).

If you are venturing out to fight the masses today, I wish you all the best. For me today is another day of rest and reflection, which is why I wanted to write this quick post.

The word fulfilled means to be filled-up. Yesterday I literally filled myself up beyond my normal capacity in food, while being grateful for all the abundance in my life.

Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs starts with the basics of food, shelter, safety, etc. and progresses up to self-actualization where we begin to serve others. Today I am not shopping for goods or services, but rather wanting to find ways to be of service to others. My cup runneth over, and I want to share whatever I can if you are feeling thirsty.  Please email me at [email protected] and let me know how I can help you. If you have any questions about my teachings and how to get more out of your life, by resisting less, I am eager to hear from you. Whatever is concerning you, I would love to be a helpful resource or just to more deeply connected with you.

2017 is shaping up to be a great year. My book Let Go, Let It Flow – The PATH to Peace and Personal Power will be released and I am embarking on several collaborative projects that I think will be of great value to you. If you would like to get more information on the book, please sign up here: Let Go Let It Flow

Meanwhile,  I am excited for the year to come and am so grateful for all the wonderful things that have occurred. Here is to your peace and prosperity.

Namaste,

Julian

Incandescent Presence – I'm Gonna Let It Shine

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Shine Brightly
Shine Brightly

So the American Lama says to be “incandescently present” and I am awestruck at the God-wink of his expression.

As you know I am intrigued by light and use the incandescent light bulb as a metaphor for life.  Just like the light bulb is illuminated through electrical currents, we too are enlivened through the divine currents of God’s energy flowing through us.

My mission is to enable us all to shine brighter by lowering our resistance to life, applying science and spiritual principles.  I woke up after a dark period in my life and want to share my teaching with others so that they don’t waste their lives, rather they can shine as bright as the sun.

Recently,  I was fortunate to hear the Lama Surya Das speak for about two hours and later was able to briefly meet him. I am intrigued by Buddhism and its parallels to Christianity and other major religions.  While I am a novice Bodhisattva, I have seen the light of this pathway to enlightenment.

Meanwhile, the Bible mentions light frequently in its passages, at least 90-times in most versions.  Feeling inspired by the song This Little Light of Mine,  I compiled the following  brief video of selected Bible verses on light set to music.

https://vimeo.com/184219051

If you would like to get the presentation with the Bible verses please click this link –  This Little Light- PDF

Enjoy and I look forward to beholding your light!

Please sign-up and join me in the next energy revolution and become a Prime Mover Today. My latest book, Let Go! Let It Flow a PATH to Peace and Personal Power is currently being edited and will be released soon, and I will be providing early members with free copies.

Let GO! LET IT FLOW

Namaste

Reference

“Word Counts: How Many Times Does a Word Appear in the Bible?” Word Counts: How Many Times Does a Word Appear in the Bible? N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.  http://www.christianbiblereference.org/faq_WordCount.htm

 

Lightbulb To Enlightenment

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Shine Your Light
Shine Your Light

Ideas are often depicted as a light bulb going off inside your head. When we have ideas, a new way of thinking or a new creation is turned on, and the world looks different as a result of the energetic transformation.

Enlightenment, according to Merriam-Webster, can be defined as, “a state of having knowledge or understanding.”

I woke up after experiencing a prolonged dark period in my life when I realized that I was not my thoughts and was able to reconnect with my higher power – God. Beyond the awareness and resulting transformation in me, I saw parallels between science and spirituality that I want to share with you.

A lightbulb works by allowing electrical energy to flow through it. We can vary the intensity of the light given off by changing the amount of electrical resistance in the lighting circuit.

Similarly, we are vessels of the Holy Spirit, and God’s energy flows through us. We can vary the amount of spiritual energy radiating from us by changing the amount of resistance we offer to life. The 4-Flowgates of Peace, Acceptance, Thankfulness, and Helping regulate the flow of the Divine through us.

Here is a brief video with more information:

https://vimeo.com/183245400

Please sign-up and join me in the next energy revolution and become a Prime Mover Today. My latest book, Let Go! Let It Flow a PATH to Peace and Personal Power is currently being edited and will be released soon, and I will be providing early members with free copies.

Let GO! LET IT FLOW

Namaste – from my light to yours!

Metamorphosis through Metaphors

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It's a Dog Eat Box of Chocolates World
It’s a Dog Eat Box of Chocolates World

Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies. In one famous scene, Forrest is sitting on a park bench waiting for a bus and he shares his life story with those who join him on the bench.  He asks a lady who joins him on the bench if she would like a chocolate and then proceeds to tell her his life’s story while offering her that  “my mama always said life is like a box of chocolates,  you never know what you are going to get.”  Later in the movie Forrest’s mom,as she is dying, conveys these words as a metaphor to her son telling him, it is up to him to make the most of what he has been given in life.

Metaphors are figures of speech according to Merriam-Webster “in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money).” Metaphors help us make sense of the world by providing a symbolic framework to explain ideas or concepts.

“If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” – Joesph Campbell

The metaphors we use to describe life can provide a tremendous amount of insight about our perceptions and perspectives.  How would you answer the following, “Life is a _______ (fill in the answer).”

When I was growing up I used to think of life as like a game.  I was very competitive and wanted to win at everything I tried.  The games I played as a kid were Monopoly and Risk, both of which are about conquering your opponents either through economic or military means.

As I entered the real world I can recall people espousing that it was a dog-eat-dog world where life was no longer a game but a real fight to the death. In this view, you needed to get your opponent quickly befoe they had an opportunity to get you.

Luckily for me, I woke up after being in the dark with a new idea of what life really was. A lightbulb went off in my head. Today I want to help us all shine brighter by using our God-given resources more effectively and efficiently.

Here is a brief video with more about metaphors and my own metamorphosis —

https://vimeo.com/182304429

Please let me know what your metaphor of your world is today and any past versions you would like to share.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

Namaste

p.s. – Please sign up and Become a Prime Mover today! It is free and you will receive valuable information and be part of the network that is helping take our power back.