My father called me recently and asked, “Do you remember what happened on December 1, 1966?”
I can remember a lot of things, but events from the sixties aren’t usually among them.
In early December of 1966 I was twelve years old. Twelve. I can’t remember much at all from that year.
So what happened?
My father said, “That’s when we moved into the house you helped build.”
The home my parents are still in was built by my father, me, and my two younger brothers. It took a few years. It was all done by hand. The house is strong, reinforced in ways that didn’t have to be done. My father wanted a home that would stand the test of time. He succeeded. I do remember building it, hammering, sawing, doing a lot of labor.
Now here’s the interesting part:
Throughout my life I thought I was a teenager — sixteen or older — when I helped build that house. Even for a teenager, that’s quite an accomplishment. But apparently I was building that house — hammering my thumb and sawing lumber or my fingers — when I was ten years old.
My father's breakfast is garlic and peanut butter
Why is this important?
- First, it shows how inaccurate our memories are. Some of the grudges you hold about how you were raised may not even be accurate. The mind’s funny like that. Most of us can’t remember what we ate for lunch yesterday. Recalling memories from decades ago is ripe for inaccuracy.
- Second, my father taught me the value of hard work when I was in my formative years. He had me working on the railroad when I was five years old. Five. I admit I didn’t and couldn’t do much, but I was on the tracks working. As a child.
It seems to me that this early upbringing taught me the value of doing something to attain something. Work on the railroad and trains can pass. Build a house and a family has a home.
This core value is with me today. No wonder I’ve been able to write so many books, record so many programs, travel around the world, speak, teach, consult and more. I learned to work when I was a tot.
As with most anything, this is a skill you can learn. These days I don’t have to work on railroad tracks or build houses, but I still work. It’s just a different kind of work. Writing this blog is “work.” I prefer it over hammering nails.
When I look around, I see people who want to have things handed to them. I can’t blame them, as who wouldn’t want it that way, but that’s not how the world works. You have to do something. Even when you consciously use the Law of Attraction, action is still needed. That’s often overlooked.
If things are slow in coming to you, you might ask if there’s work for you to do.
If so, go do it.
Today.
Ao Akua,
PS – What have I been “working” on recently? You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at either Strut! or Blue Healer. The direct links are:Β http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com
- Member BBB 2003 – 2012
31 Comments
What an awesome story! Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you for continuing to be a part of my life as well.
God bless you Mr. Fire!
Coming from the woman who nicknamed me “Mr. Fire!,” it means a lot. I am grateful. Thank you, Rose. π
Thank you so much. I needed that reminder. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and will have another Happy and Blessed New Year!
Wonderful article .. Just me thinking “I could be remembering something that may be not accurate” is wonderful!!! What a Happy man your dad seems,…… Peanut butter and garlic hmmmmmmmmmm maybe that is why your eyes light up !!!!!
Yea, it’s his power breakfast. π
Oh yes β’ β Β° β γHAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE .γ *γ.γ β₯ β Β° βΎ β ΒΈ. ΒΈ γβ γ :.γ . β’β₯ β Β° βΎ β ΒΈ.
Thank you π
LOL, I did not think you were online. Happy Birthday!
I pretty much live here. π
LOL, that does not seem likely but I am happy to be talking to you. My husband will be so jealous!
I am full of fear and doubt and my husband is the most free person I know.
I am truly blessed! LOL, just not as much as you have been.
Happy Birthday dear Joe and all the best for 2012…
I am following all your books and look forward to new ones!
Regards from sunny Antalya – TURKEY!
What an amazing story about your upbringing. My dad believed in teaching me skills such as how to use tools and fix things when I was younger as well. I did not appreciate it at the time. I wanted to play with my friends, but now that I am 43 and own my own house. I am the person who knows how to fix things around the house for the most part. I know my husband appreciates this as well π
Thank you for also bringing up how we remember things in correctly. I know this from personal experience. I am also a high school History teacher, and I tell my students this all the time that history breaks down to HIS STORY or HER STORY. Each of us has our own story, but that may not be what actually happened, when we try to recall it,
The principles that we now take for granted, the ones from the Agricultural Age, are what keeps this world running. It’s very much like the law of cause and effect you introduced me to.
For there to be an effect (the end Result) there needs to be a cause of the result.
If you do nothing, then you will get the same.
If you do something, then you will get something. It’s a matter of tweaking the CAUSE of that “something” until you get the results YOU want.
Happy Holidays Joe!
Love,
Musa
Wow! Quite a bit of food for thought! I wonder what
my own stories are that have morphed into something
quite different over the years, and figure out what
really happened.
Thanks so much for sharing this story with us, Joe!
And a very happy birthday and all best for 2012!
Elisabeth
Hi Joe, great story, and a great dad you have! π
And… a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope it will be a fantastic one!
Best wishes,
Claus
Hi Joe, great story, and a great dad you have! π
And… a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope it will be a fantastic one!
Best wishes,
Claus
Joe,
Happy Birthday π
Is it today? Just that everyone seems to be sending wishes, so I guess it is so.
Another lovely personal story, thanks.
Your father looks great, he’s obviously doing something right, or consuming an elixir of youthful joy.
I had a child late in life and I can only hope to teach him things like your father did. I now see what a responsibility my parents had in bringing me up and how much it shaped my life. Every day, when I am with my 3 year old son, I try to recall how I would have felt as a child. It is a great way to focus my attention on what I do or say.
Being a child with my child, as in seeing things through his interpretation, is so important.
Patrick
Hi, Joe. My name is Alexandre Correia and I’m brazilian. Thanks Joe and Happy new year.
Happy Holidays.
Alexandre
Joe, that’s a neat story. The whole feeling of living in a house built by the hands who would live there so long must be very special.
Your job history reminds me of my first job. I was about 11 years old in my small home town (10,000) then, in Williston, ND.
What I did to get that job shocked my mom and dad so much that it was the first time I ever saw my dad reel back in authentic surprise.
Sheeze! Thanks Joe, now I’ve got to write it for my blog before I forget it!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Birthday Joe!
So true! My dear Mum’s funeral was yesterday and it’s amazing what memories can be seen in new light when relatives and friends offer their perspectives of stories from the past.
Through this last 2 years your books (along with Abraham) have helped me enormously. I experienced first-hand the awesome truth of how we can help heal our ancestors and our parents by being the change and the love we wish to see. Thank you Joe! x
As for garlic and peanut butter – if ever I feel I might have a cold coming I have garlic & peanut butter on a slice of toast – with a thin coat of honey over it. So your Dad knows his stuff!
Much Love, Angie
I am sorry for your loss, Angie.
Dear Joe,
Again,thanks for a very inspiring story!
I would like, though, to play “devil’s advocate” for a while. I know you find this sort of ‘friendly debate’ interesting. Who knows, maybe it can spark another fruitful discussion!
You praise your proper upbringing (hard work etc.) for the happy and prosperous life that you now enjoy. Great, you should!What about the time you were homeless and poor? I know that you stayed in that situation for a number of years, so why didn’t your upbringing help you back then? Did you forget the principles of hard work and perseverance? What happened?
Always a fan!
Best,
Konstantinos
I explained this in my book, Attract Money Now. As long as you have limiting beliefs about money or yourself, you can work hard all you like but you won’t attract more than enough to survive. Cleaning up your thinking is the first step. (You can read the book free at http://www.attractmoneynow.com )
I have read the book, along with every other piece you have ever writen. (I just finished instant manifestation.)
My question is, was it your good upbringing with values of hard work and persistence or your different beleif system that made the difference? I am sure its both, but what made the greatest contribution?
K
Belief system first, as explained in the book. (That’s why it’s step one in the book.)
Thanks!
I am struggling with a PhD Thesis right now and I really need a spiriti boost!
K
Just cleanse and keep on cleansing the situation and the feeling you are having on being stuck or struggling with your thesis. Something (The Universal Mind) will inspire you take action on it and your PhD Thesis will be right through.
With peace, love and light