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* Part #1: For greater wealth and
better health get a life. No… instead get a philosophy!!
* Part #2: Beware of avoiding problems.
See why.
* Part #3: The greatest passport story
yet.
* Part #1. The most important
message you can gain from our websites is simple’ that
your philosophy is everything!
Without beliefs your investing, travels, lifestyles
and business are like a ship without a rudder.
There is a catch.
The catch is that your philosophy
must inevitably be in a continual state of change.
A flaw in western lifestyles was first pointed
out by a friend who is a very wise Incan, Yatchak. He explained
that most westerners fail to respect endings. So they resist
change.
In fact we as a society abhor endings. This
problem reduces our ability to rid ourselves of the old. Thus
we end up carrying baggage in our businesses and financial
affairs and our philosophies! Freshness cannot grow amidst
the stale. Nature in its perfect balance fertilizes the new
with endings. Yet we resist.
Investors hold shares that have risen dramatically
but have no more potential. Reality is-the potential is gone.
The investment offered a great ride but the time has come to
clear out. Period. Yet some hang on. This leads to disaster.
Values fall.
Businesses do this as well. Jack Welsh, former
head of GE, pointed out that businesses have to continually
reinvent themselves. He says "treat reality as
it is, not as it was or as you want it to be. The ways we make
money today will not be the best ways to make money tomorrow.”
Good businessmen respect this fact and continually
look for new opportunity and move on. Yet this is hard because
of our Western expansionist indoctrination. Our linear thought
process is based on never-ending expansion. We rape our forests,
deplete our natural resources, pollute our air and water in
a relentless quest. We have to have more. There is a price
to pay.
Our current economy is seriously threatened
by this phenomenon. After the oil crisis of the 80s, the day
of the gas guzzler should have come to an end. Yet we barely
slowed as economy cars gave way to SUVs and a penchant for
large trucks that consumed more gas than miles. Now we face
an energy crisis yet again because we failed to appreciate
endings.
I was thinking about this as I rode through
the country side the other day. The Andes has been going through
a set of demonstrations. These seem to be annual affairs rarely
bloody, more like street parties where groups of workers blockade
roads, (like the farmers do in France) usually the Pan American
Highway.
These darn things are inconvenient. You have
to drive through the back roads to get anywhere and supplies
run short because trucks cannot move. The government is smart
though. They do not hurt or even punish the offenders. The
police stand nearby but are not aggressive. They let the people
have their say (which usually takes a week or so). Usually
make some change and everyone gets on with life.
But I was grumbling as we diverted through
tiny villages to get from Cotacachi to Otavalo. Then we came
around a corner and I saw a site I had never seen before. Three
huge cabbage trees at least ten feet tall. The cabbages in
Ecuador are phenomenal to begin with. They are huge. Yet a
cabbage tree?
We drove on and I don’t think that Merri
or the driver knew what a profound moment that had been for
me.
Those trees reminded me that every cloud has
a silver lining. They reminded me that life is about change
and if we accept this around every corner something new awaits
to inform transform and please.
Now I know that there are cabbage trees! I
must thank the demonstrators for this. The ride and the trees
help my evolution and philosophy.
When I made it back to the hotel, I pulled
up the news and this really put things in perspective. The
picture below immediately popped up.
Looks scary? Was this a demonstration in Ecuador?
No this picture was part of the CNN article
below about riots in Paris.
“PARIS, France (AP) -- Police loosed
water cannons and tear gas on rioting students and activists
rampaged through a McDonald's and attacked store fronts in
the capital Saturday as demonstrations against a plan to relax
job protections spread in a widening arc across France.
“The protests, which drew some 500,000
people in cities across the country, were the biggest show
yet of escalating anger that is testing the strength of the
conservative government before elections next year.”
“Thank goodness,” I thought, “that
I live in a country where the people are so sweet that even
the demonstrations are peaceful!”
Here the people are sweet and peaceful like
this girl and lady selling cabbages in the market (perhaps
from a cabbage tree)!
Expand your horizons and let your philosophy
grow as you learn how to profit from exporting. Join
Merri and me for our next Ecuador-Import Export Expedition.
Part #2: Here is a wonderful heath tip sent from a
reader. STOP WORRYING SO MUCH. MAKE LIFE SIMPLE!
Here is what this reader shared:
“Gary & Merri, Last time in Ecuador I was on a very long bus ride from
Quito to Cuenca. While looking out of the window it began to rain quite heavily.
As I watched the people walking along the road I realized that they were not
deterred by the rain, they were not running for cover or bent over as though
the rain were too heavy of a burden to carry.
“I thought of how back in the states people would be
running for cover, and if there were none to be found they
would drop their head and shoulders as though they were in
a state of suffering.
“I realized that I had a lot to learn, or perhaps re-learn
is a better phrase. Here in their simple and basic life, close
to nature they had retained that ancient wisdom of the ages.
When you get wet, you will dry out, after a rain, the sun shines.
Oh! How we forget the wisdom of the ages. Blessings, Lorenzo”
Here is one of the sweet people you see in Ecuador!
Part #3: Yes we do worry
too much and forget the simple wisdoms so I must share another
story.
This site reported how Houston
customs officers lost my passport.
I have written, fussed and bothered over the
frustration and how this highlighted all the negative change
that is coming to America and the Western world. Then this
wonderful reader shared his passport story.
This is the “Mother of all Passport
Stories” and tells us everything about who we need most
to change.
“Gary, I have a passport story also.
In 1989 I was crossing the Sahara Desert and I gave away
all my money and clothes to anyone who wanted them and burned
my passport.
“I wanted to know whether God -
the cosmic good - would protect me or if I would perish under
a sand dune.
“I continued traveling. I crossed
borders that were only marked with land mines. I very nearly
died many times. Of thirst, from mines, from guns, from disease
and eventually by torture once I finally ended up in prison
in Nigeria.
“I have written about it - some
70 000 words, and I'd love to share
those stories with you sometime. Ultimately I learned this:
That God is good, magnificent and incredible.
That freedom is a choice that few people
want or ever take.
That there is no pain when there is love.
And that your needs will always be looked
after, so be careful what you choose to desire! See you soon,
JGD,”
With that, have a great weekend. I hope your
desires will all be fulfilled and good!
Gary
Learn more about how to develop investing
philosophies. Join Merri, Thomas Fischer of Jyske Bank and
me at our next
International Business and Investing Made EZ course in North
Carolina.
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