In Search Of Heroes Spreads Good News About Everyday, Real-Life Heroes Who Deserve Recognition For Their Good Works

Cameron Johnson: This question is kind of unique, because I am only 22 years old, and have lived only a very small portion of my life. I have yet to experience some of the many things many people would cite as the low point in their lives, whether it is family issues, wife, kids; whatever the case, health.

I have been very fortunate that my family is very healthy and I have been very healthy, and my siblings and parents, and I pray that that continues, but I really don’t know what I could say the lowest point is. I am very fortunate. I am glad I could answer that question that way, though.

Jeff Wright: Probably the lowest point in my life was the destruction of my marriage. One of the problems that we perhaps don’t recognize as a problem in America, in addition to many of the things that have become put into law in our country, the area of no-fault divorce is unexamined and has caused tremendous devastation in our society.

When our laws move to a place where we said that the state’s interest in preserving the family is of lesser importance than one individual’s decision to end or destroy a marriage, particularly where there are children involved, we dealt with what may be a death blow to the more core underpinnings of our society and that is a strong family structure.

So I can say I was a victim of a no-fault divorce. I had no desire whatsoever, no intention, to become one of the (I suppose) more than 50% now of people who get married and get divorced.

That was a very, very low point for me. Now I had to go and get to a point of forgiveness, I had to get to a point of understanding that even some of the most negative things in your life can be used by God. I had to recast my misfortune in the context of what God was doing in my life and what he was preparing me for.

So I began to look at that experience, which was certainly not one that I would wish on anyone and didn’t ever expect to see in my own case, as one that I could overcome and use as a part of my development as a better person and as a more understanding and more forgiving person going forward, and that’s exactly what happened.

All of that came through the guidance of Scripture and through prayer.

Posted by ralph at 12:45 PM | Permalink

Dave Kekich: The lowest point was my injury. I lost basically everything I had, emotionally and physically, and even some relationships. I lost my business, and especially my attitude. Primarily, that was the worst part but there really is no magic bullet or quick fix to overcoming obstacles.

A lot of people talk about, well - this is a life-changing event and so forth, and when you see a life-changing event, usually a lot of things have led up to that to lay the groundwork for it, and when you see a certain breakthrough, it almost always follows a slowly building foundation for that breakthrough.

Now, if there was one breakthrough that changed my life and got me back on track, it was when I decided to hold a fundraiser for spinal cord injuries. I was working with the Spinal Cord Society at that time; I had a local chapter.

I held a drug-free power lifting event back in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a small town in western Pennsylvania. We called it, or I called it, the Eastern United States Power Lifting Championships. It was the first positive thing I had done in a couple of years.

I mean, I pretty much vegetated after my injury, and I put together this event, and it turned out we had people from all over the East Coast, and some people from the Midwest come to this relatively small town, and we got local newspaper coverage, lots of local radio coverage, and sponsors, and after it was all over, I realized my brain still worked, and that yes, it got me back on track.

I didn't go from stagnation to being in the stratosphere that day, but gradually it got me going, and I had ups and downs after that, but mostly ups. Overall I am way ahead in many ways now than I was when I was hurt, or before I was hurt.

Posted by ralph at 12:41 PM | Permalink

Jason Potash: It’s a business, but what sticks out in my mind is one of the most difficult challenges I’ve had would be going back just after I got married, about ten years ago now. I was working in a deadbeat job and not making very much money.

I basically decided to send my wife back to college to fulfill her life long dream of becoming a teacher. She’d held that dream for years and years. When we got married I said, “You know what? We’re young, now is the time. Let’s just sacrifice it and get a line of credit, send you back to school and of course, have a big fat loan, a student loan on our bank record.”

We had just gotten married and were looking to buy furniture so it was not a good situation. I moved into a small, basically one bedroom apartment. The joke was that you could take a marble and drop it on the floor in the kitchen. It would roll real fast to the other side of the kitchen.

The floors were slanted; we had raccoons living in the rafters. I’m not making this stuff up, there were raccoons living in our rafters and they were fighting at night. It was just a run down place. You get to that point in your life where you are like, “I just hope to God that it’s only going to go up from here because how much lower can we go here.”

Driving a beat up car and my wife wasn’t there for support and at that point in my life, my parents had been split up for many years and my mom decided to go back with my brother to live in Germany where her family was.

My family was gone and my wife was away, I had huge debt piled up, I was barely making ends meet, I had this crappy car that I was driving, and living in this run down apartment. That was basically rock bottom.

You know, I think that basically through my attitude and perseverance and knowing, believing in myself and just studying like crazy about all the things that would help me to succeed in business, and having a goal and some focus, that really helped me just to never lose sight of my goal, to know that this is a temporary situation.

If I was 85 years old and this had been my life for the past 85 years, you might want to get depressed and upset because you’ve done nothing. You haven’t changed anything, you’ve lived the same life you had when you were 20, 30 or 40.

That can be pretty sad but the fact that I was young, intelligent, had a lot of motivation, able bodied, able minded, what could stand in my way and stop me?

My driving persistence and desire to want to succeed was what really kept me going. It’s hard to give yourself a kick in the butt to keep going and to constantly tell yourself that things will get better. I’m going to succeed some day and this is just a test, it’s just temporary and I can change these circumstances with the power of will that I have.

That really kept me going, and it didn’t take me a year to get me out of that situation, it took me several years, probably at least three years. As I slowly built things up, each new month became a little bit better, and I knew I was just stoking my mental fire with information and knowledge to help me break the shackles of poverty and succeed.

I did, I faced the brink of bankruptcy. At one point I was willing to throw in the towel. A lot of my friends did who were in similar situations and I said, “No, I’m not going to give in.” I know I can just hang on to this bowl, and even though it’s throwing me around and I’m getting kicked back and forth, I know I can ride this thing out. I’m going to be a better person having gone through this again, this “test” that I’m being put through here.

Obviously, there is a happy ending to this story and my wife is still with me and she has been a driving force in my life and has really been one of my coaches to get me back on the saddle and give me a kick in the butt and say, “Keep going. You can do this, keep plugging away.”

It’s easy to give up, to crash and burn and throw my hands in the air and say, “This is not worth it, and I can’t take it any more.” There has been a lot of life lessons learned in that process as well.

I guess you’ve heard this before, but anybody listening today who is in that situation today, I’m here to tell you that it’s all up to you. It all depends on how badly you want to get out of that situation.

I remember even having jobs where I just hated, hated the environment I was in. My boss was a jerk, I hated the way I was treated, and the money was just garbage. I was being taken advantage of and it wasn’t a good feeling.

Many people go through that in life and they are not willing to make the change. They just go through that for 30 or 40 years and it’s sad. As opposed to people who say, “You know what? I hate this job so bad, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get myself the heck out of here. I don’t care what it takes. If it means I have to stay up five hours a night studying marketing or studying real estate or studying investment planning, I don’t care. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get myself out of this hellhole.

That’s exactly what I did. You have to reach that point in life, I think, where you say to yourself, “Am I willing to do whatever it takes to get myself out of this situation?” Whatever that situation might be.

When you come to that point, and you’ve really just entirely had it, I think that’s when amazing things happen and breakthroughs happen. It happened for me because at that point I just said, “That’s it. There is no turning back. I’m just going to rock and roll, buckle down, do what I have to do. Keep my nose to the grindstone, not complain, not whine and not moan but just do this and make it happen and not finish until I’m done and I’m satisfied and I’m living the life that I want to live.”

That’s what happened to me, as I said when I sort of was in financial ruins and so forth. It became the driving force to achieving the success that I have today.

Posted by ralph at 12:39 PM | Permalink

Response to Iconcurr and Jenni Mac,

Dear iconcurr and Jenni Mac,

Thank you for your concern and prayers.

Wow Jennie Mac, three deaths in the past month is pretty astounding. It is truly sad when young people die early, especially before their parents pass away. I think that is the saddest experience to have your children die before you.

At least with the older person, you have time to prepare and get ready for the final event. This does lessen the impact when it actually happens because it is expected. Still the loss of a loved one is always traumatic. Loss of parents and kids seem to affect your emotions most.

The one thing I have learned after working with my mom and dad for so many years is that you never know when DEATH comes calling. When my dad first had his stroke it was moment by moment for 6 months while he was in the hospital...incredible ups and downs daily. It was so frustrating because you were always in a stressful state, not knowing the future, living a life of uncertainty.

After so many years of DEATH being imminent, I suddenly realized that there is no guarantee that I have even one more second to live. You see so many individuals like the young people who died having their lives end in the most unbelievable ways. With an increase in killer tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks, bizare accidents in the home and on the sports field, deranged killers and murderous psychopaths there is no guarantee to even one more moment of life.

Since the deaths of my mom and dad, I realize the value of prayer...going to daily mass and praying the rosary. Mom and dad were ready to meet God because they were in constant conversation with him.

I have taken their example and started to pray and study the bible daily for at least an hour, go to daily mass and a bible study on Thursday mornings. Since I just started doing all of this on Monday, I have noticed that my emotional and spiritual healing has accelerated. It seems I am in closer contact with my mom and dad at mass because I feel their presence in the house of God. The desire to drink a few beers and have a couple shots of vodka has diminished.

With the extra spiritual food, my attitude has changed from one of loss and grief to victory and gratitude for the opportunity to take care of my parents to the end. It feels awesome to hold my head up high and know that I was able to sacrifice a little for the lot that my parents did for me. In some ways, I feel God is getting ready to give me my next life assignment.

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 11:12 AM | Permalink

Dear Jack,
Thank you for sharing the information about your dad. I used to think that when a person drops dead, it's a curse.

But after taking care of my mom and dad for four years, I can see that it is a potentially, huge blessing for the person who drops dead, especially if they have a great relationship with God..

I understand why your dad dying suddenly was a real shock for you, and it was difficult for you to return to work. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for the people that remain here on earth.

I'm still dealing with the loss of both of my parents. I never realized how much work it takes to actually dispose of all of their material possessions that they'd accumulated over the years of their lives.

The big question is whether the shock of somebody that you love dying is equivalent to the long-term stress of taking care of them until they do die. It is kind of scary to think that your dad dropped dead at the age of 58 and I just had my 59th birthday.

I have been dealing with my grief by going for walks, watching movies about heroes, writing back to people like you were kind enough to write posts in the warrior forum, sleeping in, working out, going to church, and drinking my fair share of beer, wine and vodka. It seems that a small amount of alcohol goes a long way in helping you deal with emotional pain and sorrow.

I am definitely glad my dad finally decided to leave this world. Once it looked like he was going to be totally bedbound and have to go back into the Emergency Ward for another IV Line to fight another infection, he obviously decided that he had had enough. I am very grateful for that decision and that he did have a massive stroke that took his mind and spirit and left only the physical shell. I was totally burned out on making any more life-and-death decisions.

It did feel good to honor his last wishes and focus on him being my greatest hero. He will always be my hero, in this life and beyond. I am still grieving and I do feel sorrow and loss. I know they are all part of the stages of dealing with death and dying.....

I am hanging in there and I do understand that real men cry. My Dad will always be in my heart and soul....

I will always have a place for him in my heart and that is the way it is supposed to be.

God bless you and your family....

Ralph

Posted by ralph at 02:20 PM | Permalink

Lorrie-Morgan-Ferrero: I did have a lot of obstacles. I used to not want to talk about it but since you are doing this for kids I have to tell you that this is really important.

I was sexually abused. Nobody back then talked about it. I thought I was the only person in the world. Now, you can look around and you can get help. What I did was I just sucked it up. I just told myself I will get out of this house and I will survive. I will be successful. It was just a lot of inner dialogue.

I was looking back now I realize a lot of it was God. There is no way I could have survived the situation without a higher power. I wasn’t particularly religious although I did pray a lot, but, when I look back, I can tell it was something much bigger than me that pulled me through.

I just want to say to kids who are going through rough times in their homes, it will get better. Just pray and talk to somebody. Find a mentor like this program that you are doing. Find somebody who is doing what you want to do and do it. I didn’t have that luxury. I just had to pull myself through with God and that’s how I did it.

You feel completely helpless. Looking back while I’m thinking, “Why didn’t you do this? Why didn’t you do that” but, your just, you’re a kid and your locked in. It is a little different now because people will listen to you much more. Back then it was very hush, hush and you have a hopeless feeling.

Posted by ralph at 12:38 PM | Permalink

There are so few photos of my mom and dad.

I guess they were not photo hogs, since my dad was the photographer photos of him are very rare.

I am thankful he took so many photos of me during all my weird stages of development. Thanks to him I have a photographic history of my life and the creation of my alter ego Captain Biorhythm.

If you are moms and dads, please take as many photos of your kids as possible. It will encourage them to be the special human beings they really are. They will enjoy those photos for a lifetime. The photos will encourage them to be unique, different from all their peers. This will help them make a difference in their world for good.

I am sure my dad thought I was crazy when he photographed my creation of Captain Biorhythm. After all, I had a woman's dress converted into a tunic with biorhythm cycles embroidered on the front.

After putting on all the available safety equipment from skateboarding and motorcycling, I totally looked like a dork. My dad was totally embarrassed or bit his tongue and said nothing.
What do you say if your son is a total weirdo?

Thanks dad for accepting me for the unique person I was and taking photos of me when I was off the edge, approaching the cutting edge of genius and insanity!

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 06:34 PM | Permalink

Alex Mandossian: Well, I’m very lucky. I’ve only had one really low point and it happened early in my life. I was 25 and I had lost everything, which in this case was a little over a quarter million dollars. The way I overcame that was simple.

I read biographies of other self-made millionaires and billionaires and the one pattern that keeps reoccurring over and over again was, “They had it. They lost it. They got it back again.”

Usually, it happens two and three times. I have been very fortunate. It only has happened once. So, my low point, other than death in the family of people I absolutely loved, which is a natural thing to occur, I had one low point financially.

It happened in 1989 and I overcame it. It took about 3 years to overcome it emotionally and 6 years to overcome financially. I believe I’m a better business person as a result of it. If I see it happening to someone else, I’m usually one of the first to stick my hand out because I remember the pain and the humiliation of the whole process.

Posted by ralph at 12:36 PM | Permalink

Dear Thom,
Thank you for your kind words. Sorry to hear about your Dad's Parkinsons Disease.

I know it is hard when you see your Dad's body deteriorating.

My dad's paralysis was immediate. One day he was fine, the next day totally bed ridden. He could not swallow for six months and had to stay in the hospital all that time.

Just when they were going to put a tube into his stomach, he miraculously started swallowing. It took him four years to finally pass away.

I am still impressed with how little he complained about the hospital bed, wheel chair, diapers, frequent trips to the emergency ward, total dependence on others and so much more.

The major thing I did learn was that even though your dad's body is failing, the mind is the most precious asset any person has.

Thank God your dad can still communicate with you and has a sharp mind.

In those last precious days of your time together, that is what you will remember and cherish the most...holding his hand, telling you love him, listening to his words of wisdom, having him share his experience of his final days. And, most importantly, his perception of the after life as he gets closer.

You will find that eventually, as he gets closer to death, he will have part of his spirit on earth and part in heaven. It becomes a tug of war for those who love him on earth and those in heaven.

I believe that my dad finally got so lonely for my mom and his older brother, who died within a month of my mom, that he decided to embrace the inevitable. After all, I was ready for him to end his suffering here on earth.

His mission was completed. NOW, it was time to take up his mission and carry on the goodness he spread.

Discover what was your dad's mission here on earth. Then pray to discover if God wants you to carry on that mission.

Being with you dad through the death process is one of the most precious gifts you will ever receive but also one of the most sorrowful. I think that those individuals who choose to allow others to share in their suffering in the final days, rather than just dropping dead, are true heroes.

They are willing to experience the ultimately levels of humility as a lesson to us, the caregivers, who realize the challenge but also the incredible blessings of taking care of our parents to the end of their days.

It is not easy, but it will be the most rewarding hard work you will ever do. The eternal consequences are great. The personal spiritual development is beyond anything I ever imagined.

Sometimes I think, "I am the one blessed by the tender ministrations of those who are suffering."

take care,
ralph

PS I decided to celebrate my dad and mom all this holiday weekend. I decided to post my video eulogy on youtube for my mom and dad and my uncle, my dad's brother who was a Bronze Stars recipient for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

Posted by ralph at 09:53 AM | Permalink

Frank Deardurff: I try to live very optimistically. To say that I had a low point it’s hard to pick out a low point. My mother has always envisioned in us or passed onto us that you always look for the good things in life no matter what it be.

Coming from a single-parent childhood where there were four kids, my mother never allowed us to think that we were poor or did without. We always had food on the table. We never stopped to think that it wasn’t steak and baked potatoes.

Trying to look for a low point I don’t know if that is possible.

T Harv Eker: First of all I want to make sure we don’t use the word poverty because I never used that word myself. Certainly I wasn’t well off financially, and then became a millionaire.

My parents came from Europe and they came with the proverbial clothes on their backs and nothing else. For us money meant survival, that s what I learnt when I was young. All my friends wanted to be baseball players and astronauts, fireman and policeman. I just wanted to be a millionaire. I left school early, at the end of the first year of college for my quest to the holy financial grail and for the next twelve years I was nothing but frustrated.

Finally, I met up with a friend of my fathers who was a multi multi millionaire and he gave me some good advice. He said “Stop trying to reinvent the wheel if you want to be rich do what rich people do.” So I started studying what rich business people do and in my next business I became a millionaire in only two and a half years.

The problem was that a couple of years later it was all gone again. I happen to have made my money in the fitness business and I knew about this thing called a set point when it comes to your weight and I realized that I was going to come down to the exact amount of money I had started with and I was back down in my bank book. It just kept on coming no matter what I did after getting to that spot and I realized that not only do we have a set point that comes to our weight but we also have a set point when it comes to our money.

I was very involved in personal development at the time because I was attempting to be a much better father than I had been and I had a newborn son and I wanted to make good on that and so I used those principles to reset what I called my financial thermostat or my money blueprint and I haven’t looked back.

Probably that time when I lost my money was one of the lower points and I just kind of looked up at the sky and said “God help me. If I make it I promise I will help other people do the same thing in the same way I know how.” I was very blessed to remake it and now that’s what I do.

I have kept my promise and my vow, to help other people with the same frustrations that I had. The interesting thing is that people, my name is T Harv Eker, the T is an initial that I gave to myself and the reason was because at one point when I was so frustrated I went to a friend of mine and I said “Its not worth this I am going to just go out and get a $30,000 a year job and be happy with that and just drop off the face of the earth without trying to do anything big.”

He said “Stop feeling sorry for yourself you have to remember that there has never been anyone before you who is you and there will never be anyone after you who is you, you have a thumbprint of your own and there is never going to be another Harv Eker in the world and never will be. You are very special like everyone else and you have got to utilize what you have got.”

That kind of had an effect on me and to remember that I put a T in the front of my name to remember that I am “The” one and only Harv Eker and I better start acting like it and keep acting like it.

Posted by ralph at 05:34 AM | Permalink

Randy Charach: I can offer a couple of different -- I don’t which one was lower. I’ve had several low points in my life. Let me discuss the first one that came to mind.

When I was 20 years old I started waking up routinely, like clockwork, in the morning -- I forgot the exact time, and it wasn’t exactly to the minute, but around four or five in the morning -- with excruciating pain down my left leg. This went on for some time. I went to see my general doctor and he thought maybe it was like from exercising and weights, a slipped disc or something.

I went to therapy, physiotherapy, chiropractors, all sorts of different things. Nothing helped, even pain killers. The pain was excruciating. This went on for probably for about half a year.

Finally, I don’t know how or why, but I tried using just plain aspirin instead of Tylenol 3s and this sort of thing, because it was affecting my life, being medicated and being in pain all the time. And that worked. It was interesting. I mentioned that to him and he said well, you know what?

I want to send you for an X-ray because maybe it’s something else. I went for the X-ray; that didn’t show anything. I started inquiring more with the X-ray technician and started doing a little research. My doctor was on to something. The aspirin was related to a rare bone tumor which we discovered I had, which was benign, fortunately. And that was discovered through a CT scan.

It wasn’t so bad. It might have been a year into it by the time we actually found out what it was. When I found out what it was, I was relieved because I honestly didn’t want to live any longer. The pain that I was having was so intolerable and the drugs that I had to take to live with it were creating other side effects. So I was relieved. All I cared about was can you fix it? And, yes. And is it cancer? No, it’s benign. They explained what that meant, the difference. And no big deal; simple situation.

It’s funny, Ralph. You know how whenever you go to a doctor they’re always the best? Have you ever heard anybody say I went to a doctor and I had this done and he’s the best? You ever hear them say and he’s like second best or the worst or for them to leave out the part that he is the best. Everybody goes to the best. It’s quite funny that way.

Anyway, I went to this guy who is supposed to be the best. He removed the tumor and then I was okay but only for five or six months and then the pain came back. I recognized this pain, this very distinct pain. It was like something hitting the nerve. Not just a regular pain; I knew the difference. So I had it re-X-rayed and it was discovered that he didn’t quite get it all. And so far we haven’t hit the lowest part. I am just building up to it, because this part wasn’t all that bad comparatively to what you’re going to hear, although it doesn’t get that much worse, either.

Then my father, who is a very loving father, he looked at this with me and said, you know, if you really want to take care of this, I will take you to Mayo Clinic in Rochester because they are supposed to be the best. And obviously the first guy wasn’t because he didn’t get it all for whatever reason. Let’s just go to these guys. So we went to Mayo Clinic.

I woke up from the surgery and there were two types of pain. There was the pain from the surgery where they cut open my leg. They removed some bone. They did some bone grafts, this sort of thing. Can you imagine how -- think about this -- that pain was like 5 percent compared to the other pain that I had been living with. The other pain was overriding it, so I knew when I woke up from the surgery they didn’t get it. I just knew it. They just, oh, no, no. You’re confused, dah, dah, dah. They sent me back home and I was right, they didn’t get it.

What happened was they didn’t re-X-ray and it had shifted a little bit, so really they went in and just sort of took out the wrong piece of bone.

It was horrible. So I had to recover from the next six months and then found another doctor locally in Vancouver where I live. He said, look, I can guarantee that this can come out. And what I would have to do is remove a bigger chunk of bone, put a metal plate in there to make up for that lost of structure. I’ll get it out. And I said, okay. Now, by the way, right now, just before talking to him, I’m at my low point.

Now to end that story and then come back to the lesson, he did perform the surgery and it was successful and I’ve been more or less fine ever since.

The lowest point was at that point after Mayo Clinic being unsuccessful, just thinking this is now going on like two years. I had to drop out of college for it and that’s a bit of excuse. I probably would have done that anyway. I went for one year of college while this was happening and I didn’t go back. I could have gone back, and again, there were different reasons I didn’t. I couldn’t go to school.

What it did do, and your question is how did I overcome this obstacle, is I had a change of attitude. The low point, the manifestation of my feeling, though, was like throwing food at people and swearing and hating doctors, people and just being a miserable guy, right? I was horrible.

That didn’t last too long. That lasted about a couple of months until I realized what I was doing. All of a sudden, and I’m not sure what it was, what I read or listened to or what somebody said to me, but it clicked that this is not a way to live, I should be happy. There are people with way worse. It was benign, I’m okay now or I’m going to be okay now. And I came back with vengeance.

I overcame it. It was just a simple like switch in my mind, that’s all it was that I switched. Just turned -- okay, forget it. I’m just going to do whatever I can. And I went out on crutches after that. In fact, that Ronald McDonald job, they hired me for it based on seeing some of my magic shows prior to me being laid up. I did some shows in between surgeries as well. When they approached me for the job, I said, well, yeah, but I have a surgery coming up and it’s going to be a few months recovery and then I will do it.

My very first Ronald appearance was the very first time I walked without crutches after quite a while and it was on stage at the Variety Club Telethon for the children’s hospital, walking on stage on this televised program as Ronald.

So that was something that really did change, truly did change my life, to be able to do that and overcome that obstacle and turn it around and come back with a whole different attitude towards people and life and challenges. It was something that, although I wouldn’t wish it on anybody and of course I’m not happy it happened, but a lot of good came from it.

Posted by ralph at 12:31 PM | Permalink

Answer to Warrior Jaun who helped me during a difficult time.

Dear Juan,

Thank you for your suggestion to try to visualize all the good things my dad did for me. Sometimes it is very difficult to do so, especially when I have fits of depression.

My dad actually did not become my hero until later in life. It wasn't until I came to have a relationship with Jesus when I was thirty that I was able to forgive him for all the horrible things he said to me.

As a child, all the way up to the age of thirty, he was emotionally abusive. For many years I hated him because all he said was negative.

He would get so mad at me, he would scream and yell at the top of his lungs. Often, I had to leave the house just to escape, slamming the door in anger as I fled.

He criticized my every thought, crushed the value of every achievement, was furious that I was not like the other kids. It seemed that for as long as I could remember, nothing I could do was good enough.

I am sure, working at a job he hated and living far from his genetic mom, dad, and brothers and sisters, he was very unhappy and lonely. Alcohol definitely compounded the problem.

I thought it was totally unfair that my two sisters escaped his wrath. It seems my unforgiveness was the catalyst that forced him to attack and belittle me. Deep in his heart he know I hated him and responded accordingly.

After I forgave him, I was able to love him for being my dad unconditionally...and him me. Our relationship totally changed for the good.

I began to understand just how unhappy he was. I had no clue about the incredible personal sacrifices he had to make to feed, clothe and educate me.

Until we talked heart to heart, I had no idea on how hard it was for him to raise a son that was so frighteningly out of the ordinary. I know he had a very hard time dealing with me during my early days.

You could say I was even odder than "Odd Thomas" in the Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas" series of fictional stories. I was quite different than any of the other kids...assaulted on every side by demons and angels.

The big closet doors in my bedroom and the drawers in my dresser opened and closed by themselves with powerful bangs. It was like the poltergeist fought a battle with the angels for my very soul.

I felt trapped by the forces of good and evil. Monsters truly lurked in my closet and under my bed. My vivid dreams and sleep-walking at night scared the living daylights out of my dad. What could he do, "Call for an exorcist?" They didn't exactly have a listing in the Yellow Pages.

Dad definitely did not want to hear about the coming cataclysms I envisioned, the horrors I experienced in my dreams. The apocalyptic visions were too much for him.

He probably thought my mom had given birth to "son of Satan". He could not understand that I was trapped in two dimensions, the real and spiritual world, while I was sleeping...a time traveler to the past and future as I wandered though the beginning of the earth and visualized a terrifying end of days.

It was not until we were able to talk as adults that I understood just how much I scared him, just how different I was from anyone he had ever known or imagined.

I am sure being born three months premature, when most 3 pound eight ounce babies died at birth, was a traumatic experience for him and my mom. With so much sensory stimulus...sights, sounds, smells, tastes and sensations, my brain was bombarded with too much information. I guess that because of my early arrival and accelerated mental development, my brain experienced a warped reality beyond what he or my mom had ever seen.

After 30 years of seeking answers to the bizarre behavior while growing, Dr. Michael Borkin, one of my health heroes, explained that I was in third stage adrenal exhaustion as a baby. Extreme, consistent levels of cortisol, the "fight-flight hormone" probably caused all my paranormal visions and experiences. My dad lived in unfamiliar territory for most of the early part of my life.

One day, dad admitted that I reminded him of himself (and I do look just like him.) He loved me and did not want me to screw up my life.

My choices while attending UCSD Revelle College outraged and frustrated him. Out of rebellion I experimented with drugs, smoke pot and had sex outside of marriage. This offended him at the very core of his Catholic being.

I was the antagonist as well as the protagonist. It seems we constantly switched roles in a never ending loop of hard feelings.

Dad wanted me to desperately do what he thought was right...get a steady job, get married to a nice Catholic girl, have three kids, raise them in the Catholic Church and buy a house in the suburbs. That was his generations' dream of happiness...not mine.

Juan, I try to see him with me, now that he is gone, especially the good times we had for 29 years. I do try to keep those images inside my head and heart. I am grateful that God's plan is that my Greatest Hero did rest and had a peaceful sleep until the moment God took him to his Heavenly Home FOREVER.

I thank you for your prayers. All the hospice nurses, counselors and helpers said they had never witnessed someone so much at peace. He never struggled or writhed during his final 6 days without food or water.

I thank God for the last 29 years that we had as a loving father and son. He never really understood why I took the untraveled path but as things turned out, I was just 10-20 years ahead of my time in searching for solutions to the mental and physical problems I battled with because of my premature birth.

I am a believer. My dad's life with me has been a huge blessing, a gift of God. Now that his suffering is ended I am jubilant. I know in my heart and soul that he will rest until the day i join him and my mom and my other loved ones in the new home God is preparing for us.

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 12:17 PM | Permalink

Terri Levine: I went through a very low period about nine years ago. It was just one incident after the next. My mom, who was probably the person I was closest to on the planet, passed away. A week later, one of my very good friends, who was only 40 years old, passed away. My cat, who was 22 years old and had been with me forever, passed away, and then a few months later, my dog passed away.

And it was just a lot all at once, as I’m sure you can imagine. And many things started to happen, like physically I started to feel ill and I started to gain weight. I really noticed that I needed to do something so that I could overcome the firewall that I was in. The first thing I did was to reach out to other people who had been in some of these circumstances.

I began to talk to people who had lost their mom and were also female and about my age. I just reached out to connect. I went on the internet and found some grief groups and read every single book that I could find. And one of the things that I did learn was to let in the sadness, not to push it away, just to be with it. And through my exploration of what else I could do, I hired a life coach.

And by the way, Ralph, I had never heard of a coach at that time. So I hired my own life coach and through that experience I not only began to deal with and accept all of the things that had come into my life, but it let my career change. I lost the weight I needed to lose and got a total attitude adjustment.

I also began to study Abraham Hicks and began to understand that we are not necessarily physical beings, we are eternal beings. And so, I’ve been able to come to more peace and more understanding and more spirituality. My life went from an extremely low point and then went to some of the greatest experiences that I’ve ever had in my life within the last 7 or 8 years.

Posted by ralph at 05:29 AM | Permalink

Tony Marino: I would have to say that it was probably, death is always a bad thing. I lost a girlfriend many years ago that I loved dearly. I was young. It was young love. That was very tragic.

You know, losing grandparents. My grandpa was just very, very dear to me, losing him in the early eighties. My Godmother that was a tough one. In business, making wrong decisions, hooking up with the wrong people, being overly zealous.

I’ve gone through the ups and downs of business and I think business failures about 15 years ago with a bankruptcy. It was ugly. I didn’t mean to make it go there. It was probably just young, immature, stupid, didn’t manage things properly, didn’t see things that were on the horizon, didn’t react quickly enough when they exposed themselves.

But I take full accountability. I don’t blame my partners. We all took a hit and lost everything. You pull yourself up by your bootstraps. The old Horatio Alger story and you go forward or you just go dry up and go live in a corner somewhere and just keep your head down.

I could never do that. I just felt that there was that I had a mission and there was a plan. I have to fulfill that plan. So I feel that as long as I keep my body moving and my brain staying positive and just realizing that all the things that we go through in our lives are really there to help us learn and make us stronger.

It can really set your attitude in a whole new direction. I always try to look forward and upward. That’s where I try to focus my sites.

Posted by ralph at 12:16 PM | Permalink

Now, I don't want to appear callous but it really felt great to lay in my bed at the Marriott in Chicago and sleep in on Tuesday. Having to get up every night to change adult diapers, administer water, adjust the sleeping position, retrieve the lost TV remote control, inject antibiotics over the last 4 years took a huge toll.

I almost felt guilty luxuriating in a hot bath, reading the newspaper and the newest Dean Koontz novel, eating multiple cartons of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. But, I had fought the good fight, run the good race, finished my course and persevered to the end of taking care of my mom and dad.

I could hold my head up high and feel proud I followed through on my promise to take care of them to the end. Needless to say, I miss both of them and living a fantasy life in reality is a way of coping with the grief and loss of the two people who loved me the most and accepted me unequivocally.

After having such a tough time in Chicago and people thinking I was a pervert, serial killer or secret monster, just because I wore a Superman shirt, I was depressed when I boarded the plane in Chicago to fly back to San Diego.

Even though I was proud to wear the Superman badge of courage, so much rejection over four days definitely took a toll on my positive attitude. I am sure if I explained to observers that I was dressing as a super hero to help me get over the death of my dad, I am sure they would have responded differently but that was not an option.

Anyway, as soon as the plane was in the air, I decided that a few vodka bloody marys would help my mood. As I was waiting for the plane to lift off, a young, beautiful flight attendant dropped about 20 plastic cups on the floor. She said, "This is typical. I am having a bad day."

I asked, "What happened to you today?"

Her name was Sherri and she said, "Some one broke the window on my car this morning for no reason. There was nothing in the car to steal. Now I have to pay $79 to get it fixed. Everything has been going downhill since then."

I replied, "Whenever bad things happen to me, I always know there is something good coming down the pipeline. I just have to anticipate it and look for it, believing it will happen. After all, the universe has to balance itself out by providing some good to compensate for the evil."

Sherri was a little dubious, but I rammed my point home. "You have to believe that good will come out of evil. God says that the only way to overcome evil is with good. After all, I am wearing a Superman shirt because my dad just died and I was depressed so I decided to wear a shirt that would make people smile and me too.

Death really snaps people out of the past into the present. Sherri was sorry my dad died recently. I told her the story of my mom and dad's great love for each other over 60 years and how my dad died within days of the one year anniversary of my mom's death. I could feel the softening of her heart and see that her troubles were not so severe.

I decided to uplift her spirit and do the Captain Biorhythm test on her. She was one out of a thousand people who discovered the secret in the costume instantly. It is truly astounding to meet someone who uses both sides of their brain simultaneously.

I gave her the card and she eagerly tested three of the other flight attendants. They all were totally left brained. She got a good laugh when I explained the significance. The more I talked with her, the more I realized there was a huge energetic bond, almost a karmic relationship between us. I decided to test her biorhythm compatibility with me.

Sherri gave me her birthdate and I fed it into my biorhythm computer. In a matter of seconds, I discovered we were emotional and intellectual energy twins. We had 100% the same emotional energy and 99% the same intellectual energy. Literally, we were traveling the same pathway emotionally and intellectually. It was one of those "Ah Ha" moments were you recognized a psychic twin.

From then on, our conversation flowed into the most intimate areas, as if we had known each other for numerous lifetimes. It was a great and uplifting experience. She was a little astounded at our level of rapport but volunteered to become one of my brain testers, using the Captain Biorhythm card to test her family and friends and report back with the results.

The moral of the story is that I should show up as Captain Biorhythm all the time because I have a better opportunity of helping people get a good laugh. Also, by sharing with them the secret brain and body balancing techniques and Captain Biorhythm secret handshake and hug, I can make a real positive difference in their lives and those of their family members and friends.

take care,
captain biorhythm

Ralph Zuranski
Creator of the In Search Of Heroes Program
http://www.InSearchOfHeroes.com
Email: rzuranski@cox.net

Posted by ralph at 10:28 AM | Permalink

I finally made it home from Perry Marshall's 80-20 Seminar and One Day Intensive in Chicago.

Wow, people in Chicago definitely react to heroes differently than people in Huntsville, Alabama at Rhea Perry's Real Estate event, Nashville, Tennessee at Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer Super Conference and San Diego at Frank Kern's Mass Control Seminar. I felt like I had suddenly turned into Lex Luther or the demon reincarnation of Superman.

When I left for Chicago, I was too depressed to wear my Captain Biorhythm costume. I just did not have the emotional energy or intellectual prowess to explain the Captain Biorhythm brain hemisphere test, the secret BioAwareness brain balancing techniques, the secret handshake and the awesome healing hug, in honor of my dad.

I am still trying to deal with my dad's recent death and the loss of my mom one year ago. I guess I was feeling like a pretty wimpy, whiny hero so I decided to wear my Superman shirt that I found at the Goodwill Store in my neighborhood for $4.

Everyone knows the Superman symbol and the history or the character. I knew I would not have to explain anything to anyone about this timeless hero. I thought it would be interesting to see how people would react positively or negatively to the Superman image worn by a mere mortal. Hopefully, I would get a few laughs and perhaps a few snickers and secret winks.

I was amazed...astounded. Holy Batman and Robin, very few people in Chicago said anything. They just stared as if I was an alien from the planet Krypton, maybe even a mass murderer or child molester.

There had to be something wrong. Even though I was a little depressed, missing my mom and day, especially burying my dad on May 5, only 4 days ahead of my birthday, I still smiled at every person, but few returned my smile.

The big question was, "Was it me or them?" While flying from San Diego, I had plenty of people smile and address me as Superman and ask , "Where is your cape?" or "Who are you going to save today?" It was great. I had the opportunity to enter into a humorous dialog that uplifted the emotions of all involved, including those within ear shot.

Frankly, the reactions of people in Chicago were a little scary. One flight attendant even told me disapprovingly, "What makes you think you are worthy of making a statement like that?"

I replied, "I work out all the time so I'm not a disgrace to the costume."

I thought to myself, "Gee, what's the deal with this lady? She went out of her way to belittle me when I was trying to do good, to make people smile? What's wrong with wearing a Superman shirt anyway? Besides, I'm not even wearing the entire costume with red cape, yellow shoes and utility belt. Maybe she hates Superman or just hates old guys with muscles who are reliving their youth in public."

I guess the old saying it true, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Anyway, enough complaining about reality, even though at this time a heavy dose of fantasy is helping me cope with the loss of my two greatest heroes. The best way of feeling better emotionally is thinking about others and doing something constructive to add a little levity and inspiration to their day.

If making a public spectacle of myself by living my public life as a flawed hero, to help me overcome the grief of losing my mom and dad, you have to accept the good with the bad, the compliments with the complaints, the crushing rejections with the grudging admiration.

Besides, there is a reason for my madness, insanity...perhaps genius. Both Frank Kern, in his "Mass Control Marketing System" and Dan Kennedy in his course, "How To Create Personality In Your Copy To Establish Customers For Life" encourage everyone to become a hero, guru, teacher that is outstanding, interesting...not boring.

Dan Kennedy says, "If you create a hero persona or guru, some people will love you while others will hate you. (My interpretation of what he said." How true is that! Dan and Frank are true geniuses and have created their own unique characters that people love and hate. I guess I'm in good company.

I will have to say that there was one group of people who reacted in a positive way to Superman. It was a group of Japanese tourists who immediately raised their hands to the heavens and imitated flying, saying, "Superman!" with awesome reverence. We all laughed and felt much better about ourselves and the day's prospects.

Well, I have to go get my mail, unpack and do some work. Please let me know what you think. DO YOU THINK I AM INSANE for attempting to inspire others to discover their hero within to help them overcome difficult times? I promise to respond to any comments. I am also a little behind on responding to all the dear people who encouraged me with their own stories of loss. That was so helpful to me it is a priceless gift that goes beyond material reality transcends into eternal life where the rewards are greater than anything I can say or do.

Anyway, when I get a chance, I will tell you about the transcendental experience I had with one of the beautiful flight attendants on the flight back to San Diego after a couple of Bloody Marys. I think that alcohol used in times of sorrow can not only help you get over your grieving but give you an instant attitude alteration. The big question is, "How do I use it constructively without becoming addicted and transforming into an alcoholic?"

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 10:01 AM | Permalink

I finally made it home from Perry Marshall's 80-20 Seminar and One Day Intensive in Chicago.

Wow, people in Chicago definitely react to heroes differently than people in Huntsville, Alabama at Rhea Perry's Real Estate event, Nashville, Tennessee at Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer Super Conference and San Diego at Frank Kern's Mass Control Seminar. I felt like I had suddenly turned into Lex Luther or the demon reincarnation of Superman.

When I left for Chicago, I was too depressed to wear my Captain Biorhythm costume. I just did not have the emotional energy or intellectual prowess to explain the Captain Biorhythm brain hemisphere test, the secret BioAwareness brain balancing techniques, the secret handshake and the awesome healing hug, in honor of my dad.

I am still trying to deal with my dad's recent death and the loss of my mom one year ago. I guess I was feeling like a pretty wimpy, whiny hero so I decided to wear my Superman shirt that I found at the Goodwill Store in my neighborhood for $4.

Everyone knows the Superman symbol and the history or the character. I knew I would not have to explain anything to anyone about this timeless hero. I thought it would be interesting to see how people would react positively or negatively to the Superman image worn by a mere mortal. Hopefully, I would get a few laughs and perhaps a few snickers and secret winks.

I was amazed...astounded. Holy Batman and Robin, very few people in Chicago said anything. They just stared as if I was an alien from the planet Krypton, maybe even a mass murderer or child molester.

There had to be something wrong. Even though I was a little depressed, missing my mom and day, especially burying my dad on May 5, only 4 days ahead of my birthday, I still smiled at every person, but few returned my smile.

The big question was, "Was it me or them?" While flying from San Diego, I had plenty of people smile and address me as Superman and ask , "Where is your cape?" or "Who are you going to save today?" It was great. I had the opportunity to enter into a humorous dialog that uplifted the emotions of all involved, including those within ear shot.

Frankly, the reactions of people in Chicago were a little scary. One flight attendant even told me disapprovingly, "What makes you think you are worthy of making a statement like that?"

I replied, "I work out all the time so I'm not a disgrace to the costume."

I thought to myself, "Gee, what's the deal with this lady? She went out of her way to belittle me when I was trying to do good, to make people smile? What's wrong with wearing a Superman shirt anyway? Besides, I'm not even wearing the entire costume with red cape, yellow shoes and utility belt. Maybe she hates Superman or just hates old guys with muscles who are reliving their youth in public."

I guess the old saying it true, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Anyway, enough complaining about reality, even though at this time a heavy dose of fantasy is helping me cope with the loss of my two greatest heroes. The best way of feeling better emotionally is thinking about others and doing something constructive to add a little levity and inspiration to their day.

If making a public spectacle of myself by living my public life as a flawed hero, to help me overcome the grief of losing my mom and dad, you have to accept the good with the bad, the compliments with the complaints, the crushing rejections with the grudging admiration.

Besides, there is a reason for my madness, insanity...perhaps genius. Both Frank Kern, in his "Mass Control Marketing System" and Dan Kennedy in his course, "How To Create Personality In Your Copy To Establish Customers For Life" encourage everyone to become a hero, guru, teacher that is outstanding, interesting...not boring.

Dan Kennedy says, "If you create a hero persona or guru, some people will love you while others will hate you. (My interpretation of what he said." How true is that! Dan and Frank are true geniuses and have created their own unique characters that people love and hate. I guess I'm in good company.

I will have to say that there was one group of people who reacted in a positive way to Superman. It was a group of Japanese tourists who immediately raised their hands to the heavens and imitated flying, saying, "Superman!" with awesome reverence. We all laughed and felt much better about ourselves and the day's prospects.

Well, I have to go get my mail, unpack and do some work. Please let me know what you think. DO YOU THINK I AM INSANE for attempting to inspire others to discover their hero within to help them overcome difficult times? I promise to respond to any comments. I am also a little behind on responding to all the dear people who encouraged me with their own stories of loss. That was so helpful to me it is a priceless gift that goes beyond material reality transcends into eternal life where the rewards are greater than anything I can say or do.

Anyway, when I get a chance, I will tell you about the transcendental experience I had with one of the beautiful flight attendants on the flight back to San Diego after a couple of Bloody Marys. I think that alcohol used in times of sorrow can not only help you get over your grieving but give you an instant attitude alteration. The big question is, "How do I use it constructively without becoming addicted and transforming into an alcoholic?"

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 10:01 AM | Permalink

I finally made it home from Perry Marshall's 80-20 Seminar and One Day Intensive in Chicago.

Wow, people in Chicago definitely react to heroes differently than people in Huntsville, Alabama at Rhea Perry's Real Estate event, Nashville, Tennessee at Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer Super Conference and San Diego at Frank Kern's Mass Control Seminar. I felt like I had suddenly turned into Lex Luther or the demon reincarnation of Superman.

When I left for Chicago, I was too depressed to wear my Captain Biorhythm costume. I just did not have the emotional energy or intellectual prowess to explain the Captain Biorhythm brain hemisphere test, the secret BioAwareness brain balancing techniques, the secret handshake and the awesome healing hug, in honor of my dad.

I am still trying to deal with my dad's recent death and the loss of my mom one year ago. I guess I was feeling like a pretty wimpy, whiny hero so I decided to wear my Superman shirt that I found at the Goodwill Store in my neighborhood for $4.

Everyone knows the Superman symbol and the history or the character. I knew I would not have to explain anything to anyone about this timeless hero. I thought it would be interesting to see how people would react positively or negatively to the Superman image worn by a mere mortal. Hopefully, I would get a few laughs and perhaps a few snickers and secret winks.

I was amazed...astounded. Holy Batman and Robin, very few people in Chicago said anything. They just stared as if I was an alien from the planet Krypton, maybe even a mass murderer or child molester.

There had to be something wrong. Even though I was a little depressed, missing my mom and day, especially burying my dad on May 5, only 4 days ahead of my birthday, I still smiled at every person, but few returned my smile.

The big question was, "Was it me or them?" While flying from San Diego, I had plenty of people smile and address me as Superman and ask , "Where is your cape?" or "Who are you going to save today?" It was great. I had the opportunity to enter into a humorous dialog that uplifted the emotions of all involved, including those within ear shot.

Frankly, the reactions of people in Chicago were a little scary. One flight attendant even told me disapprovingly, "What makes you think you are worthy of making a statement like that?"

I replied, "I work out all the time so I'm not a disgrace to the costume."

I thought to myself, "Gee, what's the deal with this lady? She went out of her way to belittle me when I was trying to do good, to make people smile? What's wrong with wearing a Superman shirt anyway? Besides, I'm not even wearing the entire costume with red cape, yellow shoes and utility belt. Maybe she hates Superman or just hates old guys with muscles who are reliving their youth in public."

I guess the old saying it true, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Anyway, enough complaining about reality, even though at this time a heavy dose of fantasy is helping me cope with the loss of my two greatest heroes. The best way of feeling better emotionally is thinking about others and doing something constructive to add a little levity and inspiration to their day.

If making a public spectacle of myself by living my public life as a flawed hero, to help me overcome the grief of losing my mom and dad, you have to accept the good with the bad, the compliments with the complaints, the crushing rejections with the grudging admiration.

Besides, there is a reason for my madness, insanity...perhaps genius. Both Frank Kern, in his "Mass Control Marketing System" and Dan Kennedy in his course, "How To Create Personality In Your Copy To Establish Customers For Life" encourage everyone to become a hero, guru, teacher that is outstanding, interesting...not boring.

Dan Kennedy says, "If you create a hero persona or guru, some people will love you while others will hate you. (My interpretation of what he said." How true is that! Dan and Frank are true geniuses and have created their own unique characters that people love and hate. I guess I'm in good company.

I will have to say that there was one group of people who reacted in a positive way to Superman. It was a group of Japanese tourists who immediately raised their hands to the heavens and imitated flying, saying, "Superman!" with awesome reverence. We all laughed and felt much better about ourselves and the day's prospects.

Well, I have to go get my mail, unpack and do some work. Please let me know what you think. DO YOU THINK I AM INSANE for attempting to inspire others to discover their hero within to help them overcome difficult times? I promise to respond to any comments. I am also a little behind on responding to all the dear people who encouraged me with their own stories of loss. That was so helpful to me it is a priceless gift that goes beyond material reality transcends into eternal life where the rewards are greater than anything I can say or do.

Anyway, when I get a chance, I will tell you about the transcendental experience I had with one of the beautiful flight attendants on the flight back to San Diego after a couple of Bloody Marys. I think that alcohol used in times of sorrow can not only help you get over your grieving but give you an instant attitude alteration. The big question is, "How do I use it constructively without becoming addicted and transforming into an alcoholic?"

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 10:01 AM | Permalink

I finally made it home from Perry Marshall's 80-20 Seminar and One Day Intensive in Chicago.

Wow, people in Chicago definitely react to heroes differently than people in Huntsville, Alabama at Rhea Perry's Real Estate event, Nashville, Tennessee at Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer Super Conference and San Diego at Frank Kern's Mass Control Seminar. I felt like I had suddenly turned into Lex Luther or the demon reincarnation of Superman.

When I left for Chicago, I was too depressed to wear my Captain Biorhythm costume. I just did not have the emotional energy or intellectual prowess to explain the Captain Biorhythm brain hemisphere test, the secret BioAwareness brain balancing techniques, the secret handshake and the awesome healing hug, in honor of my dad.

I am still trying to deal with my dad's recent death and the loss of my mom one year ago. I guess I was feeling like a pretty wimpy, whiny hero so I decided to wear my Superman shirt that I found at the Goodwill Store in my neighborhood for $4.

Everyone knows the Superman symbol and the history or the character. I knew I would not have to explain anything to anyone about this timeless hero. I thought it would be interesting to see how people would react positively or negatively to the Superman image worn by a mere mortal. Hopefully, I would get a few laughs and perhaps a few snickers and secret winks.

I was amazed...astounded. Holy Batman and Robin, very few people in Chicago said anything. They just stared as if I was an alien from the planet Krypton, maybe even a mass murderer or child molester.

There had to be something wrong. Even though I was a little depressed, missing my mom and day, especially burying my dad on May 5, only 4 days ahead of my birthday, I still smiled at every person, but few returned my smile.

The big question was, "Was it me or them?" While flying from San Diego, I had plenty of people smile and address me as Superman and ask , "Where is your cape?" or "Who are you going to save today?" It was great. I had the opportunity to enter into a humorous dialog that uplifted the emotions of all involved, including those within ear shot.

Frankly, the reactions of people in Chicago were a little scary. One flight attendant even told me disapprovingly, "What makes you think you are worthy of making a statement like that?"

I replied, "I work out all the time so I'm not a disgrace to the costume."

I thought to myself, "Gee, what's the deal with this lady? She went out of her way to belittle me when I was trying to do good, to make people smile? What's wrong with wearing a Superman shirt anyway? Besides, I'm not even wearing the entire costume with red cape, yellow shoes and utility belt. Maybe she hates Superman or just hates old guys with muscles who are reliving their youth in public."

I guess the old saying it true, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Anyway, enough complaining about reality, even though at this time a heavy dose of fantasy is helping me cope with the loss of my two greatest heroes. The best way of feeling better emotionally is thinking about others and doing something constructive to add a little levity and inspiration to their day.

If making a public spectacle of myself by living my public life as a flawed hero, to help me overcome the grief of losing my mom and dad, you have to accept the good with the bad, the compliments with the complaints, the crushing rejections with the grudging admiration.

Besides, there is a reason for my madness, insanity...perhaps genius. Both Frank Kern, in his "Mass Control Marketing System" and Dan Kennedy in his course, "How To Create Personality In Your Copy To Establish Customers For Life" encourage everyone to become a hero, guru, teacher that is outstanding, interesting...not boring.

Dan Kennedy says, "If you create a hero persona or guru, some people will love you while others will hate you. (My interpretation of what he said." How true is that! Dan and Frank are true geniuses and have created their own unique characters that people love and hate. I guess I'm in good company.

I will have to say that there was one group of people who reacted in a positive way to Superman. It was a group of Japanese tourists who immediately raised their hands to the heavens and imitated flying, saying, "Superman!" with awesome reverence. We all laughed and felt much better about ourselves and the day's prospects.

Well, I have to go get my mail, unpack and do some work. Please let me know what you think. DO YOU THINK I AM INSANE for attempting to inspire others to discover their hero within to help them overcome difficult times? I promise to respond to any comments. I am also a little behind on responding to all the dear people who encouraged me with their own stories of loss. That was so helpful to me it is a priceless gift that goes beyond material reality transcends into eternal life where the rewards are greater than anything I can say or do.

Anyway, when I get a chance, I will tell you about the transcendental experience I had with one of the beautiful flight attendants on the flight back to San Diego after a couple of Bloody Marys. I think that alcohol used in times of sorrow can not only help you get over your grieving but give you an instant attitude alteration. The big question is, "How do I use it constructively without becoming addicted and transforming into an alcoholic?"

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 10:01 AM | Permalink

I finally made it home from Perry Marshall's 80-20 Seminar and One Day Intensive in Chicago.

Wow, people in Chicago definitely react to heroes differently than people in Huntsville, Alabama at Rhea Perry's Real Estate event, Nashville, Tennessee at Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer Super Conference and San Diego at Frank Kern's Mass Control Seminar. I felt like I had suddenly turned into Lex Luther or the demon reincarnation of Superman.

When I left for Chicago, I was too depressed to wear my Captain Biorhythm costume. I just did not have the emotional energy or intellectual prowess to explain the Captain Biorhythm brain hemisphere test, the secret BioAwareness brain balancing techniques, the secret handshake and the awesome healing hug, in honor of my dad.

I am still trying to deal with my dad's recent death and the loss of my mom one year ago. I guess I was feeling like a pretty wimpy, whiny hero so I decided to wear my Superman shirt that I found at the Goodwill Store in my neighborhood for $4.

Everyone knows the Superman symbol and the history or the character. I knew I would not have to explain anything to anyone about this timeless hero. I thought it would be interesting to see how people would react positively or negatively to the Superman image worn by a mere mortal. Hopefully, I would get a few laughs and perhaps a few snickers and secret winks.

I was amazed...astounded. Holy Batman and Robin, very few people in Chicago said anything. They just stared as if I was an alien from the planet Krypton, maybe even a mass murderer or child molester.

There had to be something wrong. Even though I was a little depressed, missing my mom and day, especially burying my dad on May 5, only 4 days ahead of my birthday, I still smiled at every person, but few returned my smile.

The big question was, "Was it me or them?" While flying from San Diego, I had plenty of people smile and address me as Superman and ask , "Where is your cape?" or "Who are you going to save today?" It was great. I had the opportunity to enter into a humorous dialog that uplifted the emotions of all involved, including those within ear shot.

Frankly, the reactions of people in Chicago were a little scary. One flight attendant even told me disapprovingly, "What makes you think you are worthy of making a statement like that?"

I replied, "I work out all the time so I'm not a disgrace to the costume."

I thought to myself, "Gee, what's the deal with this lady? She went out of her way to belittle me when I was trying to do good, to make people smile? What's wrong with wearing a Superman shirt anyway? Besides, I'm not even wearing the entire costume with red cape, yellow shoes and utility belt. Maybe she hates Superman or just hates old guys with muscles who are reliving their youth in public."

I guess the old saying it true, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Anyway, enough complaining about reality, even though at this time a heavy dose of fantasy is helping me cope with the loss of my two greatest heroes. The best way of feeling better emotionally is thinking about others and doing something constructive to add a little levity and inspiration to their day.

If making a public spectacle of myself by living my public life as a flawed hero, to help me overcome the grief of losing my mom and dad, you have to accept the good with the bad, the compliments with the complaints, the crushing rejections with the grudging admiration.

Besides, there is a reason for my madness, insanity...perhaps genius. Both Frank Kern, in his "Mass Control Marketing System" and Dan Kennedy in his course, "How To Create Personality In Your Copy To Establish Customers For Life" encourage everyone to become a hero, guru, teacher that is outstanding, interesting...not boring.

Dan Kennedy says, "If you create a hero persona or guru, some people will love you while others will hate you. (My interpretation of what he said." How true is that! Dan and Frank are true geniuses and have created their own unique characters that people love and hate. I guess I'm in good company.

I will have to say that there was one group of people who reacted in a positive way to Superman. It was a group of Japanese tourists who immediately raised their hands to the heavens and imitated flying, saying, "Superman!" with awesome reverence. We all laughed and felt much better about ourselves and the day's prospects.

Well, I have to go get my mail, unpack and do some work. Please let me know what you think. DO YOU THINK I AM INSANE for attempting to inspire others to discover their hero within to help them overcome difficult times? I promise to respond to any comments. I am also a little behind on responding to all the dear people who encouraged me with their own stories of loss. That was so helpful to me it is a priceless gift that goes beyond material reality transcends into eternal life where the rewards are greater than anything I can say or do.

Anyway, when I get a chance, I will tell you about the transcendental experience I had with one of the beautiful flight attendants on the flight back to San Diego after a couple of Bloody Marys. I think that alcohol used in times of sorrow can not only help you get over your grieving but give you an instant attitude alteration. The big question is, "How do I use it constructively without becoming addicted and transforming into an alcoholic?"

take care,
ralph

Posted by ralph at 10:01 AM | Permalink

I finally made it home from Perry Marshall's 80-20 Seminar and One Day Intensive in Chicago.

Wow, people in Chicago definitely react to heroes differently than people in Huntsville, Alabama at Rhea Perry's Real Estate event, Nashville, Tennessee at Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer Super Conference and San Diego at Frank Kern's Mass Control Seminar. I felt like I had suddenly turned into Lex Luther or the demon reincarnation of Superman.

When I left for Chicago, I was too depressed to wear my Captain Biorhythm costume. I just did not have the emotional energy or intellectual prowess to explain the Captain Biorhythm brain hemisphere test, the secret BioAwareness brain balancing techniques, the secret handshake and the awesome healing hug, in honor of my dad.

I am still trying to deal with my dad's recent death and the loss of my mom one year ago. I guess I was feeling like a pretty wimpy, whiny hero so I decided to wear my Superman shirt that I found at the Goodwill Store in my neighborhood for $4.

Everyone knows the Superman symbol and the history or the character. I knew I would not have to explain anything to anyone about this timeless hero. I thought it would be interesting to see how people would react positively or negatively to the Superman image worn by a mere mortal. Hopefully, I would get a few laughs and perhaps a few snickers and secret winks.

I was amazed...astounded. Holy Batman and Robin, very few people in Chicago said anything. They just stared as if I was an alien from the planet Krypton, maybe even a mass murderer or child molester.

There had to be something wrong. Even though I was a little depressed, missing my mom and dad, especially burying my dad on May 5, only 4 days ahead of my birthday, I still smiled at every person, but few returned my smile.

The big question was, "Was it me or them?" While flying from San Diego, I had plenty of people smile and address me as Superman and ask , "Where is your cape?" or "Who are you going to save today?" It was great. I had the opportunity to enter into a humorous dialog that uplifted the emotions of all involved, including those within ear shot.

Frankly, the reactions of people in Chicago were a little scary. One flight attendant even told me disapprovingly, "What makes you think you are worthy of making a statement like that?"

I replied, "I work out all the time so I'm not a disgrace to the costume."

I thought to myself, "Gee, what's the deal with this lady? She went out of her way to belittle me when I was trying to do good, to make people smile? What's wrong with wearing a Superman shirt anyway? Besides, I'm not even wearing the entire costume with red cape, yellow shoes and utility belt. Maybe she hates Superman or just hates old guys with muscles who are reliving their youth in public."

I guess the old saying it true, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Anyway, enough complaining about reality, even though at this time a heavy dose of fantasy is helping me cope with the loss of my two greatest heroes. The best way of feeling better emotionally is thinking about others and doing something constructive to add a little levity and inspiration to their day.

If making a public spectacle of myself by living my public life as a flawed hero, to help me overcome the grief of losing my mom and dad, you have to accept the good with the bad, the compliments with the complaints, the crushing rejections with the grudging admiration.

Besides, there is a reason for my madness, insanity...perhaps genius. Both Frank Kern, in his "Mass Control Marketing System" and Dan Kennedy in his course, "How To Create Personality In Your Copy To Establish Customers For Life" encourage everyone to become a hero, guru, teacher that is outstanding, interesting...not boring.

Dan Kennedy says, "If you create a hero persona or guru, some people will love you while others will hate you." (My interpretation of what he said.)

How true is that! Dan and Frank are true geniuses and have created their own unique characters that people love and hate. I guess I'm in good company.

I will have to say that there was one group of people who reacted in a positive way to Superman. It was a group of Japanese tourists who immediately raised