ONE ENLIGHTENING OPRAH SHOW

Growing up, I heard my father once say after someone blurted "Wala akong pera/I have no money" that you shouldn't say that lest it becomes the truth. Last night (Monday/march 12), while watching Oprah interact with a panel of motivational speakers on "The Secret," Rhonda Byrne's now hugely-popular rendering of what makes successful people successful (check out www.thesecret.tv), I realized how right my father was. If I understood the exchanges last night correctly, here are the takeaway messagess as best as I can remember them:

- Nothing new will come to your life if you have not been grateful for what you've had.
- It's all about energy - energy flows where your focus goes.
- What you get focused on attracts all others to that focus; the law of attraction is what works in the world.
- Life is like ordering from a menu at the restaurant; you get what you ordered for. You don't pray for strength just to cope with the week; you don't say "I'm hanging in there!"; you don't mindlessly respond "I'm surviving" when asked how you were -- because that's what it's going to be.
- Being religious is not necessarily being spiritual; being spiritual is being more aware of yourself; of growing to love yourself; of how much of yourself you can share to the world.

Last night's show got me to thinking about all the excellent passages I have read in my lifetime - from books, magazines, emails and the Internet. Like I've written time and again, I am fond of quotable quotes (but whether or not I get to apply them to my life, is another story, er, blog entry, he he). Channeling "The Secret," here's one such enlightening set of words/phrases/quotes that I remember writing down, based on the wisdom of one of my Bebe's bosses. My Bebe and I call them "The Bob Wyatt Guiding Principles" --

Never demand more of others than you are willing to do yourself.
Always lead by example.
Never do less than your best; no one can expect more.
Always have high, but reasonable, expectations of others.
Never be afraid to say, "I don't know, but I'll find out".
Never be afraid to say, "I was wrong".
Always learn and always teach.
And maybe most important of all, always say thank you.