There are NO COINCIDENCES

"There are no coincidences, just connections." ~ Gino Acaro ~ (p. 300, Soul of A Lifter)

I don't do holidays... a day is a day is a day. Applying holiday mentality is settling for mediocrity. It's a built in excused right into the calendar year.

"I slept in - it's a holiday!"

"I didn't workout Monday. It's was Labour Day!"

"I ate like crap! But it was a holiday."

However, because I still occasionally resist myself and occasionally crave normality, I thought I would try and "do" a bit of the holiday thing. Rather than get up and carry out my routine (mix my drink of Greens, aminos... take my supplements and get to "work" on my morning "essentials"), I decided to read.

It takes me a long time to read a book for 5 reasons:

1) I rarely sit down during the day and read at night... I fall asleep in 3 minutes no matter how impactful the book.

2) I read to learn and to make an impact in my SELF and in my life - not for pleasure or for leisure. Making notes, re-reading passages and frequently stopping to reflect, have an "aha!" moment or go share a quote or tell the world about it, makes for slower reading.

3) I usually have 5 books going at once.

4) I am better at buying books and finding that ONE THING that was written JUST FOR ME than I am at reading a book cover to cover.

5) My learning style - I am an applied learner and a visual learner so reading is not my preferred or first means of learning or absorbing new information.

Today, NO COINCIDENCE, I had 2 books beside my bed:

Soul of a Lifter by Gino Arcaro
The Reconnection by Dr. Eric Pearl

I picked up SOAL (Soul of a Lifter). Opened to the bookmark - ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? - A DC Comics Originals tag off a shirt I bought a few weeks earlier. On the back of the tag "The mark of authenticity featuring the greatest icons in comic book history!"

(Important Note: This connection ... the book marker... I JUST realized now. As I write this. I never noticed this while I was reading this morning.)

I open the book to Chapter 34 - 524 P's. The chapters are irrelevant. They don't even match or make any sense. That's the point. Read the book and you will understand... maybe.

The chapter is about his leaving a 15 year policing career. As I left a 10 year policing career.

I have read SOAL once through already. With a pen, paper and highlighter. The pages are turned over in so many places that it is moot. Laughable. If you turn the corner over in ever page, and record almost every quote, you just made a mess of the book and rewrote it at the same time.
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When a book has IMPACT, I buy two. The 1st one I read... mark up, turn corner, leave tears, coffee stains, evidence of my meals, destroy the cover from bringing it with me everwhere. The BOOK has soul! The book becomes alive. A part of you.

I also ask the author to sign it. The book is further alive. Has soul. A part of them - a CONNECTION.

I have 3 sets of books like this:
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1) Gourmet Nutrition - signed by John Berardi PhD

2) Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors - signed by Randy Roach

3)... I lied... I don't have the 2nd book yet. I need a hard copy. Signed - Soul of a Lifter - signed by Gino Arcaro

The LIVING copy is just that... a live. A part of me. A part of them. I am forever impacted.

The hard copy is preserved... to carry on a legacy. Theirs and mine.

I hope you have gotten some of the connections already - the MIRACLES all around all the time. "Answer the call. Pay attention. Don't blink". (p. 296 SOAL - the last words I read last night - at the end of the previous chapter called Don't Blink)

Chapter 34 is all about his departure from policing. Every word - ever part - every FEELING - could have belonged to me. Every paragraph except for the last one. In the brief but IMPACTFUL 2 page chapter he answers 2 questions:

1) Why he left policing (could have been written by me - exact same reasons I did)

2) What was the highlight (could have been written by me - exact same answer... except one thing)

Replace:

"A thank-you letter from a grieving mother who lost a son only seven years younger than the detective who knocked on her door at 2:00 am, with the news that changed her life forever."

With:

".... lost a daughter the same age TO THE DAY as the constable's daughter..."

After reading this 2 page chapter... (that is another favorite of mine in the book... and the most IMPACTFUL), I had a transformational moment.

I NEVER read this chapter the 1st time through. Being so short, I think I http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifaccidentally skipped it. NO COINCIDENCES! ONLY CONNECTIONS!

I then see the book on the floor beside it. The Reconnection: Heal Others, Heal Yourself

"an amazing man..." "with a superb gift..." "Read this book and be transformed."

I am being bombarded by connections.



I have to leave my bed and stop being a "normal" person trying to have leisure time in bed.

I am compelled to come here and write this.

The connections keep coming.

The book mark.

Why is DC COMICS ORIGINALS important?

Why is "mark of authenticity"?

1st paragraph, last sentence of Chapter 34... of the IMPACTFUL, transformational chapter I just read. That I missed reading the 1st time I read the book:

"Original thoughts, original actions - the secret to separating from the rest." (p. 279)

Super Hero stuff.

YOU PEOPLE GOTTA READ THIS BOOK... For F's sake.

Make the damn connection.