Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough

Be "Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough."

Or tougher than nails. I'm not looking for a fight with nails. But if it comes to a fight with nails I want to be tougher, so we're not just fighting to a standstill.

What makes nails so tough anyway? They have a spine made of pure steel. From the muladhara to the sahasrara, or in laymen terms, from top to bottom (not respectively), they're made of tough stuff. They're tough on the outside and their inner is like their outer. Remember, though, it's all in a manner of speaking.

Plus, they have a point and they have a head, and the two aren't the same. The point is where they take their stand and their head beams proudly from that place. They can be very driven -- in fact that's exactly what we call pounding them in, driving nails.

Nails are tough when they're together. They know there's power in numbers. Take a single nail and drop it on your foot. Didn't feel like much, did it? Now take a box of nails and do the same thing. Hurt, didn't it? You've always got the potential to be tougher than you think you are.

And one other thing, nails are faithful. Once a driven nail is in a board, holding something together, it will be faithful till you're dead. You'll come back 75 years later and it'll still be holding its own. It will not leave its post. It's toughness will not flag.

Friends, modesty prevents me from claiming to be Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough. Also truth prevents me from claiming that. Because (and I've poll tested this, that my readership says they appreciate vulnerability), in actual fact I am not Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough. But I'm working on it.

How am I working on it? Not by working out, let me say. I work out in a very mild way, although I need to kick it in gear so I don't suddenly get heart attacks. But I'm not talking about being physically tough as nails. If you come to my house in 75 years, I will be long dead. But the nails might still be there. I'm talking about being mentally, spiritually, psychically Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough.

It's a process that I'm in, mixed in with all the other ways I'm terming this personal development. It's self-help in the sense that I need the help, and I know I'm not going to get it anywhere but from within. Reading a book may give me pointers, but the the reality is always going to be inside me or it's not going to get done. And the same for you.

There are lots of situations that we're in where it pays to be Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough. Like with your employer, your family, politics, or religion. It pays because there are times where you either nail or get nailed. Sports would be another one. If you're a gymnast, that's exactly what they say, "She nailed it!"

Take sports. It's not just muscles, it's strategy, it's mental. To know the strategy in a flash involves study and it involves intuition. So on the field you've got it, and perhaps more importantly, off the field you've got it. You can visualize exactly how it's going to go, a glimpse here or there, then suddenly you've got the whole picture.

When I step into a situation there are a few things that guide me, and, remember, I am not Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough. But I want to be. 1) I do not want to say or do anything that I'm going to regret later. 2) I want to keep a cool head and play the angles. 3) I will not overtly play one side against the other; I will take the path through the middle and let them work on each other. 4) I will seek my advantage, but I will roll with punches, come what may. I've had much and I've had little. I've been happy with much and I've been happy with little.

Being Tough As Nails -- Nail Tough doesn't mean you always get your way. But it's a thing of percentages. To the one who is TAN -- NT there is the strategizing (not always something that has to be consciously done) and there is the confidence. The confidence remains confidence whether you got your way in the situation or not.

Look at being TAN -- NT in this way: There are so many people who have no idea of it. There are so many people who aren't trying it in the least. The one who has the idea and puts forth the slightest effort automatically has the advantage.

My Neutral Optimism Report

NIGHT:

I've been neutrally optimistic all day, letting things come as they will and receiving a positive outcome without necessarily hoping for it.

OK, to be honest, I'm not precisely THERE with this one, because there were some challenges where I found myself hoping for outcomes.

But the thought of being neutrally optimistic only left me a few times. At some critical times. Ooo, I didn't mean to be THIS honest.

OK, I admit it, I'm basically still at GO.

I jump when people say Boo.

The whole theory allows for that anyway, since I was saying the organism without what we call higher consciousness is neutrally optimistic.

I was checking out other references to being neutrally optimistic, and was pleasantly surprised to see it was covered in Yoga Journal.

Who knew I might say something that Yoga Journal would be into? I just saw a reference, but it was a nice thing to see.

I'm going to continue to work on it. Which is weird, because I was saying it seems that the way to do it would be NOT to work on it.

I'm afraid I'm up against a wall on that one, which might be a good place to be, because it's at the extremes that our instincts take over.

I'm going to have to depend on something beyond me, to allow for higher consciousness AND the neutral optimism of the organism.

So, the bottom line. I don't think I'm any farther than GO. But I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

GO is where the organism resides, right? If I'm at GO, that's where grace can happen.

Goodnight everyone. Try to be neutrally optimistic. Or try not to be neutrally optimistic and thereby attain it. It's a tricky one! Night!

The Riddle Of Neutral Optimism

AFTERNOON:

Can you do something without trying to do it? That's a riddle!

Of course you can do lots of things without trying to do them. Like falling off a chair or sneezing.

But what about self-esteem, pride, and confidence? What about getting rid of worry in your life?

There's a lot of things that we really try hard at and fail. You can think of spirituality as a great example.

It's pointed out to us that it's by grace, but still we know (or think we know) that there has to be more to it than that.

So we struggle, climb, fall, brush ourselves off, try harder, until we're ready to move on to a lesser substitute.

Today I'm thinking about being neutrally optimistic, that seems to be the way of the organism without what we call higher consciousness.

Does a butterfly dream about getting a red corvette? Probably not. But it still assumes there are lots of other blessings for it.

It assumes -- yet it's not assuming. It's going toward a good end for itself, optimistic, but more neutrally so. Expecting without effort.

What a concept! It's enough to make me feel like sitting here today thinking about nothing and doing nothing in particular.

The Organism's Neutral Optimism

We're used to various mind tricks having to do with being optimistic or pessimistic. Such as, Is the glass half empty or half full? Or, Would you say your best days are ahead of you or behind you?

Let me say, if you're ever in for therapy, unless you're in hospice care, you'd better say "ahead of you" or they'll immediately lock you up and throw away the key. In which case you will have been right that your best days are definitely behind you. But who hasn't had pessimistic friends who haven't come back?

We tend to think optimism is good and pessimism is bad. Of course if we were being entirely honest we would have to say there are legitimate reasons for one or the other depending on the circumstances. Bad things do happen. But we don't want to mix up entirely the things of optimism and pessimism and realism. You can be optimistic and realistic at the same time, or pessimistic.

I'm going to apologize up front to any scientists who may think I haven't got it right. I'm confident in expressing potentially ignorant scientific theories, though, because I heard that science is never quite sure of anything. If it turns out that they're sure they're never quite sure of anything, I don't know what to do with that contradiction. But regardless of how that plays out I will use science's admitted ignorance to cover my own.

It's my theory that the organism -- whatever it is -- is neutrally optimistic. What that really means is it's right in the middle, meaning essentially it's not optimistic and it's not pessimistic. This is apart from higher consciousness that starts worrying about things. But I'm saying it's neutrally optimistic rather than pessimistic because if it goes any direction, that's it, toward the positive. Evolution, transformation, attainment...

Whether it's foraging for food or a place to stay, the presumption is that it's going to find what it needs. It is a part (perhaps at one) with its environment. There are reasons it could be pessimistic, of course, such as if we've damaged its ecological system such that there's no food. But even then it seems that without the higher consciousness worrying about it, it's going to remain neutrally optimistic until it eventually dies of starvation.

But we -- we have our worries. So we do a whole weird swing from optimistic to pessimistic, being more able to scope out the angles. We have a lot of experience and history that keeps us thinking of the odds. That helps us, obviously, in that if there's no food, we don't just stand there and die, if we're able to do otherwise. We press on and eventually find a McDonalds.

So having a higher consciousness helps us in many ways, but it also hinders us. Because of all the worries.

In my theories -- the whole self-esteem, confidence, and pride program I teach -- I try to get people to see that a lot of this psychic worry is unnecessary and a hindrance. Especially if you cross the line in the middle that goes from basic organism needs to the higher things, personal confidence, self-esteem, up through spirituality. There's no predator trying to get you at that point, except your own doubts or other distractions based in your motives.

The key, it appears, once you're past that middle line, is to somehow consciously allow yourself to go back into a more natural consciousness, which is true of the basic organism without the worries, that neutral optimism. How you do it, of course that's the main show.

Probably a summary statement of how you'd do it is simply to forget it and live. Not forget it as in giving it no thought, but not clamoring, demanding, fretting about it, or assailing the gates. It's like this, "He who climbs up some other way is the thief," instead of going through the door in a natural, unassuming way, with pure motives.

So be that! And by "be that," I guess I mean "be that" without really trying! Be neutrally optimistic today!

All Due Digiligence -- The Rage With Me

EVENING:

Due diligence is all the rage with me.

I'm up, I'm at 'em, I'm stoked, I'm prevailing, accomplishing, kicking booty left and right, swiftly and persistently.

Some may think it's a personality flaw but I see it as a strength. And if anyone wants to argue about it, I'll never give up till I win.

If you want to win, you have to aim high, for the top, then claw your way with all due diligence till you get there.

I'm well aware that not everyone is as diligent as I. It seems I'm a part of the elite, the diligentsia. We get together and grunt.

I'm in a race with myself, always wanting to give 150%. Someone pointed out to me that's just a figure of speech, making me try even harder.

Even now I'm bouncing in my chair, champing at the bit, eager for my next personal conquest, just begging for someone to challenge me.

I'm definitely taking care of business. Yeah! Yeah! Rrrrrrrr! USA! USA! USA!

Do Things With All Due Diligence

AFTERNOON:

With all due respect, you really ought to do things with all due diligence.

The house is on fire? Be calm and get everyone out. Maybe rescue your pets if it's not too much effort. But do it with all due diligence.

A car's coming at you head-on? Be calm. First, quit texting immediately. Second, with all due diligence, swerve.

Diligence. I bet I could look up the word and find it has an interesting root. Perhaps it's from the same root as DELicious or DILLY Bar.

It's a great characteristic for someone to have. The definition being something like an extraordinary effort at accomplishing something.

What's desirable, from my point of view, is to have diligence as an ordinary thing. To face every challenge -- big or small -- diligently.

Diligence implies you're scoping out all the angles, acting in a purposeful way toward a goal, believing in yourself, that it can be done.

There's an extra effort in it. Confidence calls forth from you what's extra, not only to get it done, but to do it in a terrific way.

I've had a few tasks today. I've stepped through them with all due diligence. This is done, that is done, and I'm working on the rest.

I recommend it to you. Take on your day, your tasks and challenges. See them accomplished in the best way, with a very confident diligence.

All Due Diligence Wins The Day

MORNING:

Having all due diligence in life, the resolve and strength to get your responsibilities and duties accomplished, is the way to go.

You want to be a strong person with achievements? Then BE a strong person with achievements. It all starts with your desire.

But desire alone doesn't do a thing. There's a whole mental framework standing behind desire. That's where our focus needs to be.

Each day if we set our mind, we're on the way. Set it for a number of purposes. These include not just doing our job, but our spirit in it.

It's easier to do a job when your heart's in it. But it's also good to let your heart know who's boss. Fulfill responsibilities and duties.

Mental strength is not just following your bliss (in that sense of somewhere else), but making the life I have now my bliss.

Yes, there are goals and dreams, but there's also all the unpaid bills from yesterday. These need to be honored as well.

To be truly happy, we take care of our business with all due diligence, like a man at an anvil, slugging it out every single day.

It's not drudgery -- it's life itself. It is easy to appreciate and treasure it when the mental framework is truly set in place.

Today, I will live my life with all due diligence. Nothing is going to sway me. I will accomplish, achieve, and probably be tired tonight.

All Due Diligence

My personal resolve refuses to weaken. I will press on in boldness and strength, exerting myself with all due diligence to get the job done.

That applies to whatever job there is. My resolve is such that I will have discipline to accomplish this, that, or the other thing. If it's set before me and is a part of my responsibility or duty, that is what I will do.

Once your mind is set, the resolve is locked in place. At that point there must be no loosening, no shrinking back to a place of laziness and excuses.

Just looking at this great picture helps toughen my hide for what the day may bring. I will be both the anvil and the guy pounding against it. Anything but the colorful marshmallow background! I will not soften or become a sticky, gooey mush, regardless of what anyone else does.

I like the looks of that old anvil: "ACME GUARANTEED." You don't want a bad anvil. So it's always best to get one that's guaranteed. You take a whack at it and it splits in two? That'd be the last anvil I'd buy from Acme, or whoever. The shipping on an anvil, it's high. You want one that's going to stand the test of time. And, frankly, I've never heard of a bad anvil. Whoever makes them knows by now how to get the job done.

Obviously I have a lot in common with anvil makers. They're tough and I'm tough. Except I'm made of flesh and bone, not iron. So it's tougher to successfully be me than it is to be an anvil. I have that as a point of pride. It represents me, and anyone who would exercise all due diligence in his or her life to get their job accomplished in a worthy manner.

There's not enough toughness in the world. There's too much softness. People falling away from their responsibilities and duties. Or in so many cases, never giving them a second thought in the first place. Like deadbeat dads. You want to stick it where you want to stick it, but there's a price to pay. That price is responsibility, deadbeat. You either need to be tougher or keep it zipped.

I've got going on here a "Drive for Pride," with some of the principles of self-esteem, confidence, and pride going forth. And yes, I'm taking my own medicine, and it's delicious. There's nothing more satisfying than keeping strict personal control, of being personally strong, mentally strong.

It starts with your mental framework. If you have it in you to say this is how it will be, then to follow through on it, you can have great success. If you will put forth all due diligence to get the job done, and to do it with appreciation for the responsibility and task, there's no stopping you.

Let this be another day of fulfilling our responsibilities and duties. Appreciate your work. Do it with sincerity and resolve. With all due diligence. Be tough, but also a nice person.

Set Your Mind -- Mental Acuity Is Good

EVENING:

How am I doing on setting my mind? Pretty well, yes sir.

I had a major afternoon nap, a little over an hour. That was kind of a killer because some of that time's prime real estate.

During that time I kept my mind set, but if I'm being completely honest -- like always -- I'm sure it went several extraneous directions.

The day isn't over. I still have things to do. I'm doing this [Twitter] and I'm as focused as a high def camera to get it done.

Then I have real work to do as well, which will keep me occupied through the course of the evening. The nap will pay for itself then!

Whatever give and take there is, I will have that thought up there somewhere of how my mind is SET. That discipline will be real.

What's this I see coming in view? Some unexpected challenge? I've already foreseen the unforeseen earlier and will not be sidelined.

Mental acuity -- I won't leave home without it.

Brain stem, don't fail me now!

My Mind Set -- How It's Going To Be

AFTERNOON:

Set your mind and take better control of your life.

If you want to drive east, make sure you looking east through the windshield.

What you want out of life, tell your mind that's the direction you're going, then do it.

Your mind doesn't have to wander. There's all kinds of discipline you can depend on.

You can foresee many things throughout the course of your day. A response can be planned in advance.

Foresee people's humor. Laugh and add to it. Foresee people's pain. Be concerned and encouraging. Foresee the unforeseen. Roll with it.

Foresee someone trying to get your attention. Give it to them in a complete, graceful way. Go beyond what they expect.

No one will know what's going on. To them the process will seem seamless. Why? Because you set your mind that it'd be that way!

There's an expression we use (in my family, anyway) when we're hungry: "I've got my mouth set for [fill in the blank.]"

When my mouth is set for something, it's my preference that's what I have. But if I don't get it, I foresee that too and roll with it.

When setting your mouth, you've also set your mind. So nothing is outside your grasp.

This is a day in which I'm not forgetting these principles, this discipline. My mind is set and that's how it's going to be.

My Mind Is Strictly Set

MORNING:

My mind is set today. The settings are in place. I expect good things as I do things in a good way.

My personal discipline today will be such that I will have very few regrets, perhaps none, when the day ends.

My mind is set in a strict way, but it's also set that the strictness will not be obvious to those I meet.

It is set to respond to every situation with calmness and perspective.

If my house is on fire, I will calmly explain to the fire department that I would appreciate a visit as soon as possible.

If I'm approached by an ax-wielding maniac in an alley, I will calmly use misdirection to divert his attention, then run like the devil.

Running like the devil may sound frantic and not calm, but it's always beneficial to set your mind in harmony with instinct. That IS calm.

When it comes to interpersonal relations, I will give everyone a kind look. I will silently be trying to understand them, their problems.

One thing I will know, their problem will probably come down to this -- Their minds aren't set. They didn't set them.

Like anyone, I'm looking for reasonable advantages for myself. I will not give up my advantages, but I won't exploit others to their harm.

One question for you today: Is YOUR mind set? Are you going to set it?

Set Your Mind And It's Done

This is definitely the way to live. Set your mind and it's done.

You can get on with your day quickly. The idea pops in your head, something affirmative, you say "Yes" and you're on your way.

There's way too many allowances for pit stops, laziness, mental junk food, and sass. This whole mental, physical, spiritual thing called me is designed to work in harmony with the constituent parts. To expect unhealthy relapses is no way to live.

I'm setting my mind today. I set it yesterday. It seems like it'd be great to be able to set it and not think about it. But what kind of fun would that be? If you consciously and purposefully set it, that's a good time to give yourself some positive strokes, backward and forward. You know, even Fixodent says Fixodent and forget it. But it's a daily process. You don't just put on an enormous layer the day you get your false teeth and forget it.

Let me see here. How am I going to set my mind? In a certain sense, I already have. Because I've already been up for about three hours doing things. But I can still set it for what looms ahead.

There may be chance meetings with people through the day. I'm setting my mind for a good, calm, friendly attitude toward them. I'm setting my mind to not show uncomfortable surprise or shock. In addition, I'm setting it to take everything in stride.

There may be opportunities for wit. This is a tricky subject. I'm setting my mind that it would be appropriate, in keeping with the tone of the moment. I will not thrust it upon anyone or unnecessarily prolong it. Both of these are a sure sign of an unset mind.

There will be completely unexpected things. Again, calmness is the default setting of choice.

Even now I'm imagining forward, thinking about what might happen. I'm going to recalibrate things here -- OK, done! -- not to get too specific in that. Because it's my intention to face what comes with freshness, genuine responses. For that, I will set my mind to automatically reset itself incrementally on the fly according to my general preferences, well known to it by experience. Anything major, check with Central Command. Anything typical but still needing a tweak, tweak it and we'll also evaluate it on the fly.

My personal theme today -- not an unusual one -- will be personal discipline. A mind that is free to engage in give and take but still tethered to good sense and reason.

Next, I'm setting my mind to smooth out any seams that might otherwise be visible to those I meet. This is a lot like the incremental resetting above. It will not appear that I am being calculating. Instinct is still my friend.

But I will be calculating to this extent: My attitudes and responses will be such that I will have few regrets. Anything that might otherwise get me down, I will have it so encompassed with mental forces, that I will come through in a cheerful way.

Lastly, for any mental alarms that may go off, right now I'm turning the volume off, setting it for vibrate only. So if you see a guy today who seems perplexed about something and his head is shaking like a hummingbird's wings, that'll be me.

The Old Grind Is History

AFTERNOON:

The Old Grind is history.

I went beyond and transcended the Old Grind today. I threw myself into my work and enjoyed it as much as I could. I kept reminding myself.

Like any other day, I started wearing down as the day went on. But it was still a concept in my mind, to treat my work as an opportunity.

I like concepts. The last few have been very helpful to me, including the Hedgerow of Warring Angels. I thought of it today, invoking it.

And Gigantic Strides. I was thinking if I get a whole list of these concepts, I'll indeed have to make a list, so I can look at it.

Maybe I can make my own deck of spirituality cards, like where a person will pull a Gigantic Strides card and accomplish something big.

Or a Hedgerow of Warring Angels card, then be surrounded and protected by the Hedgerow, clearing the way to fulfill your great destiny.

My mentality reaches for what comes next. I don't know what it is. But it's somewhere in the folds of that gigantic thing inside my head.

Now it's late. I've been up since 5 a.m. I need to do the dishes, clean the catbox, take the dog out, brush my teeth, and go to bed.

Even though I'm tired, do I consider doing all that the Old Grind? No. Thank God for my dog and cats and that I get to do the dishes.

I didn't really want to write anything else tonight. But I thought, "That's just the Old Grind talking." Write it! It's an opportunity!

Staring Down The Old Grind

AFTERNOON:

I've stared the Old Grind in the face and by gosh I think I won.

First one to look away is the loser. And the Old Grind couldn't take my intensity.

Thank goodness for a little discipline. Discipline, self expectations are all it really takes to overcome so many things.

Like the way we conceive of our work. Is it the Old Grind or is it an opportunity to excel and better yourself?

I definitely think having a more joyous, expectant attitude is the way to get ahead.

But to cringe and pout about having to put my nose to the grindstone -- the Old Grind -- that just makes me sick and resentful.

So overcome the Old Grind, the mental concept of your day being the Old Grind, and see everything become new!

I have lots of other tasks to do, chores around the place to keep me busy for most of the rest of the day. I'm loving it!

I've been getting a lot done. The morning definitely flew by. Time wasn't dragging a bit. In fact it went too fast.

Appreciate your work. Do it with happiness. You'll be happier!