Empowered Wealth

Empowered Wealth Sustainable Prosperity

Clarity Experience

By Ron Nakamoto

The Clarity Experience is described in the book “The Brower Quadrant”. It’s a very simple exercise that guides the reader through a series of responses to questions about life and values. Just before the holidays, Empowered Wealth was privileged to conduct a live Clarity Experience for a small group of colleagues and prospective clients as a preview of the new seminars and products that we’ll be releasing in 2012. We were reminded of some of the reasons why the experiences we conduct for our clients and colleagues are so valuable:

1. Having a teacher or a coach a mentor accelerates progress;
2. Participating fully is the clearest path to learning;
3. Awareness is the first and necessary step to for any change to occur;
4. Action is usually the missing component for results;
5. Being accountable to someone else accelerates progress.

For 2012, we’re expanding and renaming this experience. It’ll become “The Gateway to Prosperity Experience” (or “Gateway Experience” for short). Watch this blog for more information.

For more information on the book The Brower Quadrant”, click here.

Empowered Wealth

Mindblowing Video Shows Future Possibilities

By Ron Nakamoto

When you watch this video from Corning, an innovator in the technology of glass, you’ll notice that the possibilities depicted expand the application of knowledge and learning. It’s technology at its best, generating tools that advance our concepts and our ideas.

Now instead of these wonderful images, juxtapose this powerful technology with images from the daily news: violence, terrorism, drugs, political and economic disruptions, etc. Imagine these tools applied to these concepts and ideas. The possibilities become more dark, less positive, don’t they.

Technology moves forward inexorably; embracing technology holds great potential for positive change in the world. But technology provides only tools; humans need to provide the Core values and the Leadership to apply these tools in ways that are positive and that lead to sustainable prosperity for individuals, families, and the world.

Empowered Wealth WACKY Wednesdays

The Similarity Between Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” and WACKY

By Ron Nakamoto (A follow up to the January 25th Post “A Secret to Abundance”)

Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” is one of the most insightful, thought-provoking books of our time. It tells his story of surviving the Holocaust and what he learned about the human condition as a result. Frankl discovered that those who survived the Nazi concentration camps were able to do so because they adopted an attitude of “tragic optimism”, that is, “an optimism in the face of tragedy”.

A common characteristic of the survivors was the ability to share, give to others:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Read More »

Empowered Wealth

A Secret to Abundance

by Ron Nakamoto

Viktor Frankl was a holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences and insights in one of the great books of the 20th century “Man’s Search for Meaning.” His observations about what sustained his fellow survivors while most perished have enlightened many philosophers, psychologists, and students of the mind and of the human condition. The ability to share and to consider others was one of Frankl’s key observations that he used to determine whether a fellow prisoner would continue to live or die. In this video, Lee Brower picks up on this idea and applies it to wealth and abundance.

If an individual isn’t sharing, isn’t giving but instead is closed and protecting or hording his or her wealth, then complacency and entitlement take hold. As he points out, some gifts can even be selfish and self-oriented if the gifts are made from an ego-driven frame of reference and not motivated by thoughts or feelings that are caring for others. Conversely, sharing and giving creates value and sustains life; it’s part of the secret to abundance and prosperity.

Sustainable Prosperity

Unsustainable Generosity—“The Big-Hearted Kind”

Is it better to give your children everything they ask for, or is it better to have them work to earn it? Dr. Seuss’ ”Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose” is a fun story to explore some ideas on this topic, generosity, and self-sacrifice. Thidwick is a sweet moose who just hates to say no to anyone. You could say his generosity extends far beyond his own prosperity. Parents, especially the “big-hearted kind” should teach and provide their children a strong foundation including education and work ethic. Showering them with all their wants and everything they ask for can be a sure path to disaster and loss.

Thidwick’s adventure takes place near the fictional Lake Winna-Bango, where a herd of moose line up to graze the moss along the northern shore. Along the way, a “Bingle Bug” notices the large antlers of Thidwick (the last moose in line) and asks if he can live in them since Thidwick is not using them. Thidwick doesn’t see the harm in letting a little bug live in his antlers and accepts. Word is immediately spread and more guests move in.

Before long, many more freeloading guests move into Thidwick’s antlers without his notice, seeking to take advantage of his free resource. Thidwick first becomes bothered when a “Zinn-a-zu bird” painfully yanks Thidwick’s hair right off his head to use to build a nest. The bird is unfazed by Thidwick’s concern, reassuring “You can always grow more!”

Empowered Wealth

A New Understanding of What It Means to Decide

by Ron Nakamoto

Ever wonder what’s going on in your mind when you procrastinate? In this video, Lee Brower delves into the nature of the word and concept “decide.” You’ll see that “deciding” means that you eliminate the alternatives…really “eliminate” the alternatives. How many of us don’t really “decide,” so we wallow in procrastination. Empowered Wealth integrates some of the best practices from the world’s leading productivity experts into coaching for successful, entrepreneurial families. Our vision is to help families “decide,” commit to growth, and achieve Sustainable Prosperity.

WACKY Wednesdays

Cancer Statistics

by Lori Brower

Originally aired on January 4^th, 2012 (CBS News)

We are making progress in the fight against cancer. The American Cancer
Society said Wednesday that death rates are going down. Between 2004 and 2008,
they dropped 1.8 percent each year for men and 1.6 percent for women. However,
CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports there has not been much
improvement for teens or young adults.

When Caroline Hale counsels young people with cancer at Vanderbilt
Children’s Hospital, she speaks from experience.

Ten years ago, at age 13, Hale complained of back pain. Doctors said it was
from her backpack, but she turned out to have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma wrapping
around her spine.

“They hit you with so much poisonous drugs,” she said, “so
many poisonous drugs, so much chemotherapy, that you just can’t help but feel
lifeless.”

gratitude

THREE AND A HALF DAYS

by Ron Nakamoto
We’ve thought and talked a lot about the positive aspects of gratitude, especially active or “Empowered” Gratitude, where we take appreciation and turn it into actions that add value and make the world a better place. There’s a darker side to gratitude and that’s ingratitude. In its most basic form, ingratitude can take the form of rudeness or arrogance. But it can go much deeper. This video explores ingratitude in a scathing, somewhat cynical review of the Occupy Wall Street movement.