Honored by Toastmasters!

Last week, I spent a delightful evening with a group of people from the Sharpstown Toastmasters Club.

I was privileged to receive an invitation to deliver a talk about the book, Give to Live; The Real Secret to Manifesting Life's Rewards. Of course, I was happy to accept.

Toastmasters Clubs are international with a diverse membership. I fully support any group of people who are dedicated to self-improvement--and they are!

Sharpstown Toastmasters Club mission statement is very powerful! It states that they "provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth".

I was genuinely impressed by the caliber of people in attendance and the quality of their meeting. Loving to talk about a few of my passions made my speech easy to deliver.

I explained how Give to Live was born into existence and the messages revealed within. Remember, Give to Live reveals that an open heart and a willingness to serve not only changes you, but also the planet.

It teaches perhaps newly for some and reinforces for others, the importance of giving their time, money and resources to a power higher than themselves. Readers also learn that once they start giving unconditionally, they'll manifest and receive personal rewards they couldn't fathom prior to giving.

Another passion and one of the themes in Give to Live is the idea that serving is the highest form of giving one can express. I use my involvement in medical mission work to illustrate this in the book and spoke of it at Toastmasters. As well as speaking about my friend, Rudy, who builds special ecological healthy stoves for the Nahuatl indigenous of Mexico.

Rudy taught me to speak a few Nahuatl words. One phrase I shared with the group was Amu Xi Maj Mahue--don't be afraid!

While we've all likely felt the joy and experienced the rewards of helping another human being, I'm also sure there were plenty of other times when we've all stopped ourselves from giving.

Giving money, sharing a talent, or personally serving someone. Because of finances, prejudices, lack of time or just plain fear.

We create a belief that we feel serves us. A glass ceiling, a threshold of giving that we are unwilling to pass through.

In doing so, our own growth is stifled.

So we must find a way to break through this in order to receive abundance in life.

Amu Xi Mah Mahue. Do not be afraid.

Push through--find ways to give, to serve and create change in this world.

It was great fun for me to deliver those messages to the Toastmasters club.

I was quite surprised when at the end of the evening, they honored me with the "best speaker of the night" award.

It was an exciting night!

See every life fulfilled!

Dr. Rick Barrett

P.S. Please continue to send the Give to Live message. Tell everyone you know to get their free e-book at www.givetolivebook.com or books can be purchased at amazon.com with 20% of the proceeds going to charity.

Two weeks ago, I sent a message about "The Prayer Card". I am so pleased to have received a plethora of responses. Even from people who disagreed with me. After all, voicing our opinions is how we learn to see life through another's eyes, foster understanding and learn to live in harmony.

The ability to safely share information, support, criticism and opinions is a beautiful thing. I know I have grown from this interaction and am grateful for it.

Thanks again!

My sincerest wishes for health, happiness, freedom, peace and success in everyone's lives!

Dr. Rick Barrett

P.S. Remember this old epitaph:
What I gave, I have;
What I spent, I had;
What I kept, I lost.

My Prayer Was Rejected…And I Was Shocked!

I was attending a book signing with a few other authors at the One Woman Business Conference held at the Omni Hotel in Houston, Texas when the strangest thing happened.

Many years ago, I created a postcard with a prayer I wrote and a photo I had taken of a beautiful waterfall—the same prayer that appears in my book, Healed by Morning.
I have thousands of these prayer postcards that I have given out since 2000.

They are in my office; we give them to patients, when I give a speech I hand them out. In other words, I am very liberal with them. While at the conference, I had them at my table and when I walked around the hotel, I gave them to everyone I came in contact with—hundreds of people!

I always asked, “May I give you a prayer?”

Everyone was always excited and usually said, “Oh, yes, I love prayers.”

Everyone but one! He was a porter that helped me transport my books to the table.
I said to him, “I’d like to give you a gift.” As I stretched out my hand towards him, I said, “This is a prayer that I wrote.”

Immediately, he literally backed up, shook his hand in a negative way as to stop and oppose the gesture. And what he said absolutely shocked me…

He said, “I don’t want the prayer, I’m Muslim." He then continued with, “I pray five times a day.”

As he was saying this, he was attempting to walk away.

Though I couldn’t believe my ears, I walked towards him stretching out my hand.
I said, “That’s wonderful, this prayer is not about any one religion”. “I think you’ll like it but if it doesn’t resonate with you, pass it on.”

I then also gave him the Affirmation of Service postcard and explained the Give to Live book principle and our intention of helping everyone in all countries, of every faith.

He took the cards and went on his way. What he did with them I don’t know. This was the first time over all the years of handing out thousands of cards, that I encountered this.

I live and work in a very diverse community. My patients are Christians (of all types of denominations), Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus. They are all loving, accepting good people who embrace their faiths, life and community.

I guess I was so shocked (even though he did accept the cards because I persevered), that I told several people about it that day.

Everyone was as amazed as I was and shared their thoughts on it with me. One person even said, “I guess the praying he does five times a day isn’t working!”

I suppose I have to agree.

For me, I’m honored and happy when someone gives me a prayer or says a prayer for me.
I want as much of this as I can get, from every source possible.

I wouldn’t tell someone, “Oh, don’t bother praying for me, you’re a Buddhist.”

How quickly this man reacted and seemed offended was, as I said—shocking. I don’t know what went through his mind or what life experiences he’s had to cause that reaction. My hope was that when he had a moment to think about it, and read the cards that he was enriched in some way.

And I hope that if they didn’t touch him, that he passed them on to another who might benefit.

Here is the Affirmation of Service and Prayer…

Enjoy, use them, and pass them on:

Affirmation of Service
I choose to carry out my day as if it is my last.
I will give freely and unconditionally that which I can.
I will provide service to one or more persons
With or without their knowledge.
Thought coupled with action equals change, therefore,
As I think and act,
I can and will create positive changes in my community and world.
I am grateful for the opportunity to serve humanity today.

Prayer
Lord God, you are my Creator. I love you. I am party of you,
Therefore I cannot fail! I cannot fail, because you cannot fail! I am capable of everything,
Ultimate health, happiness and success.
Because I am part of you and you are completely capable, every good wish I have, I can have,
Because you wish it for me.
I will not linger in darkness and doubt because the Spirit of Your Light illuminates my way!
You are in me and I am one with you,
Together we can accomplish miracles.

We must all find ways to serve one another—to love and be loved.
Serving You,
Dr. Rick Barrett

P.S. Two movies you might enjoy are Emmanuel’s Gift and Kundun. http://movies.tvguide.com/kundun/132586
Remember that giving begins with you! Go and serve someone today! It's a great way to "Give to Live"!

P.P.S. Please remember we still need your help sending the Give to Live message around the world. Would you help us? Simply tell everyone you know that they can get their freee e-book at www.givetolivebook.com Tell ministers to have their congregation download it. Tell teachers to have their students download it; tell hospitals to get it for their patients; have hotels put it in the nightstand; tell Oprah! Tell Diane Sawyer!
Finally, an easier to read printed copy of our book can be had simply going to http://www.lulu.com/content/5434310 or at Amazon.com

(20% of the proceeds are donated to charities such as Rudy building stoves for the Nahuatl Indigenous. Donations for Rudy can also be sent to Dr. Rick Barrett.)

A Lesson In Receiving

I just relearned a valuable lesson. One I've known and also teach. I talk about it, lecture on it, and have even written about it in Give to Live; The Real Secret to Manifesting Life's Rewards. Yet, I still struggle with it personally. What is it? One word--RECEIVING. Receiving what? All kinds of things. Compliments,gifts, and help to name but a few.

What prompted this confession?

Well, I was given a beautiful gift. The gift I am about to tell you about may seem huge to some and to others rather small.

But let me caution you. As I've learned, there are no small or insignificant gifts! A gift is a reward. It is born of love, an expression of love, and love is
purely of God. So in spiritual terms, no gift is small. I see them all as equal, all a divine blessing. A tiny morsel of bread though physically small,can be a life saving morsel and huge in the life of the person who needs it. And it is huge in the gift of love of the universe.

The gift I received didn't save my life, but it certainly rejuvenated and enriched it. So in a way, since it added to the quality of my life, it may have contributed to the ultimate saving of my life.

To be honest, at first I struggled to accept this gift. What was it?

A completely paid vacation to a fabulous resort on the Mayan Riviera including airfare, food, beverages, and private transportation!

It was given to my wife and I by Jay--a patient of mine who owns a travel agency. Why? Because he values the work we do in the office, our community, charitable work and our years of medical mission service. He simply wanted to say "thank you" and reward us.

What a beautiful, loving and generous gift. One that should very easily be accepted. You would think! But for me it tripped a lot of circuit breakers within. I actually struggled internally with this. My first comments to Jay were "no". "I can't accept this", "you didn't need to do this", "it's not necessary".

Wow!

Did you get all that? Those are terrible things to say out loud or in self mind talk. What kind of message am I sending to myself? Perhaps I am not worthy? What was I saying to Jay in rejecting his gift? How would it affect his self worth? What was I telling God, the universe, the Divine? I think I was shouting loudly--Don't bother ever sending good things my way because I'll just cross my arms, reject it and send it right back to you!!

Oh, no! That's exactly the opposite of what I want. Of course, I want as many blessings, abundance, gifts, rewards, love, etc. that God can send to me.

It's said--ask and you shall receive.

But then when it shows up, don't reject it, like I started to do! This is not good. How many times a day, a month, a year, do each of us do this? We reject the very thing we want because it makes us uncomfortable, or we perceive it comes from a source we didn't expect.

Now if I had won the trip in a contest that would have been easy to accept. But this was different.

So immediately I had to put the brakes on, backup, erase the negative thoughts and accept Jay's gift. Though as you can tell, I didn't exactly swallow it with ease.

As hard as it was, I graciously accepted. I needed to...

I needed to honor rather than minimize or invalidate Jay's generosity, kindness and love.

Also...and this is important; I needed to allow Jay to experience the gift of giving and thereby give him the opportunity to receive his own rewards for doing it. Essentially this was a gift back to him from me, and critical for his personal growth.

Also, I needed to accept his gift to promote my own growth.

And I needed to tell God..."Whatever you send my way, I lovingly accept. I am open to abundance of every kind and as much of it as you're willing to send from whatever the source."

As I said, I've found it's easier to be on the giving end than the receiving end. But I will continue to work through my unreasonable discomfort in this area, and confront this head on. The more gifts I willingly receive, the better able I am to grow and give to others.

So now to make it real...I am writing publicly for all to see.

That I am willingly, graciously, and cheerfully accepting any and all gifts.

(Don't thing it wasn't hard to write this...it was.)

Now I want you to confront your blocks to receiving and allow abundance to flow to you and through you.

Wishing you every abundance in this life and the next.

Yours In Service,
Dr. Rick Barrett

P.S. Check out an audio clip from Joe and I at:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/nevada45/rickandjoeinterview.mp3

P.P.S. If you need help with a trip, consider Jay! Check out his website at
www.grandtravelcruise.com