Daily Intent

Santa Barbara, CA
746%. 

The white chalk stood tall and proud on the blackboard as I entered Dr. Neal and Nicole Barry’s Chiropractic office.  Without a back story, the three digits followed by a symbol meant nothing.  They had no effect on emotion.  They propelled forward no extra brain activity.  The white was solely lines striking through darkness.

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Santa Barbara, CA
“Green”…

What emotion, idea, feeling, impression, and/or image does this word invoke in you? 

Do you think of nature, the “Green Movement”, a loved one’s eyes, a favorite color, a type of tea, or a green beer which you drank Wednesday in honor of the patron Saint of Drinking, O’Patty?

If you can see the image above, the Market Street Report’s header image, what effect does the green in the picture have on your eye?  Does it stand out?  Blend in?  Or accentuate?  Does it offer a feeling of nature into the city scape?

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Santa Barbara, CA

Have you ever witnessed an upset?  Watched as the heavily favored team lackadaisically meandered through a game, while the “wunderdogs” played hard on every play, eventually winning enough points, having enough plays fall in their favor to win the game?

If you were a fan of the favorites, you walked away saddened, perplexed, and maybe even angry.  Your team was said to be the “expert” heading into this match.  They were the Goliath.  They had more experience.  They were bigger.  They were taller.  They were even said to be smarter than their opponent.  But something went terribly wrong.  There was a “failure of the expert”.

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Santa Barbara, CA
While saving the nation’s budget deficit in super hero personal savings plan fashion is noble and civic, as mentioned in last week’s MSR, it is secondary to the power of the affects on you, the individual.

Savings gives you the power to fly figuratively.  Savings awards you the power to see things differently, choose things differently, arrive places sooner, support your health, and fight through tough storms.  Savings offers you freedom.

Consider no savings as Kryptonite.  It is debilitating.  Without savings you are stagnate.  You are unable to make decisions based on a longer-term, most fulfilling future.  You are extremely vulnerable to change.

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Santa Barbara, CA
As I mentioned last week, I believe it our democratic duty to manage our own finances and well being.  This in turn will compound out into the governmental sphere, ultimately impacting our American budget deficit.   Before we set out on this fearless journey of saving our savings, we must reflect with others and draw up a path that will offer the best chance of success.  Last week, you, the reader, wrote in with philosophies, experiences, emotions, tools, and creative ways in which to save money.  Below is part one of two in our communal savings reflection.  May it inspire your creative thought and bolden your pocketbook.

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Santa Barbara, CA
Today, President Obama announced the founding of a new “Budget Commission”.  The commission’s sole focus will be to attack the budget deficit.  The goal: a $1 Trillion improvement in the next decade. The commissions job, like many others, will be to put themselves out of business.

In discussions over the budget deficit, people often point the finger at “horribly greedy bureaucrats”.   “A party of a few are ruining our nation.”  “Warmongers”.  “Our children will suffer.”  “Inflation is imminent.”  “The day of America’s judgment is close at hand.”  Such ideas will forever be quibbled over in debates.

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Santa Barbara, CA
We’re just over a week away from the day of love.

His shoes shined.
Her hair furled.
His pants pressed.
Her lashes curled.
His shirt clean.
Her lips glean.
His face shaven.
Her dress curve’n.
The roses bundled.
The reservations set.
A night intended to never forget.

Whether you appreciate this Hallmark holiday or do everything to avoid red February 14th, it is a day from which we can all learn.

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Santa Barbara, CA
Would you believe the human body is capable of 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days if Dean Karnazes hadn’t done it?  How about holding one’s breath under water for over 17 minutes, were David Blaine not to have done it on the Oprah Winfrey Show?  Or a “lunge mile” can be completed in less than 30 minutes?  What about a hyperactive dyslexix founding, leading and growing a business called Kinkos to a worth of over $1Bn?

You see, we’re each far more capable than we give ourselves credit.

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Santa Barbara, CA
This coming week, Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinkos, will be speaking to a group of ten of us.  One of the messages he will bring to the table is “delegation”.  He is living representation of how one man delegated his way to founding and leading a multiple billion dollar company.  He is a “hyperactive dyslexic”.  Given this fact, he learned early on that there were certain things he either couldn’t do, didn’t like to do, or was terrible at doing.  The understanding of self enable him the gift of asking for help.  He claims to never be afraid of asking.

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Santa Barbara, CA
“What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start.”
T.S. Eliot
“Little Gidding,” from Four Quartets

2010.  “Twenty-ten”!  We are living in the future.  3-D movies.  Soon to be 3-D TVs.  Spacecrafts that can carry pedestrians.  Video cameras that can recognize movements and hand gestures, permitting the user to compete in video games, snap pictures, or image and relocate them onto computers.  Book readers that can hold 1500 books in the palm of your hand.  Camera cell phones that can recognize your location and its historical significance.   It is exciting.  If all used correctly, our life will be more interactive and expansive. 

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