September 1, 2008


HAPPY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO EMOTIONAL MONEY!

Thank you so much to my readers, investors, customers and friends. I must send out a special thank you to Curtis for our wonderful weekly teleconference calls that helps to keep the vision specific and clear, Terry for the many monetary contributions and support, Rebecca and Julia for being such dear friends, Richard for being a devout reader and contributor, my many new perfect customers who have been so courageous in committing to living their lives inspired, fulfilled and free, and of course to my mommy for always, always, always BEING and allowing me to be me. Thank you Peter for arriving right on time to celebrate with this perfect anniversary gift.


INTERVIEW: PETER GALES, THE PRACTICE OF YOUR LIFE

Peter: Everybody wants a magic bullet. Win the lottery, read the book, attend a seminar, meet that man or woman and get married and ride out into the sunset, and live happily ever after. Life just doesn't work this way. It's like saying I'll go to the gym for one week and I'll have a great body for the rest of my life. To be really committed to anything it has to be the point of your lifestyle forever.

(Peter is originally from Trinidad. He studied in Toronto, Canada and New York, and has lived in the United States, Netherlands, and London. He's half Dutch and 3/8 Chinese, and 1/8th African. At a recent comedy show he was hit on as "the Asian guy," which was interesting for him as he never looked Asian growing up. A lover of Zouk music and an excellent dancer, he is an expert on the different Caribbean styles of music, educating my friends and I at a party we attended on the origins of where each song that played was from. He could tell songs from from Barbados, Trinidad, the French Antilles or Africa. Whether Zouk versus ZoukLove, Salsa or Soca. His diverse experiences with different countries, ethnicities, religions, and cultures has led him to develop The Practice of Your Life. (www.thepracticeofyourlife.com)

Peter: The medical profession studies breakdowns in the body . Law studies the breakdowns in relationships. A practice has a focus and an intent. The promise of the practice of medicine is to heal your body, and the promise of law is to protect you from broken commitments. The study of a practice occurs through the use of a network of people, developing technologies and a use of standard practices or processes. The main requirement of the concept of a practice is that it is clear what you want it to be about. That is clear to us when we think about medicine or law but in life most people don't think about what they want their life to be about until there is a breakdown. In the area of health, your body, some people have to only have minor breakdowns while others have to almost die, befor they start to take care. In any practice you invent for taking care of your body for example, you must go to the gym, or exercise, and you must do that as part of a routine that you develop and keep at it throughout your life. Over time as your body gets used to it, you then have to adjust and reinvent the practice, change/update the routine. The same is true for the other areas of our lives, like mind, spirituality, wealth or relationships. Every few years and for some more often than that our needs and desires evolve and change. Like working out our bodies, we must update the routines and practices of our lives. And that’s a never ending process.

Samarra: Why do you think we resist updating the routine?

Peter: I believe that what has kept us unaware of the need to bring intention to our lives is that our expectations are that there are only supposed to be highs without lows. But we can't have highs without lows. We're also taught that when we fail that it's bad. If a person has a set-back they bring all these stories that their failure means something about them. The failure becomes a life sentence. We resist changing the routine because we are focused on our fear of failing instead of understanding that failure is a teacher. Anyone successful, when you learn their story, it's not that they never failed it's only that they never gave up. They learned from their mistakes and eventually they succeeded. When you fail or make a mistake, there is nothing wrong with you.

Samarra: So how do you define what you call the practice of life?

Peter: Consciously engaging with the pursuit of what you say you want out of life. Bringing constant attention to what it is you say you want. I still don't know how exactly this is all going to turn out. I've put everything at risk but I feel strongly at peace. I feel like my soul is calling and I'm walking my own talk. I'm still at "sea", I haven't landed yet.

Samarra: You seem quite calm at sea. It usually makes people very uncomfortable to not have the answers all figured out, how are you able to be at such peace?

Peter: (He chuckles) That is a good question. I have a sense deep inside that I've finally discovered what I'm supposed to be doing. I've had a great life, great parents. I had it easy. I went along with cultural convention. I was a good student. I found it easy to pass exams. To my detriment, I never learned for education, I learned to pass exams. I could retain the information for an exam but I had no idea or training on how to apply it to life.

Samarra: Interesting. And now you do. What was the transition that caused you to want to help others be able to apply what they learn to their lives.

Peter: For many years, I was very much a part of the corporate world. I worked for a good company but I always felt, there's something else. The company that I worked for was based in Stanford, Connecticut. I was offered the opportunity to transfer to the Netherlands. I didn't have a family so it was pretty easy for me to do and I felt that it was important for my growth. At that time it was the worst professional experience of my life. It was a black period that lasted for 2 years. It was a time of anguish and suffering. It was my greatest time of self doubt.

Samarra: What happened?

Peter: My mother always taught me at a very young age to take responsibility. I was able to look at where I was not up to the task. Many years after this dark time, and for completely unrelated reasons I left the company. My first instinct was to jump back in to the corporate structure that I knew, but once I got in, I knew it wasn’t for me, Now with no structure around me I was forced to think about ideas and things that I could do. I realized that within a group, corporate or not, I was like the grease in the engine. People would always come to me. I was always good at speaking, all Trini's like to entertain and be in front of people, (we laugh) but I never cultivated it. I'm only doing now what I've always done without the parts that made me suffer. I plan on developing my ideas around The Practice of Your Life through speaking, writing and using technology to connect people worldwide in The Practice Of Your Life. As Adre Gide says, "one does not discover new lands without committing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Now it doesn't mean that I never get scared or afraid, for instance of my funds running out, but I also know that being afraid is just apart of the game.

Samarra: From your travel experiences which country and/or experience has greatly impacted your views regarding life.

Peter: If the Netherlands weren't so wet and gray I could have lived there. The Dutch philosophy is really live and let live. There were many people of different colors and it was a sense of everybody was everybody. There is a listening of "the other side" but they don't live from it like we do here in the US. Even if they don't like it they allow it. The only thing they don't tolerate is intolerance. They could teach the world a lot. In regards to religion I went from being a Roman Catholic to being an atheist. Then I realized that it was as arrogant for me to say that there is not as it is to say that there is. Then I became agnostic, and now I’m very spiritual. I've come to a certain peace with the unknown.

Samarra: Quite an incredible journey.

Peter: My ultimate goal would be fulfilled if I can make a difference in having people see and seek the value in different perspectives, religions and difficult cultures. If I can make a difference there I could say that I did a lot.

Samarra: And to balance the seriousness of your mission and work in life, what do you do for fun?

Peter: Liming. (Trinidian partying) Although, I can't say that I've reached the level of the professional limer yet. We trini's take our liming quite seriously.

Samarra: (Laughing) Thank you so much. I look forward to the release of your book The Practice of Your Life in June of 2009. Any last words for the Emotional Money readers on this two year anniversary of exploring our emotions, our money, relationships and our lives.

Peter: Listen and observe from here (he touches his stomach). That's how you find out where you are!


Thank you Peter. Happy Labor Day Everyone. Thank you for sharing this 2 year journey. Here’s to many more years of laughter, insights, truth’s and to the release of our sadness and tears.

God Bless those affected by Hurricane Gustav.



SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENT
Live interview on www.GbnTalkRadio.com on Tuesday, September 16th from 8:30pm-9:30pm entitled “Bringing Your Family Back To The Table” featuring me and Lisa Patterson in Atlanta from Creative Menus. Be sure to tune in.



UPCOMING EVENTS:
Turn On To Life with Curtis G. Schmitt
Integrity Days:
September 2, 2008 (Tuesday), 12 PM (noon) ET
September 5, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET

To register for one of them (and get on the schedule announcement list):

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity.html#register

Teleclass:

Productive Planning--From Stress to Success
Learn a 6-step planning process that will make you an expert at completing your top priorities...no matter what else is thrown at you during your day. Visit http://www.turnontolife.com/teleclass/



Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org



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Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com. Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues please post and join in the conversation. To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line "unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra Am Management."

Copyright 2008