Why Your Blog and Your Life Are Exactly How You Want Them

I’ve always wanted to be famous. I used to dream about my funeral where thousands of people would come out to pay tribute to me. But deep down inside, I knew that fame would not bring me happiness. And death would definitely not bring joy in my life.

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Monthly Peace Challenge: Peace at Home

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”~Dalai Lama

I would like to give my deepest gratitude to everyone involved with Bloggers for Peace. I don’t care if you post, read, tweet, re-tweet, or just smile. If you are here, it means that you care about helping others. It means that compassion, love, and empathy are a part of your lives. I honor you for everything that you do. I feel blessed to be a part of this community. I can feel your energy, and it is changing our world. Thank you so much.

To help inspire the Bloggers for Peace (B4Peace), we will have a Monthly Peace Challenge. To participate, tag your post with B4Peace and make sure you copy your URL to the Linkz collection. Anyone who completes all twelve Monthly Peace Challenges will receive a Free B4Peace T-shirt.

I QUIT…trying to go viral

To be honest, I started blogging 6 months ago because I wanted to go viral. One of the first blogs I read was by Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-hour Work Week. I had no idea what blogging was. But I knew authors needed a social media “platform” that they could “monetize.”

Every time an article came up on my twitter feed about increasing readership, I stopped what I was doing and clicked on it. I learned about catchy headlines, search engine optimization, the Art of Being Interesting, and optimal times to post for new hits. I spent almost as much time reading about getting hits than I did writing or researching the books I wanted to write.

I saw going viral as the golden ticket. All my worries would be over if I could just get one of my articles read by millions of fans. I envisioned book contracts, TEDTalks, and interviews with Oprah.

Monthly Peace Challenge: Giveaway!

With close to 130 Bloggers for Peace, the number of peace posts continues to expand. I, for one, can honestly say that this experience is changing my life. Reading multiple posts about peace every week from a variety of perspectives inspires me, guides me, and re-minds me to practice peace at all times. I am grateful to all of you for every contribution you make.

To help inspire the Bloggers for Peace (B4Peace), we will have a Monthly Peace Challenge. To participate, tag your post with B4Peace or leave a link to it in the comments below. Also, make sure you copy your URL to the Linkz collection. Anyone who completes all twelve Monthly Peace Challenges will receive a Free B4Peace T-shirt.

Monthly Peace Challenge: Marching towards Forgiveness

With over 110 Bloggers for Peace publishing posts for and about peace every month, I have no doubt that we are making a difference in the blogosphere and in the world. Every thought, every word, every action for peace brings peace. I don’t know when we will reach critical mass and tilt the scales towards peace, but I have no doubt that it is possible. Thank you to everyone who is participating in words and smiles to create a better world for our children.

To help inspire the Bloggers for Peace (B4Peace), we will have a Monthly Peace Challenge. To participate, tag your post with B4Peace or leave a link to it in the comments below. Anyone who completes all twelve Monthly Peace Challenges will receive a Free B4Peace T-shirt.

This week I’m going to ask you to leave your comfort zones for peace.

Practice Peace

My 5 year old son just started playing YMCA basketball. He is one of the younger players on the team and a bit intimidated. I almost let him quit. One day he asked me, “Daddy, are the games we play practice games?” I told him that every game he will EVER play is a practice game, unless he makes the pros like Jeremy Lin. But even professional games are practice games. Just because you play for money doesn’t make it any more substantial.

“I do not judge success based on championships; rather, I judge it on how close we came to realizing our potential.”–John Wooden

If you believe, like I do, that “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience,” then our whole human existence is a practice game. We are already Gods, Buddhas, and Peace; we just need to re-member ourselves to the Truth.

Everyday Thanksgiving–January 2013

“A thankful person is a thankful person under all circumstances.”–Baha’u’llah (1817-1892)

This is the monthly download of my daily gratitude practice–everyday I try to post five things I am grateful for. Gratitude continues to alter my life in so many ways. I don’t expect anyone to read this list, but I hope you discover the power of gratitude.

January 2013

Thank you for bubbles–cheap, but full of joy; the wonderful peace post by Grandmalin; living in a time of peace in America; all the food that was given to us over the holidays; the amazing edit Joanne Wadsworth did on my first chapter.

Thank you for my empathic wife; legos, especially Star Wars legos; Vietnamese hairdressers who know how to cut Asian hair; Anne Hathaway’s performance in Les Miserable; second chances.

Monthly Peace Challenge: Mad Men

In less than a month, Bloggers for Peace has grown into a movement of almost 100 bloggers. I’ve already been moved to tears a number of times by the powerful posts for peace. At this rate, we will have corporate sponsorship in no time, so we better be prepared.

To help inspire the Bloggers for Peace (B4Peace), we will have a Monthly Peace Challenge. To participate, tag your post with B4Peace or leave a link to it in the comments below. Anyone who completes all twelve Monthly Peace Challenges will receive a Free B4Peace T-shirt.

A Letter to My BBFs (Blogging Best Friends)

Dear Blogging Best Friends,

I don’t know much about you. For all I know you might have voted the exact opposite I did in November, or you might have been rooting for the American athletes to fail in the London Olympics.

You also don’t know me. For example, many of my blogging best friends are women who don’t know that being a Japanese American male, I am Patriarchy’s uber child. I have not always treated women the way they deserve to be treated. If you talked to my ex-girlfriends and even my wife, they would tell you that, at best, I am a work in progress. Although my life’s work centers around peace, I have not always been a peaceful person in thoughts, words, or actions.

The one thing I do know from being your blogging best friend is who we want to be, who we strive to be. I know what is in our souls trying to get out, even if our consciousness is not in accord with that spirit.

Biggest Hypocrite Blogger Award

I am such an ingrate. Even though I post five things to be grateful for each day, I still take things for granted. Case in point, blogger awards. I have been so busy with Bloggers for Peace that I have not reciprocated on no less than 10 blogger awards. Thanks to Rarasaur for hitting me in the head of how important blogger awards are. It’s hypocritical to try to recruit members of Bloggers for Peace while ignoring these special awards and the amazing bloggers who nominated everydaygurus (EG). I am going to adjust the rules, however, so I don’t bore you to death.