Heroes, Mentors, and Friends: Learning from Our Spiritual Guides

Heroes, 

 Mentors, 

and Friends

Learning from Our Spiritual Guides

John Dowd Jr.

Copyright © 2012 by John Dowd Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5515-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5514-0 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5516-4 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012912487

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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Balboa Press rev. date: 08/10/12

Contents

Heroes

Mentors

Friends

Courage, Little Partner

A Close Shave

Inside Me/Outside Me

Ask and It Shall Be Given

God Wants to Have a Word with You

Removing the Barrier

True Security

The Awakening

Because of Thoreau

Vertical Thinking

The Power of the Word

You Show ’em, Boy!

Giving

God, Let Me

Forgiveness

To John Dowd Sr.

To my father, the toughest and yet gentlest man I’ve ever known. Thank you, Dad, for being my hero, mentor, and friend.

This book is symbolic of the appreciation and gratitude I have for the heroes, mentors and friends in my life. My beloved children, Jordan and Matthew, are truly my heroes. My family—Mom, Dad, Rich, Paul, and Leslie—has applauded my highs and carried me through my lows. My editor, writing teacher, and mentor, Kristin Cooley, was brought to me through a God-inspired, synchronistic Sunday breakfast in Concord, Massachusetts. To my friend, Ed McMann: may our Friday lunches live on! To my friend and success mentor Todd Patkin, thanks for your amazing inspiration. To my radio heroes, Rick Dees, Guy Zapoleon, Tim Montgomery, Jeremy Savage, Mike Waite, Brad Pierce, and Heidi: thanks for always believing in me. And to the staff at Helen’s in Concord, where much of my inspiration took place: Paul, Nancy, Sue, and Sandy, thank you for teaching me that life can be delicious!

Preface

Welcome, and thank you for making my vision come to life. My hope is that thoughts from this book will stay with you forever. The theme of this book is our ability to visualize our thoughts and manifest them into reality by connecting to our truest self. It is also about celebrating the people who have changed our lives: our heroes, mentors, and friends. As we travel along life’s many paths, we encounter spiritual guides in many guises—they can be relatives, friends, or even complete strangers. Our guides encourage, direct, and protect us, helping us to evolve into our higher selves. This is a lifelong journey. In one sense, we are all spiritual time travelers. Come with me as I explore this realm.

Someday, I might evolve into a spiritual leader, but what I am right now is a radio guy—a DJ, a program director, manager, promo writer/director, and voice-over announcer. Being a radio guy has enabled me to interact with hundreds of wonderfully talented people and thousands of wonderful radio listeners for almost forty-five years.

One thing I do know about myself is that the media business was my first love. During the competitive days of running major market stations, while I tried to beat them in the ratings, I secretly respected and admired my great competitors. I love all of the great radio managers, program directors, music directors, image directors, and air talent, working or not working. I am thankful for the great teachers who hired me and fired me because of the valuable lessons that ensued. I love radio consultants, present and past. I love the writers and owners of all of the great trade websites and magazines. I love the research companies and the brilliant people who own them. The thought of cracking the microphone for an on-air shift gets my juices going. Creating or voicing a promo, preparing music rotations, or strategizing for a quarterly promotion, and the relentless work and preparation it takes to create a format and launch a new station, still bring out the little kid in me. It is the only job I have ever had or ever wanted.

Following this life path, when focusing in the moment, I was truly myself and truly inspired. When we are truly ourselves, we are one with God, the Source, Nature, or whatever we wish to call it.

This is the reason I am writing this book. I want to remind myself—and you—that we, through faith and belief in ourselves, can have and achieve anything we want and can become the people we were truly meant to be. That is our gift and promise from God, our Source.

To access the grace and power of our Source, we can follow the teachings of many great religious and spiritual traditions. One of my favorites is the following.

As Moses prepared to lead his people out of Israel, Moses asked the name of God. God, manifesting himself as a human voice, said, I AM that I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’

When I think of God, it’s easy to think of this:

I AM

Inspiration Abundance Motivation

I AM is the name of God, the name of our Source. It’s a loving Source of all things around us, including us. It’s the same Source that inspires us, provides an abundant world for us, and motivates us to expand.

My message in this book is that the closer we come to our Source or God, the happier we will become. By being in spirit, the things we need to fulfill our true God-given destiny will manifest in our lives, no matter what they are. It may be peace or a perfect relationship, or release from an addiction. What I seem to be discovering is that peace, happiness, and all good things can be acquired by connecting to all those things around us that embody God, our Source.

Over the last fifteen years I’ve studied all of the great modern-day and past teachers of spiritual thinking. To me, Dr. Wayne Dyer is a modern-day prophet, and I follow his teachings daily, as you will see. Over the years, I have rediscovered great teachers such as Jesus, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, and in more modern times, Dr. Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Louise Hay, Neale Donald Walsch, Ram Dass, Esther and Jerry Hicks, Gary Zukav, and David R. Hawkins. Studying these amazing people has helped me understand what miraculous creations we are and has helped me to feel closer to God and to become in spirit.

We are about to enter a period that will bring miraculous growth. We all feel it. We all know that a change is coming in the way we live. Change isn’t bad; it’s just a change. We can fear it or embrace it. If we embrace it, we can be a part of this beautiful shift to a higher level of consciousness.

Each chapter in this book tells how a hero, mentor, or friend has helped to change my life. In these stories I share how my belief in the Source has attracted to me the people or circumstances necessary to manifest what I truly desired, or directed and carried me when I felt lost. I hope you’ll take a leap of faith with me and be as inspired as I was. This book is a tribute to all heroes, mentors, and friends who have changed our lives forever. Thank you for reading.

Introduction

Trusting Our Spiritual Guides

The year is 1975. An unknown twenty-seven-year-old director is millions over budget while making his first big-screen movie, and his dream of shooting his film on the open sea has gone terribly wrong. The star of the film is a twenty-five-foot shark—not a real shark, but a mechanical monster, run by air-pressured pipes and hoses operated by levers on a floating barge somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This barge lies adjacent to a floating Hollywood set, an old derelict fishing vessel named Orca. Using the so-called magic of Hollywood, the film’s effects team had created a mechanical shark because real sharks could not be trained to obey orders on command.

Unfortunately, due to the corrosive effects of salt water, and despite the efforts of Hollywood’s finest special effects experts, nature prevailed over man and the mechanical shark never worked. The star of the film was a total disaster. Every day of filming brought new mechanical problems, putting the shooting schedule months behind. This wet-behind-the-ears director’s first film, not to mention his career, was destined to become shark bait.

However, this naïve, overwhelmed director kept to his vision and tapped into his gut instinct. To save the film, he combined what he did have: limited useable shark footage, an amazing soundtrack, and a thrill-seeking movie audience’s giant imagination. This young director’s mentor, Sid Sheinberg, the head of the MCA/Universal movie company, kept his young protégé in place through the film’s completion, as he saw worth and greatness in him that he had not seen in other young directors.

Sheinberg’s instinct paid off. Jaws became one of the highest-grossing pictures of the last three decades of the twentieth century, as did E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, all directed by this once young and naive director, Steven Spielberg. Can we even imagine never having seen Jaws, ET, or Jurassic Park? Not to mention Spielberg’s later, more mature work, Schindler’s List, which won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director. The film airs every year on Israel Public Television on Holocaust Memorial Day, unedited, uncensored, and without commercial interruption. Its message of how one soul can save many through faith, courage, and ingenuity and despite seemingly overwhelming odds has inspired people around the world.

Author Henry David Thoreau’s mentor was Ralph Waldo Emerson. In her twenties, Oprah Winfrey met her mentor, the author Maya Angelou, who is now her lifelong mother-sister-friend. Star Wars creator George Lucas was inspired by Joseph Campbell, the author of Hero of a Thousand Faces. Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey was the inspiration for Star Wars: Episode IV, V, and VI. Another entertainer, the late-night host David Letterman, had a dream to become the next Johnny Carson, his mentor. In all of these instances, inspiration provided by a mentor preceded the manifestation of success.

The heroes, mentors, and friends in our lives can be viewed as angels sent to earth in human form. Put here by a higher power, they lead us, protect us, teach us, and in some cases, nourish us spiritually. I believe these important beings make a difference in our lives every single day. Even Steven Spielberg himself said that "divine providence is what saved Jaws."

We miraculously encounter these incredible people seemingly when we need them most. It seems almost beyond coincidence how our paths cross. These angels somehow create miracles for us, or even just one miracle, changing our lives forever. These are the people who somehow come up with a solution to a massive problem just when it is needed most. They are there for us at every turn, big or small. Also, at times, just when we think we are only on the receiving end, we become angels to others, helping them when they need it most. Imagine that. You too are an angel, guided by an invisible power to help others. All of us have inherent in our natures the desire to give as well as receive. To give back to someone who has helped us may be the best gift of all. After all, isn’t it better to give than to receive? Is there a better feeling than returning the gift of love to someone important to you?

Our heroes inspire us to go beyond what we think we can do. They can be sports heroes or heroes of the arts, science, business, or medicine. They can be relatives, friends, acquaintances, or even strangers.

Our mentors, through experience, are the angels that teach us and help us stay grounded and on the right track. Our mentors are heroes who interact with us. They are angels who give us feedback, who challenge us or allow us to teach them!

Our friends are the angels who encourage us. Our friends applaud us on our accomplishments, big or small. Or they just listen with an empathetic and loving ear when we need it most. Our friends help pick us up when we fall, no matter how often.

Heroes, Mentors, and Friends is a collection of stories about positive relationships and positive thinking resulting in positive outcomes.

Who are the angels in your life? How have they shaped who you are? Whose life will you change in a positive way today? To whom will you be a hero, mentor, or friend?

Heroes

Ironic that in order