Tag Archives: Understanding

Super Hilton

August 30, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

Yesterday I had one of the most interesting visitors I ever experienced. It was from my 10-year-old self and it was eye opening to remember how great that person was and even better to know that all of the great things about him

Super Hilton at a summer camp in the Maine, 1977. (back row 8th from left and right, dead middle)

are still there inside of me now 40 years later.

Today we live in a time where every moment is captured in pictures and posted on social media. It is difficult to fathom that events happened in our past which were never caught on camera and only exist today in our memories and thoughts. Over the years those thoughts get lost, buried underneath the avalanche of experiences we have year after year. Positive and negative they work to change us. I was a kid with hope and a kid who loved life and knew what a good person I had the potential to be. And I lived it every day. I enjoyed people and the new experiences that every day brought with it.

Over the years those things that made us get lost, buried underneath the avalanche of experiences we have year after year. Positive and negative they work to change us. I was a kid with hope and a kid who loved life and knew what a good person I had the potential to be. And I lived it every day. I enjoyed people and the new experiences that every day brought with it. At this camp, we did the usual stuff, archery, swimming, arts, and crafts, and in this case bible and Jesus stuff.

Here are a few of the lessons that he had me remember today.

Seek Your Joy

Enjoy each day………….. Or we should experience joy in each day, it is there for you. No matter what is happening there are things to be joyful about and allow yourself to embrace life. Joy is in us all and there is an opportunity in every day to feel it through the things we do.

Occasionally, we look at the things we like to do and worry about what others think. That will rob from your joy. If you are functioning from the view of your true self, and nobody else is being harmed then don’t waste energy worrying about others judgments. It is none of your business and really of no consequence, what is the joy that you get from what you are doing. That is all that counts.

Be Yourself

Each of us is unique and that is what makes us great and identifies us as the one of a kind human beings that we are. Don’t apologize for it and don’t ask anyone else to be different than they are. All of us have a light in us and when it shines, so do we. Life has a tendency to cover the light with the shade of experience or the fear of not being accepted.

Let your light shine and those who appreciate it are welcome to visit and those who are negative toward it or you are unimportant and clearly, need to work on themselves. Let them do that someplace else.

Understand and Support Others

All people have their struggles and challenges. The experiences each of us have leave wounds and scars and fear of the pain they cause lead to behavior that is reactionary, mean and sometimes hurtful. Don’t judge others too harshly because under that behavior is a light that is uniquely theirs and is probably seeking someone to recognize it, accept it and love it for the beauty that it provides. Allow them the chance to shine when you can. Some people are jealous of others talents and abilities. Don’t be one of these people. There is more than enough darkness in the world and it needs light. The more people who are living up to their true selves the brighter and more exciting the world will be.

Just because you are kind doesn’t mean that you are weak. Never let other people dim your light because of jealousy, envy or because they don’t appreciate you. Not everyone is going to like you and that is their problem, not yours.

Super Hilton

There is no doubt that as a 10-year old, I had a vivid imagination and really had a lot of confidence in what I could do in life. On the back of that picture, all of the kids in the cabin signed their names. I signed mine as “Super Hilton”. Since I just started to master writing in cursive, it was written in perfect 5th-grade cursive writing. There was a confidence in that name I lost in life. 10 year old me has been living with me for the past 40 years and he has made many appearances, but only for a brief moment and not for nearly long enough.

It is my goal to bring more of Super Hilton into my life each and every day. Being more confident in who I am and what makes me happy. How to treat others and what behavior I accept are all the things this visit from the past reminded me. I believe each of us has the ability to be great, and I feel sorry for all of those who have forgotten or don’t believe this about themselves.

In the words of Super Hilton, “I am the man”.

Life Lessons

What Matters Most

July 26, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

When you are 80 years old, what will matter to you the most?

Life once looked like a straight road. A path to a predetermined end that was so simple to follow that it would be like playing a board game.

Put your marker at the start, take your turn, roll the dice and see if you can get to the finish before anybody else with more stuff than you need. Life is not playing out that way for me, does it for anybody?

I know enough to know, that I do not know that I don’t know anything about what life might be like in a year from now, let alone in thirty-one years from now.

I can only take a blind guess at what I hope will matter to me if I am fortunate enough to join the ranks of the octogenarians.

I Will Have to Move It, Move It

I am going to be happy that I have my physical freedom. At 80, the machinery will be a bit worn out but it will all still work to propel me to whatever task I set before me.

Even though it takes a bit longer to get where I am going, I will still get there. There will be some aches and pains, even the best antique vehicle needs a bit of tender loving care, but that will not stop me.

It will matter to me that I am still an active participant in life, meeting with people and sharing stories, and still contributing to the lives of others around the world.

Being active is not the most important thing in life, but I think it is one of the things that allows me to be a participant rather than just an observer of life.

Still Writing after all These Years

Writing will still matter and still be a significant part of my life. I imagine there will be a bit more of an urgency to get all of my thoughts collected for posterity’s sake before the clock runs out. I am not sure what I will be writing about then because really I am not

Who knows what types of machines the writing will be done but I will be doing it!

sure what I will write about today until I do it, yet it does get done. There are an infinite number of thoughts, topics and interesting tidbits that need to be explored, discussed and thought about. Do my thoughts really matter?

They do to me and that is all that really counts. By the time I am 80 there will be so many different thoughts that I have recorded that I may have forgotten all of them.

I know this will happen because it already does. Writing will definitely still be important to me.

Sit a Spell, Tell Me About It

The way that we interact with each other is going to be more important to me when I am 80 than it is today. I know it will matter to me because so many people have already made an impact on my life, some will never know the permanent marks they left on my heart, mind, and soul.

Yet those marks will be there none the less and I do not think that the next thirty years are going to be filled with any less interaction, in fact, I am seeking much, much more. Relationships of a personal nature are the way that we connect directly with other people and share our thoughts and accept the thoughts of others.

It may be the most important thing or just one of several, but to share what you know, think and feel with others and to be well received is a great gift. It may even fool you into thinking that you know something about life. I am sure that life will still have a twisted sense of humor when I am 80 as it did when I was 40 or 30 or 10.

The World Will Matter Then As It Does Now

Even if I make it to the ripe old age of 80, I think the thing that will matter to me most is what I can contribute to the happiness of others.

(A little poem I like, What Will Matter by Micheal Josephson)

Can I help someone through a difficult moment by letting them know that no matter how dark the sky is and how the storm howls there will be an ending to the storm and the sun will come out again?

No bad time lasts forever, although that is little consolation for the people going through them. Eventually, circumstances change as they must and all things even tough times come to their inevitable conclusion. Leaving behind a greater inner strength, a stronger character and a human being with more depth and understanding.

The hope that all pain and despair can have an ending eventually is a message that I not only want to share but feel compelled to print. Almost everything that I write is around this message, mostly subconsciously, but I have seen the dark, dark night and had no light to mark the dawn. It will mean the most to me to mark the dawn for all those who are looking for a sign of hope. You matter now and you will matter then. We are all connected after all and you are only as alone and isolated as you choose to be.

There is an understanding that we see in aging for many people that there is a gentle failing of the power of youth, that fades over time, and the physical promise of a young person is slowly but inevitably replaced with a spiritual understanding about life and its fragility.

When I am 80 I imagine I will understand this dance, look back and see the errors of my ways and see the foolishness involved in getting upset about it all when all things were working as they should or could.

When you are 80-years-old, what will matter to you the most?

I’m not tryin’ to cause no big sensation, just talkin’ bout my generation!! Even at 80!!

Growing Old Gracefully
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Christie Brinkley and John Mellencamp: It’s Official, They’re Dating
Looking for some inspiration… living and looking healthy.
How to Age Gracefully. {Funny Video}
Don’t Age Gracefully. Age Fabulously
With New Generation Of Chemical Peels Signs Of Ageing Can Be Effectively Treated!
Erica Jong’s ‘Fear of Dying:’ life crisis, late middle-age version

Life

Lessons Learned From Camp Caribou, Part 1

July 24, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

caribou staff photo 93 — A staff photo from one of the years I worked there, I think 93. Big Bill in the middle, our fearless leader.

There are places you experience in your life which leave an indelible mark etched on your soul. You may even know it at the time but I am not sure you can appreciate it until years later. When I was in college, I had the great privilege to work for four summers at a summer camp in Central Maine called Camp Caribou. To describe the whole experience would take a book, but suffice it to say I learned many lessons of life there I still think of today. Bill and Martha Lerman were the owners and operators of the camp and they were the major lesson teachers there. I am sure that thousands of young people have benefitted more than I have from their kindness, honesty, and consistency, but none appreciate it more. These are a few of the lessons I learned at Camp Caribou in Winslow, Maine.

First, to set the scene, Camp Caribou is located on a peninsula on Pattie’s Pond. To access the camp you have to travel down a half mile long dirt road. I remember the first time I drove down it, not really knowing what to expect, a little fear and excitement mixed together. What story would this road reveal? I am sure that every kid of all ages felt something similar the first time they traveled that road. It is windy, and people honked as they got to some curves to alert anyone coming the other way. And then suddenly out of the woods, it opens up and brings you into the middle of the camp. A playground of fun, with all kinds of activities kids, love. It was enchanting and my education was just beginning.

Leadership Bill Lerman Style

Leadership is a skill some come by naturally, and others develop through experience. I know that I learned how to be a good leader from Bill Lerman. It is a story I tell often about digging a ditch. If you want to get five people to dig a ditch, do it quickly and enthusiastically, you get in the ditch with them and work like hell for about 5 minutes. All the others will fall in line and dig like hell too. Then you can back away and let them finish because the momentum is already set. I was fortunate enough to observe Bill do this with me as one of the workers, and to later be able to lead others to the same ditch digging task. (different ditch) Lead by example, and never ask anyone else to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. That lesson has proven to transcend all of the many careers I have participated in over the years. I am continually grateful for the lessons Bill taught me. It has proven invaluable.

That is just one of many things that Bill taught. He probably doesn’t even know that he does it. He has a very unique voice and style of speaking so, his stories resonate with you and I do believe I developed a pretty good imitation of the man. Pre-camp, before the kids came was a lot of work, getting everything ready for the kid’s arrival and training for the staff. All camps I am sure have some form of this, but with Bill, it was a one of a kind show. Have a look at the video and listen to him talk.

Kindness Martha Lerman Style

One of the lasting memories I carry from my Camp Caribou days is the kindness that Martha Lerman always brought to everyone. And I mean every one. It didn’t matter if you were a camper or a counselor, she would find a way to make sure you felt like you belonged and were important to what was going on. It could be taking the whole staff out to a movie during pre-camp when everyone had been working hard. Or making sure there was some kind of “treat” for the staff during staff

I am in this picture somewhere, but honestly have no idea where. My first year at camp.

meetings. When I was in that first year of being a counselor, Martha often checked to make sure that I was doing OK.

It could be a run down the road with a kid who needed some encouragement, or just a quick conversation with someone who needed to be uplifted. Her kindness never shuts off. I have seen the power of being kind over the years and its alternative. I now try to treat people with the mantra of “kindness first”, and I have been fortunate to have many good role models in that area, but Martha Lerman was definitely one of the most powerful examples of consistent and powerful kindness I ever experienced, I am eternally grateful for that.

Brotherhood

There are two types of family in life, the ones you are born into and then there are the ones you grow into. At Camp Caribou, it was the kind you grew into. All of the staff members came from all over the world and had different skills, backgrounds, religions, and philosophies about life. Yet, enter the peninsula of Camp Caribou and all that is washed away. It is your character and ability to work together that separates you. I value all of the people that I worked with and the unique skill set they brought to the table. Some were singers, some were great athletes, others got the job done every time they were called upon. Above all other things, there were people who I could rely on for encouragement, a joke, to get out of the camp every other night, or to endure an evening activity or bunk night with.

Camp places you in a 24 hour, intense experience, so you bond with others quickly and it is a unique thing that will stay with you forever. Two summers ago I was able to reunite with a few of the people I worked with at Camp Caribou. Although we are all much older, the relationships were still the same and the laughs just as genuine. I learned the value of sharing an experience with someone and remembering the good things about them and it. All of my Caribou brothers are valuable, those I was close to and those I worked with for years. I see them now on Facebook and wish them all the best of everything that life has to offer.

There are too many lessons to include in just one day, so like the second half of the summer, tomorrow will carry us to the end when everyone will go home.

Life Lessons

No News. Is Good News!

July 23, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

stop watching the news — Give it a shot, stop watching. What do you have to lose but fear?

I am tremendously grateful for a conscious decision I made about four years ago to stop watching the national news and leaving the fear mongering and celebrity worship behind.

I don’t seem to be missing out on anything positive and am just as informed as I always have been, but the real benefit is the fact that I have not been subject to the consistent stream of negativity that comes from any of the national news outlets. I think this enables me to be happier on a daily basis.

Haven’t Missed a Thing

My initial reluctance to giving up my news addiction was that I would no longer be properly informed about current events. Yet, using this week as an example, I am adequately informed about all of Donald Trump’s foolishness and how he and Hillary Clinton fared in their latest debate. What I don’t have to deal with is the feeling the national media tries to build in you, that the world is going to end because of it. So be very, very afraid.

I have a hint for all of you, we will all still be here tomorrow and then the story will be something else and life will continue on. It is not that I am apathetic to the plight of our nation and the fact that our politicians are really just highly paid corporate sell outs. It is a fact that as a conscious human being living on the planet, I recognize manipulation and brainwashing when I see it.

I don’t need the national media to fan those flames of fear. Most often the fears they use are designed to get you to watch more and for the media to make more money from advertising. With today’s lightning-quick social media, you learn of news without moving an inch, simply by looking at your phone you see today’s events and happenings as they are unfolding. There is no need for a media narrative to tell you how to think.

I am grateful that I can leave it there. I am sad for those who experience loss, I am sympathetic to those who suffer, but I do not let it consume my life because then I would never be able to contribute to a cure.

Being an Individual Is Hard Today

By not watching the national media and blindly absorbing the version of that story they feed me, I have found that I am much more clearly able to form my own opinion about events.

By looking at how I actually feel about something, I can more readily create ideas that are uniquely mine. If we blindly follow the thoughts and presentations of others, we are doomed to have no unique and creative thought toward problem-solving. Being an individual today is difficult because if you don’t think exactly like someone else, then you are going to be ridiculed. This is the first step in forced conformity, to discourage individual thought and force people to accept the “right” opinion about things. Isn’t our education system based on this practice? Learn how I tell you and don’t think for yourself.

Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself

Don't fear the media — The media works hard to keep you afraid. The choice is yours

The national media makes people feel like there is something wrong with them if they don’t feel like they say you should. Shouldn’t you be afraid of terrorism? Shouldn’t we dislike those who are different from us? Shouldn’t we fear everyone we don’t know? The questions go on and on, but the reason is simple. If you are afraid you are easily controlled and if you are free thinking and problem-solving, there is no telling what you might do. You might even find a better alternative than listening to the Today Show.

Most people in the world are good, honest people who are kind to others, polite and helpful. People do amazing things each and every day to help other people live a better life. These actions aren’t often covered in the media because even though they are nice, they don’t grab attention. Fear grabs attention and it doesn’t let go. But once you leave that fear behind, you can enjoy life a little bit more.

You May Be the Answer

So today I am grateful for the conscious decision I made about five years ago to stop watching the news and to form my own opinions about the world. I encourage you to find your own path as well. Who knows the answer to many social problems facing the world today could be solved by you. It is up to you to decide to be your own person and think for yourself.

Mirrors
First Due To The News: Television or Social Media?
Fear.
4 Tips for Replacing Anxiety with Hope
Emerging and Social Media: Week Three
3 Ways Millennials Are Saving This Summer
If We Had Intelligence Services….:
Positive Tweeting to Encourage Positive Thinking – Giveaway

Life

My Notes on The Four Agreements

June 4, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is a book I read years ago, and I just came across my reading notes. I thought they were worth sharing. Each of us has to agree with the truth of a thought before it can affect us. Once we do accept, that thought will affect our lives positively or negatively until you choose to change it. The book talks about fear and how fear dictates what we do, and what parts of ourselves we show to others. The four agreements are the ones we should seek to create in our minds. Interesting thoughts.

Agreement #1 Be Impeccable with Your Word

Your words contain magic in them and the power to make your life like heaven or like hell. The magic that you wield through your words is either light or dark- a blessing or cursing yourself and others. Too many of our bad agreements about life were planted by the callousness of the words of others. And even sometimes our own. We are all connected as one.

Agreement #2 Don’t Take Anything Personally-

All the people are living in our dream. You are but a bit part in another person’s vision. Most of what people say and do is because of their lives, NOT due to you, your value, or behavior. The best action is to stay away from the insult or adverse response. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.

Agreement #3 Don’t Make Assumptions-

All assumptions are fantasies made in your mind about the behavior of others. See yourself reflected in the faces of others. Deal with the facts using the pure nature of your words and that of others. Truth is desired; fiction can be left behind.

Agreement #4

– Always Do Your Best

A simple thought can change your life negatively or positively. In each activity, each day, in every moment, simply trying to do your best is all anyone can do. If you continually strive to accomplish your highest achievement: you will embody your best to all.

Other Key Thoughts from Notes:

-Be who you are NO matter what someone says about you, or whatever they do, don’t take their words personally, and it doesn’t hurt anymore. You will no longer be afraid to love, to share, or to open your heart. NO ONE ELSE IS LIKE YOU!!

-Most people are emotionally wound

ed and sick with fear. All people carry wounds in their minds, which are open and hurting. They make us afraid to be who we are.

-Shyness is a fear of expressing yourself, and you may believe you don’t know how to sing or how to dance, but this is just repression of the healthy human instinct to express love.

-We are born into this society, grow up in it, and we are condemned to be like everyone else in it. Playing nonsense all the time.

-Fear leads to injustice- we become full of emotional poison, which eventually we have to release in some manner. Telling someone how bad they are or about all of their perceived flaws. These actions allow the poison to move from one person to another.

-Love is not about concepts: Love is about action. To practice love is the only way to master it.

-Bad, complicated, unhealthy relationships are based on fear, drama, and the war for control. The battle for control = no respect and selfishness, not love. “I have to control you because I don’t respect you. I have to be responsible for you because whatever happens to you is going to hurt, and I want to avoid pain.

-Team players play together but not against each other, and you are playing because you want to have fun.

-Track of love- you are giving more than you are taking. You love yourself enough not to allow selfish people take advantage of you.

Everyone dreams of their dream. You can control your half but nothing else. Or partner in a relationship is responsible for their half.
Know what love is and what is fear: you become aware of how you communicate your dream. The choices you make in each moment determines the quality of your communication. Just by catching the awareness of the track of fear, you can change it. Merely changing your attention can change your world.
Love and happiness come out of you. There is no dependence on anyone else for feeling this way.

This book allowed me to look at my dream and how I was not myself in some ways. Following the four agreements can give you freedom. Just the fact that most people are not treating you a certain way because of you, but because of them has been great for my personal growth. It is being a better communicator to other people, not assuming and asking questions and being impeccable with my word and honest with all, and doing my best. The level of my best can change from day today, but I try to give it all, whatever that tends to be on that day. I recommend this book to anyone who is seeking personal growth and understanding.

Quotes from the Four Agreements

“To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans.”

“We don’t see the truth because we are blind. What blinds us are all those false beliefs we have in our mind. We have the need to be right and to make others wrong. We trust what we believe, and our beliefs set us up for suffering. It as if we live in the middle of a fog that doesn’t let us see any further than our own nose. We live in a fog that is not even real. This fog is a dream, your personal dream of life — what you believe, all the concepts you have about who your are, all the agreements you have made with others, with yourself, and even with God.”

“Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream, in their on mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in.”1

“The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth.”

“All the sadness and drama you have lived in your life was rooted in making assumptions and taking things personally.”

Personal Development

My First Reading List

March 14, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

reading list Jonathan Hilton — My Reading List

A reading list is quite important. Over my recent history, I have been on a mission of learning, a quest to improve myself and to understand why life works the way that it does. I wish that I knew the wisest man in the world, who could simply relay all of the vital information I need to know to me. Unfortunately, I don’t think that person exists, and I don’t think that the experience would be quite as vital or memorable as it has been. I have traveled many miles in the distance of understanding and followed many paths by using only my mind and my reading list. The vehicle which has allowed me to do this has been the gift of literacy and the knowledge imparted to me from the wisest people who have ever thought thoughts. I wanted to compile a list of all of the books I have read that have contributed to my journey of self discovery. So that if you are looking for knowledge you will find out if you need to read these books or not.

The Four Agreements- Don Miguel Ruiz

The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho

Identity- Stedman Graham

Inflection- Window for and Inspired life- George Alexiou

That is That- Nirmala

Give up your Excess Baggage- Sri Vishwanth

The Reading List Continues

7 Ancient Keys to Happiness- A 90 Day, Lesson-a-Day Guide to Achieving inner-Bliss -S. Mills

Think and Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill

Frank Betther’s How I Raised Myself from Failure To Success (infinite Success Series)- Karen McCreadie

An Easy Guide to Meditation – Roy Eugene Davis

Ask, Believe, Receive- 7 Days to Increased Wealth, Bett3r Relationships, and a Life You Love- David Hooper

Thought Vibration- William Walker Atkinson

The Secret Art of Self Development – Karl Moore

Quantum Success- Sandra Anne Taylor

18 Rules of Happiness: How to Be Happy -Karl Moore

Frequency- Penney Peirce

The God Formula: A Simple Scientific Blueprint that has transformed Millions of lives – Jeffery Martin

Leveraging The Universe- Mike Dooley

Believe in Yourself – Joseph Murphy

The Game of Life and How to play it- Florence Scovel Shinn

Your Invisible Power – Genevieve Behrend

Thoughts are Things- Prentice Mulford

Radical Happiness- Gina Lake

Secret of the Ages- Robert Collier

The Power of Concentration- Theron Q. Dumont

This is still an incomplete list, but will do for anyone who wants to get started on the path to knowledge and understanding this reading list will give you a push in the right direction.

Seek Your Joy

Be Yourself

Understand and Support Others

Super Hilton

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When you are 80 years old, what will matter to you the most?

I Will Have to Move It, Move It

Still Writing after all These Years

Sit a Spell, Tell Me About It

The World Will Matter Then As It Does Now

When you are 80-years-old, what will matter to you the most?

Related articles

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Leadership Bill Lerman Style

Kindness Martha Lerman Style

Brotherhood

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Haven’t Missed a Thing

Being an Individual Is Hard Today

Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself

You May Be the Answer

Related articles

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Agreement #1 Be Impeccable with Your Word

Agreement #2 Don’t Take Anything Personally-

Agreement #3 Don’t Make Assumptions-

Agreement #4

– Always Do Your Best

Other Key Thoughts from Notes:

Quotes from the Four Agreements

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The Four Agreements- Don Miguel Ruiz

The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho

More Reading list

Even More Reading List

The Reading List Continues

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Personal Growth, Self Improvement, Positive Thinking