You Are God’S Best Idea!: Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life

By Douglas E. Holzmeier

You Are Gods Best Idea! Have you ever heard a more ridiculous thing? Have you ever heard a more beautiful idea? Come along as contemporary mystic, Douglas E. Holzmeier (aka Doug Daniels), explains why You Are Gods Best Idea! and what the acceptance of your inherent inner divinity means in living the Undeniable Life.

This book will tell you how to make the Law of Attraction work for you, through you and your divinity. Discover the ideas and the Divine Acceptations that lead to living the Undeniable Life. Experience the inspirational stories of manifestation and triumph from the authors life in the radio industry and those of his family and friends.

Through the epigrammatic writing style of Douglas Edward Holzmeier, you will understand, maybe for the first time, just how amazing, important, and divine you are.

You Are Gods Best Idea!

In praise of You Are Gods Best Idea! Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life:

In You Are Gods Best Idea! Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life, Douglas E. Holzmeier does an amazing job of helping us understand that life is essentially a spiritual experience whether we are aware of it or not. We could not be any more spiritual if we tried because life is a

sacred continuum. There is no area of our lives that is any more, or less, spiritual than another...spirituality is the conscious mindful practice of the awareness of Gods presence in every holy instant. This book is a call to awakening--to help you remember to remember that on the day you were born God had a One-derful idea; a desire to know Itself and express Itself in an entirely new and unique way...and that idea is YOU.

~ Dennis Merritt Jones, Author of The Art of Being~101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jun 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452534701

Douglas E. Holzmeier

Douglas E. Holzmeier (aka Doug Daniels) is a contemporary mystic who writes about the Law of Attraction and peace, love, and understanding on his blog, Twitter, and Facebook sites. His first book is You Are God’s Best Idea! Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life. Doug has spent most his adult life working in the radio industry. Doug has been an on-air personality in Chicago, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; Pensacola, Florida; Charleston, West Virginia; Rockford, Illinois; Wheeling, West Virginia; and Tri Cities, Washington, among others. As a program director, his stations have been nominated for Adult Contemporary Station of the Year honors three times. Doug is also available as a motivational speaker, life coach, and on his way to becoming an ordained minister. You can find Doug on the Internet at www.YouAreGodsBestIdea.com. (Audio version of book available for purchase at the website.) Doug is married to Denise and has a son, Daniel.

Book preview

You

Are

God’s

Best

Idea!

Divine Acceptations and

Living the Undeniable Life

Douglas E. Holzmeier

(aka Doug Daniels)

missing image file

Copyright © 2011 Douglas E. Holzmeier (aka Doug Daniels)

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.

Balboa Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-3470-1 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-3467-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-3488-6 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011907529

Printed in the United States of America

Balboa Press rev. date: 6/14/2011

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Start Me Up

The Undeniable Life

Great Acceptations

Inside

Representation

Peace, Love and Understanding

February 3rd

Your Five Star Life

Life Is a Gift Exchange

One

Divine You

The Divine

Divine Promise

Divine Aspirations

Divine Intentions

Divine Dreams

Divine Expectations

Divine Acceptance

Divine Happiness

Divine Giving

Divine Miracles

Divine Compassions

Divine Forgiveness

Divine Appreciations

Divine Affections

Divine Assistance

Divine Decisions

Divine Success

Divine Healing

Divine Expressions

Divine Today

Divine Directions

Divine Attractions

Divine Reflections

Divine Belief

Divine Faith

Divine Light

Divine Truth

Divine Peace

Divine Love

Divine Understanding

Epilogue

A Letter

The Epigrams

Songs

Suggested Reading List

Suggested Viewing

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This book is inspired by and dedicated to my son, Daniel.

I have put my very heart into these pages so you can take my thoughts, stories and love with you wherever you go.

To my wife, Denise, who offers the gift of unconditional love I accept.

To The Divine…thanks for everything!

missing image file

Daniel beginning his journey.

Photograph by: Cindy Baxter of Studio C Photography

In praise of You Are God’s Best Idea!

Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life:

In You Are God’s Best Idea! Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life, Douglas E. Holzmeier does an amazing job of helping us understand that life is essentially a spiritual experience whether we are aware of it or not. We could not be any more spiritual if we tried because life is a sacred continuum. There is no area of our lives that is any more, or less, spiritual than another...spirituality is the conscious mindful practice of the awareness of God’s presence in every holy instant. This book is a call to awakening--to help you remember to remember that on the day you were born God had a One-derful idea; a desire to know Itself and express Itself in an entirely new and unique way...and that idea is YOU.

~ Dennis Merritt Jones, Author of The Art of Being~101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the people who have been instrumental in my life:

My late father, Donald, and my mother, Joan; my siblings, Donna, Dennis, David, Doris, Dianne, Drew, and Dana, and the rest of the extended Holzmeier family.

My spiritual family, The Reverend Sandy Smith, Gary Smith, Debi Farey, Maggie Covarrubias, Jim Chaffin, Rob Burroughs, Ester Hatton, Cindy Landis, Shirley Lucas, Ron Utter, Suzanne Burroughs, Dara Quinn, Lorene Obyrne, Steve Potter, and Jodi Wilson.

Friends for always: Mary Sigrist Mulvany, Catherine Mountain, Steve Harmon, Mary Beth Vincent Ganim, all the great families on Sawyer Drive, and the too-numerous–to-mention kids I grew up with in Grove City, Ohio. Thanks to my broadcasting school teacher, Earl Bailey, B.E. Taylor and Veronica Taylor, Mike McVay, Dave Robbins, Jennifer Denson Harris, Mike Allodi, Leann Owen Spencer, Nikki O’Grady Fleming, Mark Lorenson, Daniel Caron, Michelle Armstrong, Roland Thompson, Sherrie McCutcheon Dunlevy, Sharon Hanson Hawkins, and Patti Banner.

Thank you to the thousands of radio listeners and Twitter and Facebook followers who, through their feedback and encouragement, inspired me to write this book, including Phoenix Rector and Glyndi Avera.

Thank you to the persons who are the subjects of the stories of triumph I share here: Rose and Rusty Rudder, Jim Conner, Rob Parissi, Billy Mann, Brad Paisley, Linda, Reed, Sue, and Dawn.

Thank you to my book editors, Meg Chaffin, Marlene MacAuly and Reverend Barbara Adams, who have taught me that commas and semi-colons are to be used only when absolutely necessary.

Thank you to all the great people at Balboa Press/Hay House!

Thanks to my dog, Davy, and my cat, Kitty, who kept me company while I wrote the book, and were relatively quiet while I recorded the audio version.

I also acknowledge these persons of faith and philosophy who have inspired my journey: Ernest Holmes, Louise Hay, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Terry Cole-Whittaker, Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor, Marianne Williamson, John Assaraf, Thomas Troward, Deepak Chopra, Raymond Charles Barker, Don Miguel Ruiz, Jim Tressel, Jill Bolte Taylor, Florence Scovel Shinn, Wayne Dyer, Dennis Merritt Jones, William James, Napoleon Hill, Richard Bach, Viktor Frankl, Eckhart Tolle, Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Joel Goldsmith, Neville Goddard, Wallace Wattles, James Allen, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the New Testament message of Jesus the Christ.

Introduction

I don’t believe in coincidences. This book was meant for you. If you have little to no previous awareness of your inner and inherent Divinity, you are about to receive information that can forevermore change your life for the better. The proposition that You Are God’s Best Idea!, not only worthy of Divine Love, but that we are Divine Love, changes Everything! What we do with our divine nature is up to us, but understanding the Truth of our divine nature is the first step of Divine Acceptance. After hearing and accepting this Truth, I believe you’ll never again feel like you are alone and unloved. You’ll never again feel like you have blown it or that it is too late to fulfill your dreams and promise.

You Are God’s Best Idea!

Where did I get this idea? Is there any doubt this is true? God has created many things that express God’s beauty and magnificence. Few would argue against the idea that an eagle, a lion, and a whale are all representations of Life, and expressions of the Divine. It is human beings, however, who are not only expressions of the Divine, but who, through God, continuously and divinely express. It is a person who can execute the commandant of Jesus to love God and neighbor as thy self. It is the children of Divinity who have created life-saving devices that allow divine beings to have divine second chances to fulfill divine promise.

God created man for God to be more fully expressed…the greatest expression being Divine Love. God’s gift of free will, however, allows for misrepresentations of Divinity, which we will explore.

Tweet, Tweet

This book began when a friend of mine told me she had joined Twitter and already had several hundred followers. I was intrigued. She said she was following like-minded individuals, and they usually followed back. The key was to find a leader in your area of interest, such as self-improvement; then, follow that person’s followers. A microcosm of how the Law of Attraction works: like attracts like. How perfect!

I gave it a try. I went to the Louise Hay page, followed her and her followers. Bam! I had several hundred Doug Daniels (my radio name) followers overnight.

A lot of famous quotes get posted on Twitter. The 140-character length is perfect for them. Twitter is kind of like a support group. What better way to support each other than by tweeting inspirational quotes? As I watched this stream of classic consciousness go by, I thought to myself: As an aspiring writer, who is immersed in the self-improvement sciences, why not just attempt to compose some ideas and thoughts in my way and see how they go over? Like this one:

The secret to failure is a life-long admiration of what others have done.

We are a world of watchers instead of participants. I felt this was a perfect avenue to participate and share positive messages. Since I became engaged in spiritual studies, many of these writings felt as though they were coming divinely through me. I started writing and sharing my thoughts in the form of quotes in May, 2009 at www.twitter.com/dougshares.

I’m not sure if writing a witticism constitutes a quote. Normally, a quote comes from a larger piece of work. Although I do have a blog, and did use some of these quotes in my essays, it’s not the normal way people write. This book has been written, in a sense, backwards. I wrote over 700 original epigrams over an 18-month period. Over time, followers were asking if I had written a book or was planning to do so. With that nudge from the Universe, that’s what I’ve done.

The Epigrams

An Epigram is defined as a short statement that makes an interesting, frequently profound, observation about life or the world. You’ll find the majority of the ones I’ve written sprinkled throughout the chapters. You’ll find all the better ones from my Twitter sites, over 550 of them, in The Epigrams section.

The Motivation

One of the initial motivations for writing the book was an effort to put my thoughts, ideas, and wisdom on paper so my son, Daniel, would have a place of reference in times when he needed some fatherly advice, in case I wasn’t around. My dad died at age 55. The original title of the book was going to be A Father Shares. Some of the text is written as if I’m speaking to my son. In October, 2009, a friend of mine committed suicide. She had gone through a divorce a few years before and her mother had passed away about a year after that. She had been seeking answers. She had not yet accepted her inherent divinity. She did not quite grasp that the answer is within, whispering, continually, You Are God’s Best Idea! You Are My Best Idea! This book, therefore, is for anyone who needs to hear the encouraging message that they are divine, loved, and the Beloved.

Divine Acceptations

The book’s subtitle is Divine Acceptations and Living the Undeniable Life. It’s very possible you’ve never heard the word Acceptations. I stumbled upon it when I was trying to get across the idea that expectations are fine, but if you don’t accept what you expect then your expectation rots on the vine for not having been harvested. I wanted something that sounded clever for one of my epigrams that began with Great Expectations and was pleasantly surprised to find the word Acceptation. So I wrote Great Expectations begin with Great Acceptations. There is nothing more important to accept than your inherent divinity; the idea is that You Are God’s Best Idea! and inherently divine, because God is the Divine and you are most certainly a child of Divinity! You don’t become this way; you are this way. From personal experience, I know that as soon as I accept my divinity, everything changes for the better. Once you accept and begin to act like the divine being you are, heaven on earth is revealed in too many ways to count.

When I use the word Divine, and I am speaking about God, specifically, I will italicize and capitalize. When I am speaking of your divinity, the divine nature, and the God essence within you, I will italicize but not capitalize.

Undeniable

The Undeniable Life came to me following the unexpected passing of the friend mentioned above. I wrote a piece (which comprises Chapter two) I read at her memorial service. This book is about accepting the good that is in and all around you and living undeniably. I share some stories from my life and those of my family and friends to illustrate. Part I of the book lays the foundation of these divine ideas. After The Divine Ideas are the Divine Acceptations. I could have written additional acceptations, and, might very well do so in another book. This book is not meant to be an exhaustive and comprehensive study on our inherent divinity, it is, however, meant to awaken you to the inherent power you have access to and that you can use to change your life in the most extraordinary ways because of this divinity. It is meant to remind you that you are divine just as you are.

Since most of my childhood and adult life have been steeped in my love and affection for popular music, as often as possible, I have used song titles to begin stories and separate sections of chapters.

Thanks for allowing me to share.

~Douglas E. Holzmeier

February 14th, 2011

You are complete. You can learn and grow and you should; but that doesn’t make you anymore divine than the day God thought you.

ONE

Start Me Up

From the moment I was born, I have been attempting to breathe deeply. My lungs collapsed at birth. I almost died. It wouldn’t be the last time.

I was raised in Grove City, a southwest suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Our family of nine, mom and dad, plus seven kids (the eighth would arrive two years later) moved there in 1964 from Belleville, Illinois. One of my earliest memories is driving past the St. Louis Arch and the family waving goodbye to it as we headed east.

I think my fascination with music and radio began on that 14-hour trip, (there were lots of stops) packed in the family Buick station wagon, listening to Top 40 radio on our way to a new life. It was June, 1964, and the tunes traveling with us on Route 66, were by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Four Seasons and Motown.

Life on Sawyer Drive, in many ways, was what any family would have hoped for. It was shaped like a giant L, with two large courts or cul de sacs. New families were moving in all the time. At one point, there were nearly 50 children in the neighborhood. Many of the parents taught at nearby schools. There was a sense of community. We were taking care of each other. It wasn’t unusual to go from house to house, yard to yard, game to game, non-stop, for hours.

The Holzmeiers

The Holzmeiers are of German, Irish, and French ancestry, and Catholic. We are big and gregarious people, loud and proud. Although our home was not kissy and huggy like a `70s sitcom, my mother, on the other hand, was, quite literally, in resemblance, size, and scope, like actress Bea Arthur from Maude. As if the similarities were not already obvious, she’d remind us of them whenever Maude was on. My dad, who stood just five foot-seven, was usually at work or at the bar and didn’t say much at all.

My parents were children of the depression. They experienced lack, an abundance of lack, and feared that it could return at anytime. They feared sickness, war, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. In other words, my parents never seemed to be fully enjoying the good life they were giving us.

In my family, expressing outward affection and words of adoration was not the norm. Of course, I wanted love and to be loved. I wanted to love! I remember, at the age of about four, when my parents returned from a New Year’s Eve party, I was sitting next to my mother, leaning on her, just to be near her. She nudged me away, twice. I’m sure she was probably just tired. She could have been tipsy. Regardless, that was the last time I ever felt the warmth of mother’s love in my youth.

We had plenty of food, a nice two-story, four-bedroom house on an acre of land, decent clothes; we attended good schools, and Christmas was holly and jolly, but I never experienced an adult telling me they loved me. I was never told I was good. I was never told I was worthy. I certainly was never told the Truth of divinity.

In fairness to my parents, and maybe your parents, too, I am not so sure that they had ever heard this good news of inherent divinity. I didn’t until I was in my late 40s. They came from an era of survival--of fight or flight--the two instinctive traits of human beings when faced with fear. They lived scratching and clawing, holding on to what they were able to create with blood, sweat, and tears, hoping God thought they were doing all right by him along the way.

I believe my parents did the best they could with what they knew. They did give us a great neighborhood to grow up in. We did have a nice home, and the cupboards were always full. My parents did the best they could. I thank them and bless them for the lessons they taught me.

I love you Mom. I love you Dad.

Teach Your Children

As parents, my wife and I made it a point that our son, Daniel, would always go to bed with the last words he’d hear being We Love You! We always encourage him in every way possible. A child needs to have at least one person they can count on to be on their side, to love them unconditionally. That’s what parents are for.

In the spiritual classes I take, on my way to what I believe will lead to a ministry, time and time again, I hear stories from persons who want, or wanted, love from a parent, a spouse, a friend, a boss or a child and did not or do not perceive it is there. The love you seek is in you! When someone shows they love you, the love you feel is yours!

You are inside what is inside you.

One of my friends committed suicide a few years following the divorce from her husband. I, too, as a troubled teenager and, later as an adult, contemplated taking my life to escape pain. This was before I fully understood the power of knowing who we inherently are and the power which operates through our divinity. If you do not recognize and embrace your divinity, pain fills the vacuum.

This book is written with the purpose of letting you know how precious and important you are! You are defined by your divinity, not your marital status, job position, neighborhood, bank account, or by who you think doesn’t love you.

Without a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, you are still rich beyond measure--a child of God.

School Days

My early school days were filled mostly with fun and frivolity. Although I was shy and introverted, I had plenty of friends. I attended a Catholic school in kindergarten and 1st grade: Our Lady of Perpetual Help. This was 1966-1968.

I guess I was a bit of a playboy. I loved chasing the girls on the playground. I never went through the girls have cooties phase. I did take offense to the rhyme about what little girls and boys are made of. I wanted to be made of sugar and spice, too! One time at mass, a nun suggested that all the kids who were holding their hands lazily toward the ground while praying were worshipping the devil! I was one of those kids. I knew I wasn’t praying to anyone other than God. I was just tired; it was eight in the morning! It was that kind of ridiculousness, however well meaning it may or may not have been, that caused me to question adults.

There was one nun who I am very grateful to. There was a bird’s nest in a bell that rang alarmingly at recess, as most school bells do. On this early spring day, apparently, one of the baby birds had fallen from the nest, which was at least 50 feet high. All the kids gathered around the lifeless robin. I had a plastic sandwich bag full of cookies in my pocket. I sacrificed my cookies by throwing them on the ground for the other birds that were nearby, placed the baby bird carefully in the bag and then put the bag in my pocket.

When we were in line to go back inside, several kids pointed to me, and told this particular nun that I had a dead bird in my pocket. She kindly asked what I was going to do with the baby bird. I said I’m going to bury it at home so it can go to heaven. She said, Sounds like a good idea. I carried that dead bird in a plastic bag in my pocket for the next several hours, then took it home, and buried it so it could go to heaven. Setting aside the questionable hygienic part of the equation, you have to admit that nun was cool!

The Prince’s Speech

As I will share in one of the Divine Acceptations chapters, I had a speech impediment. Because the parochial school didn’t have a visiting speech therapist, I had to leave school twice a week to take speech therapy at a downtown Columbus hospital. I did this for two years. All the adults involved agreed that putting me in the public school where a speech therapist visited twice a week was the best idea. I began attending the nearby elementary school starting in the fall of 1968. I got lost on the first day, and stayed lost.

This Boy

It is interesting that the thing a child hates most…is being different. Often, these are the qualities that make them uniquely interesting and successful as an adult; however, looking or acting different than the others that comprise your universe at age seven or eight can be painful.

I have an olive complexion. As a child, I spent most of my time outside in the summer. By the time school started in early September, due to my dark pigmentation, I looked as though I were from another country. (This was 1968 America and I was living in an all-white town of 15,000) I was asked on that first day of school where I was from. Most of the kids suggested I must be from Mexico. When I told my family that the kids in my school thought I was from south of the border, they immediately created a story about a Hispanic family dropping me off at the doorstep with a note that read, Please take care of our little Chico. Hey, nothing like adding to the trauma of my first day at the new school with a story of me being an adopted doorstep-child from Latin America!

I felt like a fish out of water (hard to breathe) on that Tuesday, September 3rd, 1968. Who knew that a simple change of schools would be so devastating? I was scared. I was perpetually nervous. I had left the friends who I loved and who loved me at Our Lady. I had to make new friends and I simply didn’t know how.

In elementary school I withdrew so far that I would spend most of recess playing by myself, imagining I was driving a car or placing myself in a war movie