Moving on....

I blogged at this address for around two years & got several complains that becoming a follower was too much of a pain so most of my readers simply bookmarked my blog-not good for my ranking for sure-hahaha. Then, I started having issues publishing so I took the hint fromt he universe & started a new blog at;
http://1world1mind.wordpress.com/
I haven't got all of wrinkles ironed out but I am planning on regular posts starting this week-this new site should be a one click follow so I trust you will all be joining me there-thank you!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I was asked today why I think personal development is important. Why isn’t just so you can maintain a pleasant mood, though who doesn’t want to be happy? It’s not just so we can feel prosperous either even if all of us expect or should already understand how prosperous we already are. Personal development allows us to tap into our inner resources and grow our skill set so that we can live an extraordinary life. We learn to be happy in the moment, grateful for what we have right now, & belief that we will achieve more.Then we start to act on our beliefs and take action to hit our goals. So we can become the kind of person we really want to be. And that is why on this post I want to focus on what people let get in the way. I could dress it up in different ways but the bottom-line is that its fear. Some people would say confidence, some would say habits but I say its fear. And I want you all to be crystal clear that fear is the antithesis of belief. If you fear failure, its because you don’t believe. What you don’t believe in, I can't say for certain-only you can, it could be yourself. it could be what is possible.

Now here’s the thing, I regularly share what I have learned about the 'magic of the universe' and if you read my blog every post, you can look back and see that I have covered that when you say you want something, you can’t get it if you then have thoughts of lack, fear and doubt. These are thoughts of worry. Worrying about anything is the evidence of disbelief and doubt. When you believe, action is easy. I can remember when we were kids and we went to the local swimming pool. We were all excited about going off the high dive but for each and every one of us, the first time was the hardest. Some people never conquered their fear. Because they had no belief. In their imaginations, they couldn't see a good outcome for themselves, they doubted themselves. They could see others doing it but for some reason, couldn't see if one could do it then so could others. But those that did, and that was the majority of us, loved every minute of it. We were playing follow the leader, doing the cannonball, diving or even doing flips if that’s what the person in front of us did. Because once we saw it was how we thought about it that was the challenge, we took the lid off and we believed it was no big deal-so it wasn’t. I don't say this to make you feel bad, I say it because we are often trained to be 'worriers' and when someone points out why we shouldn't worry, we often realize that they are right. And sometimes just that knowing allows us to let go of the worry.

And you all know that I have covered belief, determination and action on more than one occasion, but, these are the keys to success. And the number one, critical, have to have it part of that is belief. Think about it this way. Remember when you went to school? You didn’t know how to read or write, didn’t know how to do math, spell, and didn’t know much about anything, right? School seemed hard didn’t it? And then when you were about ready to graduate, did you still think 1^st grade was hard? Or did you think, gosh that was easy and we got recess! And if you went to college, didn’t it seem like high school was so much easier? So what if you could start school all over again, and you could believe that school is easy, you just let your brain do what its supposed to do, you don’t think; this is hard or I don’t get it, you think; here is the information I just need to study it and I will get it. And you will because you believe you will. It’s only hard when you decide its hard. YOU make it hard.

So what you need to do is figure out what you believe in. If you tell yourself you don’t believe in yourself, you are making a huge mistake. Nobody is put on this earth to do it for you, you have to do it for yourself, you are here to make your own way and you were given everything you need to do, be and have whatever you want. But you have to see in yourself your unlimited potential-just like I do, or you will never really try.

It's All In Your Head

When people are first introduced to the idea that we all create our life, some people don't believe it, some do but later discard it when they don't manifest what they wanted fast enough or when they manifested the very things they were afraid of, some people believe but have challenges hitting their goals and some people just seem to have a natural ability to embrace it & use it to their advantage. Most people fall into the middle, they can see that they are unlimited beings, capable of manifesting their dreamed of life but something is missing.......

They start to think that somewhere, somebody has put out a book, an audio, a video, or maybe does a lecture, and they seek. I know I did. But here is what I found; I have lots and lots of books, audios and videos & I have attended seminars. I can say that I wasted a penny even though they all basically said the same thing, they just said it in different ways. And what I was looking for was some magic formula for making that shift in myself that would allow me to tap into my infinite power. It was good I had so many resources because it was careful review of that materials and lots of thought about all of it, for me to see that the 'secret ingredient is that there is no secret ingredient' oh wait, that's Kung Foo Panda isn't it? But that line from the movie is the bottom line-there is no secret. It's not a secret at all. You have heard, read and seen images of it all your life; your thoughts create your life. What you think, what you believe, these things determine your attitude and actions and that is exactly how it works. You either think thoughts of what is right, good, pleasing, etc or you think thoughts of fear, lack and doubt in yourself or the universe.
If you are looking outside yourself for help in making any shift, stop doing that. You have whatever you need to create the life you choose.
All that is required is your understanding that it can be done (belief), setting a goal(s), taking action to reach your goal, then more action and maybe repeat a few or many times and don't resist when the universe starts to bring it to you or try to decide how it should come.
I know someone that learned about personal development several months ago and got one of the audios I recommended. A few months later he had an accident that put him out of work for a few months. Some people would think that he was trying to make a positive change in his life and boom, he gets hurt and can't work. He could have sat around his house, watched a lot of TV & felt sorry for himself but the fact is that he had several months of recuperating and in that time, time he wouldn't have taken on his own, he was able to take a class that he'd been wanting to take for years but never found time to take. That class got him a certificate he needed to increase his income and he is happy with how everything worked out.
So if you didn't see the secret formula in this post, read it again. And remember, it's all in your head!

Trade up!

Today I share a story of Kyle Mac Donald. You might have heard this story before but it bears repeating; Kyle wanted a house but he had no money. What he did have though was the desire and determination plus one red paper clip. He went to the barter section of the Craigslist where he was able to trade his red paper clip for a fish-shaped pen. Which he exchanged for a ceramic knob, traded that for a stove and generator, then turned that for a beer keg, then a Budweiser sign, which he bartered for a snowmobile, traded that for a trip to the Rockies, then a supply truck, traded that for a recording contract, & turned that into a years rent on a place in Phoenix. By this time Kyle was an internet star and was doing interviews on Canadian and Japanese television, Good Morning America and tons of radio stations one of which had Corbin Bernsen as a listener. Corbin wanted to help Kyle so he offered a speaking role in a movie he was writing & directing but Kyle couldn’t accept it because he wanted to get his house by trading. So Kyle continued being resourceful. He traded his years rent for a Kiss snow globe. Corbin collects snow globes so Kyle traded the snow globe for the speaking role. Then a town in Saskatchewan owned a house which they traded to Kyle for his movie role and that is how Kyle turned one red paper clip into a house. The moral of this story is that it doesn’t matter how small you start, if you really want something and are willing to do the work, you will succeed. So next time you start thinking that something is too hard just remember Kyle and how impossible his dream was and yet he made it happen so why not you?And if you are sitting there thinking that Kyle's is a leprechaun story (a one of a kind story) then you should know that since his story came out a number of people have done basically the same thing. One man traded until he got his dream car, a Porsche Boxster, I believe it was, so as i said, if you really want something, go get it!

The Strangest Secret

I have a number of my personal development audios loaded onto my ipod so that when I am exercising or working in the yard, I can listen to them-sort of like multitasking but really not, it's more like I have my mind on what I am doing and putting my subconscious on the audio. And no, I do not always have the audios as background, sometimes I listen intently and even take notes (gotta get the most out of them after all).

Today while exercising I listened the Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret, an audio I highly recommend to anyone that has forty minutes to invest in improving their life. There are so many parts of this audio that I could share but then you would have no reason to go get the audio. And it is inexpensive & widely available as an audio or in book form online, in bookstores or at libraries. Once you have listened to or read The Strangest Secret you will know what the secret is, but here is a hint; it's the secret to a happy, successful life) but I will share one part;

"An outstanding medical doctor once pointed out six steps that will help you realize success:
1. Set yourself a definite goal.
2. Quit running yourself down.
3. Stop thinking of all the reasons why you cannot be successful, and instead, think of all the reasons why you can.
4 Trace your attitudes back through your childhood, and try to discover where you first go the idea you couldn't be successful, if that's the way you've been thinking.
5. Change the image you have of yourself by writing out a description of the person you would like to be.
6. Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become!"
Dr. David Harold Fink

Regular readers will know that I would add a seventh step; study success daily, fill your mind with positive information that will reinforce your belief in your unlimited potential!

Nattering Nabobs of Negativism

When I was thinking about what I should write about today the quote from Spiro Agnew 'nattering nabobs of negativism' popped into my mind. He was referring to the press but really it fits anyone that sows seeds of negativity.
Now, before you get to condemning the natterers, I've got another quote; "We have met the enemy and he is us" from the comic strip Pogo (Walt Kelly). Why this second quote? Because I believe that we all have nattered some negativity. We are a culture of people that have, for centuries, passed along negativism.
Think Columbus, the Wright brothers, or Marconi just to name a few. People told them repeatedly, that what they believed was wrong, crazy, couldn't be done. That's what people do, they doubt, they disbelieve. It is probably the most damaging meme of all and I can't think of anyone that hasn't been affected by it.
On one hand we tell our children that they can be anything the want to be, that we believe in them but then the first time they come to us with an idea, a wish, a dream, we 'steal' it from them. We tell them they can't do it, it can't be done, they aren't smart, talented, strong or whatever enough to do it, how would they pay for it, maybe we laugh and we totally can't see the possibility for it happening. Thus we crush their dream 9 times out of ten, maybe more. History is full of famous people that never listened to the dreamstealers because they were people that refused to have their belief taken away. But history is full of tens of thousands of people that could not overcome that doubt, probably because it comes from a 'nabob', that is, someone they respect & admire, like a parent. And the worst thing of all is that we don't even realize that we have done this. Not only do we do this to our loved ones, we do this to everyone. We may tell ourselves we are just being realistic but the truth of the matter is that through belief, action and persistence just about everything anyone wanted to do, like say, flight, was achieved. Mt. Everest was conquered by someone that didn't listen to others telling him it could not be done.
By now you may be wondering why this post has been about negativity. Well, just had to do some background, so to speak. We are capable of learning new ways of being & thinking, we can stop stealing dreams. We can at the very least, keep our doubts to ourselves and at the very most, encourage others to go for the gold. Imagine how your life would be if, for all your life, every time you set a goal, there were people there to give you moral support, ideas, perhaps even a helping hand. Imagine being raised to believe that anything was possible, maybe not easy (maybe sometimes very damn hard) but possible all the same. Imagine how different your life would be right now. Then take every negative word any nabobs ever said to you and throw it away because it's not too late. All that matters is what you think. And what you believe.

Perspective

I wanted to keep this post short but then I started thinking about perspective and how we sometimes lose perspective. When you are in the middle of the woods you really can't see the forests for the trees but if you step away from the woods (and maybe go up on a hill) you can see the entire forest. We all develop habituated ways of thinking about situations & people that can affect our perspective. Habits of thought can cause us to miss cues from the universe that we are headed the wrong way. Spending twenty or thirty minutes a day reading, listening to or watching something from the recommended materials (or even some you may have discovered for yourself) can help us keep perspective and change our habits of thought.
Our habitual thinking is what has manifested the things we have had in our lives, all of our lives. And its these habits of thought that we want to change (if we are looking for more prosperity) and we all know, habits can be hard to break. I love how Jim Rohn describes this; think of your mind as a garden. Negative thoughts are weeds. You can be thinking all day every day, no weeds, no weeds, no weeds but weeds are going to come. You have to pull them up by the roots and throw them away. And you need to understand the seasons. You plant the seeds but you don't have blooms the next day, it takes some time for them to sprout and grow. Even more time to get to the harvest and there is always going to be winter. We each have barriers and walls we have to break thru to have success. For each of us these come at different times and are different things. Personal development helps you break thru faster and with less effort than you would or even could without it. The difference between a success and a loss is perspective; you either look at something and see only the problems or you look at the same thing and see only the possibilities, solutions and rewards. I say that because the average person hasn't yet developed the skills and the ability to focus on the solution and not the problem, the barrier. This is winter. When winter comes you either find a way or you quit. It's that simple. People who quit usually blame everybody and everything except themselves. But this is where personal development changes everything. You learn that winter will pass and if you have tended your garden with care, spring will see your garden blossom. The thing about winter is that you don't always know when it is coming because its different for everyone. The secret to surviving winter is to build that positive mindset and focus on solving the problem. Its uncomfortable to find yourself up against the wall but you stretch, you do the uncomfortable and it starts to feel comfortable. You break thru the wall and you feel fantastic. You build confidence and then when you get to the next wall, you know how to get thru it and you gain even more confidence. Surprisingly, you get to a point where you welcome walls because you understand what getting thru them does for you and that is when you see yourself in a better light. That is when you will see that your habitual thinking is positive, its serene, you are full of love for life and people including yourself. There is an expression that the bigger the breakthrough the bigger the payoff because of what you get when you break through.
So take a step back every once in a while, and look at things from the outside-from a different perspective-and you might be surprised, perhaps pleasantly surprised.

Maybe You Need a New Mirror!

Ever hear (including out of your own mouth) someone say they lack talent or ability or luck enough to do this, that or the other?

You know, when most of us were young our parents told us we could be anything we wanted to be. We felt 10 feet tall but then something happened; Life intruded on us and we were unprepared to deal with negativity because while we heard the positive message it wasn't enough information for us to understand that we could be anything we wanted to be, that we also needed focus and determination to get it. As kids we do not understand that our sense of self-worth needs to come from within and we let others tell us who we are and what we are worth. By the time we are adults we accept what manifests in our lives without understanding our connection to those things, so many of us are beaten down and afraid that good things only happen to other people. Today I want you to be crystal clear that it can be you. I want you to say to yourself right now. If he can do it so can I. If she can do it so can I. Remember that Jim Rohn says; 'why not you?'

In 1993 there was a massive flood on the Mississippi River that devastated many communities. Our family clubhouse was totaled. We saw this as our opportunity to rebuild bigger better and of course, higher. When we finished with the clubhouse we had some extra lumber left over so we decided to build a dock. Jim got busy building it and I started working on the ramp since the dock had to sit away from the shore. One of our neighbors, another weekend resident, who never built anything in his life, saw me and got inspired. He kept saying if she can do that then so can I. He went out and bought himself some power tools and materials then he built a dock of his own. Just seeing me doing something made him realize that the only thing that had stopped him from action was not understanding that he COULD do it. Once he believed he could do it that changed his whole life. He became more confident and outgoing and he was more fun to be around because that little thing made him happy. He tapped into that belief that he could do anything he wanted so why not you? If you don't realize how great you are then you need to take a personal inventory of yourself and see that you do have what it takes to be anything you want to be, to have anything you want and to live an extraordinary life. To take a personal inventory, just write down every thing you have ever accomplished; including all the small stuff; that home run, a perfect score on a test, picking the perfect gift for somebody special, anything and everything that was a personal success for you. Then you can easily see that it CAN be you! And if you take a personal inventory of your successes be sure to add it to your gratitude board and see why you too should put a picture of yourself on your board because you have high value and you need to feel grateful to yourself just for being you!

Uncomfortable Silence?

Today I thought I would bring up a subject I wrote about a long time ago; how much do you enjoy your own company? Do you need to have the television or radio on all the time? Do you need your mp3 player with you if you go for a walk or jog? Do you find reasons to call people when you are alone just so you can 'keep busy' or maybe you constantly go over mental lists of things to do? These are all indicators that you may not be comfortable with your own thoughts.

If this sounds like you then it is likely that you aren't doing a lot of thinking. Sound strange? Yes, we all do what we call thinking all day long every day but really that isn't the kind of thinking that I am referring to-that's like chatter, it's the minutia of living and it includes all the thoughts that get you up, dressed, fed and on your way every day, then drives you all day long. And, for some of you, the voice of your harshest critic, nitpicking everything, reminding you of past mistakes, of things/chores you haven't gotten done yet, bills, problems and the like.

The thinking that I am speaking of is true thinking about what you may call philosophy; how you really feel about things, including yourself, and this kind of thinking can only happen when you eliminate distractions.

And the great thing about thinking is that you realize that you have a lot of good, intelligent thoughts & ideas which leads you to see that you have talents, beliefs and unlimited potential.

So next chance you get, turn off the radio, cell phone, tv, step away from the computer and take five minutes just to think. And then do that every day until it becomes a part of your daily routine.

Source Unknown

I thought about a quote I heard but I couldn't remember where I heard it and when I researched it I found that it had been attributed to many people so I am sure it is 'source unknown'. Ever notice that some of the best quotes are anonymous or source unknown? I think it's because of the quote that started this post;

"People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel"

People hear things that affect them and words that have such impact that they tend to repeat them, often without citing the source so eventually the source becomes unknown. And really, that's as it should be because the words or idea is the important part not who said it.

So that, in a roundabout way is how I ask you to pay attention to the conversations that you have for the next few days. Do you leave people feeling better about themselves, about whatever subject you were talking about, about life in general? Or not?

Part of making people feel better about themselves is to really listen to what they are saying. Most people say one thing but their real meaning is not in their words. Many people don't even realize that they do this. Many people are harsh critics of themselves and a few kind words or praise or validation can go a long way for them. Praise or compliments-when they are genuine-can make such a difference for any of us. We all love the most, the people that make us feel the best.

Zig Ziglar is famous for saying that if you help enough people get what they want, you will get everything that you want. What everyone really wants is to be happy so share a bit of love and praise with people. Just try this for a few days; make a point of paying attention to how you make people feel. And then spend a few days actively trying to leave them feeling better after talking to you. Then notice that you are actually happier because you have just spent a few days looking for what is great about the people that you talk to and focused on what is good.

Fear Not....

Have you ever been talking to someone and they say that they want to do something or go somewhere but when you suggest they do that or go there, they always have a reason why they can't do that right now? It's the kids, the parents, the economy, the weather, their health, their pets, just some reason why they can just not do that right now-but someday.....

Nursing homes are full of people that would tell you that life flies by as do opportunities, and that if they had it all to do over again they would do it differently but they always had some responsibility or some obligation that prevented them from doing what they really wanted to do.

But then you look around and see that throughout history there are people that had the same sort of obligations & responsibilities yet they went after the things that they really wanted, and didn't regret it.

So what holds people back? I have to say that for most, it's fear. All that other stuff is just choices and priorities, seized on to anchor one to where life is comfortable. Fear of failure, fear of inadequacy, fear of success, fear of change, fear or whatever. Let's face it, stepping outside of what is comfortable is scary and uncomfortable. It involves risks most aren't willing to take, the biggest of which is possibly failing in front of your family and peers, all of whom see you in a certain 'mold' so if you don't conform to that mold anymore they tend to notice and may not be happy about it.

Is there a solution? Not sure if there is a one size fits all solution, but if there is one, it would certainly involve knowing what it is that you truly want to do, be and have. Not what it would be nice, what you might wish for-but what you really, really want and then asking yourself; how can I? The answers will appear when you start seeking them. But what about the fear, you say? Ask a veteran and they will tell you fear does not just go away but you ignore it and get busy or it takes over.

I am reminded of a woman that started her own business, risking everything she owned to do so. An acquaintance of hers told her that she would never do that because she had children to take care of and the woman replied her children were exactly why she started the business.

Someone recently told me that they got the concept of the 'law of attraction' but that it just didn't work for them. I can't say that is an uncommon experience. Why is that? Most of us don't just have one thing going on, one goal to shoot for, one thing to focus on all the time; we all have a life and it's jam packed with things we have to do, people, commitments, hobbies and relationships-just to name a few. And it's important to have a life but equally important to work on our goals at least a little bit every day.
But there is another reason; we don't truly understand the formula. Belief plus action equals results. An easy formula but....we may need to take more than one action to get the results we want.
Think of it like building a fire; if just one thing is off, your fire may not burn at all, it might not burn properly or it may go wildly out of control. So you build carefully, using the right materials, monitor closely and make adjustments as necessary. And it's the same for your goals; you lay the foundation, give it your attention and effort and you pay attention to the feedback (results) that you get. Then (you don't give up if it doesn't work) you adjust if you need to, and try again. If you were freezing and you needed a fire would you give up if your first attempt failed? Heck no, you need that warmth, you'd try until you succeeded! Not just because you want that heat but because you know that you can do it. It's just a fire, humans have been building fires for like, forever! And you are human so of course you can build a fire!
So when you decide that you will do something, you use the formula until you've done it, because you know you can.

It's Not What Happens.....

I hate to do back to back posts of quotes but someone told me that she had one going through her mind all day today and suggested I share it, so here goes;

"It's not what happens, it's what you do about what happens" (I have also heard the same speaker say 'It's not what happens, because what happens, happens to us all, it's what you do about what happens.'
Jim Rohn

I think that we can all appreciate what Jim is saying; we all have challenges but we don't all respond the same way to those challenges. Some step up, some step away and some step off.
I am reminded of a story I heard about an Italian immigrant named Amedeo Giannini. He started a bank in a saloon in 1904 with less than nine thousand dollars in deposits but when the great earthquake stuck in 1907 and the city of San Francisco suffered great damage from the quake and resulting fires, Amedeo acted quickly. He collected all of his cash and got it out of the city. As soon as the fires were extinguished, he brought the money back and operated his bank from a plank on a street. He saw opportunity where others did not. His business boomed. Today the name of that bank is The Bank of America.

What happened that day in San Fransisco happened to everyone there. But what Amedeo did about it is to see the opportunity and act on it.

A Simple Quote

I came across this quote and thought it would be a good one to share;

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.”

Dr. Wayne Dyer

Now, I could tell you how I interpret that quote but I would rather have you decide what it means to you, though I must say I am sorely tempted to add my two cents worth so I will just add that particular emphasis on the last two words would seem to be in order.

Mike Said Redux

One of my friends sent me a copy of one of my old posts and suggested I share it again so here goes;

I love quotes. Quotes inspire me, make me think, make me try again, make me laugh-you get the picture. Sometimes a great sentiment has been expressed so perfectly that there is just no way to improve it and no way to say it in other words without losing something in that ‘translation’.

I send out a quote to a number of people Monday thru Friday and it always has a picture to provoke a feeling of wonder, joy or gratitude, so I tend to ‘collect’ quotes. I came across one that actually made me laugh out loud while at the same time I was realizing that it was so true. Part of the reason this quote stuck with me isn’t just the words, it was the person that said them; Mike Tyson. Yep, that Mike Tyson-the famous boxer.

“Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face.”

It’s okay to laugh, like I said, I did. And yet at that same moment I knew he was right. You set a goal and figure out how to go about achieving that goal; that’s your plan. And then, BAM, a challenge comes up-like a punch in the face. Some people fall down and never get back up. Some people jump back up right away and start slugging away and some people do a combination of both. They might get back up but after that punch they just try to play it safe, they never take another chance, they settle for less.

A few people famous for getting punched in the face repeatedly yet not giving up? Thomas Edison, Harlan Sanders and Henry Ford. All had many failures before they had one success. Another example? Just about every toddler you have ever met. How many times does a baby fall before learning to walk? Even if that baby hits something and gets hurt while trying that baby will not give up. Quit is not in a baby’s vocabulary and it should not be in yours either.

Got Goals?

This is probably a good time to go back over setting goals. I say that because I’ve gotten a bit of feedback and it seems that many people find it a challenge to come up with fifty goals to put on their list.

When you tell people to write down their tip fifty goals they often think that it will be easy to come up with all fifty but when you actually start writing, somewhere around twenty or so it becomes more of a challenge.

More of a challenge until you realize the list isn’t just about the stuff you want to have or the places you want to visit, you know, the material things in life. It’s also about who you want to be, skills you want to hone or acquire (like learning another language), goals for exercise and health, goals for character, integrity and discipline. Goals that define you and build self-esteem.

Once you add those goals, its easy to go over fifty goals, and that’s okay too. But it’s also okay not to have fifty goals. The important thing to understand is that studies show that people with well-defined, written goals achieve their goals much more often than those without written goals. And you are never too old, too unhealthy or too anything to have goals-as long as you are alive.

One last thing about goals; you should be clear that every goal you have is ultimately designed to help you find true prosperity. What is true prosperity? It is having good health, being someone you like to be around, having enough money in your pocket to do or have want you want and bliss (being happy just to be).

So I guess you need to get writing.

Daniel Boone Was a Man……

I have heard that some people have initially embraced the concept that we create our own lives and then, when their dreams and goals don’t materialize overnight or when they face adversity, they decide it’s poppycock. Why is that?

Well, they are introduced to the idea of creating their dream life when they see movies like The Secret or read self growth books, get excited by the possibilities and then get shut down for a hundred reasons. Okay, not a hundred but for different reasons; some take no action to make their goal a reality, some decide the way the desired result will happen and ignore nudges from the universe (often with disastrous results), some have so little love for themselves that they don’t feel worthy or have so little belief that it is possible for them. For others they have no problem believing but for themselves, they just can’t see it. And some give up because it was harder than they thought it would be and at the first big challenge, they quit. This is another reason why it is best to do some personal development every day for at least twenty or thirty minutes and why it is not limited to reading books like say, Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill). Biography’s are also a great source of inspiration for anyone.

Yesterday I happened to come across the bio of Daniel Boone on Wikipedia and I recommend it to anyone facing adversity. It’s relatively short but one thing is consistent; Daniel Boone faced many ups and downs in his life but he never gave up, he never stopped trying and he never tried to insist that there was only one way to make his way in life. He started over several times, always believing that the universe would provide, and it did. I believe that if he were here today he would say that he would do it all over, exactly as he did and with no regrets, and that he had lived a blessed life, in spite of his challenges. 

So take a page from Boone’s book, don’t let life's challenges stop you, if something doesn’t work then try something else and care as much about yourself as much as you care about others.

What Are You Doing for Personal Development?

I often ask people what they are doing for personal development and the answer is often that they are doing nothing. At least they think they are doing no personal development but the reality is that personal development is like momentum; always in motion.

Your personal development is either deliberate self growth or it is by default. Every day of your life you have been a receiver for messages; messages of positive data and of negative data. You hear or watch  the news, you listen to the radio, I daresay you hear gossip-even when its disguised as ‘status updates’. Sadly, the input you receive from these sorts of sources is usually negative and the result is that you may develop a negative view of people, opportunities and possibilities.

Your brain is no different that your body; what you feed it determines it’s well-being. And the good thing is that you get to choose every day what you will ‘feed’ yourself. You can choose to read stories about people that overcame adversity, that succeeded and inspired. You can watch movies that promote character and integrity. You can listen to music that elevates you. This sort of information makes you understand that people can do anything they set their minds to. That people can do great things, that life is good, and anything is possible.

It’s not that you don’t acknowledge that negative things happen in the world, it’s that you choose to put yourself in a position that if something negative happens you can respond rather than reacting. The former is done by deliberation the latter by emotion and I’ll bet you can guess which one usually works out best.

So take a minute and think about what sort of a ‘diet’ you have your mind on, maybe it’s time to limit your ‘junk food’ and increase healthier choices.

It’s Kind of a Long Story

I’d like to share a story with you.  You may have heard it before; I, myself have heard two different versions of it but it is a good story and worth repeating. A man and his wife walk into an antiques store. The man looked up on a shelf and smiled & pointed something out to his wife. Then she looked up & saw what he was pointing at. She said “Isn’t that the most beautiful teacup you ever saw!” The teacup replied “I was not always so pretty, once upon a time I was a lump of clay, living happily in a field of clay. One day a man came along and dug me up. He took me home and put me on a table. Then he started pounding and kneading, & pulling on me and it hurt very much! I told him to stop because he was hurting me but he said “not yet” and just kept doing it. Finally he smiled and I thought he was done torturing me but then he started squishing me and pulling me until he had twisted me into a cup shape! I was really uncomfortable but he put me up on a shelf so I was happy to be left alone. Well that didn’t last very long! A few days later he took me off the shelf and put me in an oven! Oh it was sooo hot! I cried and cried and when I saw him looking in the little window I begged him to take me out because I just couldn’t take it anymore he said ‘not yet’ and left me to burn. It seemed like forever before he turned off the oven and I got to cool off. I thought I certainly must be done with this terrible ordeal but soon he took me back to his table and started painting me with some very stinky paint! If that wasn’t bad enough, he put me back in the oven! Once again I begged him over and over to let me out but all he said was ‘not yet’ Finally when I thought I could stand no more, he turned off the oven and let me cool off. Then he took me out and looked over every square inch of me. Finally satisfied, he held up a mirror so I could see what I had become. I knew I felt differently, after what he had put me through who would be the same, but I was as you see me today and I realized that I who thought myself to be happy laying in a field of clay was only now truly happy because I had been transformed from something that was basically nothing to something that was very special. Today I am proud of what I have become.”

The teacup’s story is one way of explaining the process of self-growth and manifesting your dreams, a way of telling you what personal development does for you and that you can expect some growing pains but those growing pains will make you stronger not kill you. Many times along the journey you might feel like quitting but if you stay in belief & keep working toward your goal, you will succeed.

Do This Instead

There is a series of articles on the internet with the subject of don’t eat this, do eat this and the articles compare calories and fat of different foods. It’s often quite an eye opener to find  many dishes that are so high in fat, sodium and calories but I suspect that lots of folks still eat them. These articles inspired me to write today's post as a don’t do that, do this instead.

1. Don’t affirm what you don’t want. And by that I mean do not say things like; I am fat, I am sick or I am broke even if any of those things are true. DO affirm what you want; I look great, I feel great, my supply is unlimited. Yes, you might need to lose weight, you might not be healthy or you might not be rich but we never forget that words create.

2. Don’t worry, DO trust and believe because you cannot believe and worry at the same time.

3. Don’t hold onto anger, DO forgive. Yeah, I know you don’t want to, they did you wrong, it’s just not right, it hurts like hell but holding onto anger makes it hurt a lot more and for longer. Find something bigger than your anger, get busy with whatever project you can think of; reinvent yourself, go back to school, volunteer somewhere, play some game like Frontierville, exercise, read, just get busy and get over it because that is how you leave it behind.

4. Don’t feed your mind crap (you know information that is negative, opinions about how bad everything & everyone is, that sort of thing), DO feed your mind good materials that help you grow (you can go back to previous posts to find some recommended materials) and spend at least 20-30 minutes a day (yes, every day) with that good material.

5. Don’t drift though life, DO have dreams & goals & visualize for a few minutes everyday. See yourself happy, (get a picture of yourself laughing and happy if that's what it takes) and enjoying life.

I am sure I could make this list a top ten but these will do for starters.

 

 

It is not really different when you tell people

How Can I?

Today I was trying to do something but I wasn’t having much luck with it. In the old days, I would have gotten frustrated and short-tempered. Today I laughed about it with a friend and one minute later the whole thing worked out just the way I wanted it to.

Now, I’m not saying that every time I have an obstacle to overcome, I now make a joke and jump right over it and I did wrestle with this challenge for over an hour before it worked out. What I am saying is that I changed and I learned to to do two things; I never forgot that I could succeed and I trusted the universe to do its part.

I didn’t just sit there waiting for the universe though, I did what I could and kept asking myself ‘how can I? ‘ then I would try, try again, not the same thing over & over hoping for a different result, but trying different approaches to the same challenge. You might say, well everyone does that, but no they don’t. Some people quit, some people get very cranky or have a tantrum. (Truth be told I have been known to break things that frustrated me too much-bet lots of you have too-lol-but that was a long time ago) It’s the attitude that makes the difference that I am speaking of, the trust that what I wanted was going to show up as long as I kept believing it would and doing my part to make it happen.

I have to say that while it was great that what I wanted finally happened, what I really noticed was how I could make a joke about it instead of cussing about it. And I realized that so many things in life would go so much better if we could all just leave the negative emotions behind when faced with a challenging situation because all those negative emotions do is get in the way and steal your joy.

So next time you are faced with an obstacle and your first attempt to overcome it doesn’t work, ask yourself ‘how can I’ do this? and then notice how many answers you give yourself because if you listen you will find that you will give yourself more than one possibility. Then try, try again.

A Rerun

I decided to take a look back today and I started to review old posts  and the first one I opened was this one;

A Heavy Sigh is what I caught myself doing when I sat down to write this post today. Why is that you say? Because I am kind of tired of writing about the same old same old. But I know that I must do this in a thousand different ways until everyone gets it so here goes;

Your thoughts create the things and occurrences of your life, period. Okay maybe its exclamation point, I don’t know but what I do know is that what you think about, what you believe in your heart of hearts is what you create and then you attract more of that to you and in turn are attracted to more of it. So if you think thoughts of inferiority, you are attracted to those who hold low opinions of themselves and vice versa. If you worry all the time, you find plenty to be worried about. If you think thoughts of negativity or complaint you attract things to complain about and people to share complaints with and vice versa. And yeah, by vice versa I mean if you have a good opinion of yourself you end up surrounded by like minded individuals and a positive attitude brings, surprise, like minded individuals around.

That's it in a nutshell, you simply decide who you want to be and you control what you allow yourself to think and in time-and I say in time because you have to give yourself time to create a new habit and the universe time to rearrange things-you can create the things that you say that you want. The choice is entirely yours and nobody (or nothing) else's.

When I reread that post, I thought, ‘that was pretty good’ so I decided to share it again and just add this; “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

Don’t Say That!

One of my favorite creations of the past several years has to be Facebook. I love so many things about the site that I could write about it for an hour. But the one thing that makes me really cringe is when I see people post negative comments-mostly about themselves!!!!

Words create, and negative words create negative things so when I see a post of a person calling himself or herself a loser, posts from angry people (especially when they are using all caps or profanity) or endless videos of anger or hate, that is distressing to me because I know that person is not only not in a good place but they are building a future of more of the same thing.

I want to reach out and slap these people (but not really) and what I usually do is send them a positive message or recommend some book or something that could help. I know that they think they are just ‘blowing off steam’ but they just don’t seem to get what they are saying to the universe is drawing more of whatever has them going off to begin with. It becomes their focus and that focus has strong emotion behind and we all know that emotion drives the law of attraction.

I think that I have shared this before but I think its great and its what I think of whenever I see a negative post (and btw, I don’t see that many since I learned about self growth- law of association and all that you know) and a refresher is always good;

“True abundance has nothing to do with anything that I am having, & everything to do with what I am being, And when I share my abundance of beingness abundantly with all those whose live I touch, everything i sought to have came to me automatically, without my even trying to have them.” Neale Donald Walsh

A Change For the Better

Ever notice that lots of people have dreams and goals, especially when they are young but then they seem to ‘settle’ for something else, something less than what they really want?

Today I share two quotes;

You pay the price of discipline or you pay the price of regret but either way you gotta pay. Jim Rohn

No matter what we want of life we have to give up something in order to get it. Raymond Holliwell

Now, logically we can all understand & agree with these statements but emotionally? Not necessarily because we let ‘life’ get in our way. We get caught up in the small picture and let go of the big picture because we have our feelings in the moment. But at the heart of every dream, of every goal, of every wish, is the desire to be happy and we think we know how we can find that happiness but if that doesn’t work out the way we planned we tend to still try to hang onto it, long past when we should move on. The universe has a way of letting us know when we need to make some changes & sometimes we don’t even see it coming & we might resist it when it happens.

So how does a person let go of something, that might not be right for us, that might not make us happy anymore, that might not be right for us anymore? By finding something bigger than what we want (or maybe need) to leave behind.

If you had a job, a good job that you enjoyed doing but he company wasn’t great or a great company doing a job you maybe didn’t love or a similar scenario at work and for whatever reason you needed to find a different job; you would have to leave the security or familiarity of that old job in order to find a better job. You would have to let go of what was ‘comfortable’ to move onto what was better. At first, it wouldn’t be very comfortable but if you wanted something better from your career, that would be the price you paid for getting something better. And once you got busy with that new job you would give very little thought to the old job so the new job became bigger than the old.

It’s the same for relationships, for habits or for anything really; you have to let go of the lesser to move to the better.