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.