Monthly Archives: March 2021

21

Kindness

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2664d0e2789d58be9784c145b6b47963It is in our nature to judge others. We do it naturally, judging someone else’s behavior, actions, motives, or past. It is a biological need to do this because it will help protect you from harmful situations and people, and of course, this is important to your survival.

It really jumps out at you when you observe people being judgmental about the behavior of others. It seems that today the judgments of others are high, and the reactions to others are based on blind judgment and hate. It stands out and makes you wonder why it is that way. When you judge someone else in this manner, you define yourself, not them. I think it is important to remember this.

Judgments are Easy

It is easy to look at one action a person takes and judge their entire lives judgment 2because of it. The deed may be terrible and unforgivable, but does that void all the good that they might have done in their life? What were the circumstances that led to this event?  It is effortless to judge the behavior of others in a vacuum devoid of all the facts.  This is being done all the time, and most of these judgments lead to hate. It is important to remember that we are all human beings with an equal disposition for both darkness and light, and it is our experiences, intentions, and choices that move us toward one or the other.

When facts are learned and the whole story is revealed, humanity is often revealed by people that can be understood. Understanding is not acceptance; it knows that faced with different circumstances, you might make such a poor choice yourself and there but for the good fortune of your life, go you.  You can judge all of our lives in a vacuum, and you can be made to look insensitive, cold, and uncaring. It is a matter of perspective.

Acceptance Is The Cure

The opposite of judgment is acceptance. This does not mean that you agree with everything a person does regardless of morality. It means that imagesyou can accept that people make mistakes, do mean things, cheat, lie, or commit any number of sins in their lives.  Acceptance means that we understand that we ourselves have made poor decisions at times, and none of us want to be defined by our worst moments.

Each person has a moment in their life that is unquestionably positive. These actions and events have made the world a better place in even just the smallest of ways. It is up to each of us to show kindness to others as best we can. Show compassion and understanding to people who need it so that they will do the same when they have the opportunity.  You do not have to condone someone’s behavior to show compassion and acceptance of their humanity.

You have to have a little kindness in your heart.

“It is with our judgments as with our watches: no two go just alike, yet each believes his own.”   Alexander Pope

“Hesitancy in judgment is the only true mark of the thinker.”  Dagobert D. Runes

“In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed. We see most dimly the objects which are close around us.”  Richard Whately

“One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing is to supply light and not heat.”Woodrow Wilson

“Men are often biased in their judgment on account of their sympathy and their interests.”

21

A Comeback

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“Every setback leaves behind a path to make your comeback.”

comeback storiesEvery person who has lived life has experienced the need to come back from adversity. We all face challenges and how we respond to them goes a long way in defining our lives and our character. Do we shrink in the face of adversity, or do we face it as best we can and move forward? How have you fared in your comeback stories from adversity?

Setbacks Abound

No matter how careful you are living your life, there will be things that hurt, upset, and/or distress you. They are going to happen. Loved ones pass away, relationships end, we are blamed for things, we make mistakes. All of these things will happen, and the first reaction may be from instinct, fight, or flight with the problem and those involved. Runaway and hide or work up your anger and fight the problem, but neither of these solutions is going to comeback storiesreally help. What will help is accepting the challenge? It happened, there are consequences? Accept them and move forward.

There is no avoiding the challenges of life because they are put here to make us better, stronger, and more complete people. It would be nice if we never had to face death or the loss of a job, or the rejection of our romantic gestures. But in life, these things are going to happen. We are all united in the conditions of our collective misery. We are not unique, or by ourselves. It only appears that way. Everyone is faced with the same challenges. After a bit of time passes from the loss, there will always be a path lit, just for you, allowing you to move toward a more substantive life. The story of your comeback will not only enrich your life, but it will also inspire others to face their problems as well.

Rise From The Ashes

The Phoenix is a mythical creature that rose from the ashes, again and again, to become its majestic self once more.  We are all like the Phoenix in our lives. Life can be a difficult game, and we make it so by believing limiting things about ourselves and accepting the limits others place on us. We blame comeback storiesothers and God for our failures, and until we accept what has happened, we can’t move forward. We cannot rise from the fire. We are going to be stuck in place.

The unfortunate things that happen to people are often not their fault, and we may all be the victim in a relationship, be robbed, attacked, taken advantage of. Those are the actions of another. Our responsibility to ourselves lies in how we decide to react to that event. Does it cripple us? Does it make you wallow in depression? Does it make you bitter and angry about everything? Or do you rise above it? Do you define yourself with your powerful qualities? Your innate goodness and caring. Do you accept your power to choose your path? The choice is always yours and yours alone.

Every setback that you have or will experience leaves a path to make a comeback. The power and direction of that experience are dependent wholly on you and your attitude. You are as powerful or as weak as you choose to be. Your personal choices will always tell your story.

Is it time for your comeback stories to be shared?

Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, but it is better with a little Rocky in it.

21

Dream Possibility

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7825225598_c7cd7347c8It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.  – Paulo Coelho

As we live our lives from day to day,  waking up in the morning, getting prepared for challenges ahead, and then journeying out into the world to see what adventures the day has in store for us, what is it that we are seeking? Some people are looking for fame, some are looking for fortune, and some are looking for it all.  Having a dream is the juice that makes life interesting. It provides unlimited possibilities and the chance of failure. We are all looking for something.

Losing the Dream

Living in America today, we are taught the dream that we “should” be pursuing. We have all heard it. You should do well in school, get good grades, get into the right college, graduate, develop a career, find a special someone, get married, have 2.5 kids, raise them, at 65, dreamyou retire and “live the good life.”  It seems to me that it is at that point, people realize that they never really had a dream of their own.

There is nothing wrong with this collective dream if it makes you happy, but for many, it replaces your desires, and you end up doing something that you are not devoted to.  A dream will allow you to have a special kind of passion for what you are trying to accomplish. There are rewards once the goal is achieved, but the journey is also a reward because you are doing what you are passionate about. How do we lose our dream?  It starts when we stop making choices for ourselves and allow others, society, family, the media, or others to choose what we think we should do.

The Interesting Thing About Dreams

Interestingly, our lives are a consistent pursuit of our dreams. When we are looking to live our dreams, we see new things and have new experiences that make our lives far more interesting. Remember those that tell you, “You can’t,” or “You can’t make money doing that.” or “That is so 7777777777777777771unrealistic,” all of these are just the limitations of other people. Accept them, and they become yours. Ignore them, and the limits you face will be created by you alone.

Do not sell yourself short or play a small game. You have greatness in you, and your dreams will be your expression of that greatness. The goals will allow you the share the best of yourself with others and inspire others to follow their dreams in turn.  If we are all striving to follow our dreams, what a world would it be?

Dreams make life more enjoyable because we don’t know the limits of humankind in any given area. We don’t know what our limits are.  The best of each of us can provide something the world has never seen before. What if nothing can stop you? What if you can invent the next big thing? What if you can sing that song? Win that race? Be famous? We can dream and see a more significant field for us to play in makes the world much more enjoyable.

What are your dreams, and how has the journey to achieve them make your life more enjoyable? 

It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.  – Paulo Coelho

21

Challenges

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What would your life look like if you were more positive in your thoughts?

challengesNo matter how confident and successful you are, life has a way of throwing challenges at you that will push you to make decisions redefining who you are and your substance.  In everyone’s life, there will be events that force a constant expression of this experience and force you to take actions that will bring growth in your life.

In the end, even after facing a challenge,  I like to think that we have found a more galvanized understanding of who we are, and we hold on to this self-image with a more critical and realistic passion. Sometimes the challenges are so overwhelming that it takes quite a bit of time to find your equilibrium and look at things with a more open mind and accepting heart.  Will you find positivity at the end of a challenge in life? Only you can tell that for yourself. I have always thought I would. But recently, my life has taught me many things from challenges. I have experience loss, betrayal, poor judgment and found a perspective of forgiveness and, hopefully, positive growth in all areas of my life because of it.

Being Positive, When the World is Negative

Even though I have spent a lot of time learning about the power of being positive, I know positive thoughts produce positive energy. I have, on positive_redcoccasion, slipped into being judgmental and critical of others for no reason other than because I was experiencing something negative. When you are experiencing fear of any kind and are afraid of your needs not met, this can happen.

Being positive becomes difficult when you look at life and the people in it as things that affect you, rather than seeing them as people who are just doing the best they can to survive day-to-day.  All people have weaknesses, and from time to time, they are annoying and rub you the wrong way.  One of the biggest challenges in life is accepting these negatives and still supporting and highlighting the positives of every individual in your life. The things that annoy us the most are the weaknesses we see in ourselves. We are maintaining a focus on love, understanding, acceptance, and kindness, which can be a challenge, and the reward in accepting others is a better view of ourselves.

It becomes challenging to do this when an atmosphere of negativity engulfs you, focusing on the negative features of things like judgment, sarcasm, and just being plain mean.  That is when you have to work a bit harder to find the positives.  The best way that I have found is to look for the things that are going right and not worry about what is wrong with the job, community, or each other. Especially each other. 

Find Time For You

No matter how busy you think you are or what others believe you should be doing, it would help if you found time dedicated to yourself.  Scheduling this can be a challenge, but vital to allowing person la growth. Rather than get all wrapped up in the daily chores, problems to be solved, and performance, find time for you. Don’t lose your focus on pure kindness and courtesy; people should show one another each day.

One of my favorite ways to maintain a more positive focus is to spend a little time each day learning something new and digesting that information productively and healthily. You are never too old to learn, and growth is a lifelong process.  Learning about yourself makes you less judgmental of others and keeps the focus where it belongs, on your thoughts and ideas. Those who don’t find growth are slowly dying. Finding time to think and put your experiences into perspective will allow your life to have a much more significant flavor. Life is continually trying to teach you lessons. Your reflection is their chance to sink in and make an impact.

Focus Your Energy

All experiences are going to change your life in one way or another.  People often choose to let most of what happens to them be negative and spend time trying to overcome whatever life has given them.

focus expandsI think there is a better way, and that is to remove the labels of good or bad that are associated with experiences and label them all “Experiences.”  Changing our perspective can be difficult when things are personal, but in reality, everything that happens is just an experience that brings something to our lives that we apply value to, good or bad.  We choose to smile and take what we can or to frown and feel overwhelmed by things happening to us. We have a choice.

The choices we make in each moment will determine the path of our day, and our days discover the way of our lives. There are many great things in life we all experience each day, from pleasant weather to a good cup of coffee. We need to notice and appreciate them.  Being grateful for the positives in life will always take the focus and power away from the negatives.

What if you decided to accept everything that happens to you as if you chose it? 

What you spend your time and effort focusing on in your life will increase.

“Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see a shadow.” — Helen Keller.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” — Willie Nelson.

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” — Lyndon B. Johnson.

“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision.” 

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!!

21

Daily Thoughts

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Positive thoughtsThinking has been a major activity for me in my life. I seem to have many thoughts, and I wonder if they all have any actual meaning. Are my thoughts designed to guide me? Or are they here to distract me? I could believe either scenario because they seem to provide equal situations of positive and negative things. Do thoughts actually provide any concrete information, or do they arrive to distract you from accomplishment? I think Positive thoughts always contribute to your greater good, and negative ones waste your time.

Some books I have read have stated that your brain clearly produces most thought to distract you and most of your thoughts are not worth paying attention to. They are negative and self-defeating and should be ignored, cast away. Yet others believe that through our thoughts, we can create anything. By focusing on the correct thoughts, speaking similar words, and taking actions will lead to creating whatever we initially thought about.  NOw that is a phenomenon worth thinking about.

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

The human mind creates thoughts continuously all the time. That is its job, and it does it well. The quality of these thoughts is not always at the highest level, but the positive thoughtsflow is constant. Most of the time, people really pay no attention to their thoughts and definitely never consider where they come from. Thoughts about everything under the sun are great, but they can focus away from accomplishments and goals.  In fact, somewhere around 95% of our thoughts are repeats of thoughts we have had before.

The danger is that if you don’t use your mind to pay attention to your thoughts, somebody else just may.   I was never sure of the validity of that saying until now. How often do you let a friend dictate your opinions? A colleague? A boss? A religious leader? The media? Or some catchy advertisement campaign telling you how to look? Think about that when you start to trace your beliefs. They are only thoughts that we put a strong emphasis on and accept as fact. That can come from us or someone else. Where do your beliefs about life, yourself, and others originate from? Our thoughts are distractions from what is really happening continually behind the scenes.  Do you know what that is? Look at yourself and start asking questions about your reality and life. Is this true? Why is this true?  Do I want to be represented by that?

Be Exactly What You Want

Now is the time to think about what you really want to be. If this isn’t the time, what are you waiting for? positive thinkingIf you decide that you would like to be fearless, confident, kind, or more enlightened, it is up to you to think positive thoughts representing that particular characteristic. Then focus on taking it to your words. Discuss being fearless. Talk like you already are. Then act like it. Do things that a fearless person would do. And then guess what? YOU ARE FEARLESS?

It all begins with a thought, and a simple process can make it a reality. If you looked at your thoughts, how many of them are of the limiting variety? They tell you that “You can’t possibly do that.”, “You aren’t smart enough to accomplish anything.” “You don’t have enough to do that.”  These thoughts are fine if you never want to accomplish anything or have self-esteem very much.  But most of us want to feel good about ourselves, and our beliefs will determine how much we accomplish and what enjoyment we have while we are doing it.

Changing those to positive thoughts is as easy as focusing on “You can definitely do that!”, “You are smart enough to accomplish anything.” “You have more than enough brains, talent, kindness, the power to do anything you want.”  Change the focus of your thoughts to thoughts of can do, and the thoughts that hold you back will fall away.

What is real, and what is the illusion in your life? Is it what you choose to think?

Free Greatness

People put their goals on hold because they don’t have the money or time to invest at this moment in one thing or another. Here is an opportunity to look at your life with gratitude, acceptance, surrender, and releasing judgment from your life right now. It won’t take any more money or time to accomplish all of this.  And the benefit to your life will be phenomenal.  All of your thoughts that used to be wasted on the unmonitored flow of foolishness can now be directed in a way that will provide great benefits to you and those you come in contact with.

Each of our thoughts has the potential to change our lives positively or negatively. You owe it to yourself to pay attention to the direction you will be moving in. The person who holds a beautiful vision of themselves or life in general in their mind, and applies positive emotion to it, will one day have it as a part of their life.

What are your thoughts creating today? Don’t make excuses. Pay attention to positive thinking. 

 

21

Power of Pain

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greatnessLife isn’t always easy. The path of least resistance is most often not going to be your path.  Hardships and chaos can make you wonder what this is all for. Why do we have to experience painful moments? What is the point?

I have found accepting the difficult parts of life to be the hardest lessons learned. They are painful and cause you to look deep inside of yourself to find the truth.  You can feel angry, upset, or out of control. Whatever your reaction to your life events, understand that the events are not going to change, but the reaction and growth you experience will.  So what is the point?

Strength is Revealed

We all have talents and skills within ourselves. Many painof these aren’t near the surface as we are developing. It often takes a tragic event or significant change in life to allow our talents to rise. The fire of the experience will allow you to become more aware of your skillset. They also provide you with the opportunity to develop them into a weapon of success.

As painful as events are to us, they allow for significant growth and the development of strength within. Going through a difficult time, people can rarely step back and get a perspective that shows this. When you are hurting, all that most can think of is just about stopping the pain. Some people never survive this difficulty, and the pain wins.  Yet, some are driven to unimaginable heights by the unfortunate events in their lives. What happens to you as an individual in your darkest hour is totally your choice to make.

You Contain Greatness Within

Once you decide to accept the circumstances you are in, you can also gain the lessons that life has to give you.  Life is going to change, and it is changing every second of each day. Once you reach the level of acceptance, then you can start to move forward. Life doesn’t end for you when you lose a job, a relationship ends, or the death of a loved one occurs. Life continues, and you choose what part of that you are going to be: an observer or a participant.

Life is never going to be perfect, and in the imperfections, the greatest possibilities for growth and triumph exist.  All great creations, inventions, and findings have come in this space of imperfection. There is no need to fear it or let the past tragic events of your life rob you of treasure. All people experience a tragedy of one sort or another, which is part of life. Will your tragedy define you, or does it propel you forward to greatness? That is the choice you have today.  When you look closely, you will always see the possibility of growth on the soul level. Challenges provide you with the opportunity to develop your greatness and talents.

“Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.”-   Fight Club

“Let go of the past.”-  Robert Greene

“Adversity is the first path to truth.”-  Lord Byron

“Great things never came from comfort zones.”-  Neil Strauss

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –  Helen Keller

21

Our Battle

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Winning The Battle In Each Of Us

Winning the Inner Battle

Inside every person in the world, there exists a conflict between your two selves.

Students of psychology have several different names for these “voices.” Some refer to them as your ego, or perhaps your superego, but I will address these two voices as False–Self and True-Self for my purposes.

These two entities are constantly battling for control of our thoughts and actions.  If you don’t believe it, who answers you in your head when you ask the simplest question?  One voice asks the other one answers.  It happens all of the time.  Now let’s get to meet your two voices.

Sometimes You’re Hard On Yourself

Too-much-EgoSelf I(ego, primitive self, jerk, whatever you want to call it.) is your stern voice. It is a know-it who does nothing but issue commands and judges every result.

This is the voice that will tell you that you are stupid for trying, or that will never work, or call you an idiot when things don’t quite turn out the way that you hoped.  This voice has been building inside you since you were born to protect you from disappointment, to keep you safe.

It doesn’t mean to stagnate your growth or cause you to carry around an impossibly negative attitude towards everything and everybody.  You will see this voice in evidence in people who continually judge others and always believe that their way is the best.

Now their way maybe, in fact, the best way, but if this voice dominates someone, they will never seek anything outside of their experience because to do so would put at risk the status quo, and that would be too scary for them to deal with.

Fear of the unknown can make many individuals cling to their old ways and habits, simply because although they may be bad, they are a known entity, and better to feel bad continually by something that you know than to risk something new.

Raising your level of hope that things can get better only to be disappointed is just too scary for most people.  It is much safer never to try and not know how you would fare than to try and fail.  Failure is only one more step to success, and without taking steps, you may never find it.

Say Hello to your true self.

Self II is the voice of your subconscious mind, the absolutely human part of your mind that subconscious-mind-powerwill create creative scenarios and ideas for you to follow.

This voice will urge you to pursue your talents and try to create something great, ignoring the critical “Self I” voice and all of its defense-minded musings.  This voice will tell you about all of your natural potentials and inform you about the skills and capabilities that you possess that will enable you to act and achieve almost anything that you have put your mind to accomplishing.

This ability to rely on ourselves and continue to develop and release our potential, I think, is what most people are looking for in life.  We have the skills and talents to achieve most things we set our minds toward doing if we allow our true talents to shine through the naturally negative expectations of ourselves and others.

People who have achieved greatness in any field, to some degree, and at some point in their life were able to find, listen to and follow this positive inner voice.

Simple Path to Success

success-sketch
I love this picture! Thank you, Google Images!

The simple path to success involves recognizing your own limiting voice and choosing to ignore it and listen to your inner positive voice, allowing you to succeed in the path you should follow.

Finding your ability to hear your own positive voice will enable you to continue to grow as a person and release your nearly unlimited potential to do whatever it is you set your mind to.

Ignoring the negative voice in you that says nothing but negative and judgmental things will allow your positive attitude to bloom into whatever you dream for it to be.  Being the best that you can be is within you.

All people have the ability within themselves to be great and powerful person including both you and me.

The following song is for all of the “Boxing” we do with ourselves.  We all do it, and it is unnecessary we are all on the same team.

21

Silence

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silence
When you are still, you can hear the words the silence has to offer

Is there anything quite as unique as silence? Look at your life and honestly count and evaluate the moments that you are experiencing absolute silence. To me, this is any time that you are completely devoid of any human-created sound at all.

No words, no machines, no music, no nothing but the natural sounds of the world. How many times during any given day does this happen? I can tell you that there are few moments of complete and utter silence in my life for me. There is a value in the silence that, if you get used to, it will allow you to put your mind at rest and allow you to talk with your deeper self, which often remains hidden behind the crowd of sounds we experience daily.

Silence Can Be Better than the alternative.

Seek out your silent moments because they will provide more value to you than 95% of the noise that falls on your ears throughout the day. If you are watching television to get your news or entertainment, silencethen I think we would all have a difficulty rating the value of the product you are watching to silence. In silence, there are no lies. Nobody is pushing an agenda to vie for control of your buying power or the fear you experience.

Some people talk an awful lot and say absolutely nothing worthwhile. Isn’t a silence better than listening to words that are disingenuous, hateful, gossiping, or just plain old negative? Why break the silence to participate in making the world a less positive place? There is a place and a time for everything, and silence needs to have its location in your life.

Silence The Mind

How do you silence the mind? This is where the practice of meditation comes in. I was always intimidated by the practice of meditation, but in giving it a try, I have found it is easy. The best advice I got was that there is no way to really do it wrong. If you give it an honest effort, you will reap some benefits. The goal of meditation is to quiet the incessant and continual discourse of thought occurring in your head all of the time.

Our brains are great at producing thought, but most of its work is not productive, supportive, kind,

of silence
There is no wrong way to find yourself in the silence.

constructive or clear. Most of our thoughts trip on each other and repeat loudly points of view we are well aware of or thoughts of pure foolishness. When you slow your mind, you can monitor your thoughts and pick and choose the ones you want to pay attention to and those you would like to discard.

There are many different formats for meditation, and I am no expert. Here is a simple method that will allow you to walk down the path of meditation easily. Inhale and count to four. Hold the breath and count to four. Exhale while counting to four. Repeat continually throughout the meditation time. Notice the thoughts you have, where they come from, and most importantly, is it a thought that honors you or not? If it does, pay attention to it. If it doesn’t, then pay no more attention to it. Silence allows this to happen.

Sometimes It is The Best Gift

It is human nature to offer advice, state our opinions, and make sure that we are clear about where we stand on all our exposed issues. Sometimes, though, the best thing we can do is keep our mouths closed and silently listen.  Our presence has power, and oftentimes, just being there listening, giving a person your support is the best thing to contribute to another person.

A hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to listen with is a great gift that you can give someone. If they are sincerely working through something, they do not have to hear a judgment from you or listen to your opinion about the next action or reaction. Silence allows you to accept them as they are and be there as a friend.  Silence accepts all and allows a feeling of acceptance.

Look for moments of complete silence in your day, where all people can hear no voice, music, or machine in your life. Focus on the moment you are in and listen to what the silence sounds like. You will find some things in the silence you didn’t know you were missing.

“Never assume that loud is strong and quiet is weak.”

“Silence is the best response to a fool.”

“Some hearts understand each other, even in silence.”

“Silence isn’t empty; it’s full of answers.”

“Sometimes, it’s best to stay quiet. The silence can speak volumes without ever saying a word.”

No one dares disturb the sounds of silence……..

 

21

Red Balloon

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How many times in your life have you thought you had it all figured out? The secret to wealth, fame, and fortune was all yours, and all you had to do was accept it. Yet somewhere, we stop short of taking action on our dream, as we allow our potepersonal developmentntial to float away like a solitary red balloon floating away on a summer breeze. It fades slowly into the sky and leaves behind nothing but the smokey emptiness of what might have been. It is time that you took responsibility for your own life and what becomes of your dreams because without your choice to apply yourself and dedicate your complete being to making your future the place that you want to live in, it most likely won’t happen. Personal development is all about taking concentrated, motivated actions toward your goals.

Why It Can Be Difficult to Develop Ourselves

It is a simple concept on the surface to apply yourself fully to what you already know you want, but we are people. Each of us possesses our own unique load of difficulties, differences, and fears that can prevent us from applying ourselves and our efforts toward finding our dream.  Fear is the biggest of these. It can make the strongest of people pause their endeavors.

personal developmentThere are two types of fear that lead to people never applying themselves toward their goals, and the first is the fear of failure. This is the fear that tells you not even to try because you are going to fail anyway. All of us have attempted to do something in our lives and experienced failure. It hurts! Our ego remembers that, and when we are put in another risky position, we fear failure that stops us from even trying.

The second is a fear of success. There are several reasons that people fear success. It could be a fear of finding out what they dreamed of wasn’t all it was believed to be in the first place. As long as you never try to make your dream a reality, it will always be perfect in your mind. Was that what we truly wanted? What if you achieve your goal and it isn’t what you wanted?  If I could be wrong about that, what else am I wrong about? The fear of success paralyzes and stops a real effort from being taken toward accomplishing our dreams.  Personal development is about overcoming fear and acting toward your goals.

To-Do Is All There Is To Do

Fear is a big hurdle, but you can jump by using the power we have to defeat all fear and take action. It is through action that all results are found and measured. personal developmentDoubt is removed, and we gain absolute knowledge about what it is we are trying to accomplish. In the end, that is what all journeys are about, finding out what it is we are looking for. Effort and action will bring this information into your life, and there is a power in that knowledge. It is real and tangible and does not disappear in a breeze. Action destroys fear and replaces it with confidence that will enable you to accomplish more dreams and goals. It is all located on the other side of your fear.

Knowing is not enough. We must APPLY. Willing is not enough. We must do. ~Bruce Lee

In the end, all of our dreams lie just over the rainbows of our minds, and it takes an application of our talents and the action of doing for our goals and dreams to be realized. We all have the talent to do this. We all have the capacity to practice the personal development we are looking for.

 

21

Thinking

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Positive thinkingPenny, for your thoughts? They are worth much more than that. Each moment we are inundated with a million thoughts from our mind. It isn’t easy to shut off the flowing river of mental messages that we are exclusively experiencing in our heads. We can have all types of thoughts, positive, negative, and neutral, and the ones that we decide to focus on will create our reality and our feelings about it. Positive thinking will lead to positive results in life.

You are in control of your thoughts’ quality and content and that decision that you make in each moment, so you are the one in control of the content of your thoughts and the level of happiness that you have found in your life.  It is all up to you.

Avoid the Negative Thought Spiral

positive thinking, good thoughts
Avoid this downward spiral of negative thinking.

Negative thoughts are around us each day. They are powerful and seductive and draw us closer to them. One of the most powerful is gossip. Gossip is thinking and expressing ideas about someone else behind their backs. This is usually about negative events, and it allows people to find common ground in their discussions and charges all people in the conversation with negative energy.

Once you have established this type of negative thinking of gossip, criticism, hate, jealousy, or anger, your pattern is created and you will feel less and less happy. It is a spiral that happens when you criticize others or entertain mean thoughts. They are something that reflects from you. You might simply feel inferior in some way or insecure, and knocking someone else down feels powerful, but it is only an illusion. You are feeling more and more unhappy at the moment. The only thing that can turn that around is to change the pattern of thought, speech, and action that you have been practicing into something more positive.

Changing to Positive Thinking

This is where your power of choice will come into practice in your life. You have a choice with each positive thinkingthought to be positive or negative. Your thoughts will lead to words, positive or negative, and then actions, positive or negative. But it all starts with choosing the positive thoughts to move the entire process in a direction that will lead to your happiness and enjoyment in life. It is all a choice. If you don’t believe me, then experiment, choose a negative thought, and focus your attention on the words that come from that and the actions that follow. See what results and how it feels to you. Then repeat the experiment using the other choice and compare and contrast the results.

The choices are easy to make love over hate, laughter over crying, creating over destroying, perseverance over quitting, praise over gossip, healing thoughts over those that wound, giving rather than stealing, action over procrastination, growing over rotting to live rather than die.  Each thought is as simple a choice like this, the words will follow the same light or darkness, and the actions cannot be any different. And it all begins with your thoughts and the ones you choose to pay attention to.  This will determine the quality of your life and the interactions that you have with it.

Pay close attention at all times to the ideas that creep into your mind. They are all your responsibility as much as your actions. You will be a force in the world for light or darkness based solely on your thoughts.  The experience you have and thoughts you think will define your life to the world.

The Happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. ~ Marcus Aurelius