Category Archives: 21

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  

 

21

Persistence

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persistence
Be like the river in all you do.

There is a power inside successful people, and that strength comes from the consistent practice of persistence.  To be able to continue moving forward to a goal, despite hitting some obstacles along the way. Nothing takes the place of persistence when it comes to achieving your goals, financially, physically, or even spiritually.  Many things that are worthwhile to our experience are not easy to get. In this lies their value.   It is often the steps that one has to take to reach their ultimate goal that makes the goal a growth experience.  Persistence is the ability to push past your perceived limits and find your abilities.  Consciously look for persistence today in your thoughts, words, and actions. Where can you push through, keep moving forward and find success when it would be easier to pull over to the side of the road.

Never Give Up

Everyone faces moments of darkness in life. Times when challenges seem to be stacked against them. It can seem like there is no hope at all. But somewhere deep down inside, there is a voice, if you listen,  that tells you to keep trying. Try again. One more time.   It is the thing that gives you the power to give more effort, to begin again, to believe again, to hope you can achieve. This voice is persistence.  Without this word, you will have difficulty achieving anything of value because things of value, by definition, have a cost and that cost is your effort, imagination, and ability. Too often, the easy road requires nothing and is worth that exact amount.

Remember that challenges are two-fold. They provide difficulties that are unforeseen and seem like problems. But on the other side, they also come with an opportunity to succeed.  By being persistent, you can learn the lessons of the challenges, move forward, and apply them to your life.  It reminds me of the poem my grandfather gave me once. They don’t quit poems.  Challenges provide people with a chance to grow and become better.  Most successful people faced challenges that allowed them to develop the strength to achieve their goals.

Persistence Grows Your Best

When you are persistent and keep moving forward, it can be the best personal development program there is. Skills you didn’t have must be developed, and talents unknown rise to the surface.  These are treasures that would remain buried if there was no need for persistence in your actions to move toward your goals.

Look at your own story closely. Were there times you had to dig deep to get something accomplished? Where you tried and failed at first? But you kept going.  Most people have been in these situations.  The amazing thing is that most often, we can do things, that without the challenge, would never be realized. Having the gift to be persistent grows your best and allows you to share it with the world.  The saddest people I have seen are those who shy away from challenges because they are afraid of failing. Never trying means accomplishing anything.

It’s All In Front of You

When you look at your life as if it is taking place on a game board, these are the spaces you have already moved. Some were easy, and some were difficult, but they all led to where you are now. Whatever goal or reward you have chosen that you haven’t achieved yet, is another thought, feeling, action, and step away. To find it, there is only one choice to keep moving forward because it is not behind you or with you currently. It is all in front of you. Persistence gives you the strength to take the next roll or spin and move along the board. Like a game of Chutes and Ladders, it may lead to a quick rise or a step back, but it is all the move you need to get to the next step in your development, persist.

So be persistent today in your thoughts, words, and actions. Keep moving forward to the next step of your goals, growth, and development as a human being.  The only way to reach the finish line or win the game is to make the next move. No matter how scary it may seem. Persistence makes it all possible.

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. ~ Bill Bradley

“My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball.”- Bjorn Borg

“The most interesting thing about a postage stamp is the persistence with which it sticks to the job.”- Napoleon Hill

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength, but through persistence.” – Buddha

“You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”- Babe Ruth

 

 

21

Time

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Time is On Your Side

activities lose track of time

We should all find activities in life that cause us to lose track of time and, more importantly, to not worry about what we “should” be doing with those precious moments.

 In our daily lives, we are controlled by the clock.  From the time we have to go to work to the time we are allowed to eat, and the time we can rejoin the freedom of life yet again.  Time can be an all-controlling factor if you let it, but it does not have to be. You can live your life in your own time.

My Thoughts on Time

getting off track with timeIn reality, time is an invention of man to measure how we are doing in life. Our entire lives are run on time, from when we start our education to when we retire and every facet in between.

Yet what is time but an arbitrary agreement between us all that how long it takes the sun to move around the sun in a year? The time that it takes for the Earth to spin on its axis constitutes a day. Would the workweek be longer if it took more time to journey around the sun?  Would we need less sleep if the day was shorter?

Really time is an agreement among all people on how we should measure our lives, and measure we do.

Getting Off Track with Time

henrydavid2x1For myself, when I am totally engrossed in an activity, there is a suspension of this arbitrary rule of time.  Whatever activity I have been doing must be my complete focus.  Not a part of my focus but the whole thing.

Writing to me becomes this many times.  Leave all other thoughts behind and commit to the task of capturing a thought.  There is no thought about what I am doing next or what has happened before but only the thought of the words and the page’s expression.

The time fades, and the thoughts continue to express.  Yet this is not the only time I have experienced timelessness.

Finding the Timelessness Each Day

meditationThis is really a difficult thing to do, but shouldn’t there be a moment during each day when time really doesn’t matter? I have found this in different places over the course of my life.  Meditation is a great one.

I currently have about 15-20 minutes dedicated to this.  Since I am relatively new at meditating, I am always shocked when you achieve clearing your mind, and time really doesn’t matter.  It still exists, but it doesn’t apply to that activity.

 I do not set the alarm, but that time seems to pass quickly, sometimes like a second or two. When you lose your awareness of something, does it matter?  This is definitely a time where I lose track of time.

When you achieve mindfulness in any activity, then losing track of time is a consequence.  If you are worried about finishing what you are doing and then doing the next fifteen things on a list, then there is no way you will lose track of time.

In fact, the time’s awareness will allow you to feel that you don’t have enough time.  That is just a perception because time doesn’t really exist anyway.  When I focus on the task at hand and experience what comes with it, I can lose track of time.

Love Of Course Takes Time

love is timelessAs anyone who has experienced the pangs of love will know, time does not seem to exist the same as it does anywhere else.  I believe that is because your entire being would not rather be anywhere else but fully engrossed with the object of your affection.

 How many days have you spent that moved by quickly in the experience of love?  Yet as you recall them later, you can remember each part of the experience?  How they smiled, how their touch felt? How much you just loved being with them?

These feelings are definitely the times in life that I have lost track of time.  Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to keep these moments and to make every day like that.  I am told that some can do it. I had only had a few fleeting moments in life when I lost in the moment with love.  They were good moments.

Conclusion

When you can focus completely on what is happening in your life, time becomes less important, and you are apt to lose track of it.  I know there is a time for all things, yet I think that much of the magic of life occurs when we stop keeping track of time and just let things happen as they should. Focus on the moment at hand, not the hands-on clock.

 

 

21

The Right Things

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How often do people take action without really thinking about the consequences? I am sure that I am called on to take action, speak, or make some other behavioral choice thousands of times in my daily life.  It would be challenging to be fully conscious of all choices. From what to wear to how you get to work, our subconscious handles many decisions.  But too often, we allow interactions with others to occur without our conscious participation.  These actions can come off without any caring or concern for the feelings of others.  For us to be present in these interactions, we can follow a few points of focus to make sure we are entirely present in the moment and with people that matter.

Honoring Actions

Each action we take involving others is going to affect them. It doesn’t matter the scope and scale of your activity. It will have a positive or negative effect on those that you interact with. More importantly, each step you choose to take will affect you as well.  If you treat somebody poorly, for any reason, it resonates with you and will determine your energy and experience.

The focus of your conscious thought should be on honoring yourself.  In all that you do and think during the day, make the first choice to accept yourself.  Even if you believe someone else deserves your scorn or ridicule, it doesn’t do you any good to participate in this. Let it go and focus on the positive things in your life.  Putting others down puts you down.  Make choices honoring you, and the world will acknowledge you.  That is the benefit of focusing on creating honoring actions.

Release Judgment

It is a simple choice. The judgment of other’s personal lives, heritage, clothing, physical appearance, or any other thing is never going to end well for you.  Our instincts have developed over thousands of years, and we identify with people similar to ourselves because it is safe to do so. In our ancestral past, our survival depended on it.  But that is not the case today. We find others’ judgment is addictive to us and allow us to prop ourselves up in self-esteem in some way, on the backs of others.

Release judgment from your mind and learn to accept all of those who are different from you. Letting others live how they feel comfortable will allow you to live as you feel comfortable with yourself.  Make the conscious choice to respect others and live with a sense of compassion toward them.  Your actions will come back to you in the end. To live in judgment is to bring judgment upon you. Respect and kindness will also come back to you.  It is your choice which energy you release into the world and receives back from it.

Acceptance

The more you choose love for and the approval of others and their situations, the better energy your life will experience. By accepting this path, you are deciding against fear and all of its negative energies.  Whoever you hold negative feelings about, let them go.  Those from another region of the world practice a different religion, are economically challenged, addicted to drugs, or just making poor decisions. Let go of your judgment.

Choose to be more conscious of your thoughts and the right actions you can take daily to make the world a better place.  Let go of the vision that you are in competition with everyone else and choose to see the positive benefits of cooperation between all people. You can make all interactions a blessing to yourself with your attitude.  Acceptance of yourself and others as they are on the path to doing this.

Work for Today

So focus on your thoughts and actions today and see where they are going to lead you.  Are they taking you down a negative path or a positive one?  Are your choices making the world better or worse for someone else?  Are your options honoring yourself? This action is the beginning of being more conscious about your effect on the planet and taking responsibility for that experience.

 

21

Mirror

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karma-card-front-12-copy

I was thinking about honesty today and wondering why we do the things we do and speak certain words. Am I sincere? Is that really what I think? Most people go through an entire day and never consider the honesty or value that their terms contain. Do you?

“I Love  the way you look!”

Thoughts come to us all the time, and we can’t control when they go and what they say.  The statement above, “I love the way you look,” is one that I just had.  It brings to mind the Law of Mirrors in karma.  It states that the things you can observe in others exist in you.  If it doesn’t live in you, then noticing that it exists in others is impossible, and it won’t jump out at you. How often do we find fault with others, and upon introspection, realize the same thing lives inside us? That is because they do.

Try a Little Honesty Inside

I challenge you to give this phenomenon a try in an honest manner, and I think you will be stunned by the accuracy of the Law of Mirrors in your life.   Notice all of your thoughts about other people you come in contact with during a day.  Evaluate them as they come. Some will be positive, and some will be negative, don’t judge, notice. Then look at yourself, and see if that thing exists inside you.

Sometimes the thoughts I produce each day are not helpful and can be overly Fotolia_21529305_Mkarma-law-of-mirrors-copymean and critical of someone else’s physical appearance, job, or family life.  I think that it is instinctual to judge others. That is how our ancient ancestors assessed danger and survived. What we choose to pay attention to is vital to the quality of the life we live and, in this case, in understanding ourselves.

When you look at the people you see from this perspective, it becomes increasingly difficult to be critical of others, and it becomes a lot easier to look for the good in all people.  This law is not negative or positive; it just is.  Just as the mirror you peer in to check your hair, the mirror has no choice about the reflection it sends back.  The same is right about your mirrorssoul.

Try to notice all of your thoughts and recognize the things within yourself that need to be improved or, more importantly, the great things about you that exist.  There are only two ways to go in life, and they are getting better or getting worse.  I know which way I want to travel.

Notice your critical or positive thoughts of others.

Understand that whatever you notice exists in you.

Accept it, change it, or let it go.

What annoys you or makes you happy exists inside of you!

What is it that YOU observe?

 

21

The Happiness Choice

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Why Don’t we all choose Happiness?

Happiness is a goal that everyone wants to experience. How many times have you just wanted to be a5c051b4717d998bbf35faca2927241chappy with life, your choices, the people that you know, and the things that you own? Yet, there is a deep feeling of angst inside that what you have and what you are is not enough. You would be happier if you were taller, thinner, had a more beautiful car, or a more interesting significant other. The real source of happiness is within you.

The Difficulty with Things

One of the reasons that everyone isn’t happy is that they depend on things to make them so.  If you need something to happen or something to own to make you happy, then you are in trouble. What is going to happen if that thing is taken away from you?  Or it might never occur, so you will run the risk of having your happiness stolen or never happen at all because you are dependent on some exterior force to provide you with the feeling of joy.

Happiness is nothing more than a choice. Although it is unrealistic to expect everybody to be happy all the time, it is a personal choice to decide if you are comfortable at any given moment or not. Only you can make that decision for yourself.

What Makes YOU Happy?

choosing to be happy
Your choice

What makes you happy? Money, property, things?   Or do you look for love, friendship, meaning, kindness?

It is all up to your choices to look for something to be happy about or, conversely, to be unhappy.  There is always a reason, and it depends on where you focus on how emotions and feelings will go.

Often the problem isn’t with other people but with you because you have such a small list of things to be happy about and such a long list of things to be angry or unhappy about that it is challenging to be grateful for the great things that you do have.

You can change your outlook simply by adjusting thoughts you focus on, like the good things in your life.  All negative thinking, emotions, and ideas of an unhappy nature stem from fear, whereas all happy or positive emotions stem from love.

When you look at the things that make you happy, they always stem from some form of loving emotion, and when you are unhappy, you are focusing on some fear-based foolishness.

Fear Makes You Unhappy

It is important to remember that if you are happy now,  not everyone will be pleased because too many people are focusing on fear.  They find your happiness almost an insult to them. Since misery loves the company, they are often not satisfied being unhappy by themselves. They feel the need to make you miserable too, and everyone else comes in contact with them.

But these energy drains don’t have to be a pain in your life. Understand that your choices and experiences result from what you decide to focus on and nothing else.

It would be a much better world if the things that made you happy could make everyone happy, but that is not your responsibility or job. You can only manage your own experience and determine if you will have happiness or misery in your day. Nobody else is responsible, and you are not responsible for anyone else’s happiness. It is impossible.

I believe that when we do the things that make us shine, we will bring happiness to others.  In a world full of self-centered, egotistical people, that is the best you can do to find one real connection.

We only have one chance in life to live, create greatness, make mistakes, learn our lessons and decide to get better as a person or allowing the perceived weight of our shortcomings to weigh us down.  Happiness is there for us if we choose to carry it with us. Joy is found in the memories of loved ones, here now and passed on. Or in the smile of someone who likes spending time with you.  Every person has a heart capable of creating unlimited happiness.