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I Celebrate What I Do Have

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Do you celebrate the things you do have?

celebrate-what-you-have Day 13 By Jon Hilton

It can be difficult in our society to really appreciate all that we do have today.  There is always another commercial that tells us what we should have, or how we should look, even though what we have and how we look is just fine.

 I think that I do currently celebrate the thing I do have, and not worry too much about the things I don’t have but it has not always been that way and it seems many other people have problems appreciating things as well.

The Culture of Want

This toy was really awesome, I used to wind it up and jump stuff, but it only made me happy until it broke.
This toy was really awesome, I used to wind it up and jump stuff, but it only made me happy until it broke.

From the time I was very young I can remember being bombarded and brainwashed with images on television which were designed to get me and my peers to desire products enough to scream until we started to get them.  From breakfast cereal made totally of sugar to toys that we couldn’t be happy without.   I was a child of the 70’s and that means that the marketing at the time was quite mild compared to today.

This was the manner in which the feeling of want was fostered in my generation.  It was built up even more as we grew older and became serious consumers. We needed to have certain things to be happy, and without those possessions happiness was going to elude us.  The biggest problem is that there is never a level where you have accumulated enough, you just see another level of consumption.

Captain Kirk was always a happy toy. Set your phasers to happiness and lets explore the galaxy!
Captain Kirk was always a happy toy. Set your phasers to happiness and lets explore the galaxy!

The young people of today are really the victims of a marketing in society which continually tells them not only what toys they need, but what clothes to wear, how their hair should look, and also what types of relationships they should desire.  The intended market is younger than you might imagine.  If you have young kids, watch television with them sometime, it is a non stop barrage of self esteem destroying marketing.

As for the adults of the world, you would think that after a while you would find a level of accumulating possessions where you would be able to sit back and say, “Wow, I have a massive amount of crap here, I am really happy.”

Yet you still do not feel happy, and corporate advertisers are happy about that, because they can start to sell you other things to fill the void and finally end your unhappiness. It is a fools journey, yet we all take it day after day.

Happiness Is Inside You All Along

happiness-comes-from-within-2I think that everyone eventually comes to the conclusion that happiness doesn’t come from things you buy.  There is always a feeling of happiness no matter how brief that accompanies buying a new thing.  Yet it also fades away quite quickly leaving you to wonder why you are not happy about the new car, Ipad, computer, or large screen television.

Real happiness can never come from things, ever. It is the lie of Madison Avenue that owning a certain product should make you feel a particular way.  No matter how many cars, houses, or electronic devices you own, if you are lacking appreciation for life on the inside there is going to be empty feelings of want and unhappiness left.

We actually put our happiness off by telling ourselves that when we own this or that then we will be able to feel happy.  When the choice to feel happy is really inside you each and every day during each and every moment.  All you have to do is notice it.

Appreciating Today

happinesswithin2Being able to celebrate what you do have is the path to happiness.  There are always going to be things that you don’t have.  Nobody can have it all.

 Yet you will always have exactly what you need at any given moment.  Appreciating what you have and the happiness that is with you right now at this second, seems to be the lightning rod that attracts more situations that make you feel this way.

  Look at the little things you have that make you happy, from the weather, to a cup of coffee in the morning. Whatever it is that makes you feel good appreciate it.  You will be surprised how many good things start showing up in your life to be appreciated.

Personally, I spent many years chasing the dream of owning all of my happiness.  Looking to the future and thinking when I get there I will be happy.  Only to find that there was always a new destination for happiness and it was always ahead of me.

 Now I think that I do appreciate the little things because they are in the here and now.  I have talked about my gratitude journal before and I mention it in passing again because I am grateful for the time each day that I spend being grateful for all that I do have. It is not magic but things seemed to clear up pretty well when I started feeling really grateful for what is in my life.  Rather than longing for, and feeling bad about what I did not have.  Or worse yet worrying about what might be taken away.

I do not know what “things” tomorrow will bring, but I do know that most likely they will be exactly what I need.  So I think I do celebrate what I do have.

 

Do you celebrate the things you do have?

You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you’ll find, you get what you need.

Questions

Tell Me Who Do You Love?

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Who do you love and what are you doing about it?

who-do-you-love-what-are-you-doing-about-it by Jonathan Hilton

Love is a difficult topic to discuss because there are so many parts inside of us that can be exposed through this discussion, that it is easier to brush it off and make a joke of it, to distract from the fact that love is a huge part of being human and being happy on the face of the earth.

This straight forward question is kind of fascinating because it forces you to declare where the love in your life lies.  I realize that there are many different kinds of love we experience during the course of a life.  Love brings with it a wide variety of experiences from the fantastic to the horrible and it can all come from the same relationships.

I Love Everybody

love everyoneEveryone in existence loves someone. There is no way that you can’t.  It might be unrequited love, or unfortunate love or bad love but we all love someone.

With that premise in mind I answer that I have a feeling of love inside for everybody.  How can that be? Easy, because I believe that we are all connected and although our physical experience is different, there is a similarity that we all share.  Therefore to hate someone else is to hate myself.

There were many times when I looked at people with a much harsher eye. I judged people with a cool and unemotional dislike,  not liking those who were not doing what, in my mind they should have been doing.

It is easy to judge others because it diverts the attention away from yourself.  Most things that you find annoying or as shortcomings in others are the weaknesses you generally recognize in yourself.

I know that every person is living their life the best they can.  I can’t judge their personal decisions because I have not experienced the pain or joy that has influenced them.  All that I can do is to be accepting of people just for what they are because inside of them is a person who is very similar to me.

Even if they are mean, uncaring or cruel to me or others, I do not let their bad behavior and poor choices dictate how I am going to think or feel. I forgive them, that is all there is to do.  I would rather that then carry hate or resentment in my heart.  Hate is a virus and will destroy your soul and make life quite joyless. I have carried that load enough.

But You Gotta Love You

lucy loveOf all the people you spend time with in your life, you have to be the most important.  It is difficult for many people to consider that they love themselves, let alone to tell the world that they do.

For many years I can say that I never forgave myself for the smallest of mistakes.  I didn’t love myself, in fact I didn’t like much of what I felt or thought.  Yet in the end it is true that you can’t give love to someone else unless you first feel it for yourself.

I believe that each of us has a gift inside that makes us special.  When we were young we felt it and had hope for the day it would come to light.  Yet for me as for others, life pushed that gift aside and made us forget what we had.  Replaced by a chorus of  “you should”, “You Could have” , “You must”, “If only you would have.”

None of these regrets push you closer to your true self, in fact they push that truth deeper inside and make it harder to find.

I am not sure if or when I will ever find that light that existed in me, but I remember that it did at one time and I am searching for it feverishly because I know that it is fantastic.  The possessor of such a gift must be worthy of love no matter who it is, and therefore the first love I feel must be for myself.

What Am I doing About It

end loveWell anyone who has been reading my writings or talking to me in person will know that I am trying to live in a way that is representative of the best of me. I know that I have fallen short in many ways in my life and without the help of others I never would have  been able to start this journey. I never would have known what to look for.  So I follow the path that is laid out in front of me. One day at a time and experience what is placed in front of me. I accept others for what they are and try to accept myself the same way.  Love is the most powerful emotion in the world and all good things are an offshoot of this emotion.  I am doing the best I can to follow the feeling of love.

 

Who do you love and what are you doing about it?

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Articles

French Fries and a Chocolate Shake

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by Jonathan Hilton

ffandshakeI can remember that day very clearly. I was sitting at the restaurant with french fries and a chocolate shake on the table in front of me, talking with my grandparents about my upcoming graduation from high school.

The reason I recall this day is not because of anything that was said, it was the feeling I had of becoming an adult and that my grandparents approved of the young man I was turning into and that made me feel good.

How did I know they approved? I suppose I didn’t for sure at that moment, but there are many other forms of communication that can’t be ignored.

His Name Was Leslie

My grandfather’s name was Leslie, I always thought how tough life must have been with

This is Leslie, I love this picture it shows his sense of humor, which I have inherited I think.
This is Leslie, I love this picture it shows his sense of humor, which I have inherited I think.

that name, but he did not give two shakes what anyone else thought about him.  It was one of the things that I was often embarrassed by as a kid and one of the things I remember most fondly today.

Thoughts of Leslie came up today, I was thinking about how do you know if someone you love who has passed away would be proud of you today? Leslie died in 1993 from complications from heart surgery.  It was unexpected, it was supposed to be a routine surgery, but there is nothing routine about any procedure as we found out.

I Never said Good bye

People of that generation were serious, they didn't express emotions much, it wasn't a proper thing to do. Leslie was great anyway!!
People of that generation were serious, they didn’t express emotions much, it wasn’t a proper thing to do. Leslie was great anyway!!

I never got a chance to say good-bye in person, and I have no idea how he really felt about me then. He was from a generation that didn’t talk about their emotions very much. You just had to kind of figure it out.  There were signs, but you had to look to see them.

Wondering now as I move along in life, I have faced difficult times. I have made mistakes. I have been far from perfect. I accept that, and I wonder often if Leslie and I could sit down and have a conversation today, what would he say?

I would ask, “Grandfather are you proud of me? Knowing all that I have done and been through.  I imagine the response goes something like this.

“I have always been proud of you, because you are the only one who can be who you are. You never saw my challenges and the struggles I had with my parents and finding my place in the world. I am not sure how I would have done in your shoes. I do know that where you are now, only you could get there, and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen in the future. I love you.”  I don’t remember him ever saying that to me in my life, but in my heart I just know he did. Why else would he do so many fantastic things for me?

Gone but Never Forgotten

That conversation is what I imagine and it affects me almost like it were real and not the whispering of a ghost.  In the end I guess it doesn’t matter, because I have to realize that I am a good person, I wouldn’t steal from you for any reason. I won’t lie if I can help it, (how does my hair look? If it looks bad, I don’t want to hurt feelings.) I would try to help anyone who needs it. In fact, when I look at the things like that I realize,

I am just like Leslie, and that makes me realize that even though he is no longer here, he lives inside of me and I owe it to him and all of my family to be the best human being I can be, including being proud of who I am and what I have become.

That is why I have no choice, when I eat an order of fries and a chocolate shake but to remember Leslie.  I smile and feel happy for who I am.

Motivation, People

The Stories You Provide!

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Inspiration
Inspiration comes from who we see and what we experience every day.

by Jonathan Hilton

The more I look for topics to write about and expound upon, the more my writing process comes clearly into my mind.  I write best when I have someone specifically in mind to write about, because it is like I am explaining my thoughts or emotions to them, or that I am giving them advice.  Often I know the advice would never be received directly, so I just give it on the pages of my writing.

Since these people of inspiration are all around me, they may not even know that I have been inspired by them.  I can look at almost every one of the approximately 200 articles I have written on this website and remember clearly the lesson or situation that prompted the thoughts or feelings that caused me to put it to paper.  This clearly  shows me that people do not recognize the impact that they have on others just by  living life as an example.

As we approach the new year of 2013 I am endeavoring to dig deeper into those relationships that I have had in the past to wring out the valuable experiences that I have been fortunate to experience in my lifetime.  That means that if you have ever met me than you will probably be the motivation for some piece of writing that I have done in the past or I will do over the next year or two.

writing inspirations
All things create stories in your mind, all you have to do is tell them.

I have never mentioned a name or directed a thought directly at someone because my intention is not to publicize anyone’s short comings or problems.  I simply have had experiences with people in my life that have taught me lessons from their positive actions or from their negative behavior.  Each situation has value, it is just much more fun to remember the positive, and often more valuable to recall the negative behavior some have displayed.

What this means as we head into a new year is that I am going to be writing and publishing a lot of material over the next year and when you read it, you just might see something of yourself in that writing.  I am grateful in advance for all of the experiences and looking forward to sharing them in the future.  It is definitely true that there is inspiration all around us and all we have to do is look for it, to find it.

I am planning on continually publishing articles about inspiration, but I am also going to be sharing short stories from all aspects of my youth, because they were great and they helped make me what I am today.  I can not wait to get started.

 

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Things I Don't Like

I Do Not Like Mean People

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Why Mean People Are MeanI don't like Mean People

One of the things I like the least in life are mean people.  Mean people exist and thrive on crapping on the attitude, accomplishments,  interests or well being of someone else, with the sole purpose of making themselves feel more powerful or to increase their own self-esteem.  In a word these people are toxic and need to be avoided at all costs. They can leave you feeling worn out, tired, depleted and negative about everything but most importantly about yourself. It seems that they spend all day thinking about how to be mean to people.

Now I understand that most acts that can be considered mean come from people who need to make themselves feel better about whatever is happening in their lives and because they feel a lack of power, self-esteem or everyday ordinary goodness in their own lives.  This makes them feel the need to treat others poorly.   What bothers me is that it takes very little effort to NOT be mean, and perhaps some of the inadequacies they see in themselves would be alleviated if they just tried to be less judgmental and inconsiderate once in awhile.

Why You Gotta Be So Mean?

I don't like Mean People

Negative Choices Can Make You Mean

People’s actions may be done without the intention of being mean to others, but when you gossip, put others down, ridicule, judge or make fun of someone else, you are stepping into the dark side of mean.  So often in our social media society do people make fun of others, it has become an accepted form of expression.  Look no further than Youtube.  You can look at almost any video on there and if you bother to read the comments left, there is always someone who has gone out of their way to leave a not so positive comment, often using foul language and almost always to put down the content of the video or the creator.   I often wonder how bad their lives must be to spend their time to be so negative.  It is really unnecessary, if you don’t like something you see, why don’t people just not watch it?  I guess that to do that would rob them of an opportunity to be a jerk, and being a jerk and getting noticed is better than not getting noticed at all.  On Facebook, people go to all kinds of lengths to make negative pages about people, for the sole purpose of hurting them.  There are numerous cases of cyber-bullying that have even led to suicide.  Why?  I just don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept of being that hurtful to someone else.

Being Mean To Celebrities, Still Makes You Mean

I don't like Mean People
Charlie is deep
I don't like Mean People
Snookie is Nice

It has become the right of everyone to be negative about everyone who is a celebrity.  We all seem to have a licence to judge them and their situation simply because they are well known.  In reality, we know nothing about the issues facing these people and the facts about their circumstances.  It all comes from jealousy, we as a society, build people up and seem to relish in tearing them down.  Charlie Sheen is a great example.  Does he have issues?  Yeah, he does.  I don’t think that I know enough about him as a person to make a judgement about whether or not he is an addict or mentally unstable.  I have never met him and I don’t know any more about his character or values than I do about someone who cleans windows for a living.  Most people don’t.  That hasn’t stopped our society from judging him and ridiculing his decisions like we are so much better a person than him.  Really we know nothing and a train wreck, real or imagined makes people feel good, because it’s not their train wreck.  Just say the name Snookie and people will immediately let you know their judgments about this person.  I don’t know why people like to judge her so much, but she has gotten rich and famous because of it.  I personally don’t know Snookie and how she chooses to live her life is her business and that of MTV.  I think people criticize her because they see a part of themselves in her that they just don’t like.

In life there are going to be people we deal with that we may not like or appreciate.  It happens, people are different and not everyone is going to get along.  But does that give us a license to be mean to them?  It takes little effort to be courteous and accepting.  If people put in as much effort into being kind and accepting as they did into being mean and judgmental the world would be a much better place.

Here are a few ideas for those of us working on living a positive lifestyle and Stop Being Mean:

I don't like Mean PeopleMost mean people have a sarcastic edge….arm yourself with a few funny one-liners that you can use when faced with a negative person.

Don’t take what a mean person says personally…it is their problem, definitely not yours!

If you have a friend that has a mean streak and tends to say things that hurt you or others, try saying, “Ouch” out loud and never allow yourself to get sucked into the behavior. Always know it is okay to not continue the friendship.

Don’t go running away scared from a mean person, walk away with a stronger sense of yourself, knowing that you made a good decision not to get sucked into the negativity!

The ultimate victory for us is not to fight back, get even, be vindicated, nor ever to bring the Mean Person to justice. The ultimate victory is to render this person irrelevant.

Some helpful hints on how NOT to be mean:I don't like Mean People

  • Before doing anything quickly ask yourself: “Will this thought/action/comment make the world a better place for me, or anyone else?” If not – don’t do it and save yourself the repercussions. There’s no point expending effort in making yourself or others unhappy. Ever.
  • Tell yourself constantly that you’re a nice person so that your mind begins to accept that you are. Change your behavior accordingly to fit these new standards. Thinking you’re one of the “good people” instead of a “bad person” can really make a difference to how you act. Your mind will react positively.
  • Resist judging people if they are not nice to you. You shouldn’t judge people anyway. There is always someone nice inside everybody, even those whose insecurity causes them to be mean to you.
  • Like all habits, this one will be hard to stop. With perseverance, however, your defensive meanness will change.
  • Smile. A smile will let people know that you are pleasant and inviting. If you smile at someone, look them in the eye.
  • Ask people how they are doing. Take the time to ask someone how things are going in their lives, without being nosy or intrusive. If they seem resistant to talking, just let them know that you’re always around to talk to, and that you want them to be alright.
  • Be a good listener. Listen when other people are talking to you.
  • Be courteous, patient, observant, and considerate. And be positive. Don’t be negative or critical. Keep looking for the positive in any given situation.
  • Be humble. The key to being nice is remembering that you are not “better” than someone else. You’re an individual, but everybody has their struggles, and being nice to one another makes life better for everyone.
  • Be sincere.  Be nice because you want to look back on your life and know that you were a nice person, no matter what.
  • Don’t lie. You will go on to do good things if you refrain from lying.

 

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Interests

I Am Addicted to Facebook

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The Addiction of Facebook

Addicted to Facebook
Pretty addicted, How much? Friend me and find out.

About five years ago, I had never heard of Facebook, and I was intimidated by the new technology that was coming out on a seemingly daily basis, but learning to adapt and overcome the hurdles that life has put in front of me, I slowly integrated myself into the world of social media.  I started my Facebook account in 2007 according to my timeline and it has been slowly infiltrating my daily life since.  Now I have to check Facebook to see everything from the latest news, to what music to like and who I should be listening to for fashion tips.  Alright I have never really cared about fashion but you get my point. Facebook has gone from something I have never heard of to the single most dominant form of media in my life today, in about five years and I am not sure if that is good or not.  I do know that is has changed the way I look at the world.

At first I didn’t check it very much, but I found out that you could connect with other people you haven’t seen in a very long time, which was kind of great.  Each connection you made was like a walk through your past, remembering friendships, enemies, good times, bad times, everything out there you can imagine.  For me it was the older connections that really meant and still mean a lot to me, people that I knew when I was young.  There  was a shared experience of youth that provides a common bond between people.  Reconnecting in this way is the strength of this medium for people my age, I think.

So you wanna be friends?

Check to be friends
It used to be this easy to see what someone’s intentions were. Facebook makes it even easier, but I think the note works better.

This is the one of the oldest questions that I remember being in kindergarten and asking this question and there is something very basic and reassuring you get from the answer.  If the answer is no then you know that whomever it was is really a jerk and not someone you can rely on.  Or if the answer is yes, there is a warm feeling inside that someone out there likes me.  Or they really just want to creep around my page and see what I am up to.  I am an optimist so I will stick to the thought that they really like me. It says, “you are ok, you are alright! You have a friend.”  Even if you have a thousand friends, there is always room for one more friend or two, I mean can we really ever have too many friends?   I still love reconnecting with someone after many years and seeing what they look like now, and all of that type of stuff that everybody does but doesn’t admit to.  I think there is a desire in everyone to connect, to revisit those shared experiences.

Technology has Grown My Addiction

Since the cell phone companies have been so creative with their little smart phones, now there is no time of night or day that I can’t just flip on my phone to see what is happening

future facebook addict
Come to think of it, I did write on the wall when I was young.

on Facebook.  Honestly I will check it three or four times an evening, just to make sure that I don’t miss anything.  It has also become my number one news source. There was an earthquake in Maine in October.  I didn’t feel any vibrations, I didn’t see any damage, I only knew it happened because Facebook told me so.  If there is an emergency, Facebook tells me.  Traffic trouble?  Facebook tells me.  Nuclear explosion, Facebook tells me.  Surprisingly, Facebook seems to be significantly faster than and just as accurate as the main stream media and more so if you count FoxNews as a major media source.

So here I am in my mid forties, unable to go longer than an hour without looking at Facebook on my phone because something might happen.  Thank you Mark Zuckerberg for complicating my life.

Facebook Messages Are Like Letters Used To Be, I think.

Messages on Facebook are awesome, I love to get them.  Somebody liked my link? Hell yes

This is what a letter looks like. For those who don’t know this was Facebook before the internet.

they do!  Someone commented on my post? That’s what I am talking about!  When I get a message on Facebook it must be what it was like back when you got letters in the mail.  Someone took the time to think of you, write it down and send it to you.  That is awesome.  Except when someone you work with realizes that the only communication you will consistently check is Facebook and starts sending you messages there that are totally about work stuff.  What a rip-off! I think, “Wow, look at those messages! This is a great day.”  Then I click on it and see what it is……….it is like someone just cancelled the Super Bowl.  Even if it is really vital information that will make someone money and it should be good news, I can’t help but be significantly disappointed in getting work messages on Facebook.

Let’s Ask Facebook

So here it is 2012, I  can’t imagine what kind of technology is coming next, but no matter what it is, you can bet your ass that it will involve an easier way to interact with Facebook.  I am not sure if I am happy or sad about this, I will have to check Facebook and see what it tells me to feel.

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Personal Projects

30 Questions that Changed the Way I Think About the World

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30 day challenges
The First of Many I Hope

by Jonathan Hilton

Have you ever seen the focus of your life change in thirty days? This is the experience that I have had over the last month as I have looked to improve my writing skill and myself, as a person as well.

This is an evaluation of my project to answer one question each day for thirty days, and to work on putting more of myself into my writing for the purpose of being more honest and open about the things I write about.

The beginning of this project

It began with a conversation with a collaborator who is a great writer and I was wishing that I was more honest in my writing; it was the conversation that led me to see this video on YouTube about this guy who undertook thirty day challenges to work on things he needs to work on.  Almost immediately I came across a list of “30 Questions That Will Change the Way you think about the world.”  The fact that there weren’t 35, 25 or 50

30 day challenges the beginning
The beginning of any journey starts with one small step.

questions, led me to believe that this was the project for me.

The rules I developed on the fly, but stuck to them until the end of the project, because I need rules apparently.

Rule #1 – had to answer a question each day and it had to be at least 300 words.  Many I could have answered in a sentence, but that wouldn’t have helped develop my thoughts.

Rule #2- I had to share my answers on Facebook, so that someone could read them if they wanted to. This really kept me more diligent and serious; I avoided some wise ass answers, because someone might read it.

Rule # 3- Much like fight club, I couldn’t talk about what I was doing.  I posted each question on FB every day, mostly to get some ideas for the days when I was low on creativity.  I was interested by the responses, and the different people they came from. I really appreciated the responses from everyone even if there was only one time; I read them all and appreciated it greatly.

I also published my answers on my website www.jonathanhilton.com and they are all there if you check the categories, Thirty Questions will bring them all up.

What Was the Goal of this project?

growth from contemplation
Answering from the heart was key

The goal of the project was more honesty and putting more of myself into my writing, which I thought was a weakness in my overall writing, it is difficult to put personal things out there, what you believe, what you think, but I think that if you never overcome this, you will be untrue to yourself the rest of your life, so that was the motivation. Most importantly I wanted to be able to write from a place that I didn’t care if someone liked it or not. That it was my answer and that would have to be good enough.

When someone asked me what the questions were about, I told them, if they wanted to know my answer, I directed them to my website.  Other than that I simply posted a question in the morning and then answered it on my website.  I never looked at the next question until the current question was answered.

What Did I Learn?

new person
we are all trying to remember who we are.

The first thing I learned was that my philosophy is developing and that I have a lot of consistency in what I believe in. What I have been working on personally has pervaded my thought and I believe that I have a great start.

Secondly when you ask one question and find an answer to that question, there are always going to be more questions that result from thought and that is ok.  The questions were answered and there were always a bunch more that cropped up.

Third, that there are different answers to questions, everyone has a different perspective and opinion and that is ok. All you can do is be open minded, yet faithful to what has been proven to you.

There are a lot of good people in the world and many have been asking themselves questions as well. Others are going to look for their answers in other places and find different behaviors satisfy them and they will find what they need to find in their answers, they may not have the same answers as you.

What Surprised Me?

There have been several neat relationships that have developed through the process of asking questions. Some people that I hadn’t heard from in years were prompted to contact me and see what the heck I was doing.  Even with people I see every day it gave me a chance to not only have an opinion but support it and fight for it.  My understanding of people is definitely higher, and my understanding of myself really was a surprise.

The many responses I got from such a wide range of people, some serious and some extremely funny, some sad, some just plain old sincere.

personal growth
Success, Success, Success

The most surprising thing was the freedom that came from just practicing the power of action into this thought process.  Creating and producing something that was completely of my own, based on what I believe is liberating. Many people have opinions on everything, but never publish them or have to stand by them which allows for a waffling on the beliefs. I believe that through answering these questions, my thoughts are there to be agreed with disagreed with defended or adjusted as they should be.  The biggest surprise was the power of the simple action on my own creativity and understanding of myself and others.

Was it a success?

I think by any measure the process was a success, the questions did actually change the way I looked at the world, and understood other people, so that awareness led to growth, and growing is a good thing.  I encourage anyone who has something that they want to work on to adopt a thirty day challenge of your own.  You will be surprised how it changes the way you look at the world, it definitely changed my perception of the world and those in it.

I definitely have written from the place inside me that does not care what anyone thinks about what I think or write, which is a major victory for my own self development. I think that if I can do that then everything else will be easy.

What is Next?

Well it is inevitable that one action is going to lead to another, so there are bound to be more of these 30 day challenges, in all areas of my life, in places that I feel I need personal work on.  So branching this type of growth out into other aspects of my life is definitely going to be a goal for me.  Taking more action to find what I am looking for.

 Here is a complete list of the questions with links to my answers. 

 

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