It's 2009!...Undoubtedly, a year of change for the nation and the world . . .
The question is: Will it be a year of change for YOU?...If so, what kind of change?
Some of us would like to think that in order for us to be happy, things around us have to get better first. And, while it certainly looks so on the surface, let's talk about our role in changing our world.
Have you ever taken a moment before you turn on the TV or Talk News to feel the change in your body's stress level before and after you turned on the news? If you have, I'd bet you felt more stressed after turning it on. The reason is this: We are all problem solvers by nature - and, sitting in our homes or anywhere else, we have no control over what happens Nationally or Globally, outside of writing an email or letter to our state representative or congress person. And even then, it is out of our control what they do beyond that. We've voiced our opinion, we must now move on. In reality, there are many things we cannot change -- like everybody else in the U.S. or the world -- to fit our vision of how things should be -- and, subconsciously, the frustration of that causes us stress.
The good news is (and this may sound too simple at first) we have the greatest impact on the nation and the world by focusing on what we do at home. Although it may not seem like much, it is and I'll explain why in a minute - In order to change the world, we must first change the things we do have control over, and the closest thing to us is ourselves.
Can we change the world by changing ourselves first?
Absolutely. Our thoughts, our behavior...that little impact we make - our little 'footprint' if you will - and the impact our little changes have in our own lives influence those around us and this -- in turn - we do change the world. By changing a thought, an attitude and behavior in yourself first, you'll see changes on a very small scale initially -- in you! Over time, you'll notice the change that your new behavior and attitudes have on someone else and then someone else, and so on.
How does that work? It works like this: Have you ever seen a ripple in a pond? If you haven't, then go ahead and throw a stone or pebble into a quiet, still tub or body of water and watch what happens. The reaction the water has to the stone or pebble tossed into it is called a "ripple effect." If we throw a small stone gently into the water, the water ripples gently. If it is a large body of water, you'll notice the ripples continue going out and out and out farther and farther and until eventually they get so large and so small you can't see them. Although you cannot see the ripples any longer, the impact is still there. That is basically how we impact the world. The water represents our world and the pebble represents the thought we throw into it. No matter how hard you try, you cannot start with the large ripples. We can only get the result of large ripples by first creating the small --
Just as ripples caused by a pebble being tossed in water can never be rescinded, the ripples we send out into our world can never be retracted...What ripples do you want to be sending out into the world today?
We've all heard the adage, "Change starts at home" and "Charity begins at home." Now you can see how it absolutely does. You may ask, "How can I begin change?"...The same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time!"
Let me ask you a question: What do you want the world to look like at this time next year? Kinder? Happier? More understanding? More honest? Richer? More compassionate? Then ask yourself: What am I doing in my own life today to make my own life kinder, happier, more understanding, more honest, richer, and more compassionate?
You'll see as the thoughts and actions in your own life change, it 'ripples' in your family and friends, and as your family and friends are influenced by your example they may begin to change, and if they don't, you may decide to spend more time with people who are open to changing previous attitudes and behaviors in order to change your world. You want to spend more time with the kind of people that move you closer to your desired life, so that your life can evolve into everything you want it to be. As you begin to change yourself, by changing your thoughts and actions, you influence your environment, your home, your work, your community and so on. With continued progress in the direction of your desire, your 'ripples' get larger and larger until you literally see your world change.
Ask yourself: "What is it I want? And, what do I intend to do today to make positive changes in my life so that I begin to create the world I want?"
And, "What do I want" can be a difficult question to answer. Most of us think in terms of things we don't want. Ask yourself, if I don't want this...why? and, if I don't want that . . .why? Your answer will likely include or lead you to what you DO want. Hopefully, one of your intentions is to change this way of thinking about what you don't want into what you do want!
The power of the mind is amazing. You can literally create and have anything you want when you become a master at controlling your thoughts. Did you know we are the only animals on the planet that can do that? We have this amazing gift and yet somehow manage to go most of our lives without being aware of it.
Here's an example of how the power of your mind can change your life: Have you ever written down your goals at the beginning of the year, looked back at them at the end of the year and noticed that most if not all of them were accomplished without you even thinking about them again? And, of those that were not accomplished - had you been encouraged to see that steps had been made toward their accomplishment? Or, maybe you decided one day you wanted something and you got it so fast you were shocked? Or you thought about someone then the phone rang and it was them! This is a perfect example of the power of our mind - and of the power of our thoughts. So, when is a good time to test this power?
There is no time better than now!
Winter time is a perfect time to reflect on how things went last year and decide what you'd like to change in your life this year. This is a perfect time to think about, really think about, the kind of life you want and write down your desires and goals for this year on paper.
There are 347 or so days left in 2009. What are you going to be doing for the next 347 days to move you toward having the life you want? 347 days from now, do you want to have the same life as you have today or would you like a different life? What does that different life look like? Visualize it. Feel how it would feel to have gotten that accomplished. Now, write it down! Write down every detail of the picture of the desired life you would like to have 347 days from now.
Now imagine if you took one new step every day toward creating a piece of that picture! If you did one thing a day for your health, beginning with the way you think about it, at the end of the year you'd be healthier than you are today because you made 347 actions toward better health. If you did one thing a day toward improving relationships, your relationships would be 347 steps closer to being reciprocal, honest, trusting, loving, and all the other characteristics you want to see in your relationships. If you read a chapter a day, you would have read 347 chapters, which is more than 20 books by the end of the year! The list is endless. Will this have an impact on your life? Will your life be different next year if you take these steps? Of course it will!
But what happens if you do nothing because you don't believe you can, so you don't change your thoughts or begin to take steps (even tiny ones) today? That's right. Nothing.
It's not a coincidence. It's Law. Just as Sir Isaac Newton discovered the Law of Gravity by analyzing the forces at work when sitting under the apple tree, we can respect the fact that there might be other Laws at play here too. Laws that, just like gravity, we do not see and cannot touch, but they are here all the same. The movie, "The Secret" lays out pretty well the power of the Law of Attraction. But another one of those Laws is the Law of Reciprocation. It states that what you put out, you get back. Put out a little effort, get little return. Put out a lot of effort, get greater returns. Put out no effort, get no return. Put out positive efforts, get positive returns. Put out negative efforts, get negative returns. Give love, get love. That is the greatest lesson of all. If you would like more love from your family, give more love to them. Be kind. Be supportive. Encourage them to grow. Do all the things you would want someone who loved you to do for you if you were in their shoes. The Law of Reciprocation is the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Another way of saying it is: Give away what you want the most. Respect, love, appreciation...
Always remember there's one thing you can control and that is you. Only you control your thoughts and your actions today. You can make those thoughts and actions congruent with the kind of life you want and you can have it. You do not have control over other people. You may have influence, but you have no control. They have free will just like you. They will discover their power to when they become aware and begin to test it and trust they have it.
Make a decision about what you want and then act on it. Take at least one step each day - make a phone call, ask someone for information, set an appointment, or spend 20 minutes focusing on something you desire, asking yourself, "If I were to have that by December 31, 2009, what could I do today to move myself closer to it." I guarantee that if you did that and took action on whatever answer came to mind, by December 31, 1009 you could be happier, have less stress, be healthier, have more money and better relationships than you do now!
You can accomplish whatever you want, that is, if you do five things: DESIRE it, ASK for it, BELIEVE that you can have it and then follow that belief and ACT on it and, most importantly, stay FOCUSED on it!
My favorite book says, "God helps those who help themselves." We help ourselves by taking action toward the life we ask our higher source or God to provide. Don't expect your goal to fall into your lap if you aren't willing to take action toward it.
Good intentions are not actions. You've heard what they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." You must ACT. This philosophy is congruent with Newton's Law of Motion. Whether you think in terms of the scientific or philosophical, the message is the same: Put your desires into motion by taking steps toward them. In other words, an intention with action charges the intention and brings the intended result about.
Some people might get hung up on deciding on what their goals should be. If you haven't a lot of experience setting and achieving goals, the concept can be challenging. The worst thing is when people get stuck and therefore do nothing. I don't want that to be you!!
When I was 19, the concept of a long term goal was totally foreign to me. Now, it is crystal clear. When I was 19, I could set a goal for this week, this month and even this year, but had difficulty setting a goal for what I wanted 5 or 10 years down the road. When I was 22 years old however, the lightbulb came on, I decided I wanted to own my own business someday...Not knowing yet how to do that, I set out to gain the knowledge and experience I needed to increase my chances of success and set a date.
To envision a long term goal can seem illusive, yet to others it seems simple. Why is that? I'll tell you why. If we have difficulty envisioning long term goals it's because we have no practice getting good at accomplishing our short term goals! We need first to get good at accomplishing short term goals to graduate beyond the short term to the long term. All it takes is awareness, which you are getting now, and practice!
That reminds me of the guy who stopped a concert violinist in New York for directions. He said, "Excuse me. How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The musician replied, "Practice!"
Long term goals can seem illusive if we haven't developed the ability to achieve short term goals through practice.
Understanding how to make and achieve long term goals without first understanding short and mid-term goals can be like trying to run before first knowing how to stand or even walk -- or trying to graduate High School without going through Elementary School. I suppose if I say it can't be done, someone will sure enough do it, but it is a tough row to hoe. Our mind doesn't work that way. It's hard to grasp concepts we have no foundation for. We learned to walk by practicing getting up. We practiced getting up and began standing. We got better at balancing and standing and began taking steps. Soon we began walking -- with practice. By practicing at achieving the smaller goals, we gain trust in the process, we get better at achieving them and soon we know how to set and achieve larger and larger ones.
As you practice this, you'll notice a funny thing about the mind. That is that as you start moving toward you're the picture of the life you want to create, that life starts moving toward you. It's almost as if the world realigns itself to bring into your focus the things you need to accomplish your goal. The truth is, it was always there, waiting for you to desire it and seek it out by taking action.
Have you noticed how after you buy a new car, suddenly you notice how many of that particular car is on the road? That is an example of awareness. Once you achieve something, even something as simple as a car, you gain a heightened awareness of it. You are aware of this car more intimately now because you own it. And perhaps even begin the action to buy a nicer car soon after by creating a new thought! That's how goals work.
Start small. Build trust and awareness in the process. Eventually, you will become an expert at grasping the smaller achievements and move toward creating the life you want in the long term.
If you're still not convinced this is how your life is designed to work, think about all the stuff in the world: electricity, cars, music, clothing, paper, furniture...all the stuff you can think of that you use and love every day. All that stuff began with a thought and a desire by someone, another human like you, to create it.
When Benjamin Franklin had the thought of putting the key on the string in the thunder storm and acted on it, electricity was discovered. All the elements to create electricity had always existed, but it took Ben to first have the thought, the desire and belief that it was possible and then to stay focused and take action on the thought to achieve it. He tried many things and each time, with practice and action, he became more aware of the solution. The same elements he used to discover electricity were certainly present before that moment, but it took Ben Franklin to have the thought and take action on it to bring it about. The elements to create electricity have been here all along -- even in the cave man days, but cave men had not evolved to the point they needed to produce electricity. They had more basic needs -- like a need for fire to cook food and a wheel to carry the day's catch. Those were their 'discoveries.' Virtually all the earlier creations and discoveries have been expanded over the years to create the 'things' we enjoy today - gas fireplaces, furnaces, automobiles...the list goes on. But everything, no matter what it is, that you need to create your dream is already here, waiting for you to discover it. You only have to have the thought and take action on it.
I don't want you to worry about how you are going to achieve your goal, just know that everything you need, you will have available to you as you gain the awareness to use it. I'm sure Ben Franklin had no idea how to create electricity, but he kept focusing on his thought, maintained his desire, stayed curious about it and after many tries, the 'how' was revealed that one rainy night.
Thought is where all things that created and all goals achieved begin.
Can the mind really do that? Yes! We have a couple of well-known references to prove it. My favorite book says, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." It also says, "Ask and ye shall receive." There are no caveats. No small print. Just, "Ask, and you shall receive." This same book also assures us that we are created in the image of our creator. Doesn't this at least imply that we might also have an ability to create something? Yes. It does. Think about it -- if there was no basic truth to these quotes, why would they have survived 2000 years?
So decide what you want and Ask for it. And don't forget the important elements of Desire, Belief, Action and Focus.
Focus is important. Focus is your mind's GPS. Focus doesn't necessarily accelerate the time it takes to reach your goals. Because the time is what it is. At maximum focus the time it takes to accomplish something is much less than with partial or minimum focus. Your level of focused action determines how fast you reach your goal. There are laws at play here too. Just know that the better you are at focusing the faster you can achieve your goals. Make sure you stay focused so that your actions are taking the shortest route possible to take you where you want to go. If you find you're doing something that does not move you closer to your goal, stop and refocus. Here's why:
Imagine taking a 355 mile trip from San Diego to Phoenix. You set the GPS to find the shortest route. The trip takes 6 hours by car going the speed limit. You begin to drive according to the GPS instructions. If you continue to drive according to the GPS, you'll reach Phoenix in 6 hours. But if you ignore the GPS and instead take several exits along the way, or take the 'scenic route' though the Grand Canyon how long would it take? Or what if you reached Interstate 10 and decided to go North to Palm Springs for the Winter instead? It could take days, weeks or months instead of hours to reach your goal, depending on how many side trips you take and how long you ignore the GPS! Now, it is OK to change your goal, but if your goal is still to get to Phoenix, do you see how much longer it will take you to get there because you took all those detours? A GPS is to a road trip what focus is to achieving your goals. You'll get there faster if you stay focused. It will take longer, or perhaps never, if you don't.
As the Nike slogan goes, "Just Do It!"
Try it. Go ahead and dream. Dream about the life you would like to have 347 days from now. Write it down. Don't worry about the how. The how will come once to decide on what you want, fuel it with your desire and belief that you can have it, stay focused on it and begin taking steps toward it each day. Maintain focus on the life you want 347 days from now and you'll be surprised how your world changes!
Teresa Myers
Sales and Life Success Consultant
http://www.infoforsuccess.com
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