Sunday, April 26, 2009

It's Only Your Opinion, But It Is All That Matters

"Men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happened." - Epictetus

2,000 years ago it was still true. It is not what happens, but how we think about what happens. Weather is neither good nor bad, it simply is weather. It is our opinion of the weather that gives it the meaning we choose. The economy is the economy, and it is what we think about that--our opinion about it that determines how we are choosing to feel about it and respond or react to it. To one it could be a boom time, to others a down time. It is only the interpretation that means anything.

There is more joy in my life since I have really understood this. I have no need to be upset about anything, for that would be my interpretation of an event or situation. Since, I now know that I am in 100% total control of what I choose to think about anything, I now know that I can choose to have pleasant thoughts instead of unpleasant ones. They feel better, I feel better, people around me feel better, and my life is enjoyable without the need of drugs or other diversions.

Besides changing your life for the better, it will change your business for the better. A slow day, a busy day, those are all interpretations. It is a day. Think of what you can do to give joy to another person through your personality and your business offerings. It will change you and your business for the better.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

I * N * S * P * I * R * A * T * I * O * N

I just love the Internet. What a huge difference it can make and does make in our lives today. There is so much out there, and possibly not all good, depending on your point of view; however, there is so much that is inspiring and uplifting.

Want some INSPIRATION today? Or any day, or time you choose?

Try this: Flawless

Though it is awesome, you need more than that. Here's another.

Try this: Chance of a Lifetime

If you're not jumping up and down yet or grabbing the tissue, here is a whole bunch more:

This will do it: Much More

And that is just one single source on the Internet. . . amazing!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Get Inspired. . . Daily!

I look for and count on inspiration every day. Some days I get busy with the stuff of life and don't remember to remember that I want to be inspired everyday. That doesn't last long because I'm an inspiration junkie. I need it, want it and will have it. It is glorious! I don't know how many people live without it on a daily basis. I see many who are ID (Inspiration Deficient).

I get inspired from all around me. My business partner inspires me, books inspire me, audiobooks, lectures, videos, movies, so many ways. All I need to do is to reach out and in a few minutes I will find some inspiration. It is not just in these things, but I find inspiration in the natural beauty around me, in a business trying something new, in a really better ad in a magazine or paper.

The inspiration encourages and helps to facilitate ideas and thoughts that take me in different directions or expand where I am. I now rely on them, and the good news is that I have control over them coming to me. I read a book, I get inspired to read another book and it is like a path. It all works together.

Reach out and find some things that inspire you. I don't think you can ever get enough inspiration. Fortunately, there is so much of it out there, it is an endless supply, so you can have all you want.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Two Words That Have Come To Mean A Lot

In the last few years I have learned two common words that have come to mean a lot to me. They are React and Respond. Any time something comes up, especially the unexpected, I pay close attention to those words and decide whether I will react to the situation or event or whether I will respond to it.

I know for 90% of my life that I have been reacting. It is generally what most people are taught it seems. Stuff happens! Reacting seems to be a logical thing to do. Yet, those reactions--at least in my life--have caused unhappy feelings and frankly, many poor decisions. I was like a steel ball in a pin ball machine, bouncing from one thing to the next with all those reactions.

Now, I have learned the choice to respond rather than react. I can take appropriate action without reacting to the event. It is more matter of fact and less emotional. In addition, the unhappy feelings have evaporated and I am left with choices and that works so much better. Now I'm a practicing responder instead of a habitual reactionary.

React? Respond? React? Respond? React? Respond? Two words that have come to mean a lot.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Reality Isn't Real--It's A Perception.

I've often heard that I should be paying attention to reality. To that I answer that I am. To which many might say otherwise, yet here is one of the most important lessons I ever learned: Reality isn't real--it is a perception. More than this, it is an individual perception.

Many say the economy is really bad and that everyone is having a hard time. That is total nonsense. It isn't true at all. I would probably agree that many are having a hard time, but a very far distance from everyone. Then again, what does having a hard time mean? Who's definition is used? To one a hard time might be this and to another, it is that. Who's to say?

". . . for nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. . ." was a line from Hamlet by Shakespeare. It is so true. What that then means is that everyone may choose their own reality. By that, I mean that what bothers and concerns me may be very different than what bothers and concerns you and that is two different realities.

If crime is stated as high in the media and some are in fear, that is one reality of high crime and fear. If I, on the other hand, have no fear and do not focus a moments attention on crime or fear, I have a totally different reality of the same reality. Really. It is thinking that makes it so or not so. It actually changes the reality to the person with the perception. What I perceive is my reality and what you perceive is yours. They co-exist and I have no problem with that.

What is your "reality?" It makes all the difference in what comes next. If you are in business, I would think you would know by now to choose a positive reality with a good outcome regardless of what appearances may seem to be or what some people may say. Paying any attention at all to anything that you do not want will cause you to accept that reality. The one and the other cannot co-exist in one person. You get to choose. You will choose. The choice you make will be your truth, as is mine.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Start Before You Are Ready

The best advice I have heard is this: You have to start before you are ready.

Some think that you have to have everything planned out and all of the potential downfalls covered including a full blown (generally total speculation) business plan and then after all that time and effort you might be ready to begin. The chances are that under this method, you will never get it going at all.

With a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and the will to proceed, you will learn what you need to know and you will find that your mental plans are being continually improved as you move forward. What you will end up with is far greater than if you tried to cover all the bases ahead of time. I don't think it is possible to cover all the bases ahead of time. Part of the growing process is refining your vision and goals. That comes from experience, not planning.

If you have a good idea and you feel strongly about it and are willing to commit to it, rather than just try it out, get going! The answers you need will come as you move forward. It is absolute fact.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Straighten Up and Fly Right!

I used to hear that phrase, "straighten up and fly right," when I was a young boy. I haven't thought of it in many years, but it is so, so true. Of course, it has a double meaning, yet both meanings are all about attitude, so really it has a single meaning, and many applications.

In flying an airplane (where this phrase came from), it is all about attitude: your plane's attitude relative to the environment. In the case of flying, everything about attitude is related to the horizon. When you are flying right, you are flying level with the horizon and have all options open. They call that straight and level. As a pilot you always need to know where your plane is relative to the horizon, even when you can't see the horizon. In this case, you rely on an instrument called the artificial horizon to graphically show you your plane's attitude relative to the real horizon. It is easier than you might think to get disoriented in the air.

As in the air, in life, it is all about attitude. What is my attitude relative to where I want to be? Also as in the air, it is very easy to get disoriented and start paying attention to the events and opinions all around you and forget about your plane's attitude relative to the horizon, or where you want to be. This causes disorientation and confusion. It's easy to see it this way for me.

The answer then is for me to focus. I need to focus on my attitude relative to what I want. If I'm looking all around at events and opinions, much of which I do not want, I become disoriented and I feel it in my emotions. I feel bad, or unsure, or angry, or scared. Feeling any of those emotions, is an indicator that I need to straighten up and fly right! When my attitude is relative to what I want, I feel good, joyous, encouraged, or inspired. I particularly like being inspired. There is nothing at all like it. It is really beyond joy even.

The interesting thing to learn is that we always have so much more control than we think we do. If you were a pilot and you got disoriented, you wouldn't just quit trying. You would straighten up and fly right. They teach you how to do that in pilot training--even with blinders on! (Really, it's called a hood. It allows you to see the instruments, but you cannot see outside of the plane.) It's a requirement to successfully be able to straighten up and fly right several times before you can even get a license. Yet, in life, we just are not generally taught this, let alone have to demonstrate it successfully.

Even as a new pilot must learn it, in life we must learn to straighten up and fly right or suffer the alternatives. The information is here and it has always been here. It is your emotions. If you are feeling bad, scared, angry, unsure, these are the indicators that your attitude is disoriented. You are focusing on what you do not want. Your inner self, like the airplane's artificial horizon, helps you see the need to change your attitude. Once you are aware and awakened, you can recover, and get your attitude aligned with what you do want rather than what you don't want. Focus on what you want even if you cannot actually see the horizon. Trust the instrument inside you as a pilot must trust the artificial horizon. Straighten up and fly right!