“All joy in this world comes from wanting others to be happy,
and all suffering in this world comes from wanting only oneself to be happy”
– Shantideva
Happy Soul Friday!
Hope your 2013 is off to a good start.
This week’s nuggets are designed to fortify you for another trip around the sun…
“All’s well that ends well” and “Practice makes perfect” are misnomers.
All’s well that BEGINS well. Your imagination is a preview of coming attractions.
Practice makes PERMANENT. Perfect practice makes perfect. What you do you become.
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And You Thought Paying it Forward was Wishful Thinking and Wouldn’t Go Anywhere?
Check out this story where a chain reaction had people paying it forward for 3 hours and 228 orders!
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Are You Lucky?
They say, “luck is when preparation meets opportunity” and they are right!
The Luck Factor shows you that lucky people actually create their own luck and that you can actually grow your own luck using four principles;
- creating and noticing chance opportunities
- making “lucky” decisions by listening to your own intuition
- creating self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations
- and adopting a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good
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Unsticking In the New Year Is Not Easily Done
Here is some help from Robin Sharma with my favorites bolded
62 Fast Tips to Get UnStuck
By Robin Sharma
Author of the #1 Bestseller “The Leader Who Had No Title”
- Believe in your vision and gifts when no one else believes in your vision and gifts.
- Start your day with 20 minutes of exercise.
- Make excellence your way of being (versus a once in a while event).
- Be on time (bonus points: be early).
- Be a celebrator of other’s talents versus a critic.
- Stop watching TV. (Bonus points: sell your tv and invest the cash in learning and self-education).
- Finish what you start.
- Remember that your diet affects your moods so eat like an athlete.
- Spend an hour a day without stimulation (no phone+no FaceBook+no noise).
- Release the energy vampires from your life. They are destroying your performance.
- Write in a journal every morning. And record gratitude every night.
- Do work that scares you (if you’re not uncomfortable often, you’re not growing very much).
- Make the choice to let go of your past. It’s dusty history. And polluting your future.
- Commit to being “Mozart-Level Good” at your work.
- Smile more (and tell your face).
- Do a collage filled with images of your ideal life. Look at it once a day for focus and inspiration.
- Plan your week on a schedule (clarity is the DNA of mastery).
- Stop gossiping (average people love gossip; exceptional people adore ideas).
- Read “As You Think”.
- Read “The Go-Getter”.
- Don’t just parent your kids–develop them.
- Remember that victims are frightened by change. And leaders grow inspired by it.
- Start taking daily supplements to stay in peak health.
- Clean out any form of “victimspeak” in your vocabulary and start running the language of leadership and possibility.
- Do a nature walk at least once a week. It’s renew you (you can’t inspire others if you’re depleted yourself).
- Take on projects no one else will take on. Set goals no one else will do.
- Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable at least once every 7 days.
- Say “sorry” when you know you should say “sorry”.
- Say “please” and “thank you” a lot.
- Remember that to double your income, triple your investment in learning, coaching and self-education.
- Dream big but start now.
- Achieve 5 little goals each day (“The Daily 5 Concept” I shared in “The Leader Who Had No Title” that has transformed the lives of so many). In 12 months this habit will produce 1850 little goals–which will amount to a massive transformation.
- Write handwritten thank you notes to your customers, teammates and family members.
- Be slow to criticize and fast to praise.
- Read Walter Isaacson’s amazing biography on Steve Jobs.
- Give your customers 10X the value they pay for (“The 10X Value Obsession”).
- Use the first 90 minutes of your work day only on value-creating activities (versus checking email or surfing the Net).
- Breathe.
- Keep your promises.
- Remember that ordinary people talk about their goals. Leaders get them done. With speed.
- Watch the inspirational documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”.
- Know that a problem only becomes a problem when you choose to see it as a problem.
- Brain tattoo the fact that all work is a chance to change the world.
- Watch the amazing movie “The Intouchables”.
- Remember that every person you meet has a story to tell, a lesson to teach and a dream to do.
- Risk being rejected. All of the great ones do.
- Spend more time in art galleries. Art inspires, stimulates creativity and pushes boundaries.
- Read a book a week, invest in a course every month and attend a workshop every quarter.
- Remember that you empower what you complain about.
- Get to know yourself. The main reason we procrastinate on our goals is not because of external conditions; we procrastinate due to our internal beliefs. And the thing is they are stuck so deep that we don’t even know they exist. But once you do, everything changes.
- Read “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”.
- Know your values. And then have the guts to live them–no matter what the crowd thinks and how the herd lives.
- Become the fittest person you know.
- Become the strongest person you know.
- Become the kindest person you know.
- Know your “Big 5″–the 5 goals you absolutely must achieve by December 31 to make this year your best yet (I teach my entire goal-achieving process, my advanced techniques on unleashing confidence and how to go from being stuck to living a life you adore in my online program “Your Absolute Best Year Yet”).
- Know that potential unexpressed turns to pain.
- Build a strong family foundation while you grow your ideal career.
- Stop being selfish.
- Give your life to a project bigger than yourself.
- Be thankful for your talents.
- Stand for iconic. Go for legendary. And make history.
This is YOUR time. Now’s YOUR moment. Let’s do this! 🙂
Your fan,
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Thoughts from a Good Guy with a Gun
I couldn’t agree more…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dani-meier/school-shootings-guns_b_2411441.html
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Life with No Regret-A Nurse reveals the Top 5 Regrets people make on their Deathbed:
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared.
I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them……………..
When questioned about ANY REGRETS they had or anything they would do differently, Common Themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five REGRETS :
1. I wish I’d had the Courage to Live a Life True to Myself, NOT THE LIFE OTHERS EXPECTED OF ME.
This was The MOST COMMON Regret of All. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had Not Honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. By SIMPLIFYING YOUR LIFESTYLE INTO LIVING NON-MATERIALISTIC LIFESTYLES, and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the Income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new Simple Lifestyle.
3. I wish I’d had the Courage to Express My TRUE Feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became WHO they were Truly Capable of Becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result. We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by Speaking Honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my True Friends.
Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of their old TRUE Friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let Golden Friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their Really TRUE friends when they are dying. It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let REAL friendships slip.. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to Love and REAL Relationships in the end.
That is all that remains in the final weeks, True love and REAL TRUE Relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one.
Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in Old Patterns and Habits…….. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of Change had them Pretending to others, and to their OWN Selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again. When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying. Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose Consciously, choose Wisely, choose Honestly. Choose happiness that gives YOU CONTENTMENT & PEACE OF MIND ON A DAILY BASIS
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A Mother’s Love Comes in Many Flavors and Sizes
Enjoy this lighter fare and photographic journey…
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul
than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela
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Educating Hearts
Thanks this week go to Ron A, Eva M, Mohit, Pat D/A, and Mama Marlaine
Stay Curious and oh yeah, Pay it Forward!
Love,
Neville
“I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness”
–Walt Whitman, ‘Song of the Open Road’
Happy Soul Food Friday! 