Saturday, May 19, 2007

Change Your Life

Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.” -Unknown

When you live the same way and think the same way and believe the same way - your life will tend to remain the same. So if you are looking for change in your life, you will need to change the way you think. An example of how this can happen is given by Dawn Fields in an article titled Change the Way You Think and Change Your Life.

Ms. Fields provides the story of a man that wanted to become a writer and why he initially failed. She also provides four easy steps to follow. The steps are easy to remember, but it takes work to follow and stay with them. But if you do, chances are change will come your way and you will find yourself in a better place.

Over ten years ago, I made a change in the way I was thinking and doing things that set me on a course to where I am today. It effected family and friends but it also had an impact on new people we encountered along our path. Today I am looking to change once again, to change the way I think about my career. Those around me will be effected but like before, new people will be impacted by this change as well.

I look forward to this change and have learned to flow with change. Life will create change for you whether want it to or not. But you can also create change within your life by adopting a new way of thinking. Change the way you think about your life, adopt a new attitude and live a great life.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Mothers Day Revisited

I will start today asking each of you, "did you call your mother yesterday?" Or if she is no longer with us, did you stop and think of her? It is one of those things that as a child, you can never forget what she has done for or gone through for you.

Motherhood is one of those things in which one person (your mother) gives of herself to you. A serving attitude all in the course of raising her child. In return she will reap the benefit of undying love and adoration.

Mothers are as total as the sky;
Older than the earth, and more enduring.
They're rooted in our hearts like ancient trees,

Halfway down to seething lava seas;
Emblazoned on our sail, and on our mooring.
Returning home, we dwell within their sigh:
So maddening, so rich, so reassuring.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and all of the moms out there. And yes, I did call her yesterday!

Friday, May 11, 2007

To Serve Another

The most infectiously joyous men and women are those who forget themselves in thinking about and serving others” -Robert J. McCracken

Within our life time, each of us will need to place our needs or wants to the side. It may be at a point when we have kids or some other obligation. This may be due to unforeseen circumstances or by choice, either way, you will be in a position requiring effort to help other first.

Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them.” -Thomas Kinkade

When this happens, you will have moved from a 'taking' environment into a 'serving' environment. This does not mean that you lose everything and nothing is gained. Far from that, you will reap benefits of having this serving attitude. It will impact you and those that you are serving.

Happiness... consists in giving, and in serving others.” -Henry Drummond

Find a serving attitude in your heart and you will be rewarded with a fuller life. It is in the giving of yourself that your success will be measured.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Take Time For Yourself

So many times we are 'running so fast' trying to accomplish all of our daily routines. From getting ready for work, the kids off to school, important tasks at work to the evening activities, it can a very full day. Mixed in with all of this ordinary ritual of your day are the 'problems' and the 'planning' that you encounter or need to think about.

These 'things' you need to think about are those that will help your life move forward. All of the other things going on are part of that but are mostly the routines of the day. To move your life forward, you have a need to clearly think about any problems in your life. You need to clearly think about the future of your life. This can be difficult in between getting a child on the bus and getting to the train station in time.

So what should you do? Plan to take time out each day to reflect. Take just seven minutes to do this from your busy schedule. Why seven minutes? It is an odd number that is easy to remember, it is a 'lucky' number in some beliefs. Seven corresponds to the seven days of the week, the seven planets, seven rungs of perfection, seven spheres of celestial stairs, the seven petals of the rose, the seven branches of the shaman's cosmic tree and so on.

Seven denotes the fullness of the planetary orders, the fullness of the energies and principles in spiritual order. Seven was the Ancient Egyptian symbol of eternal life, and symbolizes the dynamic perfection of a completed cycle. Seven conveys the fresh start after a cycle has been completed and of positive regeneration.

Okay, so I made my point about the number seven. There are many different reasons why I chose seven minutes, but mainly just to give you a time frame for thought and reflection. That's the only reason. As a person in this life, we do not have all of the answers. We can not fix everything on our own. But daily we need to stop and think about where we can find help.

Each of us need a few moments to see where we can find guidance and reflection. Whether this be spiritually, intellectually or even physically, it is okay to look to others for help if that is needed. It also allows you time to think about what the need might be.

Take seven minutes each day, reflect upon your life and start to move your life forward. You will begin to see things more clearly and your life will change.