The Fire Inside

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." -Arnold H. Glasow

I have heard it said that when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. You can't wait for others to come along each time to light it for you. There needs to be a mechanism from within that you can use to re-ignite your passion.

Too many times we run out of steam in our pursuit of our best life. The road can become long and weary. There are those moments when it can feel like the struggle isn't worth the effort. This becomes your signal to re-fuel, to re-stoke the fire within.

The keys are to look at your goals again and tell yourself how great its going to be once you achieve them. Then pick up something inspirational to read such as the Bible, or self-help books written by motivational authors or maybe even mine. But find the words that inspire and motivate you. Find the words that lift you up and remind you that all is truly possible.

This is also the moment that people with negative personalities will seem to suddenly appear. They are usually the first on scene, like firemen that have come to put out your fire completely. In this particular case, you need to avoid those people. Move as far away from them as you can.

Get yourself around people that will help you keep those embers burning. The positive kind of people that will help you collect and add fuel to that fire. They will be the kind of people that help you protect that fire.

Keep the fire burning for your dreams, visions, and goals. Never give up on yourself.

Breath of Air

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it." -Sydney J. Harris

This has been one of those stressful weeks at work. It has been filled with the angst of understanding a problem and how to fix it. It also involves how to relay that information to another person to help them understand.

I get reminded by people that I need to read my own blog articles from time to time. That is because I am human just like everyone else. I get frustrated, stressed, down, and generally bent out of shape at times. What matters is how I or you recover from those episodes.

In actuality, it is very much like swimming, or learning how to swim. You can get very flustered and begin thrashing about in the water. That is the moment in time that most experts will tell you to just relax.

In fact you could take the following three tips on learning to swim for most any stressful situation.

1. Understand how breathing works and how it's related to every move you make in the water (life). How could you think about anything else first?

2. Next is to relax a bit because you now understand how breathing works. Your relaxed body will learn basic swim strokes (refocus).

3. Throughout all this, to repeat; you won't worry so much about breathing because you already understand how to get your air (balance and focus).

Simply put, step back and relax and most importantly - breathe.

No Fear

"You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith." -Mary Manin Morrissey

Sit back and think about how many times you would have done something in life if fear had not entered your mind. Think of standing up in front of an audience to deliver a presentation, asking that girl across the room out to a movie, or trying out for the baseball team. Maybe you thought of trying to act in a play and sing in a musical. Or what about trying to write a book?

Now sit back and think about all of those experiences and how they could have changed your life. Think of where you would be today if you had pushed fear out of the way. The darkness of living in fear would have been lifted by the light of new experience.

I know because I pushed aside fear and did everyone of those things. Was I a success at all of them? No, but each of them have allowed me to experience a great life.

By turning off that knob of fear, by chasing it from your life, there is so much more to be gained. Try something different and when fear gets in the way, knock it aside. This is your life and it is full of great things for you.

French Dialogue

"That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments." -Samuel Johnson

It was all we wanted, a cup of coffee from which a relaxing afternoon would melt away. It was of course in a restaurant in the French village of Senlis. Two Americans, enjoying the day and trying to traverse the French language in a way those around thought amusing.

It is said by some that the French can be rude, but I would say that can happen anywhere. The French are very nice and accomodating any time I travel to France. What I do observe is if you try to speak the language of the local area you are in, it is a respectful sign and acknowledgement to them. And so we tried, we viewed the menu and tried to say the right words in the right dialect and without sounding too foolish.

We used our intellect and could make out the words of various items on the menu. The cafe, creme brulee were easy enough and the tarte aux pomme was likely a dessert as well. Go figure, it would be the desserts that we understood most easily. Yet it was not a meal we were after, it was conversation.

In a country where you don't speak the language, all of the conversations around you are like static to the senses. You know the talk is of family, sports, business or possibly gossip. But you can not make out the words and the laughter is enticing. So you look at each other and start your own conversation, in English, in focus on each other.

I would like to think that those around us enjoyed the English language as well since it is not something they hear all that often. Two Americans, a man and woman, husband and wife talking of things close to them, of things that fill their life together.

It was a conversation that was long but was too short. That is what makes relationship with others so wonderful. It is what makes my marriage so great; the conversation between two people. A cup of coffee, a dessert and a long conversation that always seems to end too soon.

Make your conversations with others the ones each of you want to remember for a long time. Make those conversations such that you never want them to end. Make your connection with others be the type that they never want it to end.