Why Complicate Things

“The most complicated skill is to be simple.” ― Dejan Stojanovic

From John McPherson, a talented and funny artist, an amusing look into a way of life many of us fall into sometimes. I guess our complicated lives or the way we make them complicated could be summed up in this one cartoon panel.

I do imagine you could go back in time a few years or even hundreds of years to see a similar type of busy schedule people lead. But life lived complicated can be stressful and debilitating.

There are ways to simplify your life and it comes down to determining what is important to you. Each of us make choices everyday to commit to various things which fill our day. Not all commitments are bad and circumstance can yield the same harried and complicated life.

So enjoy life the best way you can. Look for ways to set priorities in your life and take time to "stop and smell the roses."

Stay inspired my friends.

The Field in Your Life

“And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.” ― Kahlil Gibran

I listened to a speaker once talk about a person's sphere of influence. A sphere of influence is that area or impact you can have on those that enter or pass through your life. Taken in its simplest form, this sphere is your family, friends, co-workers, people in the store you shop at, where you buy your gas, church and everything you do.

During these moments of interaction, how you speak, conduct yourself and the way you respond is a chance to impact another person's life. If you think about it, everywhere you go you create a sphere of influence.

As the saying goes "wherever you go, there you are", so is your ability to impact people.

What this means is that your influence and ability to impact people moves with you. In example, when I travel outside of the United States, many say to me that I will be out of my comfort zone or out of my environment.

But my environment is all around me where ever I go. I carry my own environment with me and those I meet are entering into my field as I like to call it. A field you may wonder?

Just know that as you move about in your daily life, wherever you go, you can have impact on others.

Try not to lose any opportunity to engage and create change. And stay inspired my friends.

Put it Down and Look Up

Lift your eyes and do what you can for someone today, large or small.

Stay inspired my friends!

Paying Forward

"I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they are bad - to change. Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses." - Trevor McKinney, Pay It Forward

My notes from the road today are about serving others.

Paying it forward is not a new idea and has been written about before. There was a very nice movie with the same name which did quite well. The idea of "paying it forward" also does quite well in our lives and that is what I am here to talk about.

Our lives are truly impacted by the acts of others. You will notice I did not say our life is determined by others. We are impacted by others and our response or attitude towards them are of our own doing. 

The principle of paying it forward is not a self serving way of life. You don't perform these acts expecting anything in return. The idea is to do one good thing for three other people. All you ask of these people is that they each do the same for three more people each. 

Think of it as "network marketing" but only with goodness intended. Instead of three people recruiting three people to build you up. What you are building up is so more in that you are building up people and they in turn are doing the same. You are that pebble dropped in the water, rippling outward to impact other people. 

It is easy to do and all I ask is for you to try and do something good for at least one other person today. Don't ask for anything in return but do ask that person to do something good for another. So on and so forth life goes, making it a little better for each one of us.

Stay inspired my friends.