Confidence To Move Forward

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours." - Henry David Thoreau

A few years ago I was traveling on business with quite a few meetings at many different locations in the Redmond, Washington area. You can probably guess at which company and by doing so, probably understand how large their campus is. There are buildings spreading over a large part of Bellevue and Redmond, Washington and something on the order of forty some thousand people (on these campuses alone).

Still can't guess which one?

It does not matter, only to know that getting from one building to another meant figuring out where things were and getting there as quickly as possible. I would find one building, a place to park, get inside, do my one hour presentation then rush off to the next location.

My goal was to see as many groups as possible and get my message out in front of them. This can never be done unless you have a clear goal and direction in mind. In my case, I had printed out each of the meetings and information surrounding them.

It was about preparation to confidently push in the direction of my goal.

It is the same for me as it is for you. Without choosing a direction and confidently going towards it, achieving goals will be difficult. Certainly the hardest part can be moving at all. And choosing to change is scary as it pulls us from what is our comfort zone.

Once we do decide to change our lives, we need to move with confidence in the direction we have set forth for ourselves. Don't be afraid that the direction might be wrong. You can correct your course as you move. As you gain momentum, your confidence will be strengthened.

Obstacles become smaller and reality of your goal will come in view.

So move with confidence in the direction of your dreams. Eventually you will find the treasure of your dream is right in front of you, within reach, a reality.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Wear Level Of Negativity

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer

As described by National Geographic, erosion is the act in which earth is worn away, often by water, wind, or ice. A similar process, weathering, breaks down or dissolves rock, weakening it or turning it into tiny fragments.

In our daily life, negativity is the weathering which breaks down our lives. It changes the way we view and approach our daily lives in mostly destructive ways. Until we are worn down with only tiny fragments of support left.

Eventually the imbalance causes us to fall.

In an article written by Rick Riddle titled 6 Signs Your Subconcious Negativity Is Sabotaging Your Well-Being, he states, "This is the power of your subconscious. It has been programmed with either positive or negative thoughts, put there by you, and it will bubble up to affect you in any current situation."

He writes that we fill ourselves with negative thoughts in six distinct ways.

1. Black and White Thinking
2. Your Moods Change Significantly and Often
3. You Adopt Some Bad habits
4. You Consistently Speak and Think About the Past or the Future
5. You Have Worries, Anxieties and Fears
6. You are Judgmental of Self and Others

Can you see the traps these six habits can create the view of nothing will ever go your way. These thoughts fill your head and you begin to respond to every event in a negative fashion with little hope of changing the circumstance.

Changing your perspective, changing your response, changing your attitude will change everything.

Stay inspired my friends!

Compassion Follows

"Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves." - Mason Cooley

Each of us have witnessed on television the devastating images from Japan when a tsunami hit their shores in 2011. An earthquake and then a large scale tsunami wreaked widespread death and destruction.

One could not help but be moved to compassion for those affected.

The Wednesday before this natural disaster occurred, I was flying through Tokyo on my way home. During my four hour layover an airline club representative told me I had just missed the rumblings of an early morning earthquake.

Little did I or anyone around me know what was about to happen.

As I have written before, the unexpected will happen in life. But it can be in our hearts to spill over with compassion when others are hurt. And compassion not only happens during great disasters, but compassion can be an everyday piece of your heart.

There are people all around us in need.

Some more then others have great needs and others with smaller needs just to help them get through the day. It does not mean we are ranking the needs of people. Just know that everyone has needs which are important to them.

When you rise above yourself, compassion for others will naturally follow.

Individually we can not solve all or even many of the worlds problems. But start small, start with yourself, start by simply having compassion where it is needed. Eventually you will find yourself among others doing great things.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Unexpected Will Always Happen

“It is strange how new and unexpected conditions bring out unguessed ability to meet them.” ― Edgar Rice Burroughs

John Lennon, a member of the 1960's group The Beatles once said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." A subtle but true reminder of how we live our lives as we attempt to control and plan all aspects of life.

Life itself has a tendency to do other things.

It might be attending college working towards a degree, a new girl or boy in your life and suddenly a baby is on the way.

Life changes your plans and now your life is raising a family.

It might be as a child with parents seeing your life ahead of you and then a divorce occurs changing everything.

Life sets you on a course much different then you had imagined.

A job career progressing and than a downturn in the economy and you become a statistic on a balance sheet, no more job.

Life just handed you a new opportunity to embrace.

Each of us plan and chart where our lives are going and want to be. Just remember the unexpected can and probably will occur. Be of good nature and understand it happens to everyone throughout their lifetime. It will happen to you, but knowing this and staying positive will help pull you through once again.

Stay inspired my friends!