The Positive Persuasion

Earlier today I was speaking with a friend of mine about perspectives and the power of a positive outlook. It’s amazing how powerful the phrase, “it’s all going to be okay” can be when it comes from the mouth of a trusted friend or family member. Words like these help to frame a perspective that nothing is inescapable, and that pain is temporary. It’s all about attitude. She and I shared our perspectives and attitudes on life for a bit, and the Chuck Swindoll piece on attitude suddenly came to mind.

It’s such a great little piece of inspiration and perspective to have fresh in your mind as often as possible. In fact, it’s posted on the bulletin board in my office. I highly recommend printing it out and posting it somewhere you’ll see it often!

ATTITUDE by: Charles Swindoll

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”

It’s such a great little nugget of perspective! Last year I remember watching Michael J. Fox’s television show, The Incurable Optimist, and feeling this overwhelming sense of gratitude for the beauty and inspiration in the world. It is still powerful to me, and my outlook has changed even more since that moment. It’s all about attitude and experience. The attitude of gratitude, as stated many times throughout this blog, is probably the single, most powerful key to fulfillment and happiness in life.

Spend some time today completely flooded in gratitude or appreciation. It’s really a beautiful life if you stop and take notice!

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you all! I’m incredibly grateful for all of you, and your priceless support!

Blake

Share on Facebook

I found this story, and had to post it. It made me think about the places I’ve worked and the policies I had to follow for all the wrong reasons. Think about what you do and do not do in the pursuit of your dream. Have you created some ridiculous guidelines to keep yourself from actually moving forward? Has someone else made those guidelines for you? Laugh at this story, and see if it changes the way you look at your policies.

“Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done round here.

And that, my friends, is how company policies are made.” – Source Unknown

Something to think about the next time you encounter a policy that seems to be a little ‘out there’ in the world.

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you all!

Blake

Share on Facebook

Sometimes the most growth comes from someone asking a powerful question. Suddenly, everything seems to make a little more sense, and we know what we must do from this point forward. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. They are just meant to get your wheels turning, and maybe help you see the decisions you’ve been making, and the ones you’d like to make from now on.

1. We learn from our mistakes, yet we’re always so afraid to make one. Why?

2. What risk would you take if you knew you could not fail?

3. What is your greatest strength? Have any of your recent actions demonstrated this strength?

4. What are the top five things you cherish in your life?

5. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

6. When do you stop calculating risk and rewards, and just do it?

7. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?

8. What do you most connect with? Why?

9. What one piece of advice would you offer a newborn child?

10. Which is worse – failing or never trying?

11. Why do we do things we dislike, and like the things we never seem to do?

12. What are you avoiding?

13. What is the one job/cause/activity that could get you out of bed happily for the rest of your life? Are you doing it now?

14. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

15. What are you most grateful for?

16. What would you say is one thing you’d like to change in the world?

17. Do you find yourself influencing your world, or it influencing you?

18. Are you doing what you believe in, or settling for what you’re doing?

19. What are you committed to?

20. Which worries you more – doing things right, or doing the right things?

21. If joy became the national currency, what kind of work would make you wealthy?

22. Have you been the kind of friend you’d want as one?

23. Do any of the things that used to upset you a few years ago matter at all today? What’s changed?

24. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you enjoy doing?

25. What you sacrifice the most to be, do, or possess?

26. Really, what do you have to lose if you go for it?

27. How different would your life be if there wasn’t any criticism in the world?

28. We’re always making choices. Are you choosing for your story, or for someone else’s?

Powerful questions can change the very fiber of our construction. They give us a chance to challenge our own ideals, and perhaps shed some light on what we are and are not committed to. It’s important to understand that we’re always committed to something. If it’s not success on out on our own, it’s staying safe in the comfortable success of someone else. If we’re not committed to creating our opportunities, we’re committed to floating around, hoping, waiting, and wishing for circumstance. What are you committed to?

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you, my friends!

Blake

Share on Facebook

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” – Anais Nin

Today’s exercise is to describe your ideal self in the future, with one small afterthought. I’ll touch on that step in a moment though. As stated in an earlier post just down the page, many people see happiness as a destination, a place to get to – missing the biggest picture: Life is a journey, and happiness comes with the perspective you take at each twist and turn. Fulfillment in life is an exercise of choice; not something that will just happen someday.

Take some time for yourself, and get comfortable. You can listen to some music, turn the lights down, and maybe have a little wine to relax. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you’re comfortable and able to devote sometime to really focusing. Close your eyes and start to imagine yourself sitting in a garden. It’s filled with all the most beautiful flowers and trees in the world. You’re in a little clearing, sitting on a bench now, completely relaxed. Imagine the best possible future ‘you’ walks into your garden, and takes a seat on the bench just across from you. Also completely relaxed, this future ‘you’ is eager to speak with you, and answer all your questions.

What does your future self look like? What is he or she wearing? Does she look healthy? Is she happy? What kind of clothing is he wearing, and does it make you feel excited or anxious to see him dressed that way? Example – He is in great shape, wearing a beautiful suit jacket and slacks. They are a perfect fit, and he looks like a stud. You feel excited and proud to see yourself looking so dapper!

What does he or she do? What’s her life like? What are the greatest things she’s doing these days? Remember, this is your ideal future self, right here in your garden – what you should see is the exact picture of what you want for yourself in life. Converse with this future self, and find out what words of wisdom you think he or she could share.

When you think you’ve really connected with this version of yourself, and feel like you can accurately describe him or her in great detail, thank your future self for the time together, and make your way out of the garden. As you start to come back to reality, write out everything you saw, smelled, tasted, heard, felt, and learned in that experience. Essentially, you’re describing your ideal self – the way you envision him or her. Having sat in a garden with this future self, you’ve seen first-hand the way you’d like to be, so you should be able to create an incredibly vivid picture.

After writing out the description and everything that goes along with it, I want you add one more step. Imagine now, that you are that ideal future you, in all his or her glory. You’ve done it! You’ve become that great ‘you’ that’s always been waiting to emerge! Congrats! Step Two: Now What?

See, the story of your life is not about achieving that status or reaching that goal, it’s about the ‘and then’ that follows that milestone. Your task now is to declare what you’re going to do with this new power. You’ve just tapped into your inner strength, conversed with that ideal ‘you’ that’s always been there, although often hidden, and I’m daring to ask you what your next step is going to be.

All too often we get comfortable in the place we are, the roles we play, and actions we do and do not take. So comfortable, in fact, that we throw out great opportunities because they ask us to expand beyond what we’ve spent our whole lives masterfully developing. That sense of risk can be a gift or a curse – the choice between the two is yours once you realize it. So I’m challenging you to answer the “and then” portion of this exercise now. If you woke up tomorrow completely embodying every characteristic of that ideal future self, what would your next step be?

---

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin

---

It’s a big challenge, I know, but it’s important to realize that your life doesn’t stop at the end of the sentence. There’s always another “and then…” waiting for you.

So start here: I woke up this morning and discovered I am (insert now realized characteristics of ideal future self), and I can have, do, and be anything I desire. I got out of bed, gifted with this new discovery and then…

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you all!

Blake

Share on Facebook