Change your thinking-change your world.

Recently, as you know, I've been reading what I call a "self help" book. They are not as fun to read as novels and take me longer. If I were to be completely honest, I'd admit to you that I very rarely finish them. Oh, I get excited about them - I buy them - I start reading them - then I get stuck, or lose interest, or can't seem to focus or accomplish what I'm supposed to be helping myself about. Anyway, I am currently reading a book that one of my customers suggested and it's wonderful. I'm actually going to finish reading this one and maybe read it a second time. It has prompted a couple of insights and revelations into life for me already. Quite some time ago, I said I was going to do something and a friend of mine said I could not because of my feelings; and, he said, "you can't control how you feel"; to which I responded, "I can't control how I feel, but I can control how I act, and eventually my feelings will catch up". Well, I don't know exactly where that little quisp (is that a word, because you know how I literally LOVE to make up my own words) of wisdom came from, but let me just quote a line from this book that I saw when reading yesterday. "Act as though I am and I will be." Hey! Didn't I say that a few years ago? I love it when I finally get confirmation that I was right about something. But the bigger point here is the essence of what I, long ago, and the author (in 1963) were saying - in order to change our worlds, we have to change how we think and act. Not happy with the way things are going in your world? Consider an attitude or action adjustment!

The lid's been blown off!

That's how I feel about my life right now and, to be honest, it's fabulous! I feel like the lid's been blown off, the skies the limit, who knows what's going to happen! What's changed? Me! My attitude was starting to get kinda negative, kinda crabby, kinda "aren't you ready for some happy pills?" just from the mundane, day after day routine of too much to do and no time to do it all in, not enough money to make ends meet, never getting to do what I really want to do middle age slump. Well, I decided enough of that! The truth is, the way to change your life is to change your thinking, and ever once in awhile, we all need a thinking adjustment - I've been working on mine. I'm reading a great book, expanding a relaxing hobby into a part time job, and expanding my borders on my full time work to include more of who I am. Oh yeah - there's still the struggles, the yukky things that happen - life is life - but I'm finding that controlling what my conscious mind thinks and says has a huger (is that a word?) effect on what ultimately happens in my life than I ever realized - I suspected it, but now I'm embracing it as truth! I'm still uber busy, but just trying to get accomplished what I can and still get in the sleep I need (unfortunately, I do need more sleep than I used to). I'm excited about all that's ahead! Do an experiment today - only think and say positive things. Just see how the world around you changes! Then let me know!

Forgiveness

When something comes to my attention three times in a relatively short span of time, I take notice. Maybe it's a new product I need to look at, maybe a new service I need to offer, maybe a book I should read.....anyway, this past week two of my customers and one of my friends each started a conversation with me about forgiveness. Interesting. Not sure how that all plays out for me, but I do know that because of my past work in learning to forgive, I was able to share a couple of facts with them that hopefully were helpful. First, not forgiving someone hurts ourselves. It eats away at us, chipping away at the very fiber of our being, not to mention we tend to dwell on it in our minds, constantly keeping the "offense" in the forefront of our minds, thus causing us to act accordingly. Next, people don't always ask for the forgiveness we think they need, and therefore, sometimes we choose to forgive someone who has wronged us just because we still want them in our lives. End of story. Sometimes we just have to suck it up and make a choice for the betterment of our lives. It brings a wonderful freedom to our lives when we give up our "right" to be mad and hurt, and choose instead to extend forgiveness and kindness. Try it today - you'll be glad you did!

A great sadness

Last week our dog died. He had been our friend for almost nine years. He had been sick recently. At the risk of sounding like an old country western song, I'm sad. Real sad. Just like we do with people after they die, I've forgotten all the times he aggravated me or annoyed me - he was just there everyday when I came home from work - and, as anyone who knew him knew, he didn't become friends with people really easily and he was scared to death of children (a trait he developed very early on when some children hurt him). So if you tried to get in my house uninvited, well let's just say I felt very safe and confident that no one would be able to get in my house without an invitation - sometimes it was difficult with an invitation - lol! He will be missed. Sometimes our four legged friends are nicer and more loyal to us than our human friends and family. Wasn't it nice of God to give them to us - for however long.