Michael

Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human. – Anthony Robbins

What great advice! It’s exactly my philosophy of life. There is so much to experience here. I want to do as much as possible. Find all the things that make me feel good. Meet new people. Travel the world. Explore unusual places. Try new things.

I don’t’ have a problem with making mistakes anymore. I use them as an opportunity to either make adjustments in what I’m doing or just try again. Life isn’t a final exam. You don’t fail if you get some questions wrong.

So, get out of your house. Have experiences. Make mistakes. Enjoy life. Help others. Don’t take things so seriously. Relax. Breathe.

Michael

I admit it. I’m an American Idol addict. I get tired of the hype most of the time, but I absolutely love the talent and the not so talented that end up on the show. I think most of the stories are inspirational like David Cooke. One night he is a bartender and the next he has sold over a million albums. That’s a great story any way you look at it.

I’ve enjoyed this season as it seemed that the level of talent was far superior than the few other seasons I had watched. It made for an exciting show. I also loved to see the variety of song interpretation by the contestants. Some of those performances were quite memorable.

I watch very little television, but during Idol season I’m on the tube every Tuesday and Wednesday night for the show. I find nothing wrong with this.

Congratulations to Kris Allen for winning tonight! I’m glad I wasn’t the one to pick between the Adam and Kris.

Michael

I have seven working days left until I move to my next contract job. It can be challenging sometimes when you are at the end of a chapter and about to start a new one. It’s like being in limbo, though that doesn’t exactly describe what I’m feeling.

I’m excited both for the end of the current job and the start of the next. Both feelings seem to mix around inside so maybe that’s why it feels good and strange at the same time.

I strive very hard to make sure that I don’t work any less for the current job. Most of us have the tendency to not put in a lot of effort when leaving something, but I think it’s important to end on a high note. But, that’s not easy and I’m finding it difficult at times during the day.

I’m using my age old technique of focusing on the moment at hand. One moment leads to the next and before I know it the day has ended. Like magic, I’m that much closer to my next adventure.

I’ll keep a steady pace and very soon it will be June 1 and the new contract.

Michael

You do not know what life means when all the difficulties are removed! …It is like eating a sweet dessert the first thing in the morning. – Jane Addams

Lately the contrast in my life has increased. I’ve had to deal with a couple of stressful situations and at least one difficult person. In fact I’ve had to use all of my techniques to get through this period in my life.

It’s been a real test for me; i.e. focusing on staying happy and keeping my attitude high in the midst of what appears to be the opposite. That’s the key word, “appears”. Life is always about contrast and managing the difference between what you desire and what you don’t.

So, when we are experiencing things, events or people that we don’t desire, remember it’s just an indicator; no more, no less. Maybe it’s an indicator that we need to look at something that we haven’t been looking at. It could be an indicator that we need to make an adjustment in our lives. It definitely lets us know that we are doing what we desire.

Looking at negative experiences in this light, takes the edge off the experience. It helps to expand our perspective and simply readjust where we are heading.

If you can view your life experiences as indicators of where you are in your pursuit of what you desire, then you can relax and feel better about what is going on around you. Plus you can make changes that will increase your happiness even more.

Michael

I’ve gone through life believing in the strength and competence of others; never in my own. Now, dazzled, I discovered that my capacities were real. It was like finding a fortune in the lining of an old coat. – Joan Mills

Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in your ability to handle any situation that comes your way? Do you believe in your unique talents? Do you believe in your contribution that can be made to the world?

Believing in yourself is the biggest contribution you can make to your own life. It’s one of the most important and defining actions you can do. Others may believe in you and that helps, but your own believe in yourself can transform you. It can take you to places that no other can. It’s the secret edge to propel you where you want to go.

If the answers to the above questions are yes, then fantastic!

If the answers are no, then ask yourself if you know why? Do you have some limiting beliefs that are preventing you from believing in yourself? Any guilt? Any fears? I suggest you run not walk to wherever you can get some help to believe in yourself. Do whatever it takes to get you to the point where you can look yourself in the mirror and simply say, “I believe in you.”

Here’s a little push. I believe in you. Now it’s your turn.

Michael

I was talking with a friend the other night about what makes us happy. I asked them what were some specific things that made them happy. My friend named several things of which each one had to do with someone else. Don’t get me wrong. There was nothing inherently “wrong” with that. We all enjoy being with people and doing fun things. But, I was looking for something else.

I asked them to pretend that all the other people were removed from their life. Now they had to answer what specific things would make them happy. They were not able to answer the question. My friend drew a complete blank. Basically, without other people and the myriad of interactions, they were not happy.

It’s really important that we have several things or ways to be happy outside of relationships, family and other interactions with people. Those ways to be happy feed what makes up the core of our being. It’s the bits that make our lives fill fulfilled.

Since my friend has no idea what may make them happy, I’ve proposed an experiment. Even though they think that their age of 39 is a handicap, I completely disagree. I see that they are on the edge of a wonderful adventure. The entire world of possibility is open to them. Since they truly don’t know what makes them happy, they have the opportunity to try everything.

The experiment is simple. For 5 minutes at time, they will write down anything at all that seems remotely interesting to them as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with other people. The idea is to generate a huge list of possible candidates that could increase their passion and happiness. We will do four 5 minute sessions. All that is required is paper, pencil and a brain.

Once the ideas are recorded, I’ll work with her to pick five items to start trying.

We’ll see what happens.

Michael

Do not take life too seriously.
You will never get out of it alive.
- Elbert Hubbard

It’s really simple. Life doesn’t need to be so serious that it becomes stressful and depressing. We all get wrapped up in the details and lose perspective about our overall lives.

Sometimes it’s important to just step back and look at the entire picture. Even then, some of you will see more “negative” things than positive. If that happens, then find something that is positive and bring your focus there. It will help your overall perspective and will help you see more positive things.

In addition, we must regularly do things that we enjoy. It really helps to break the monotony we tend to get sucked into. Doing these small things also help to make our lives fill more fulfilled and takes the edge off our “serious” side.

We need to learn to relax more and let life flow. In other words, don’t try to force things too much. Learn to adapt quicker to changes that may appear. Become less rigid.

If you can do any of these ideas, you’ll find that your life becomes much more relaxing and lot less like work.

Michael

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson

As we go through our day, we are constantly planting seeds by our thoughts and ultimately our actions. If we took a little bit more conscious time to think about what we are planting, the long term effects would be dramatic.

Negativity begets negativity. Positivity begets positivity. Laughter breeds more laughter. Grumpiness finds more grumpiness. Passion creates more passion. Repressed feelings birth anger. Compassion directs compassion towards you.

Just like a small seed can bring a huge harvest, each thought we think is the beginning of something much bigger. Those small thoughts lumped together form beliefs. Our beliefs determine our actions and how we perceive the world around us. Our actions and perceptions determine the quality of our lives.

So, if we start working on the small thoughts, we can change everything in the long run.

Have a great day!

Michael

Form the habit of making decisions when your spirit is fresh. To let dark moods lead you is like choosing cowards to command your armies. – Charles Horton CooleyD

When do you make decisions? Is your mood up and positive or low and negative? The difference between those decisions will be dramatic.

I don’t believe most of us think much about the relation between our moods and when we make decisions, but we should. When we our heads are clouded with negative emotion or we are in crisis in our lives, it might be best to hold off on important decisions.

As I’ve mentioned before, when negative emotion is running rampant inside, our view of the world and ourselves narrows dramatically. We see and experience only a subset of the unlimited possibilities and choices that are typically available to us. Just that one thing could render our decisions almost immediately worthless.

I think it’s important to process or work through our negative emotional state or crisis before making important decisions. If you are truly working on feeling better, taking a little bit more time to make a decision will be more beneficial than not.

Think about this next time you have to make a decision. Evaluate your state of mind and attitude first. You’ll find your decisions are more in your best interest.

Michael

You just never know where opportunity will come from. Many times it is from places that you would have never considered.

I got a surprise phone call a little over a week ago with an opportunity. Within in a day we quickly came to an agreement with the terms and set a date to start. It’s one of those times where everything just seemed to flow easily and come together effortlessly. I usually take that to mean it is the right direction to go. If you struggle too much with something or it seems you are working harder than you should, then typically it’s the wrong direction.

This philosophy has worked well for me for many years. To follow along from yesterday’s post, your gut feeling is critical here. I’ve found that when things are smooth and come together with very little effort your gut instinct is telling you go for it. In contrast, when roadblocks seem to spring from every step, I’ve noticed that my gut instinct is saying no.

I also cultivate a feeling of abundance in my life. I believe good things will come my way. Maybe surprisingly to some, this seems to happen to me regularly. Even situations that on the surface seem negative actually bring many positive things. Maybe it’s my optimistic outlook or just a strong belief that the world is not out to get me, but I suspect it is both.

The point I want to make is that I was not always like this. I was much more negative and played the victim when it came to abundance in my life. I learned to change that attitude and belief. It took some time, a lot of patience and a dose of perseverance, but the outcome has been excellent.

It seems that the more I practice this belief the better it becomes.

I think this is how life is supposed to be.

Michael