I would love to hear what this quote means to everyone.
You never know how much you are loved. Rarely do people convey how much you mean to them. Let us be the change makers in that. Tell people how much they mean to you and why. Then, watch them light up and your relationship with them grow closer. It is these actions that will allow us to change the world in a positive way!
Proof you can get inspiration from just about anywhere, I took this quote from professional wrestler John Cena. It would appear that Mr. Cena and I think alike when it comes to this aspect of human development.
Do you know people who seem to exist just to bring others down? With the advent of social media, these people seem ever more popular. I have experienced it more than once with my attempts to share this very blog. My mission has always been to leave the world a better place than I found it. To that end, my online material is free and available to anyone with a desire to better their life.
When doing my best to get the word out, I have heard that I’m out to steal money from people. I’m just another con artist looking to rob people. This is after declaring that everything I do is 100% free. It used to frustrate me as I’m doing my best to better the world, but now I understand there are people like John Cena described above.
Here is the secret – we can’t let their behavior influence ours. Why anyone would wish to live in a world of cynicism and negativity is beyond me. It really is its own punishment. Looking to tear others down has you constantly focused and looking for what is wrong in the world and others. Eventually, that is all you see.
Do you know what the cure for this darkness is? Quite simple really. Do the opposite. Be someone who lifts everyone up. Find the goodness is people and the world around you. Eventually, all you will see is that! Can you imagine what a great world that would be to live in?
Here is a list of the 4 feel good chemicals in the brain and how to get your fix of all of them. Each chemical has a list of 5 actions we can take to get those feel good vibes going. Do you think you could take one of the actions from each category to help yourself? Might not be a bad idea to print this out and have a check list of sorts.
Here is another great way to improve your life and increase the feel good vibes. Pick someone close to you and incorporate one action from each category for them! You will not only only increase their happiness, you will strengthen the bond between you and increase the joy in your friendship.
These lists are far from complete. Think of what actions you could add to each category. Increase the good feelings and vibes as often as you can!
Have you ever thought about what stands between you and your goals? When I ask people this question at seminars, a lot of different answers come up. Money, time, network are just a few. What many people either fail to realize, or fail to admit, is that it is not lack of resources that is stopping them. It is lack of resourcefulness.
If we were to look back at the evolution of even the largest companies, we would no doubt see humble beginnings. They worked with what they had until they learned our acquired more. My own success has mirrored this path. Starting this blog came with a great deal of ignorance to begin with. I knew nothing of how the blog world worked. Today we have been viewed in over 200 countries. Writing my first book? Same story. It seems with every book I publish, I learn something new.
How about you? Are your excuses standing between you and your goals? With a little more effort, could you overcome a seeming lack of resources? Denying this is only serving to hold you back.
Many people are confused when I tell them I listen to motivational content almost daily. Sometimes on my morning commute. Sometimes at the gym or on a walk. Why would someone who has spent the last 20+ years providing such content listen and learn about it? Firstly, because I am a lifelong learner. There is always something new around each corner. Only fools think they know everything.
Another reason is hinted at the quote above. So many of us check social media first thing in the morning. A lot of us listen to the news on the way to work. This can be poisoning our minds before the day even begins. Could you surround yourself with negativity and still have a positive life? I suppose you could, but it would be a lot less likely and a lot more difficult.
Putting good stuff into a body, brain and spirit will increase the likelihood that good stuff will come out! Want an even more compelling reason to surround yourself with positive things? It makes having a great life that much easier! Having a daily motivational calendar makes it far more likely you will come across something to inspire you than hoping your coworkers will quote Marcus Aurelius.
How do you get good stuff in? What actions do you take to surround yourself with positive influences? Subscribing to this blog is one way to introduce positivity into your life daily. What are some other actions you could take?
Falling in love with life will be the theme of my upcoming fourth book. Do you remember how it feels when you first fall in love with a person? You feel like you are floating on a cloud. Nothing can bother you. Imagine feeling the same way about life!
There are secrets to get this feeling back. It is much like love in a relationship. After a while, we begin to take things for granted. We begin to see the cracks and faults. Sometimes to the detriment of all the good and the magic. That is why children have a much more magical view of life than adults. Life is new. Everything is a miracle. My next book will help you capture that again as an adult.
In the meantime, I would love to hear things and situations that help you fall in love with life. Even if just for a moment.
A few posts back, we touched on the benefit of writing our own eulogy and how it can help us gain both clarity and direction for our life. The majority of people who listen to this concept whether through my book or in a seminar, can see how powerful it can be. By pondering how we want to be remembered and what we would like people to say about us and our life after we are gone, we can clearly see if we are taking the right actions. If not, we certainly know how to fix them. Having clarity and direction to our life can reduce a great amount of stress and a foster a greater sense of fulfillment.
When discussing this there are still a few people, some I know very well, find this concept morbid. I am not sure why exactly. Death is something that happens to 100% of us. It is one of the very few things that every human on the planet has in common. It should be something that unites us. The quotes above are Latin. They loosely translate as “Remember you must die” “Remember to live” and of course, “Seize the day.” These together provide a good map to life. Remembering we must die is what gives life its value. If we lived forever, it would little matter what we did. That fact that our time here is finite makes it priceless.
“I do not want to think about dying!” some people cry to me. As if not thinking about it will somehow delay its arrival. It will not. The only thing that not thinking about your death will do is leave you unprepared for its arrival. I do not know about you, but that would lead to a lot of stress as the end is drawing near. One tricky bit, as the first quote tells us, we do not know when that day will be! The older we get, the more likely it is to arrive. It is vital to know that old age is not a prerequisite to death. I died when I was 47. Lucky for me and my family, it was a temporary condition.
In the days leading up to that operation and temporary flirting with the other side, it became abundantly clear what was important to me. I no longer fear death. My fear is not accomplishing what I set out to do. Love my lady. Leave the world a better place than I found it. Inspire, encourage and empower all of those I come in contact with. Ignoring the fact that my death is drawing ever closer would rob me of a great source of urgency that I use to get a lot of things done in my life. Knowing that any hour could be our last to impact the lives of those we love, not to mention the world at large, should push us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.
There are so many people who are afraid of change. While it is true that change can be a little unsettling, do you know what is worse? Not changing. No growth. Stagnation. Imagine living a life like the movie Groundhog Day. How long before you slip from frustration into insanity. To become wealthier we must change. To become happier and healthier we must change. Even what seems like negative changes in these arenas can be the catalyst to help us make positive changes. A job loss can force us to polish our skills and pursue a career that is more personally satisfying. Yes, it may be lean for a while there, but in the end we will end up with a more fulfilled and happy life. It is often after experiencing the greatest health challenges that people finally adopt that healthy lifestyle they ‘never got around to’. It is as if the universe is asking us, “Can you hear me now?” Even significant moments of emotional sadness or loss can remind us of blessings in our life that we formerly took for granted.
Another point that this brings up is the meaning we give change. Like the examples listed above, we have the opportunity to make any change a positive one. We could stop and look at a job loss, the end of a relationship or passing of a loved one and think how terrible this change in our life is. Those situations are not pleasant to be sure. Still, we have the chance to use these circumstances beyond our control to our advantage, or let them define us. The choice is ours.
Once again, Stoic philosophy helps us understand this. Our strength is not in controlling outside events, which we will never be able to fully do, but in controlling our reaction to them. That includes what meaning we assign to them. This job loss, does it mean I am destined to be poor or that the world is pushing me to do something more aligned with my sense of purpose? Before you say that this is a ‘glass half full’ argument, let me tell you it might be. Just as in the case of a glass that can either be viewed as half empty or half full, change in our life can be viewed as holding us back or pushing us forward. Notice the facts have not changed. Our belief system has.
The benefit of adopting a more empowering belief system is a life that is less stressful and more fulfilling. If we believe change is destined to hold us back we will feel one way and make certain decisions and take certain actions. If we believe that change is pushing us in a new direction and will ultimately take us somewhere better we will certainly feel differently and make different decisions and take different actions. This will not only have us feeling happier and more at peace as we go through life, but will also end up with a different reality.
Life will go a lot better for us if we embrace change and take advantage of the power we have over it. Note these words from Darwin and Marcus Aurelius. Use them to remind you that change can be a catalyst to benefit our lives. It is up to us and our mindset.
Think of this quote for just a moment. When a baby is born, it has no material things to call its own. When we are about to pass away, any material objects we may own stay here. Wealth may help you get better health care on the way out, which is a sad commentary about our society, but you will leave with nothing. It reminds me of a great quote from Denzel Washington I will share with you in just a bit.
Knowledge of these two facts is not anything that eludes us. We may not dwell on them, but we are certainly aware of the truth of them. Ancient Egyptian pharaohs tried taking it with them, but many years later we open their tombs to find it all still there. Still, in today’s more advanced society, we spend our entire lives in pursuit of material things. To some extent there is more of an accent on things like peace and happiness, but they are treated as more of a commodity than a way of being.
There is the quote I promised earlier. “You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. If that isn’t true. Why do we not spend more time and effort on things that will feed both our soul and our legacy? The answer is usually that we are fixed on the idea of comfort, or preoccupied with how we appear to others. It starts when we are young. You have to have the ‘cool’ brand of shoes or clothing. This is true even if another brand is more comfortable and more economical. A good many of us never outgrow this way of thinking. This highlights one of the hypocrisies of living this way. We spend our money, focus and energy on things to make our life more comfortable. Often, these things are not the best option for our life.
Here is one thought to ponder. There is nothing more soothing and comfortable than inner peace. Despite what advertisers may tell you, that is not something you can purchase. There is a song lyric I like that says, “An honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind.” Knowing that I have given my best and tried to focus on what really matters allows me to sleep at night. Not concerning myself with material status or image for others allows me to focus on more important things. How do I make my lady feel loved? How can I add more joy and positivity to the world? Am I taking actions that will leave the world a better place than I found it? These are the important things to be working on.
One great exercise to help you gain clarity on these matters is discussed at length in my second book, Living the Dream. That is the act of writing your own eulogy. To some this may sound morbid, but it will help you gain both clarity and direction for your own life. Pondering what you want people to say at your funeral, and how you want to be remembered, will show you what actions you should be taking now. It will also become abundantly clear if you are currently taking the proper actions, or if there is something you need to work on. How about you? What are you working on?
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 