How many of us could benefit from taking this attitude not only into the gym, but into life. People complain about a wide variety of things. I am guilty of this myself far too often. As we can see in this quote, a change in perception can make a big change in how we feel. While we are complaining about soreness in our joints, there are others who do not have the ability to even use theirs.
This shift in attitude can transcend more than just our bodies. Our environment is another example. Perhaps our house has many issues that require our attention. It can be frustrating. If we were to instead focus on how grateful we are that we are not one of the countless homeless that will give anything just to have a place to lay their heads, it may make those repairs a little less frustrating. How about our job? Statistics say that 87% of Americans do not like their jobs. I would say over 90% of those people tell others they do not like their job. What would happen if they lost it? Do you think they would feel a sense of relief that they are not out of that occupation? My guess is no.
This is not rocket science. When we begin to focus on being grateful for what we have, instead of frustrated for what we do not, we begin to realize how much we have. Not only that, life is far more likely to give us even more to be grateful for. If you are about to dismiss this as some sort of new-age nonsense, let me give you an example. Let us say you were given some candy and you decided to share it with your friends. One friend in particular was very appreciative and grateful for the fact you shared the candy. Who would you be most likely to share with in the future? When you are grateful in a retail setting for the service you receive, do you think the service you get next time will be more likely to be better or worse? Anyone who has worked in retail, or with the public in general can tell you how rare genuine appreciation and gratitude from a customer can be.
If you spend your life resenting all that life has not given you, life will be one unhappy place. If, on the other hand, you spend life being grateful for what you have while working for something better, life will seem magical. You will feel lucky and blessed. Which would you rather feel? It is as simple as changing the way you look at life and feeling grateful.
These days it seems everyone is working to get rich and famous. From side hustles, to an attempt to go viral, it would seem that we are all chasing the brass ring. To this end, many people wish to use the Law of Attraction, or as it has become known, the secret. One of the most important aspects of this law is that you must be what you wish to attract. This gives many people, including myself, a headache trying to figure out.
When thinking about gaining wealth and fame, the question becomes, “How can I be and/or feel wealthy, when my circumstances would have me feeling the opposite.” With the price of everything from heat to groceries going up, that is certainly understandable. The ‘secret’ is contained in something we touched on a few posts ago. Our control is not in bending outside circumstances to our will, but working on the circumstances that exist between our own ears.
How can you feel wealthy with all of the bills coming in and the paycheck not getting larger? By focusing on all that you do have. This may sound cliche or positive thinking to many of you. In a way I suppose it is. That does not change that fact that it works. A brief glance at the world around us will remind us of how much we all have to be thankful for. Take our health for example. Even if it is not perfect at the moment, it certainly could be worse. Our friends are another source of wealth. We may wish we had more, or saw the ones we have more often, but the fact is having friends is a great form of wealth.
There are a million things from a roof over our heads, running water to access to the internet to read something like this, that we should be grateful for. Our lives are filled with so many blessings that often go overlooked. Spending as little as five minutes a day focusing on all we have to be grateful for can transform our lives. It can take us to living a life of lack, to living one of abundance. Don’t trust me, prove it to yourself by trying this today.
This post will share with a train you can hop aboard and ride into a more positive and fulfilling life! The great thing is this train runs in your neighborhood and it runs everyday. You can catch it no matter who you are. A ticket to this train? It costs nothing other than a bit of your time!
This idea came from a very close source, my lovely Margie. Margie, my mother and I were returning from a nice lunch when we were stopped by a train. My mother expressed frustration that she always seemed to find herself being stopped by trains. We have all been there. It seems to happen when we are in a hurry.
Being stopped by a train when you really have somewhere to be, or when nature is calling, can have you feeling like the fellow above we can’t control when a train comes, and in some cases, we can’t even go around them. It can leave you feeling exasperated and quiet helpless. Luckily, my lovely lady had a brilliant solution!
Margie, who was in the back seat, said, “I use the time I wait for trains to focus on what I’m grateful for.” As the cars rolled by all three of us pondered this. After what seemed to be an eternity, my mom mentioned, “This is one long train!” After a few seconds of reflection, I countered, “Maybe it is because all of us have so much to be grateful for?” We all concured and thought of the blessings in our life as the cars rolled by.
This may seem like a simple and insignificant action,but it accomplishes two wonderful things at once. First, it adds an extra moment of focusing on everything that we have in our lives. This, by default, removes 60 seconds of focusing on what we lack. The second amazing thing focusing on what you have to be grateful for while stopped by a train does is to transform a formerly stressful situation into a moment of self-care. You will leave the train crossing feeling happier and more abundant than when the flashing red lights started and the gates came down.
Throughout our time together in these posts, I am often reminding you of how much impact the language you use (especially in conversations with yourself) has on the outcomes of your life. It is a subtle, yet powerful influence people often overlook. Sometimes, however, the actual layout of a word can answer some very deep and difficult questions we have. Today’s post is one such example. If you keep this post in mind it will help you improve your repour with others. It will help take your health and fitness to the next level and will do the same for your business or career. How to we go from being just like everyone else to having a life that is full of passion, excitement, good health and abundance. In other words, what is the secret to an amazing life?
Let’s take a look at the word ordinary. As you can see it is an adjective meaning not unusual or special. The part that really hits home is the second definition, “Neither very good nor very bad: not very impressive” There are certainly worse things than you can be than ordinary. As the definition reads, you would not be very bad. Such as if you receive ordinary service. It is certainly better than bad service. Of course, as the definition continues, it is not very impressive either. If someone asked to describe any facet of our lives, I do not think we would want someone to say we were not very impressive. How is this employee’s work ethic? “It is neither very good, nor very bad: not very impressive.” Maybe you don’t really care what your boss thinks of you? Try this one. Perhaps that special someone is getting together with their friends and they are asked, “How is your relationship?” or even a little more of a personal subject, “How is your spouse at making love to you?” Hey, I don’t know how personal you and your friends get. In either case how would you feel if your spouse answered either of those questions by saying, “It is neither very good, nor very bad: not very impressive.” Yeah, that might sting a little.
I think we have established that fact that we do not want to be ordinary. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that. If you are reading a website called Secret2anamazinglife.com, you are not looking to be ordinary. We do not want our careers, our health or certainly our relationships to be defined as “Neither very good nor very bad: not very impressive” No. We want to be….
We want to be extraordinary! It is defined here as 1. very unusual or remarkable. 2. unusually great. If someone asked a customer about the service they received at your business, how happy would you be to hear that it was “remarkable”? If your spouse was asked about your love-making or relationship acumen, how would it make you feel to hear that they told your friends you were “unusually great”? That certainly would be better than hearing that you were “Not very impressive”. What about our physical health? Our stress levels? Our financial health? How about our ability to get along with others? What if your boss was asked about your work ethic? What if your spouse was asked about your work ethic in the relationship? Would you be not very impressive or would you be remarkable and unusually great? Would you settle for ordinary or would you want to be extraordinary?
How do we get from not very impressive to unusually great? How do we take our level from ordinary to extraordinary? The answer is in the very word itself. To go from one to the other, just add a little extra. In your relationship instead of giving flowers for birthdays and anniversaries, give them because your spouse is beautiful and they deserve it. Even better yet, give them for no reason at all. In your job, do not just do your job. Do your job to the best of your ability and with a great attitude. This is not so your boss is pleased, but so you will go from being a person and worker who is described as “remarkable and unusually great” and not one who is “Not very impressive” When it comes to our health, let us put in that little extra. You got your 10,000 steps today? Great. How about adding a healthy meal to go with that. We certainly want our health to be remarkable. How do you think it would impact your life if your mental and physical health were neither very good or very bad and not very impressive? Would you have more or less energy and vitality as someone whose health is remarkable and unusually great? The answer is obvious.
One word can help to remind us how we can take every area of our lives to the next level. How we can transform our lives from the blah state of “Neither very good or very bad: not very impressive” to one that can be described as “remarkable, unusually great”. We can stop living an ordinary life and start living an extraordinary life. All we have to do is add a little extra.
Recently, I had the honor of being part of an inspiring publication. See Beyond is a wonderful magazine that tackles the gritty issues facing our youth and does so while encouraging and inspiring them.
In this issue, I had the great pleasure of joining other authors while sharing the challenges I face in my career as a writer. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of such a unique and thought-provoking publication. I am already looking forward to contributing more.
I want to share with you my Monday. Why? you might add. Several reasons. One, I wish you give you a peak into the life of Neil Panosian. It started early. I returned home about 3am Monday morning from DJing a show with my beautiful lady. Unloading the DJ equipment and such. After getting ready for bed I was probably asleep at around 4am. I was up again at 7:30 to prepare for an amazing podcast interview with a very insightful gentleman. That will be airing later this month I believe. I will keep you posted as details are forthcoming. Following that interview which was a lot of fun and seemed to fly by, I spent some moments of great conversation with my lady on how it went. I had physical therapy for my dislocated shoulder scheduled at 10:30 am. A quick shower and I was off to purchase a gift we were getting for some good friends of ours. Then it was back home to get ready for attending a wedding for a wonderful couple who graciously asked me to speak at. Rehearsing the speech all the way there, there was little time to think of much else. We enjoyed a beautiful ceremony and witness the love of a brand new couple. My speech went well and I do believe they enjoyed it. After which my lady and I enjoyed a quick lunch. Then it was back home to change and get ready for my bartending job that evening. After which time I was home around 3am again. This night I also had the joy of reading to my lady and we both fell asleep in about an hour.
Now you might be thinking “Neil I am just tired reading about that”. Trust me in reflection I am a little exhausted myself. Here is the wonderful thing about it, never during the day was I. Another great thing is this, the whole day I was in contact with amazing people. Phil, who did the interview is a man of great charisma, which you will see, and a passion for bringing great information to people. The couple who shared their special day with us was so loving and a great example of people who should be sharing their lives together. Their family and friends were most welcoming. At night the friends I had the pleasure of serving at the bar were wonderful. We even had the privilege of helping one of the people performing on taking her career in singing to the next level. She is a great soul and deserves all the good that is coming to her.
Through it all was my little lady. After the interview encouraging me and giving me her feedback. Staying by my side as I was nervous to give my speech. Showing all that were at the wedding our love and what a wonderful woman I have. Being a great DJ while I was behind the bar serving drinks. Lastly, allowing me to share the pleasure of a good book, all be it for a little while before she fell asleep.
Here is the point. In all I did, I gained so much. I was able to meet with and share information with an amazing man. I was able to bring some additional joy to a loving couple on their special day. I met great new people and hopefully future friends. I was able to assist in helping a great friend and kind soul pursue her singing dream. I was also able to share a loving and bonding moment with the beautiful lady in my life. I may or may not have sold any more copies of my book A Happy Life for Busy People but I added so much abundance to my life I feel a lot richer for it. When you live your dreams life always pays you well. I invite any and all of you to give your feedback and share this post in anyway you wish.
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 