Tag: England

LET US CELEBRATE TOGETHER 🙌

Today is International Client Day. A celebration of all the people that make your business possible. If I am being honest, I think of the people that follow this site, or purchase my books, more as a family than clients. A like-minded community of individuals striving for a better life and to become the best version of themselves.

I am certainly grateful for every person who has ever read a word here. You are part of the family. Even more impactful are those who comment. Sharing your thoughts and opinions add quality and content to what we all share and learn here. Whether that is on this very site, in our Facebook group or anywhere else. In places such as Italy, Lebanon and England I have received great advice on books to read, people to listen to and thoughts to ponder.

All of our family, which some may call ‘clients’ I am eternally grateful! Thank you for sharing this journey with me!

REMEMBER TO REMAIN INDEPENDENT 🇺🇸

Today in the United States, we celebrate Independence Day. I imagine in Great Britain, they do not celebrate so much. Although this is certainly a national holiday, some of the principles should be celebrated and incorporated globally. Today, we are going to take a look at a few of these characteristics and look into what it means to truly be independent. These thoughts can be applied both politically and personally. We are going to take a look at both of them.

One of the main sticking points in the colonies declaring independence from our good friends overseas was “Taxation without representation.” Meaning, the people in jolly old England collected taxes from the colonists, but they did not have any say in how that money was spent. Our government is set up so every person who pays taxes has a representative in the government. The sad thing is that most of us do not ever have contact with this person. It is not that we are unable. It is that complaining is easier than looking up contact information. We should regularly share what is, and is not important to us with our elected representatives. On a personal level, we should always make our desires and what is important to us known to those who make decisions that affect our life as well. This includes our boss, our spouse and anyone who plays a roll in making decisions in our life. This is not to say we should be a fountain of complaint. Far from it. Just like in politics, when you are charming and persuasive, the results are a lot better. My suggestion is to read the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Another point of grievance was freedom of religion. Not all of the colonists wanted to belong to the great church of England. They wanted to be free to practice their religion, whatever that may be. Personally, I think this is a good thing to be able to do. As long as your belief does not bring harm to others, it is my belief that you should be able to practice whatever religion makes your spirit happy. I think laws based on specific religions or dogma do not belong in an independent country. Laws for common sense morality are a different story. Another important point to note is that laws cannot govern one’s heart. What you believe is a personal and spiritual process, not one that can be mandated by the state.

Speaking of personal, there is a way in which this can be applied to our personal lives. Just as the government has no right to tell you what religion you should practice, neither does your neighbor. As long as your religion is focused on bettering yourself and not causing harm to others, it does not matter in what form it takes. You may not have to agree with the ritual and beliefs of your neighbor, but you must respect them. That is part of being independence. You would not want them telling you what you must believe, therefore, you must not tell them what is right or wrong when it comes to their spiritual beliefs. That is one reason the ‘golden rule’ is the same in so many spiritual practices. We all are required to respect our neighbor, just as they should respect us. I think this is one thing that could use a great deal of attention in today’s world. Being independent is not only being free to believe and worship how you choose, but to allow others to do the same. That especially holds true for those who are different than we are.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE 4-MINUTE MILE

Let me start by letting you all in on a few secrets. First, I do not, nor have I ever run a 4-minute mile. After eating all of the delicious meals Margie makes, I would be lucky to run a 40-minute mile. Also this post is not about running, it is about the power of belief.

You may have heard how powerful your beliefs are. You may have even heard they have a large influence in your life. You may have even scoffed at these two ideas. I am here to take this one step further and tell you that your beliefs can not only influence your life, but influence the entire world! Sound a little crazy and far-fetched?  Let us look at the history of the 4-minute mile and I will let you decide for yourself.

Humans have existed on this planet for a very long time in some form for fashion. Depending on your belief the length varies, but at the very least it has been many thousands of years. In that time, prior to the above date in 1954, no human had ever run a 4-minute mile. In fact, until that date, it was believed (there is that word again) that is was physically impossible for a human to run that fast. We were told our heart would explode, lungs could not handle it and that the physical make-up would not allow it. After much pizza and rum that still holds true for me, but I digress.

Enter Roger Bannister, a British athlete set to compete in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki where he finished fourth in the 1500 meters. This strengthened his resolve to break the 4-minute mile which he did at Oxford on May 6th, 1954, running 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. He proved what many had said was impossible.

That is not the coolest part of the story. As we discussed the amount of people who ran that fast prior to that day in May were zero. Roger Bannister’s record, however, fell after only 46 days! Since then over 1000 people have raced at less than a 4-minute mile. How is this possible? Did human genetics suddenly change? Did the world suddenly get faster? How do we go from zero people doing it for thousands of years, to over a thousand in a little over 50? What changed?

The only thing that changed was the belief that it was possible. This was first done by Roger Bannister visualizing himself doing it so much that it became believable to him. After he accomplished it people everywhere now could believe it was possible for them as well. If this is true about an athletic accomplishment that has stood since the evolution of man, isn’t it true about your own life as well?  That business you want to start is not impossible. The weight loss you want to achieve, it is possible. You want to beat that addiction? It is possible! When others, or maybe even the person in the mirror, tell you something is impossible for you to do remember the story of the 4-minute mile.If you see me at the gym, forget all about a 4-minute mile.

CATCH A WAVE

Here is something I encourage everyone to try.  Smile and wave at 3 random strangers every day for a week.  If you are a bit nervous, you can try it while driving past them.  In fact, that may be one of the best times.  When we are on the road we see lots of hand gestures and not many are very positive.  So I say give them a smile and a wave.  Notice how it makes you feel as well. Who knows you just might make someones day. At the very worst, you’ll just leave them happy and a bit confused.

SIMPLE IS THE BEST

Often I am asked what is the easiest way to bring a more positive outlook into your life.  I stress doing little things everyday until they become a habit is one of my favorite ways to start.  To that end, a good friend brought to my attention another great thing I recommend printing out and placing on the bathroom mirror, next to the coffee maker or wherever you will see it everyday.  Try reading this simple 5 line mantra every morning.  ideally you should try to feel the emotional truth behind each statement, however even reading it will change the outlook on the day.  Again, like all of the tools offered here, I recommend reading it first thing in the morning and last thing before you fall asleep as this when the mind is most susceptible to suggestion.  This mantra is from a book by Catherine Ponder a great author I suggest looking into.

I AM health, strength, peace, happiness and prosperity

I AM strong, well, vital

I AM beautiful, peaceful, poised

I AM eternally youthful

I AM happy and free

Now try reading those five lines first thing every morning, and last thing every evening.  It should take all of 1 minute, what could be quicker and easier than that?  Try it for 21 days and notice what happens when you start to remove years of negative programing.  Trust me, you will not want to stop.

A HAPPY CD

This little project takes a few minutes, but to be honest can offer years of rewards.  Everyone, no matter how positive or enlightened has a bad day.  Just the other day I was informed my job may be eliminated.  It happens, sometimes outside circumstances throw us for a loop.  What to do then?  There are steps we can take to ‘soften the blow’ of these less than cheery days.  Working with either your gratitude journal, or vision board is far more effective when you are in a positive state of mind.  So I strongly suggest in being proactive and having several tools ready for days when we are just not on top of our game, for whatever reason.

Music has a strong influence over how we think and feel.  Everyone has different tastes.  In fact, my sister and I regularly debate the merits of different musical artists.  Weather you like rock or country, jazz or hip-hop, there are songs we all enjoy dancing to and that make us feel happy and alive.  Now I’m not talking about just songs like “Don’t worry, be happy” although if that works for you, use it.  One of my favorite is “Toes” by Zac Brown as it makes me think of a tropical vacation.  Whatever your taste, take time to compile a list of all the songs that inspire you.  This can be done in an afternoon or over several days.  Then either burn them all onto a cd, or add a playlist to your favorite mp3 player.  My only caution is to avoid songs that contain angry or negative lyrics.  Not to say that music does not have merit, I certainly find some to be great for working out to, but in this case keep it happy and uplifting.  Then when sad, angry or anxious feelings come knocking, as they do for us all, you have an hour or so of music that can alter your state.  Now I am not saying this will fix or even change whatever is the cause of your feelings, but it can but you into a better state to deal with them. Combine this with some of the other tools we have listed or that are yet to come and you will conquer whatever life will throw at you! Stay strong, stay positive my friends!