In today’s crazy world it can be very difficult to not hear from a politician! We have some politicians that seem to be more focused on being on television than doing the job they were elected to do. Alas, it is the world we live in.
The point is that listening to these folks can leave you quite dispirited. We must, at the very least, balance this with some entertaining and inspiring listening. I’m not exactly a poet, although I have written a few poems, but having a few to listen to can pay some good dividends.
News, and politicians, have a chicken little the sky is falling outlook on life. To read and listen to people who ponder the beauty of nature and life itself can be a welcome, if not needed, break. I would encourage everyone to write some poems themselves. You don’t have to show them to anyone or try to get them published. The mere fact of writing them can bring some inner peace.
What are your some of your favorite fun things to listen to? Do you have recreational entertainment? For mental health and well-being it is vital!
I hear a good deal of people lamenting the amount of stress they have in their life. In the photo above, there are some good points why that stress exists. Taking a few actions in our life can eliminate a great deal of stress. It may take a hard conversation or hurt feelings on the part of others, but that might be exactly what is needed.
Past relationships should stay in the past. If they continue into the present, it will only lead to trouble. It is like trying to drive while looking in the rearview mirror, you will eventually crash. Prioritizing your self-love is vital. The only person you are guaranteed to spend the rest of your life with is you. If you do not like the person in the mirror, there will be some sleepless nights in your future. Having to say ‘no’ to others to make sure that self-love is taken care of is important. How about envious people? Envy is a terrible emotion. The only thing we should have a strong desire for is to have a better life for ourself. That can only be accomplished by becoming a better version of ourself. People filled with envy often take actions that are immoral. You do not want to be involved in anything like that. You do not want to surround yourself with people focused on the lives of others more than they are on their own life.
As far as letting others have power over our life, it happens more often than you think. This quote above is an example. If you believe you are doing what is right and someone insults you, do you question or even change your course of action? Do you do things just for praise even if it may not be right for your life? Doing what is right and what will improve your life is more important than hearing a compliment from someone else. I know people that have to look online to see what is trending before they make a decision on what to eat, what to wear or a host of other things. Independent thinking is a sign of true strength. It also eliminates a lot of stress and a lot of resentment. When you let others have power over your life, you often resent them even if they are not aware of your feelings. All of this leads to stress you do not need.
As mentioned earlier, taking these actions may ruffle a few feathers. That is the price we must pay for a happier life and a greater deal of inner peace.
Have you ever thought of feeding your spirit or your intellect? We make time to eat every day. We need to do so in order to survive. If you are reading a website like this, it is my guess you are looking to do more than just survive, you are looking to thrive. The way we do that is by making time to feed both our spirit and our intellect. We should work on composing a list of things that do both. Do you enjoy reading books that teach you something new? How about listening to a podcast that can give you a new perspective? How about watching a YouTube video to brush up on a skill or learn a new one? These are all ways in which we can feed our intellect.
Feeding our spirit may take a little thought, but it is just as important. If you feed your intellect, you may be more knowledgeable. What good would it be to be full of knowledge if you are also full of depression and anxiety? Increasing your brain power is no good if you do not increase your inspiration and inner peace. This can be done taking a walk in nature, viewing a piece of art, meditating or listening to a certain piece of music. Whatever speaks to your spirit. It can even be hanging out with certain people.
We eat three meals a day. We should take time to have one ‘meal’ a day for our spirit and our intellect. How about you? Do you feed all three aspects of your life? Can you think of ways in which you can do so?
Today we start a new week and a new month. I encourage you to start a new mindset and a new behavior as well. This one is simple, but not always that easy. Have you ever found yourself watching or listening to the news and getting fired up? Have you ever had your day turned upside down by the actions of a careless individual? Have you ever had someone do their best to start a disagreement with you? If you answered no to all of these questions, you must be living on an uninhabited island somewhere. Most of us have had at least one of these happen to us. It not only destroys our day, it destroys our inner peace.
You may be asking yourself what the big deal about getting upset is. There are several things that getting upset and sacrificing your inner peace will do to you. First, there is the physical cost. Higher blood pressure. Increased stress. What is the big deal about that? Let us look at the research. According to research 75 to 90% of all human diseases and illnesses are related to the activation of the stress system. Ponder that for a moment. On average, 8 out of 10 of your illnesses are because of stress! How much loss of wages and life enjoyment does illness cause? What is the long term damage? Chronic Stress is a significant contributor to such things as cardiovascular issues, cancer and diabetes. The first two being the top two leading causes of death. They all share the same common denominator – stress. Next time you are tempted to get fired up about an issue, stop and consider what that stress will do to you. Take a deep breath and say confidently, “My peace is more important.” By doing so you will eliminate almost all of your illnesses.
The second one is a little more obvious. Living a life where you are always getting pissed off sucks. It is rather cliche, but every minute you spend angry is 60 seconds of happiness you lose. You are not only giving control of your emotional well-being to these outside circumstances, you are also sacrificing your happiness for it. If that was not bad enough, you are never sure of how much time you have left. Morbid thought? Maybe. True thought? Absolutely. None of us are going to get out of this life alive. Those who will win the game of life are those who enjoy it the most. You certainly can’t enjoy it if you are letting outside circumstances and individuals determine your emotional state. If you find yourself angry, sad or depressed due to outside circumstances, start saying this mantra. Even if you are rather good at regulating your own emotions, I would recommend adding this mantra to your lexicon.
Your time on this planet is a finite and depreciating asset. Why spend any more of it sick, whether that is physically, mentally or emotionally, than you have to. We have seen that stress causes up to 90% of your illnesses. We have seen that the top 2 causes of death are related to elevated stress levels. Not to mention enjoying whatever time we have left of this beautiful planet, be that little or much, makes a lot more sense that sacrificing it for a negative emotional state. Your inner peace is more important than that. It is time to remind both ourselves and others that is the case.
There are so many guides to create success and abundance out there today. Even this site has many posts dedicated to improving your state both materially and financially. Why? In today’s society material wealth will help you create change, improve your health and provides many of the things we need. It is far from the greatest wealth. If you have great financial and material abundance but do not have peace in your soul, your life will be one of stress and misery. The old cliche that ‘money cannot buy happiness’ has a ring of truth to it. If you are not at peace with who you are and the life you are living, no amount of material wealth will make you happy.
One way to certainly add inner peace to your life is to do what the quote above says. That is to simply live with honor towards other people, animals and the earth in general. What does ‘live with honor’ mean exactly? It is not a subject often discussed at length today. Honor may be a word that seems dated. It should not be. Mutual respect towards all, especially those who are different or that we disagree with, is such a challenge many would rather not even think about it. It is that respect that can allow us to sleep well at night.
Mutual respect can be as simple as not causing harm to anyone. This is far more than not slapping that annoying coworker over the head. Harm can be gossiping behind someone’s back. It can be littering on the planet we all share. Yes, that also includes treating others harshly. This can be true even to someone who we may feel deserves it. Have you ever ‘gotten the better’ of someone in an argument and still felt terrible that night or the next morning? That is annoying isn’t it? You had the right to tell them off like you did, but it sill is eating away at your gut. That is because a lack of compassion, even for those who do not deserve it, is not right.
We never can completely know someone’s intent or the experiences or stories that have resulted in the actions they have taken. Another important point to consider is that it is not our right to judge. We do not deserve to be judged by others anymore than we have a right to do the same. Next time you feel the urge to gossip or say something hurtful, ask yourself the simple question “Would I like this very thing to be done to me?” The answer we know before the question is even said. If we cease to do this to others, will it still be done to us? Yes, sadly it will. That is not our concern. There is a saying that “What others think of you is none of your business.” While I think it could be helpful to learn if you are doing something that hurts others, I think it would be more valuable to work on making sure our intent is true.
If you want to be truly wealthy, take a pause from the investments and get rich quick schemes. Instead invest on the things that money cannot buy such as compassion and respect for others and for ourselves. Invest more on building inner peace than you invest on building your real estate portfolio. The dividends will be greater and you will end up with true wealth.
New month, better attitude! So many people underestimate the power they hold in their own lives. This picture above gives us three powerful things to think about. Let us take them one at a time. By the time we are done exploring and examining it, we will have some new tools, strategies and powers we can use to positively impact our lives. Sound good? Let us get to it!
The first one is one of my favorites! The power of our words. This is one area that people overlook or do not think is as powerful as it is. Do not take my word for it. This is backed by science. Dr. Masaru Emoto did some amazing experiments using the effects of words on water. He showed that when water was exposed to words such as hate, anger and the emotions behind it, the molecules became fractured and deformed. However, when exposed to words like love, peace and the emotions behind it, they formed perfect molecules. You may think, “So a guy yelling at water made it deformed. What does that have to do with me?” Your body is roughly 50 to 60% water! If you change the molecules in 60% of your body, how will could that not affect you? This can be a negative cliche’ you recite by force of habit. It can be overreacting when you are ill. Many of us focus on what is wrong and what we lack in our life. You can see, from a scientific standpoint, how this can affect our physical well-being.
Next is the power of our thoughts. According to research, the average individual thinks over 60,000 thoughts a day. Driving in the recent snow storm, it appears I live in a city with many below average people, but I digress. Further research states that over 80% of what we think on a daily basis is negative and 95% of it is repeat thoughts from the day before. Can you imagine hanging around with someone who talks negative 80% of the time? What if that same person says tells you 95% of that same stuff everyday? How long do you think you would hang out with them? Ironically, that is what is occurring in our own heads! Most of this occurs without us paying much attention. What we think will have a great impact on what do and are willing to try. That has a great impact on our life!
Lastly, is the power of our presence. How many of us tolerate being places we are not tolerated or at the very least, not appreciated? This is one I have to remind myself of often. There is something to be said for making compromise for the ones we love, but it should not come at the cost of our own peace.
For this last month of the year, take control of your words, your thoughts and your presence. See what a difference it will make in your own life. See how much power you hold to positively impact your life.
I love quotes from Mr. Franklin. Seems old Ben had a lot going on upstairs. This one is no exception. Last post we discussed how important it is to live like it is the fourth quarter, because one day it will be. It might be today and we do not even know it. This quote kind of goes off of that thought. That is to not stop living. Life can be busy, life can be crazy. What we must remember is to never stop living it.
Living life is a lot more than just getting out of bed to take nourishment and use the rest room. It is also a lot more than going to work, paying bills and dying. Life is about love, appreciation and gratitude Those are the things that give life its flavor. It is so important to take time to do things that feed our soul as well as our wallet. We must make our joy a priority. This can seem impossible. Trust me, I know. I work a full-time day job, DJ on the weekends, write a daily blog and am working on my fourth book. There is also keeping the beautiful lady in my life happy. These are responsibilities, but also opportunities to find joy. That is our first place to look.
Can we find joy in that which we do daily? Sure, writing a blog at Starbucks is not as fulfilling as doing so on a beach in Jamaica, but there are things in which joy can be found. Every time someone in a new country joins our community that gives me a little bit of joy in my heart. Greenland I am still waiting. When I have written something that I feel will be exceptionally helpful, that is exciting. Feedback is my favorite. Reading comments and people’s thoughts and opinions. Even my day job, which many would question how you can find joy at the United States Postal Service, but you can if you are looking for it. Every project I complete, or coworker I bring a smile to is a moment to celebrate. How about what you do daily? Is there opportunities for joy you are missing?
The second way to feed our soul in the midst of our daily life is to use what Tony Robbins refers to as “N.E.T. time” that stands for “No extra time.” How can you use no extra time? It is sneaking in things that bring us joy into obligations we fulfill. Take your daily commute. How much better would it be if you did it cranking up your ‘happy playlist’ of songs that bring you joy? More on that can be found in my book, Living the Dream. How about popping in some headphones as you clean the house? You could listen to a motivational podcast or video? Looking for things that make you smile on your drive to the grocery store? Listing things you have to be grateful for while you wait in line at that same store?
Listen, these things might sound silly on the surface, but let me tell you that incorporating moments of joy and feeding our soul is what makes life worth living. The more we do so, the more flavor our life will have. It keeps the soul alive and makes life worth living. I can think of no more important thing than that. Do not die at twenty five only to be buried at seventy five.
One secret to an amazing life is to find joy in the small moments. I’ve learned in life, or at the end of your life, they are truly the big moments. Yes, a vacation in the tropics is awesome, but do you know how wonderful sharing a peaceful coffee on the porch with the person you love can be?
The more small moments we can find joy in, the more joyful our life will be. That will make our life more joyful all together. What it will also do, is add joy to those big moments such as that tropical vacation. What are some of your favorite small moments to find joy in?
Inner peace. That is a goal I think all of us can get behind. Again, we tend to make this far more complicated and expensive than it needs to be. It would not hurt us to pick up and read a few books on the subject. All we really need to do is focus on the ten items listed above. Let us pick out just a few to see how they can positively affect our busy lives in this crazy world.
‘Respond, don’t react’ is a good place to start. With the ability to let the world know our thoughts at the push of a button, we can do a lot of damage before we even have all of the information. Even more importantly, we can do a lot of damage to ourselves. When we know we acted from emotion instead of our best nature, we lower our estimation of ourselves. Learn to pause and ask yourself empowering questions to go from reacting to responding. This will not only bring you more peace in the moment, it will give you more peace when you lay your head down that night.
‘Let go of what you cannot control’ is another one far too many people struggle with. Being filled with anger over what some politician did or worse said? Why? Sure it may affect our lives, but is it in our control to change? Telling everyone how terrible it is and walking around angry or depressed does not change the politician or what they said or did. Take actions that will help such as voting. Then work on creating change in your corner of the world. Sick of politicians that are speaking hate and division? Rather than letting it upset you, double your efforts on making others feel loved and accepted. It will not only make life more enjoyable, it will bring you greater peace.
‘Choose silence often’ is very important in a world where it seems there are things vying for our attention every minute of the day. When was the last time you just sat alone with your thoughts? With the advent of cell phones, even a few minutes alone in the restroom isn’t safe. Try turning your phone off and going for a walk in nature. Better yet, find a nice place in nature to sit in silence. You will then combine two of these tips at once. Double the peace.
‘Practice Gratitude’ is of course my favorite step to take towards inner peace. There is no more powerful emotion to develop that will change your life faster than gratitude. That should make you want to adopt this as soon as you can. Gratitude will not only increase your peace, it will increase your joy! It will turn your life into one that is magical. It may sound hard to believe for some of you unfamiliar with the attitude of gratitude. Let me assure you that this is not hype. When you learn to be grateful for everything in your life, the peaks and the valleys, life becomes a dream. We hear people say they are “Living the dream” all of the time. It is even the title of my second book! When you learn to be grateful, you will be truly living the dream.
Those are just a few of the steps listed here. Which one is your favorite? Is there another tool or strategy that you use to bring peace to your own life? I would love to hear about it!
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 