Tag: Motivation

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY 😇

Today is random acts of kindness day. It is our chance to make the world a brighter place for each and everyone! Don’t think that one act of kindness could make a difference? There are over 8 billion people in the world! Imagine if just 1% of them did a random act of kindness. That would be 80 million people doing a random act of kindness. Let us say that act only affects 1 person. That brings us to a total of 160 million people being positively affected! Consider the ripple effect and you can’t begin to imagine how big this could get. All that from one simple act of kindness.

It can be hard to decide what kind of act of kindness to do. Above are some great ideas! These are certainly not the only things you can do. They are just to get you thinking. One thing we can notice is how many of them will positively affect far more than just one other person. Consider one of my favorites, picking up litter. It may not give you that initial boost of dopamine that a personal interaction could, but imagine how much you could improve the world! Using our numbers above, say the 1% just picked up 3 pieces of litter. That would get rid of 240 million pieces of trash! Think of that much garbage removed from the streets and sidewalks of the world. Can you imagine if each person just did a small grocery bag full?

Let us take a quick look at some of the others. Donate to a food pantry. That is a good one! According to the all wise Google, the average American throws away between 219 and 400 pounds of food each year! That is crazy. That amount is equivalent to 30-40% of the total food supply in the country. Imagine if that food went to people who were struggling. My mother donates to her church’s food pantry. I often think of the good that does. Not only does it allow for the feeding of people who are down on their luck, often through no fault of their own, but their children as well. It also shows those individuals that someone they don’t even know cares. That will give them faith in themselves and humanity. What you donate to a food pantry could help several families, not to mention children. Again, just using the 1% figure, can you imagine the impact that could have?

All these ideas above are so good that I am going to try several of them! Start the math on that. If the 1% did 2 or even 3 random acts of kindness! Buy someone’s coffee. How great would you feel if a stranger just paid for your coffee? hand a bird feeder? Helping out our feathered friends. Put a book in a little free library? Another great one is giving a good review. How many business have the headache of dissatisfied customers telling everyone about an issue they may have had? As a business owner myself, I can tell you how amazing good reviews feel and help! (In case you want to jump on that go to http://www.amazon.com/author/neilpanosian) I could go on and on about each one of these.

How about you? What is your favorite random act of kindness to do? What would you like to see others do? Let us spread this message and get as many people involved as we can!

KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED! 🙊

Just a quick reminder to speak only truth and to do so diligently. Ask yourself, is what I am now saying truly reflect on who I am and what I wish people to think my character is?

It seems in our modern world people feel compelled to say something. Focus more on quality over quantity. This holds true for everything in life, but especially in our speech. Nobody enjoys being around someone who talks just to hear the sound of their own voice.

A quick parting thought. If you wish never to be thought a fool, speak life, empowerment, and encouragement to all that you encounter. There is always room for words that uplift.

BE YOU! 😃

What a powerful message from Bob Marley, who would have celebrated his 80th birthday only a few days ago. In today’s age of being ‘internet famous’, so many people are trying their best to be the next big thing. What you run the risk of is losing yourself. Staying true to ourselves despite the world, and often others, pushing us to be something they think is better is one of the greatest challenges.

When we are not true to ourselves it can cause us all kinds of stress. Maybe you did something that went against one of your values or beliefs in order to look good in someone else’s eyes, even if nobody else were to find out, the guilt that would put on your conscious would be enough to keep you up at night. You might end up experiencing indigestion. Keeping doing that, or feel the guilt long enough, and you will end up with an ulcer and maybe worse.

Plus, keeping up an image of someone you are not takes a lot of work. You can never just relax and be yourself. After a while, you may not even remember who you really are. Talk about stress and confusion. This is not to say that if people do not like a certain aspect of you that you might investigate whether a little self-improvement is needed. Saying, “That is just who I am.” can be a very immature and unenlightened way of making excuses for not putting in the work on ourselves. Just make sure the person hating on you doesn’t have a good point. If they do, maybe even a little show of gratitude while you work on becoming an even more amazing person?

What happens when you are working very hard on being the best version of yourself that you can be and there are still those who do not like you or speak ill of you? Remember the picture above. You can be the best cup of tea, or the best version of yourself, and that person just might be a coffee drinker. Do you know what? That is alright. It is not our mission to be liked by everyone on the planet. There are over 8 billion people. Tell me one thing that every one of them likes. There is nothing. That includes you. As long as we are working on being the best that we can be, others opinions are none of our business.

WHAT IS YOUR WORTH?

We are all like this bar of iron. We have so much potential inside of us. What we do with that potential goes a long way to determine our worth. This is why it is so important to do what feeds your soul. You may not be lucky enough to do it for a living, but you can even pursue it on the side as a hobby. What you create and bring to the world will be amazing. When people live with passion, everyone in the world benefits.

Perhaps, like myself, you are in a job that does not make the best use of your talents. What you should do is find a way to put those talents on display. It may cost you some recreation time, and maybe even a little sleep. Let me assure you that the sleep you will get will be far better knowing that you allowed the gift inside you to see the light. It will not only bring you more inner peace, but may also lead to a new, more fulfilling career.

Another thing to be careful of is letting others determine your worth. Some may look at you and believe that you are that bar of iron. Not worth much. Try to limit your exposure to these people. Some can see the horse shoes or even the watch springs inside of you. Meaning, they can see how amazing you are even if you are not there yet. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and see the best in you. That belief may help you push yourself to be the best version of you that you can be.

HOW IT WILL LIKELY BE 😮

Monday morning will be time to start our weekly grind. For those of us in business for ourselves, the work never stops. Whether we are talking financially, spiritually or even relationships, the picture above holds true. I am not sure why we assume that success, in any endeavor, will be linear. There are peaks and valleys. How we view each will go a long way in determining the quality of our life. Understanding this will happen is the first key to success. Having the unrealistic expectation that life will be a continuous series of ups will only set us up for disappointment.

Most of us understand this point intellectually. Yet, when it happens to us we feel like we are failures or may never succeed. This is why sites like this, and motivation in general is so important. There are moments even the most enlightened and driven of us find ourselves in a world of doubt. That is why it is so important to continue to prepare for challenges before they happen. On my appearance on the television show, Positively Milwaukee, I used the analogy that it is better to learn to swim on the shore then when the boat is sinking. In other words, know there will be challenges, on all levels and do your best to prepare for them.

This quote from Zig Ziglar rings true. We never know when challenges will arise. If it happens today, chances are that thing you read, or video you watched last week, will not help you. We need to feed our spirit daily. When we talk about feeding our spirit, it is the same as feeding our body. What we feed it is just as important as how often we feed it. There is a saying in the computer programing field, “Garbage in, garbage out.” The same holds true for what we allow in our spirit. Is it filled with people who complain, and talk shows that tell us the sky is falling? Do we spend a few minutes a day in quite meditation, or at least contemplation? Do we read/watch/listen to something inspiring every day?

In life let us take the lessons from the both the peaks and valleys. Let us also understand they are both part of our journey and we are going to experience both on the way to success.

FULFILLMENT ACCORDING TO MAC 👈

Today’s post will feature a deep dive into an answer to a question I posed to several friends and associates. The question was, “What, in your opinion, makes for a truly fulfilling life?” We will take a deeper dive into the answer featured in today’s post. This includes looking at how we can implement their ideas for fulfillment into our own life. This will allow all of us to wake up with a greater sense of inner peace and joy. If these answers inspire you, and you would like to share your own feeling on what makes life fulfilling, feel free to do so in the comments below. You could be featured in a future post or in my next book! Now let us take a look at today’s answer!

Today’s answer comes courtesy of Mac. He is a gentleman I connected with because we both share a health challenge. After much conversation, it appears we share much more. Our general attitude towards life and our place in it is also rather similar. I look forward to getting to know this man better and continue to learn from him. Even our thoughts about a fulfilling life resonate with each other. His answer also reflects who he is as a man. Without further build up, let us look at what Mac thinks makes a fulfilling life.

“To wake up beside my wife each day and to work together throughout the day to accomplish our goals as a team”

Both Mac and I certainly find fulfillment in waking up next to the beautiful lady we love. What this highlights is the importance and benefit of, not only loving and seeing the beauty in your spouse, but finding fulfillment in that. All too often familiarity can breed contempt or at the very least, taking your partner for granted. Mac understands both parties benefit when the appreciation for each other never stops.

There is one more thing you might have missed in Mac’s answer. Although his answer highlights his deep love for the woman in his life, it reflects something even bigger. Throughout my conversations with Mac about my upcoming book, as well as our health, he focus has always been on one thing – gratitude.

Mac has expressed gratitude for many things in his life. This has ranged from a simple cup of great coffee, to walking in nature and feeding squirrels. Two more things we have in common. Mac reminds us that the more we are grateful for things that we do have in our lives, the more fulfillment we experience.

How about you? Are you grateful for waking up next to your spouse, or have you started to take them for granted? Even if you don’t have a spouse, are you grateful for the great many simple pleasures in your life? What are they? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

HOW TO BE COOL 😎

It seems these days everyone is looking to be cool. They might not phrase it that way. Perhaps they want more ‘influence‘. There are different terms for it, but people want to be significant and stand out. Above is the ticket to doing so.

You may dismiss these behaviors as insignificant or not very impressive. Let me assure you they are so rare they will impress anyone you use them on.

Here is a little challenge. As impressive as these are on their own, the more you do, the cooler you will be. Perhaps print a copy off and see how many you can check off in a day. See if you can manage to do the whole list.

Which behavior on this list do you think makes somebody cool? Let us know in the comments below.

LITTLE VICTORIES 🏆

Do you ever get the feeling you are chasing the brass ring… and an Olympic sprinter is wearing it? That is to say you can never quite catch it? When we spend our life focused on chasing the next big goal and saving our celebration until we reach it, life can feel like one big chores.

What is the secret to an amazing life? As the photo above states, celebrating the little wins. There are so many ways in which to do this. As I mentioned in the last few posts, the weather here is so cold it is downright dangerous. The other night, my lovely Margie and I had to go out to our DJ job. It was -3° F when we left. My 2005 Ford Escape not only made it home but purred like a kitten. To me, making it home safe was a win.

Celebrating safe travels and good health keep us realizing how much we truly do have. I’m sitting in a local Korean coffee shop writing this. I’m so glad my city not only has one of these, but I am able to enjoy it. This will be the 935th day in a row for these blogs. That is worth Celebrating. I’m not waiting to celebrate until I reach my goal of 1000. The fact that despite my hectic life I’m still able to bring these blogs to you is a win.

How about you? What small wins can you celebrate? The more you celebrate, the more life seems like 1 big party!

READ THE LABELS 🏷

Hello friends! Welcome to another day here at Secret2anamazinglife.com! Today we are sharing a very important label. Many of us have taken to reading labels in an effort to maintain or improve our health. This a great idea. Knowing what you are putting into your body can help you improve your health in a major way. As of yet, there are tags for what we are putting into our soul or spirit. The tag above is a good start. Listed are several things that will help you maintain a joyful spirit. I would recommend adding some gratitude and some sort of reflection or meditation to the list.

How about you? What on this tag works the best for you? What would you add to your ‘Good Mood Tag’? I would love to hear your answers below. In the New Year, we should all work together to help each other have more good days. Here at this website we are committed to do our part. We will continue to bring you motivating and uplifting content all year long. If you have any suggestions for topics you would like covered, please let us know. In the meantime, enjoy crafting your good mood!

DON’T FORGET YOUR DREAMS! 😳

Today is Saturday. Most of us are enjoying the start of the weekend. A few of us, like myself, are working. It is good to be a hard-working individual. It shows character and self-discipline. Both very good traits. What we must be careful with is to balance that with our true passions and ambitions. No matter what that job is, one day we will retire. What then? The average person lives less than 20 years after retirement. Men, it is even less for you. Why do we suppose that is? One of the main reasons is a lack of purpose. You do not want to give all of your passion and energy to a company that will replace you a day after you are gone. Think about your legacy, and what lights the inner fire inside you. That is what the world needs more of.

Forgetting your dreams to chase the dollar can have terrible side effects. Increased stress, reduced sense of purpose and fulfillment. How exciting can a life of ‘wake up, pay bills and die’ be? Not very exciting. I’ll cover more ways to go from striving to thriving in my upcoming fourth book. Until then, I want to remind all of us to continue to make our dreams a priority. Even those of us who are finished with the work-a-day world can put our dreams on the back burner. We spend our time with busy work and running errands for others. Perhaps so used to putting our own desires last, that doing anything less has us feeling guilty.

Even someone like myself who works about 60 hours a week, still makes time to pursue their passions. In fact, the words you are reading now include that. The means are not just to justify an end, but to invest in my dream. Pursuing dreams helps us feel alive. It puts light behind our eyes and a spring in our step. How can you invest in your dreams today? Through time? Financial investment? Maybe it is just dusting them off and bringing them back to life. Do not let your salary kill your dreams!