As I write this it is Sunday afternoon. Monday is a tough day for many of us. The start of another work week. Back to the grind as they say. That is why the list above could be so handy. Ten things to be grateful for. I think reviewing these before bed and first thing after waking would be so helpful. Starting your day with a positive thought can make all of the difference.
Think about your actions in the morning. Is it a mad dash to get out the door? Even that, with a properly placed quote, or grateful reminder, can change our mindset we use to face the day. That is why I like those daily motivational calendars. You can peel off the paper to see the most inspiring thought. It sure is better than looking at social media or watching the news first thing in the morning. Find something that inspires you and has you fired up to live your dreams and chase your goals. This website is updated everyday, first thing in the morning. Feel free to subscribe and you will be greeted with inspiring thoughts 7 days a week!
The month is almost over. How are those resolutions coming? If that last question made you cringe, do not worry. It can be very difficult to not fall victim to bad habits. You may be thinking that you messed up this year. We are merely 1/6th of the way through it. Even if you find yourself reading this in your later years regretting things you have not done in your life, it is not too late. Just like the quote from the great stoic above, the life you have lived up to this point is over.
Wherever we are currently starting from, it is a beginning to live our life like we should. The time we have left only matters in so far as what we do with it. You might want to read that last line again. Whether it is 2 months, 2 years or 2 decades, you have an opportunity. That is the gift of waking up today. You have a chance to brighten someone’s day who is struggling. You have the chance to lighten someone else’s load in life. You have a chance to begin to improve yourself. You may not think you will reach the finish line, but you can inspire others with how you run the race.
The ‘reset button’. What a good way to look at this. We always have the option to reset. Whether we slipped off our goals after 2 months, or we are working on fixing behaviors that we have practiced for decades. Resetting and working on improving should be an exciting and life-long pursuit. This should not seem like something to dread. The fact that there is no finish line in the world of self-improvement does not mean that you never get to celebrate. It means that no matter how amazing your life, relationships, health and career are, they is always a way to make them at least a little bit better. This should excite you. Celebrate the small wins along the way. As for defeats or stumbles, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again,
This picture reminds me of a couple of things. First is the fact that for the first time in 4 years, Margie and I will not be going on a nice tropical vacation. Saving for a wedding will do that. Second, and most important for our time together today, is the power behind focus. These people are on the same bus, yet they are focused on two very different scenes. That focus will go a long way to determining the quality of their journey. The same is true in our life. That is why the power of gratitude, and developing an attitude of gratitude is so important.
In my own life, this could not be more true right now. My 2025 has started with these events. My grandmother on my father’s side passed away. Then, I dislocated my shoulder. Shortly there after I got an ear infection. Recently, my younger cousin on my mother’s side passed away. Nobody even knew she was sick. Yesterday, I found out my aunt on my father’s side passed away. All that and it is only February. Not quite the start to the year I would have chosen, but here we are. I could focus on all of this and start to predict what a miserable year I was having. If we looked at the facts, I could be excused for thinking and saying so.
While all of those above facts are true, here is some other things that are true as well. With the passing of my one cousin, I have reconnected with another cousin. I was able to purchase a new car which has made not going on vacation a little more tolerable. My health has rebounded and with therapy I am getting better every day. My beautiful lady and I continue to make progress planning our wedding for next year. Finally, there are words typed out to start the fourth book I have been working on for years. With any luck, it will even be published later this year. These facts are also true and are what I am deciding to focus on.
This is not me being ignorant to the fact that there is a good amount of challenging circumstances that have occurred in my life so far this year. It is just that I am choosing to focus on the ones that reflect all the blessings and good fortune I am grateful enough to have. I am choosing to be like our friend in the bus looking out the window. Yes, it is a choice. What wrong is always available. What right is also available to focus on as well.
Some may view that as ‘sticking your head in the sand’ or ‘looking at the world through rose-colored glasses’. As if it were somehow cheating hardship. The opposite is the truth. It takes more work to look for and focus on the positive. Especially when there can be so much negativity and chaos occurring around you. Being able to say confidently, “Despite all I may be going through, I sure have a lot to be grateful for.” takes a lot of courage and resilience.
Remember the axiom, “Where focus goes, energy flows.” What we focus on determines how we feel. How we feel determines the quality of our lives.
This is one of those reminders that we do not like to get. I recall, in my own life, how this hit home. Looking back, there were a lot of character issues I had. One day while reading a book about Theodore Roosevelt, it occurred to me that I really needed to work on me. For years I had been blaming my behavior on a host of different factors. None of which were the real cause. The real cause was me and the choices I was making at the time. It was the actions I was taking and those I did not take that I should have.
It was at that moment I realized I had to take ownership of my own life. This was at once both scary and liberating. Scary because I had to admit all my past behavior was my fault. Scary because I knew it was up to me to fix all of it. It was at the same time very liberating. When I stopped trying to blame other people and circumstances for my situation, it meant I also had the power to fix it. Different decisions could be made. Different actions taken, or not taken as the case may be.
Some of you might be in the same situation. Your life is not all that you know it could be. It is far too easy to blame our upbringing, our grumpy boss, our controlling spouse or our seeming lack of opportunity. If you trace all of those circumstances back far enough, you will see that they have the same common denominator – you. Taking responsibility for your own life can be scary. As stated above, it can also be very liberating. It is up to you to change your habits, routines and decisions. Rest assured this will be a struggle. It will be tempting to fall back into old habits. The old version of you will not want you to change. It will take work and it will be a never-ending battle. By fighting that battle, you gain the ultimate freedom. That is control of your own life.
Many of us hide our true goals and ambitions from the world for fear of what they might think. It is time to ask yourself, it what ways have you been playing small? Why have you been doing so? In what ways might your world benefit from being who you truly are and chasing what it is that you really want?
When we see a massive iceberg, roughly 90% of it is underwater. That means, doing simple math, what we see is only 10% of the entire thing. Same with success. The victory, the accomplishments and the achieving of goals is only 10% of the process. As the photo above shows, 90% of the process involves things like hard work, sleepless nights and persistence. If this is where most of our time and energy end up, it is important we need to fall in love with this aspect. Why settle for being happy a mere 10% of the time? You deserve more from you life.
Falling in love with the process sounds rather cute and cliche, but what is the true meaning behind it? More to the point, how can we start to do that? As an author, I can tell you that the time I get to celebrate publishing a book is a mere fraction of the time it takes to write it. If I were to only be happy when a book was completed, it would be a pretty miserable existence. One way I found that keeps me loving the process is celebrating small wins along the way. Whether that is finishing a chapter, designing a cover, or simply opening my computer to write, there is lots to celebrate. On days when the process is the most difficult, that is when it is important to celebrate the most. Maybe you can congratulate your self for just showing up. Take getting in shape. They say the heaviest weight in the gym is the front door. That means the most difficult part of working out is getting your butt to the gym. Anyone starting this journey certainly could agree.
Another way to love the process is to develop and maintain a growth mindset. That is to say seeing challenges and obstacles as a way to learn, grow and reach closer to your goal. This can be made a lot easier by being mindful and present. When you are fully in the moment and not upset that you are not where you want to be just yet, it allows you to focus and control your energy better. It is also wise to take a brief mental trip into the future and do your best to feel like you will once your goal is accomplished. Experiencing that, if only briefly, may give you the motivation to push on.
How do you fall in love with the process? What keys to success would you offer our viewers? Share in the comments below.
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!
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 encouragementto all that you encounter. There is always room for words that uplift.
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.
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.
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 