Tag: Neil Panoisan

WHO IS COMING TO SAVE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR? 🫣

By this time tomorrow we will be in a new year. The quicker we come to grasp the thought above, the better that year will be. The quicker we take full responsibility for our own life, the quicker we will be able to make the changes necessary to go from striving to thriving. If we are truly serious about improving our life and changing what isn’t working there are two things we must do first. We must be honest and clear about what isn’t working in our lives. If we say on occasion we don’t eat the best, when in reality our 4 food groups are ice cream, pizza, chips and beer, we will not stick with the change. Even if you have a map, you cannot get where you are going if you are not clear on where you are starting from.

That leads us to our second step. We have to become disgusted with where we are. If you want to get in shape in the new year, but the 30 extra pounds you are carrying around doesn’t bother you that much, let’s be honest, it is not likely you will stick with the change. We must demand better of ourselves. We must fully desire the best version of ourselves. We cannot do it for the money, for the opinion of others or for significance. No, we must be unwilling to accept our current state in life. Change your inner dialogue to one that drives and motivates you. Create a powerful ‘why’ that will carry you through on days you might not want to take action.

It is important to know that the only one with the power to save us in the New Year, is the person staring back at us in the mirror. If you put the power to do so in the hands of others, you are sure to be disappointed. Nobody should care more about your life than you. It is time to save ourselves in 2025!

CHANGE THE WORLD THIS HOLIDAY SEASON 🎄

You may be tempted to dismiss today’s post. That would be a huge mistake. In the photo above lays the secret to changing the world. Yes, those little acts of kindness will change the world. I have written several times about the difference some of these acts can make. Think of the shopping cart example. How can returning one shopping cart make a difference? Considering how much danger the ignorant and lazy souls who leave their carts in the middle of the parking lot cause, the difference can be substantial. Even just returning your cart adds up. If you shop once a week, that is 52 carts a year. If you live with a baker like I do, it could be 3 times a week which is 156 carts a year. That is roughly how many carts a grocery store has.

We have written about picking up trash before. Once piece of trash a day makes for 365 pieces a year! If you don’t think that makes a difference, put 365 pieces of garbage in your living room and see how it looks. If you and your best friend do these things, that is 730 pieces of trash! What a cleaner community you would have! Trash and shopping carts are one thing, but people are entirely a different matter. We have discussed how to improve our world with small changes, now let us look at a more direct course of action.

The first suggestion is to tip your server. Tipping these days has become a little over the top. There seems to be an ‘opportunity’ to tip everywhere. It makes me glad there are no longer men’s room attendants. It is just one of a million ways to show small acts of kindness to people. The holiday season is stressful for a lot of people. Especially those in retail. This only creates a great opportunity to show a little kindness. It is also the time that our kindness means the most and will have the greatest impact. Thinking showing kindness to just one person wouldn’t make a difference? It reminds me of the starfish story we wrote about some time ago. In case you did not read that post, or just do not remember the details, the story can be found below.

This holiday season practice as many acts of kindness you can. It is not only a great gift for the world and for others, but it will be a great gift for your own soul. Share any ideas you may have for acts of kindness we can engage in this holiday season.

HAPPY? FIRST DAY OF WINTER ❄️

Today is the first day of winter. Where I live winter lasts about 9 months. (a slight exaggeration) Personally, I do not do good with winter. If there were a poster for Seasonal Affective Disorder, it would have my picture on. This is made even more challenging as I write a motivational website. In my writings, I advocate giving yourself something to look forward to. This is why I normally plan a vacation around February. That is right around when cabin fever starts to set in and I am moments away from appearing on one of those crime shows. “Author goes crazy and commits terrible crime.” Knowing me it would be breaking into a puppy mill and setting all of the animals free or breaking into an adult toy store and filling all of the blow up dolls with helium and setting them free. I might want to save that last idea. This year, I bought a car and am saving for my wedding so there will be no vacation.

 

As I sit enjoying the day today, focus will be very important. Although this does begins months of gloom and cold, it is technically the shortest day of the year. That means it will begin to stay lighter longer each day after. My new car certainly takes a great deal of stress out of the equation and is always warm when I get it. This will make the season a little brighter. I will be working on my fourth book which should provide me a great distraction.

For my friends living in colder climates that do not enjoy such things, what secrets do you use to make it through the winter months? To me a white Christmas should involve a white sand beach. Curious as to what everyone does when the beach is not an option?

CELEBRATE THE REASON 🍾

It is my sincere wish that everyone reading these posts on this website not only enjoy them, but that I am able to be of service to you as well. Above is one of the main reasons why. Today we celebrate the birth of my beautiful lady, Margie. Having the right life partner can make all of the difference. Someone who matches your goals and drive is key to living an amazing life. When I look back to the person I was ten years ago verses the person I am since we met, the difference is night and day.

We are currently on the march towards having 1000 days straight of new content. This would not be possible without the support of this lovely lady. From encouraging me to share ideas, helping me make it through my heart surgery and even making sure that I have delicious meals to keep me going. Without her love and support behind the scenes, there is some serious doubt we would be looking at almost 900 days in a row on this site. If you enjoy my YouTube channel, Neil Panosian, she is behind the camera in almost every video.

She may not get enough public credit for the role she plays in my content, but she certainly earns it in private. This run of consecutive days of content began shortly after my brief flirtation with death. That was one of the most challenging periods of my life. Recently, I have lost my last living grandparent at the age of 96. Through it all, Margie has been right there by my side. I couldn’t ask for a better friend, lover and person to share the rest of my life with. Please join me in wishing the beautiful, loving woman above a very happy and healthy birthday. I know wishes from around the globe would put a smile on her face.

THE RENT YOU PAY 💶

This quote really makes you think. We take for granted the space we occupy here on earth. We actually are just renting it. In time we will pass on and leave that space for someone else. This is not just in reference to our house or apartment. No, it is our career, the space we occupy in the hearts of our friends and family. There is the role we play in the community. If we stop and ponder, we need to pay for that rent. That payment, as Muhammad Ali so eloquently put it, is the service we give to others.

It has been my experience that the greater amount of service we provide for others, the greater the demand for our presence. We become more valuable and significant by serving others. This may seem counter-intuitive, but if you think about it I am sure you will find it to be true. If you wish to become more important, if you wish to command a greater amount of influence, if you want a larger social circle, all you have to do is be of greater service to your fellow humans.

How about you? What do you do to pay your rent here on earth? How to you serve others?

SUCCESS IN PROGRESS 🚧

Have you ever dreamt that you wake up with a new talent? Maybe you can play the piano, maybe speak another language? When you went to sleep it was something you could not do, but when you wake up you are perfect at it. Have you ever heard of this happening in real life? Of course not. Which is another reason to remember that honestly, there does not have to be anything called failure. The only time we really fail is when we give up. If we haven’t given up, it isn’t failure, it is just a lesson we have learned. Like playing the piano, where we might hit a wrong note more often than a right one, or speaking a new language when we accidentally call someone a pig when we just meant to say hello. We will make mistakes along the way.

This is far easier to understand intellectually than emotionally. I get that. In fact, I am one of the people who really hate to look foolish at anything. Luckily, I always have a beautiful woman to remind me I am learning and to cheer me on along the way. We must learn to be our own cheerleaders, however. We must also find a way to remind ourselves we are learning and not failing. How would you do this? I am open for suggestions.

WHAT IS YOUR SYNDROME? 😷

This picture came up in my Facebook memories from 12 years ago. What a different lifetime ago that was! I had not even met the love of my life yet. I was also an entirely different person. I have learned and grown so much in the last 12 years, I would not even recognize myself in the mirror if I were to look back. This made me think of the difference in what syndrome they might name after me now verses then. It is an odd and somewhat humorous way to look at things, but it could really serve us.

How about you? What characteristics do you think people think of when you pop in their mind? Are they positive? Are they negative? If it is the former, keep it up! If it is the latter, you know what to do, change them! Do you have some qualities that you would hope that people would associate to you? If so, just start working to embody those very traits more often. Personally, I would like people to think of someone who encourages and empowers others when I come into their mind. Therefore, in the new year I am going to do my best to live those qualities. How about you? What traits do you think you are an example of? What traits would you want to be?

IT WILL COME…

We have all been here, have we not? You are working towards a goal and it seems nothing is happening. I certainly can relate. I am sure you can too. Even though it may not seem like anything is happening, there is much going on that we cannot see. Even the strengthening of character that is coming with the patience waiting to see progress. More often that not, when we look back we realize that we could not have accomplished what we did without the progress that was happening that we did not see.

It reminds me of the growth of the bamboo tree. Once a bamboo is planted, it must be watered and taken care of every day for five years. If it is not, it will die. During those five years, nothing visible happens. If you didn’t know better, you might think the seed was no good. Once is does start growing, however, it can grow up to three feet…a day! This can be like our goals we are working for. It can see nothing is happening, but if we do not continue to work nothing will happen. If we persevere, one day our growth will explode. Keep this in mind as you continue to strive towards your goals.

DO YOUR DUTY 🫡

As the holidays get into full swing, our calendar becomes full. We are running around shopping for others. Perhaps we are at home cooking for others. There are still the usual commitments on top of that. What gets lost in the shuffle is time for ourselves. This doesn’t only happen during the holidays either. Life moves at such a rapid pace we can wear ourselves out trying to keep up. One job that we cannot slack on is loving ourselves. It is of the utmost importance.

Loving yourself does not involve arrogance. What it does involve is self-care. We need to take care of our health so we can show up for life and for those we care about as the best version of ourselves. It involves making ourselves a priority. Knowing that we may not be able to attend every holiday party we are invited to. We may not have the finances to buy gifts for everyone we would want to. That’s ok. By taking care of ourselves, we allow others to do the same. By loving ourselves, we demonstrate that we feel we deserve that love. We also learn what makes us feel loved. This is important when others wish to make us feel loved. In fact, if we do not love ourselves, we can make it impossible to feel that we deserve love from others.

Loving ourselves allows us to really appreciate and fully receive the love that others share with us. When your spouse tells you that you look attractive, but you are used to putting yourself down, it can be hard to believe much less appreciate. When you know that you have beautiful qualities, that compliment from your loved one is much easier to believe. When you can fully receive a compliment, it not only makes you feel better, but the one giving you the compliment as well. Think of it. If you tell someone they look nice and they always respond, “No I do not!” How likely are you to continue to compliment them? If they respond, “Thank you so much for saying so. That really means a lot.” How much better would you feel knowing that they appreciated your compliment.

It is your duty to love yourself. This does not mean you have to be perfect. It means that you are doing the best you can and showing up for others the best you can. You might have things about yourself that you don’t like, that is fine. Those things might be what someone else loves. You are an amazing soul and realizing that will not only benefit you but everyone else that you share life with. Don’t they deserve that? Don’t you?

NOT EVERYONE…🤨

When you are on the journey of self-improvement, you can often to run into people who seem to be going in the opposite direction. Maybe they are just sunshine-challenged. Worse, they may try to be a cloud to your sunshine. My first inclination was to try and help them improve their lives. That is a good thing to do. Some people suffer simply out of ignorance. They do not know what they do not know. Introducing them to some fun and simple self-improvement tools that could make their life happier and healthier is a noble venture. You would be giving them a gift greater than any other.

What happens when they reject you and your attempts to bring light into their lives? What happens when they continue to be a downer or even worse? I refer you to that great bit of wisdom, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” Many people doubt that they can improve their lot in life. You can plant the seed, but if the soil is not fertile, it just will not grow. Rather than waste your time watering it and giving it all of your sunshine, use it as a reminder of what your life might look like if you do not work on your self-improvement. It helps me to even send them a ‘thank you’ for reminding me to stay on the sunny side of the street and keep a positive outlook. This is best done in your head. Changing the feelings of frustration with their behavior to one of gratitude for the reminder will make our life much less stressful. It will also decrease the likelihood that there will be a conflict between the two of you.

Remember that not everyone wishes to improve their lot in life. Working on saving the entire world is not only exhausting, it is a fool’s errand. Some are just happy leaving their life up to outside circumstances. Inside your head thank them for the reminder to maintain your own efforts. By maintaining a sunny disposition, they may come to you when they are ready to improve. If that day never comes, you will at least be less stressed by not spending the energy on watering a seed that will never grow.