Tag: secret2anamazinglife.com

HOW TO STAND OUT IN A CRAZY WORLD

Before we get into the actual quote above, I would like you to ponder something. If someone offered to pay you five coins to help them move would you? Most of you would think “No way am I helping someone move for a little bit of change!” I can understand that thought. What if I told you those coins were made of gold? That might change your mind. The value of five coins depends on the value of each one. They could be worth next to nothing, or as in the example of our gold coins, worth quite a bit.

You may be thinking, “That is a great lesson in economics Neil. What does it have to do with living an amazing life?” That is where we get back to the quote above. Words are much like coins. There are many people who talk just to hear the sound of their own voice. Their words are worth less. There are people who gossip. There words, much like those who complain, are actually a negative. There are also people who are thoughtful. There are people who inspire. Their words are worth gold.

How about you? Do you talk because you feel like you need to make noise, or do you only speak when you feel like your words will add something to the situation? Do you use your words for idle gossip or complaining? Bob Marley once said, “Complaints are like prayers to the devil.” I could not agree more. I feel we should all devote more of our time, thought, effort and yes words, to inspiring others. To uplift and encourage others is far better than to point out how they were wrong. Make your words more valuable by using them for good and only when necessary.

THE LIFEBLOOD OF A WRITER

One of the most fulfilling aspects of being viewed in over 200 countries is the interaction that I have with people I would otherwise not know. One of the most frustrating parts of being a writer is that they do not happen more often. It may tell you that thousands of people read what you wrote, but do they all have no opinion about it? That can feel quite defeating. I have written something daily for over 4 years and do it to make a positive difference in the life of those who read it. When there is very little interaction, you can start to wonder if you are indeed successful in your goal. I would venture a guess that most writers feel this way.

It is not limited to this blog. My books have sold thousands. Rarely do I hear what people think of them. There are a few “Your book was really good.” That is nice to hear but leaves the author with very little to go on. The lifeblood of any writer is engagement with their audience. This is more motivating than numbers on a sale chart or views and likes statistic. If you know a writer, please give them feedback. It is what drives us and makes us want to write more. Ideas, comments, thoughts and any other feedback gives us something to work with going forward. For those wonderful souls who have given me feedback, I appreciate it more than you know. Thank you so much. For those of you who have something to offer but have not, may I encourage you to do so. Hearing how my writing affects you, good, bad or indifferent, really is motivation to continue writing.

TAYLOR SWIFT DILEMMA

We live in what can only be described as a very unusual time. Maybe the years I have been alive are starting to creep up on me. Before I become the man who yells, “Stay off my lawn!” I want to reflect on something that I find both amusing and perplexing.

At times, it seems there is a new celebrity in the headlines every day. Some for good things, most for things they would rather not be known for. A situation seems to happen time after time. When someone is an up and coming star, the world cheers for them. Once they achieve a certain amount of fame, people look to tear them down. This may not be new to the times, but with the advent of new technologies, it seems to be happening quicker and more intensely than ever. Keeping this in mind, there are some things that we ask of celebrities that are almost unfair.

We are going to use Taylor Swift for an example as I do not think anyone has more followers or influence than her right now. Taylor Swift is primarily a singer and performer. When major world issues outside of music come up, people are asking why she does not use her fame and influence to weigh in on those issues. This creates an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, using your fame for a purpose greater than material gain should be admirable. On the other side will be people telling her to “Stay in her lane.” Both of these hold some merit. There is a motivational speaker I listen to. He is a psychologist and has some insightful thoughts on the human mind and how it works. He often strays into more political issues and environmental sciences and ends up sounding like a fool.

What should we expect celebrities to do? More to the point, what should we do with the influence we have? First, we should understand that we are offering an opinion. We may not have all the facts and must consider everyone’s unique experiences and circumstances. Second, we should, as Bob Marley says in the photo above, make sure our intentions are pure. If we make a mistake we should admit it. If someone else does, we should offer them a little bit of grace. This is especially so if their intentions were pure.

Next time you are tempted to weigh in on an issue, stop to think of this. We may not have millions of followers or the press reporting our every move, but we should act like we do. Be responsible with our words and actions. When we hear an opinion we may not agree with, give that person a little understanding and compassion. We would want them to do the same for us.

30 DAYS OF GRATITUDE DAY 16 – YOUR BODY!

This is such a great question. I am glad it comes on a Monday as well. Both of these things can be extremely tough for most of us. Self-image is a challenging thing in this day and age. We see AI and photoshopped photos of celebrities and ask ourselves why we do not look like that. Americans alone spend 16.7 Billion, yes that is with a ‘B’, on cosmetic plastic surgery. Negative self-image is truly a big problem. It is not just one gender either. Men see the muscle bound movie stars that women go head over heals for and wonder if there is any hope for their ‘dad bod’. Even fake eyelashes was a 2 billion dollar global market in 2024! Just for eyelashes.

In addition to saving billions of dollars every year, what else could developing a more positive self-image get us? Confidence for one. When you are confident in who you are, you present yourself in a much better fashion. You also tend to be less judgmental of others. How do we escape this societal programing? We can start with gratitude for something on our body. We give so much attention, so the numbers would indicate, on what we do not like, that we owe it to ourselves to pick something we do like. You might be working on getting that beach body, but do you have sparkling eyes? How about a welcoming smile? There is something that is beautiful about each and every one of us. We should start by expressing gratitude for that. If we do so often enough, it may have us changing our opinion about the person in the mirror.

I AM SO SHOCKED!

As I write this post, the amount of gratitude I am experiencing cannot be put into words. The purpose behind this site is to help leave the world a better place than I found it. To that extent, every new tool and strategy I learn is shared and discussed with anyone who wishes to join our community. In addition, when I come across something that would uplift, encourage and empower others, I share that as well. Working together we can uplift each other and the world at large.

As you can see by this chart, we have had the most successful year since inception. Over 27 thousand different people have viewed this site over 34 thousand times. To me, that is not an accomplishment to boast about, but one to be grateful for. The driving force to continue to make this website, and all of the material I put out, a success is to help more and more people. We all need a little uplifting and someone to lean on now and then. Many of us do not have that person in our life, or we may not feel like we do. This site is designed to be that person in as many lives as possible. It is my sincerest desire that the sense of community we foster here will be taken into the communities of those who read it.

Speaking of communities that have viewed this site, you can see the countries that have shaded in green. I am overjoyed that so many of our friends across the country of China, the continents of Africa and South America have checked us out this year. Not sure how to reach our friends in Greenland, but we will keep trying. My point is that we were in over 200 countries this year and on 6 of the 7 continents. I hope that in each one of these the sense of community moves from online to in person. That is an aspect we will work on in 2026. The lessons we share here are done so freely and openly. It is all about each one of us working to become the best version of ourselves in whatever journey we are traveling.

The more I speak with people across the globe, the more one this becomes clear. No matter what separates us geographically, politically, or culturally, we all share many of the same ambitions and many of the same challenges to those ambitions. We also have the same desire for community and connection. In 2026, we are going to work on strengthening that connection to all of our friends around the globe. One great way to do this is to hear from all of you in the comments. I do my best to respond to each and every comment left here or on our corresponding Facebook page. We are so excited that we got to serve so many of you this year and look forward to being of even more service next year! Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts here at Secret2anamazinglife.com.

YOUR 2 CHOICES

We touched on this a little earlier in the week. You really do have control of your mind. It doesn’t come easy. That is especially true if you have be letting it run the show up until now. Things like declaring your intention to have a good day no matter what the world throws at you in the mirror first thing in the mirror, go a long way to taking back that control. How else can we regain control of our minds? One word that always comes to the forefront is gratitude. Taking a few minutes each day to focus on all we have grateful for is a method to start to take back that control. If you do this at the end of each day, say by writing a few things in a gratitude journal, your mind will subconsciously be looking them throughout the day without you even having to tell it to.

Another method we discussed a while ago is the method of accomplishing goals. That is writing your goal on a top of a paper and taking an hour a day, five days a week, to come up with as many ideas on how to reach that goal as possible. Not only will you be focused on your goal in that hour, your brain will begin to bring to light ideas in the oddest hours. Meaning that in the background, our minds continue to work on that goal as we go about our day. This ‘goal’ could mean many things. How to improve our health, our relationship, our career, or even our sense of inner peace.

Make your mind work for you. It is up to you to take back control of your mind. Once you do, it can help you accomplish things beyond your wildest imagination!

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS! ❤️

I seldom share data like this, but here are the stats for this website for the year. As you can see over 24,000 of you have viewed this site over 30,000 times as of the writing of this post. That is the second most views and the most people since inception. If you would have told me a mere moth ago that we would have reached this many people, I would have had a hard time believing you. It is my sincerest hope that we will continue to reach, inspire, motivate and encourage people from every corner of the globe, which brings us to our next data point.

It may be a little hard to decipher the colors on this map, but everything in shades of green is where are site has been viewed this year. As you can see with the exception of Greenland and a few countries in Africa, we have been viewed pretty much everywhere. Not only does this make me proud, but it highlights a very important point for all of us. That is that self-improvement is universal. I have had the pleasure of chatting with people all around the globe and am constantly reminded that although we are separated by borders, culture and politics, our basic human needs and desire to be better versions of ourselves can be found no matter where you call home.

I mention that point because we all deserve to encourage and help each other on the journey. It also gives me great pleasure to hear from those of you who read this blog, so always feel free to comment or message us your thoughts and ideas. We at Secret2anamazinglife.com want to serve our global community and leave this world a better place than we found it. Thank you all for support and I look forward to having the honor of sharing everything I learn with you.

WE DID IT! EARLY AT THAT!

Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine that I would be writing a daily inspirational blog for over 13 years! What makes my heart so full of gratitude is that we seem to be growing our community and reaching more souls in more places. Still no Greenland, but we will get there. We are in over 200 countries and this year, as of this writing we have had over 28,000 views. That is the second most in 13 years! Even better is we have reached over 22,000 people. That is the most in 13 years.

My life’s mission is to leave the world a little better than I found it. Through sharing the tools and strategies I continue to learn, I believe I am doing just that. With all of your help, and lately with a lot of our friends in China, we will continue to grow and positively impact the lives of all of those we care about.

This blog was started on Thanksgiving in 2012. Gratitude is the one thing that will change not only our lives, but the world at large, quicker than anything else I know. Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States. While there are lots of things we need to improve, there are still a lot we have to be grateful for. I look forward to continuing to serve you and to increase engagement as we look forward to the coming year. With your help, 2026 can be our biggest and most impactful year yet!

ANOTHER REASON TO STAY ACTIVE 💪

People are looking for the secret to an amazing life. That is the purpose of this website. Part of an amazing life is keeping your mood up. Doing so with pharmaceutical products leads to side effects and other undesirable aspects.

Working out not only outperformed many of these products, but it also helps you physically. A two-for-one if you like. Certainly every form of therapy has its purpose, but if you can take one actin that will help you in many ways, why not do it?

KEEP ONE AROUND

One of the great secrets to an amazing life is to set yourself up for success. Learn as many tools and strategies to improve your life and maintain a positive emotional state as you can. Never rely on just one strategy to get the job done. Just as a screwdriver would not work to saw a log in half, or a saw to put a screw in, different situations in life call for different tools.

One thing that will help is setting your environment up for success. In this endeavor, use the same approach. Engage as many tools and strategies as you are able. I have a daily inspirational calendar I read. There are also motivational pictures and quotes in my locker at work. We discussed having a ‘happy playlist’ of songs that inspire you at the ready. Another great idea is to keep pictures around that just make you smile. The picture above of the otter is a great example. I have many silly and adorable pictures of my beautiful lady that never fail to put a smile on my face. I would share one of them here, but I fear I may be sleeping on the porch then.

How about you? What tools and strategies do you use to keep a smile on your face and joy in your heart? Do you have any pictures that make you smile? Are they placed where you can see them every day? Share your ideas so that we may all be one step closer to an amazing life!