Tag: secret2anamazinglife.com

ARE YOU MISSING MIRACLES?🙁

I love this picture for several reasons. First, I am a huge fan of Winnie-the-Pooh. Second, the quote by Hans Christian Anderson is amazing. Last post we spoke about changing perspective. Can you imagine viewing a lot of our everyday things as miracles? To some of you that may seem like a stretch, but really it is not. Take the simple act of eating. Food grows using the power of the sun. It is composed of complex molecules of all different sorts. We mash it up using our teeth and swallow it. Somehow, inside of our stomach it is transformed from a piece of broccoli, or in my case a slice of deluxe pizza, to a source of energy that powers all of the processes in our body. This occurs without us having to learn or do a single thing. Pretty amazing if I must say so myself.

Here is another aspect of miracles, being grateful. When you think of the things mentioned above, they might seem like the basic items of life. It is true that everyone should have these items. It is also true, that the vast majority of people on this planet do not. If you are reading this, it is assumed you have an internet connection in some fashion. Think of the miracles of that! You can access knowledge of the ages in the palm of your hand, in the case of a cell phone. When I was young you had to go to the library and search through volumes of books called encyclopedias. Today you just talk into your phone and access Wikopedia in seconds. 100 years ago, electricity and running water was just beginning to be the norm. Today, in places like war-torn Ukraine, and many rural villages in Africa it is still a luxury. Many of the things we can take for granted can be ripped from our lives in the blink of an eye. As I write this, the western part of the United States is being subjected to a terrible winter storm. 40 people have already lost their lives and thousands more are without power.

This is not meant to be a doom and gloom post. Just a poignant reminder that many of the basic services will become a luxury if they are taken away. A mother in Kyiv would give anything to have a safe roof over her head and a place to raise her children without the fear of a bomb falling on them. Do you have that? Be grateful. Somewhere in western New York, a family was wishing they had heat to be able to stay healthy and enjoy the holidays. Did you have that? Be grateful. There is a tired cliché that we do not know what we have until it is gone. For most of us, that is uncomfortably true. As the year draws to a close, I invite all of us to consider the ordinary things of our lives and how miraculous they truly are. Think of what many of us take for granted that others would be so grateful to have.

CHANGE PERSPECTIVE 🤔

This is a view from the hotel that I took my lovely Margie for her birthday 🎂 Stepping back and looking at the city from this angle certainly changes how you view things. In the thick of things with the pollution, hustle and bustle you can miss some of the beauty of the architecture, the lights, and the cityscape itself.

The same can be said for life. In the middle of our work-a-day world, focused on working and paying bills, we miss a lot of the beauty of our lives. It’s not our fault. Life gets so busy it seems to fly by in a blur. We need to “push pause” and appreciate the beauty of our lives.

If life is so busy, how can we manage to do this? Who has time to step back and just appreciate life? Lately, Margie and I have been crazy. I’ve been working about 50 hours a week at my day job, plus working on my fourth book and of course bringing you this daily inspiration. Margie was finishing school, under the weather and still making delicious desserts to brighten people’s lives. We, like many other busy couples, fall into the habit of being too busy for each other.

I’m sure you have felt it. You both are working hard and feeling tired. Suddenly, you find yourself being irritated with the person you share a living space with. Everything you have going on and they want to spend quality time together? You may even snap at each other or speak in a less than loving tone. Not because you are necessarily upset with them but because there is too much life on your plate.

When this happens, that’s when you need to pull the emergency brake. Trust me, if you don’t notice it is happening, your partner may gently remind you it is. Here are some secrets to getting a new perspective. First, apologize. Explain that you lost focus. This is not a bad thing, but will let your partner know that life, not them, is what has your nerves frayed. Second, take a step back – literally. When you take a physical action, it can change your emotional state. There is a whole chapter about this in my second book, Living the Dream. Wherever you are, take one step back. Take a deep breath and slowly let it out while your at it.

Next, change what you focus on. Last night Margie made us quesadillas for dinner. I took a step back and watched her flipping them on the griddle. All i could think was “How is such a beautiful and funny woman also such a great cook?” That got me thinking how grateful I was that we were together. How she can always make me laugh,or at least raise one eyebrow.

In your life, take a step back regularly. The more you do it the more you will see a great deal of the beauty you may have missed while you were busy living life.

3 WORD LESSON THAT CHANGED MY LIFE.

I am currently about 10,000 words into my fourth book. At about the 6000 word point, I realized this book was going to be something entirely different than I expected. By writing this story, I am learning a lot about myself and my life. Just another great reason for everyone to write their story. You never even have to show it to anyone else. So far, only Margie has heard what I have written. I think her lone comment was, “It is funny.” but we are getting there.

Aside from the comedy that was my young and crazy life, I learned several valuable lessons. This sounds crazy even as I am writing it. You would think that you are more likely to learn a lesson by living it, but many of them only appeared as I began to write about them. Maybe it was the space of time and distance that allowed me to gain a proper perspective. Maybe I was just to young and stupid to appreciate what life, the universe, God an the world were trying to teach me. It is probably a combination of the two.

One of the great lessons that occurred to me this morning was this – every great triumph in my life was proceeded by a tragedy. Every great period of growth and evolution was proceeded by a death of sorts. The ‘me’ that was had to be humbled and often that version of me was put to death. At that point, it felt that life had beaten me. There were job losses, people losses, health losses. After all of them, much like the mythical Phoenix, I rose from the ashes as a more powerful, more evolved version of me. The hard truth is that none of that growth would have been possible without the death.

A person close to me once told me, “Neil, life always seems to knock you down, but then you end up in an even better spot.” Quite true. The more I thought about that as I wrote, the more it seemed to show up. It revealed one of the secrets to not only my success, but success for anyone. It is a 3 word lesson – Triumph. Over. Tragedy. We are never really down until we refuse to get up. When life beats you down, remember this lesson. Look for the opportunity for growth. Use the ashes to build yourself anew. A stronger, more resilient and more evolved version of you. This thought can be summed up in this beautiful quote from Wilma Mankiller.

YOUR MIND – THE BUREACRAT 👨‍💼👩‍💼

I was reading a book by Pam Grout. Rather insightful and entertaining author. I highly recommend checking out her books. She is best known for her book E-Squared. It is a list of experiments to help prove that your thoughts create your reality. I highly recommend reading it. The book I was leafing through is called The Course In Miracles Experiment. It is composed of 365 life lessons based on the course in miracles.

There is a line that begins lesson 24 that really struck me as I read it. When I excitedly shared it with Margie, she looked at me and said “You already know that.” This was true, but have you ever heard something you have heard a million times before and it was worded in just such a way that it really got through? This was the case here. The line read,”The brain is basically a bureaucrat. It looks at the past, applies it to the present and uses it as a map to predict the future.” Think about how true this statement is. 🤔

When we plan our future, we think about what happened in the past, apply that to our current life situation and use that to predict our future. Now, think of how stupid that is. First, if we think of how things always were and apply that to our current actions, do you think our future will be much different? Probably not. Our life becomes some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. That’s great if our life is a continuous bucket of smiles, but even then, the past does not necessarily dictate the future.

Think of it this way. What worked in the past might not work in the future. What didn’t work in the past might work in the future. There are just too many variables. Speaking of variables, we must also take into account something that doesn’t vary. The only thing that is constant – change. If we base our course of action on events in our past, do you think that leaves us open to problems?

You would not drive cross country with a map from the 1800’s? Don’t do the same thing with your life. People change. Opinions change. The world changes. Our thinking must adapt with it. Learn lessons from the past, but don’t base the future on it.

IS GOD A COMEDIAN?

It might be slightly ironic that one of my favorite people to quote is a French writer, but it is. Voltaire had a lot of interesting points of view. I like this quote specifically. How many of us have commented, at one time or another, about God’s sense of humor. In my life, there have been many examples.

More interesting in this quote, is the inference that we all take life far too seriously. Most of what we concern ourselves with, will not matter months, weeks or even days from now. Off the top of your head, can you name the Super Bowl champion from 4 years ago? How about the World Cup champion from 3 years ago? My guess is that unless you are from the location that won, or you are a super fan of the sport, your answer would be ‘no’. Yet, how many grown adults scream at each other every game? Don‘t even get me started on people who worry if they do not have the right brand of shoes or clothing on. Some of the happiest people in the world can hardly afford shoes.

Even the more ‘serious’ of the worries are only as important as the amount of our energy that we designate to them. Read that last line again slowly. Remember in high school when you had your first heart break? Seemed like the world would end. Now, how many times do you even stop and think about it? Lose a job you thought you would have until you retired? Certainly sucks, but that has been the starting point for a lot of amazing life stories. I believe God is a comedian. I believe the purpose of life is to find love and laughter as much as you can. I believe the ultimate gift is to not only find the humor in life, but most importantly, sharing it with others. For the last few days of the year, let us do ourselves a terrific favor. Let us lighten up, not take things too seriously and not be afraid to laugh.

DON’T FORGET!🙃

Middle of the week. Don’t forget to help someone else finish their week strong by sharing a smile 😊 or a kind word. Let us start this trend and fill Wednesday with joy!

JUST A QUICK REMINDER ❤️

Just remember this holiday season, to leave kindness wherever you go. The holidays can be tough for many and your joy may be the only joy they see. Being kind to one another is the greatest gift we can give this time of year.

IT IS MONDAY… HERE WE GO AGAIN!😜

Another start to another week. Only 2 more left in the year. We talk a lot on this site about changing our perception about Monday. I think we should face it like a big event. Like an athlete preparing for a big game. Can you imagine going into that with your head hung low, Energy low, and dreading the day? Your opponent would love to see that! How about a musician before a big concert? Imagine watching your favorite band walking on stage the same way you walk into work on Monday? Would not get you very pumped for the show, would it?

Weather you wake up looking like our rockhopper penguin in the first picture, like I occasionally do, or you are fighting off the bug that is going around, like Margie and I are, you need to show up with your A game. When i trained people as bartenders, or even to work with the public with the post office, I always reminded them to come in with a smile on their face and energy in their spirit. Nobody, with the exception of your therapist, wants to see and hear your problems. Les Brown said it best – “80% of them don’t care and 20% are glad it is you.”

That is not to say you can’t confide in a trusted coworker about a situation that is troubling you, when given the opportunity. As you walk into work, everyone has the Monday blues. The last thing that is needed is to add one more sad soul to the mix. Come in with energy. That way, if Monday tries to knock you down, it will have to reach a lot higher

The million dollar question, how do you walk into the place that often sucks your soul with energy? Take a cue from professional wrestling. Yes, I did just say to take self-improvement advice from wrestling. Whenever a wrestler walks into the ring they have a song cranking throughout the stadium. Think of what song you would use if you were a wrestler. Crank it up in your car before your walk into work. As Dwayne “the rock” Johnson says, “just bring it!” Maybe watch a motivating clip on your phone before you walk in.

Here is one last Monday thought to keep in mind. I heard a millionaire CEO asked how he went from an entry level position to the top. His answer? “Walk in like you own the place long enough and soon you will.”

Share what you do that gets you pumped up on Monday morning.

IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS

For those of you has been following this blog for any time, or those who know me, realize winter is a tough time for me. I drive to work in the dark, drive home in the dark. For someone who loves the sun, this is tricky. Not to mention, we have not had a sunny day here in several weeks.

One thing I’m working on this year, is to find as many positive things as possible. Even though I write these blogs, trust me when I tell you there are many issues I’m working on too. Staying positive in winter is one of them. Today, while checking the weather on my phone, as you can see in the picture above, I noticed the sun had set a minute later! That means, the days will start to lengthen from here until June!

One minute certainly isn’t much, and you can see Friday it will be -2, but it is something. That’s kind of the secret to remaining positive. Finding the little light in the darkness. It is the flower growing in the crack in the pavement. It is the smile from a stranger on a tough day. Look for all the good you can in your own life. Remembering, quite often, the little things are the big things. ☺️

TURN ANY DARK SITUATION AROUND🌞

This is one of my favorite quotes. In any dark situation we find ourselves in, it can be difficult or next to impossible to see any benefits of that situation. Usually, long after it is over, we usually see something the struggle brought to us.

One way that I have taught myself to speed up this process is to ask myself some empowering questions. These are “what possible good could come out of this?” This can be difficult,especially in the beginning. An even more powerful question is this – “How can I use this?” Even if there seems to be no light to be found in your darkness, you can still use it.

When you suffer through something, be that a loss of someone you love, addiction, abuse or anything else, that gives you a very important gift. That gift is the ability to understand the struggle of someone suffering the same. When we are in the darkness, it can be so helpful to see a hand reaching out and a voice saying “I know, I have been there. ”

Think of some of your darkest moments. Think of how they may have forced you to grow. Think of how they provide you the ability to relate to and help others. Don’t just make it through your pain, use your pain! Use to help others, use it to help yourself. It is by doing this we turn the pain into a gift.