What You Focus on is What You Get

If you focus on the high gas prices, unemployment, war, natural disasters, and the downturn in the economy then that is all you'll see and you'll get more of the same. However, when you start focusing on the two houses that just got sold on your block, the friend who got a new job, the outpouring of relief that people are willing to give, then that is what you'll see and then that is what you'll see more of.

The economy always goes up and down. There will always be natural disasters, and there always seems to be a war going on somewhere on earth. That is the nature of humans and life on earth.

What can you change? You can change your perception and put out into the universe your view on how things could be. Instead of being anti-war, be pro-peace. Instead of thinking about how bad the economy is, think about it as going through a rough patch. Focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. Our ancestors went through more than we ever did. Other countries are in worse shape than we are.

Face it. We don't want to suffer yet those before us have and so have the citizens of other countries. It's a fact of life. Get over yourself! Put out into the universe the positive things about life and that’s what you’ll get. It’s the Law of Attraction in motion. Make it work for you.

Change Your Mind and Change Your World

The title is a lyric from a song by Sugarland.  It’s very short but extremely powerful.  It means by YOU deciding to change your perspective or mindset on a viewpoint, person, emotion etc will literally change your world.

Simply put, you take any situation you find yourself in; stuck in traffic, loss of job and find the positive learning experience in it.  It can be difficult to find something positive about losing a job but here are some positive points.

§  I really wasn’t happy there anyway.

§  This gives me an opportunity to take advantage of some programs out there to update my skills.

§  I’ll find something better because I’m a talented person.

§  Maybe now would be a good time to pursue that career change.

There is always something positive to find in any given situation, you just may need to look harder to find it. Even when you’re in an argument it could be that you’re learning to stand up for yourself.  When you’re stuck in traffic it could be that now you have time to listen to that tape or CD you’ve been carrying around.  Someone you know passes away and you realize what you learned from that person, appreciate it and decide to be more like them.

Every moment of your life you have the power to decide whether to be happy or sad. The influence of those around you need not negatively impact your experience. You are the creator of your world and therefore it’s up to you to decide how YOU will view it.

Change your mind and change your world.

 

Searching for Meaning in Your Life?

 

Viktor Frankl would know about this. He earned a M.D. and Ph. D at the University of Vienna in which he specialized in psychiatry and neurology but was taken prisoner during WWII and spent almost two years in concentration camps to which he experienced first-hand the total emotional and physical destruction of the human spirit. Through this experience he noticed how some able bodied men would die while fatigued men would surpass their existence. Why? Perhaps they had a reason, a will, to endure what it took to survive.

“He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How” ~ Viktor Frankel

 

Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, or a quest of power, but a quest for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life.

Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning; in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another), and in courage during difficult times.  Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it. Man’s inner strength may raise him above his outward fate.

In Frankl’s case, he lived off the memoires of his beloved wife. Remembering everything he loved about her, the conversations they had what they did together, anything that took his mind and feelings to a positive place to escape his daily torture.

He came to the conclusion, in retrospect, that forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.  You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can ALWAYS control what you will feel and do about what happens to you. We are never left with nothing as long as we retain the freedom to choose how we will respond.

He awakened to the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers, the truth, that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. The greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.

He understood after having nothing left in his world, except his body, that he may still know bliss, if only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.  In a position of utter dissolution, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his suffering in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplations of the image he carries of his beloved achieve fulfillment. For the first time in his life he understood the meaning of the words, “The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an ultimate glory.”

You can read all about his ordeal and revelations in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

There Can Only be One - And You're it!

You are unique, a one of a kind, one and only. Perhaps that is why you sometimes feel like you don’t fit in. Think about it. Every encounter, conversation and experience has made you who you are today. From the place you grew up, to the level of income, even the color of your hair, eyes and skin have molded you into who you are today. You are so unique that it shows up on a cellular level, fingerprints. However there is more to being unique than just the physical.

Even though identical twins have the same fingerprints, their parents will tell you that they are different. Why? It is because of the different experiences they encounter throughout their lives. Imagine being told from the time you can first remember that you were born two minutes later than your twin. What kind of effect would that have on you? Sure, it may be a fun tease but after a while, the underlying tone is that the other twin is somehow better than you. Of course, that’s not the truth. If identical twins end up unique then so do you.

Look at your own life thus far. What unique blend of natural talents and experiences do you have? You have something that makes you different, something that makes you stand out from others. You are blessed with unique gifts. Sure you may come across someone that you think is more gifted, but that would be like comparing apples to oranges because:

 

a. No one else has the same combination of gifts that you have.

b. No one else will express his or her gifts, as you will.

c. No one else will look, hear, or feel the same way that you do, therefore, it’s impossible for someone else to create or solve something in the same way that you will.

You have these unique experiences that have made you who you are today. Use them to your advantage. There are countless business people, performers and athletes, who have come from humble beginnings to beat the odds and go on to achieve great things. Everything they went through made them who they are today and if you ask them, they wouldn’t change a thing. It is precisely the experiences they had that gave them the drive and ambition to be who they are. The question to ask yourself then is would you change anything?

The great thing about you is that you are one of a kind. That means there can be no comparison, there is no one to compete with but you. You are in a league all your own.

If you think back to the times when you have experienced emotions such as envy, jealousy and low self-esteem it was likely when you were comparing yourself to others’ talents and success. The more you thought about it the more you began to feel bad about yourself.

"If you're able to be yourself, then you have no competition. All you have to do is get closer and closer to that essence."

~ Barbara Cook

Instead, you should be rejoicing in their success because they have found a way to express what they do well. Better yet, you can to the same thing. It won’t show up in the same way as someone else because you will put your own spin on it, your own signature. For example, there are songs that have been redone by different artists, they each sing it a little differently by changing the breaks, phrasing and key it is in. Country artists will take rock songs and do them with a country flavor, while pop artists vamp up a country song like, “I Will Always Love You.” There is quite a bit of difference between Dolly Parton singing it and Whitney Houston. Each put their heart into it and the result was unique for each of them. The closer you get to who-you-are, your essence, the less competition you will have. The challenge is in discovering what makes you unique, your stand out quality.

You need to look deep inside yourself.

Give yourself the space to discover your own unique gifts

Acknowledge them,

Embrace them,

And finally ….Own them