Great Moments

“Great moments are born from great opportunities” (Miracles. Dir. Gavin O’Connor. Perf. Kurt Russell. Film. Disney. 2004)

We can fill our lives with great moments if we are open to seeing the opportunities.  If you walk around thinking the world is against you, then you will miss the opportunities and guess what?  It WILL seem like the world is against you.  Life is a series of moments and once they are gone you can never get them back.  We have only so many moments in our lives and some are blessed with long lives, while others have only a short few moments in this world.  You cannot know how many moments you will have, so it is important to make each one count, to make each one important and to seize the opportunities presented.  

How will you seize each moment of each day?  If you sit back and let life pass you by, you will miss the moments or grasp only the few that hit you square in the face.  It takes effort and action to take the moments that are passing you by and make them great.  It takes effort and action to grab onto the opportunities and create great moments.  It takes effort and action to keep grasping the moments when life pushes you down and to keep pushing forward until you get the things you want and the life you desire, the life you deserve. 

Find whatever you need that will help you.  Find a friend who will support you.  Your true friends will be there when the going gets tough.  Find a video or book that inspires you.  You can learn and be inspired by others who are in different parts of the world or from times long ago and learn from their wisdom, without ever having met them.  Find an accountability partner or a coach.  Sports coaches are there to give you the words and actions you need, when you need them, to win the game.  A life coach is there to give you the words and actions you need, when you need them, to win at life.  

Be grateful.  Be present.  Be in the moment.

Dreaming big

Sometimes we have our dreams and we write them down, set timelines and break them down into action steps, but we forget the big picture.  Sometimes we just need to step back and “Dream Big”.  

My dream has been to help people experience more, enjoy more and be more than they are right now.  I want people to dream big and not to get bogged down in the day to day grind.  I help people set big goals and then help them discover the paths that lead them to success.  

Of course we all fall into that rut and even in pursuing that dream we can get bogged down in the day to day actionam s that we forget the big dream.  I myself have been feeling that way and realized that this was holding me back from growing my dreeven bigger than it was before.  Thanks to some great coaching from Patrick Mathieu, I am back on track.  I was looking for coaching about marketing and the business side of my coaching business, which I received, but he also got me to take a step back and look at the big picture and the big dream again.  The best part!!-the dream has grown and gotten bigger!!!  The dream will allow me to help more people experience more in life, enjoy each moment and be everything they want to be.

I think the take away message today is that you need to step back occasionally and get excited again about the big dream.  Take a step back and see how the dream has grown.  Take a step back and allow yourself the freedom to see just how big the dream might be. 

Now for the action:

Sure-great advice, but how are you going to do it.  Take out your day planner; open your calendar or whatever you use to track important events and mark one day every 3 months where you take the time to step back and really Dream Big.  Do something that makes you feel good to get you in the right frame of mind.  Get a message, meditate or take a walk in the forest, and give yourself permission to dream as big as you can.  Start now.  Take a day in the next week to Dream Big and then repeat at least every 3 months.

If you or anyone you know needs help dreaming big, let me help.  http://www.staceykirkpatrick.com/

Have a great week and enjoy your dreams!

Surrounding yourself

It is very important to surround yourself with people who are loving and supportive.  Most of us have enough negative self talk that we don’t really need to hear more from those around us.  What each one of us can use is support and the best way to get that support is to surround yourself with people who are positive, optimistic and successful.  After all, you want to have a more positive outlook on life, you want optimism to propel you forward and you want to be successful in all your endeavours.  

The people you associate with will affect you.  You can learn from people who have done what you want to do.  These people may not be your old friends or family.  In fact, your old friends or family may be holding you back.  Look at your current relationships and determine if these people are a positive influence.  If they are a negative influence you need to minimize your exposure to them.  This can be very difficult especially if the person is a family member.  You may have to talk to the person and set boundaries about what is acceptable and the things you don’t want to talk about with them because it often leads to negativity. This may be a very hard conversation, but often people find themselves feeling better and lighter like a weight has been lifted from their shoulders after such a conversation.  Start out small if that helps and discuss books or articles you’ve read about the positive effect of optimism on health and happiness.  Then you can tell the person that sometimes your conversations with this person are not optimistic and uplifting and you are really working hard to remove any negativity from your life to improve your health.  This may or may not work and you may feel like you’re talking to a brick wall because often people don’t realize just how negative they are being.  They may become defensive and blame you or other circumstances, but just calmly re-iterate your need for a positive environment.  Hold your ground for your own health, prosperity and success, however you define that.

Removing as much negativity as possible from your life is one of the best things you can do for yourself.   

Feeling a little lost? Figure out your map-whatever that may be.

My blog has been on a little hiatus, but hopefully you'll be seeing more in the coming weeks.  Perhaps I need a map to get back into my routine or maybe I just needed a holiday, which I am in the midst of taking.  

Recently I posted a status saying “Feeling a little lost” as I was, well…feeling a little lost about something.   A friend replied “Breathe. And figure out your map...whatever that happens to be.”  

This really made me think, maybe because I have a background in mapping.  Figure out your map.   I liked the metaphor and saw that the steps to constructing a good map held true no matter the situation.

A good map will have elements that render it useful and there are things to be decided before starting the process.  What is the purpose if your map?  What does the person using it need? How will you generalize or simplify because of course you can’t put in everything on one map?  What is the area of coverage?  Why are you including certain information?  Lastly, the idea of “Less is more” should be a guiding principle.  

You need to think about where you are and where you want to be.  On a map you plot your locations and in life this involves assessing your current situation and clearly defining the goal and end result you want to achieve.  Knowing a path will help you figure out the resources you’ll need to get there.  Don’t worry if you don’t have them, just knowing what you need allows you to be open and aware so you can find the resource or see an alternative resource is presented.  

You need to simplify or generalize so that your path is clear and focussed.  Pick one goal and look at the map that will get you there.  This doesn’t mean you can’t have more than one map, but focus on one map and work out the map to the level of detail that is appropriate at this stage.  

Your area of coverage is to be considered too.  Perhaps your map is to take you from an unhealthy lifestyle to healthy lifestyle and will contain elements such as physical activity, eating well, sleep habits, meditation… or maybe you already have the big picture but want to focus on the physical activity and are planning your trip from inactivity to activity and will focus on this.  Remember that when navigating a course there are often several maps to get you there.  You will have overview maps that you use for planning the general direction and time it will take, but you’ll also have more detailed maps that show street names, landmarks and one way streets to help you navigate the moment to moment turns in your path.  

Know why you are including certain information as you don’t want to be overwhelmed by the details at the planning stage and you don’t want to see the whole world when you are trying to navigate through a construction zone within the city.  Show enough information for the focus and purpose of your map.

Less is more.  If you bring in every element of your life into your roadmap from A to B, it will become crowded and difficult to see where you are going.  This is why we have a map, to remove the distractions so we can see the clear way through.  Of course you have to be aware of the obstacles that may derail you, but make sure that whatever you are including in the map is important and vital to reaching your goals.  The distractions already exist in your life.  Don’t add them to your map. 

I hope each of you goes out and builds your map, whatever that may be to help you see your way forward.