2012-End of the world

We hear that 2012 will bring about the end of the world.  If your world is war-torn, then I’d say embrace that end.  If your world is one of poverty, then yes, embrace that end.  If your world is living in a fear of stray bullets from gang conflict, then be happy with that end.  If your world is one of dying children from treatable diseases, then bring it on.  If your world is one of debt from over-consumption and stress from working in jobs you hate, then let it come.

What does the end of the world really mean?  You can walk around believing that the end will bring about hardship and strife, but we already have that.  You can believe the end will bring about floods and earthquakes destroying our world.  We have that too. 

I prefer to think about the end of the world as we know it.  I would like to see a major shift that ends the poverty, disease and violence.  I welcome with open arms an end to the world I currently see and invite the change that will come.  We are a resourceful species and we can make the changes needed to improve not only our own lives, but also the lives of millions around the world. 

Start by making the changes in your life.  Give back and support others and be grateful for everything you have.  Those of you reading this blog have access to a computer and likely have clean water and health care that is above and beyond what millions in our world have.  We are blessed and must remember these blessings and be grateful.  When we live in this state of gratitude and giving, the returns are immense.  One act of kindness can change the world.  One word of praise can give a person hope.  One hug can spread love.  We already know what hate and violence gives us.  Imagine the change that love and peace could bring.  We can go on fighting or we can come together. 

I think that maybe 2012 will bring about an evolutionary or revolutionary change that will bring us a new world of peace and harmony.  And to quote Napoleon Hill “Whatever the mind can conceive, and believe, it can achieve.”  What world will you conceive and believe is possible? 

Locked doors

I came home today and put my key in the lock and turned.  I heard the lock open, but when I pushed down on the door handle –nothing.  I tried a few more times and then went into the garage and tried the lock there.  Now this lock has been really stiff for quite some time and hard to lock from the inside, so from the outside with only a small key and little leverage, I couldn’t get it to open.  Lastly, I tried the patio door.  There’s no key lock on the outside, but there was a chance that someone had left it unlocked.  No such luck.  I kept trying for about 30 minutes.  Now, I’d been sick for the last couple days and although I went to work today, all I could think about was curling up in bed when I got home.  Well-that plan was put on hold.  

In the past I might have been upset and gotten, well… down right cranky.  But I’ve learned that our reactions to these outside events will change the situation.  I could have been upset or cranky, but that would have made the kids cranky and then we’d all be miserable.  Instead, we piled into the car and went to the local restaurant for dinner.  I figured the kids would be happier, I could relax with a cup of tea and someone else would make dinner tonight.  My husband was able to get home and with bigger, stronger fingers, was able to open the garage door lock.  And if he hadn’t been able to get it, we’d just have to call the locksmith.  The kids and I had a really nice dinner and chatted about school and their day.  My youngest made me laugh, suggesting that if we couldn’t get into the house, maybe we could buy a new one.  We had fun and all’s well that ends well.  

A locked door kept me from my planned evening curled up in bed, but instead of reacting in a negative way, I made the best of the situation and ended up with a nice evening and an at least slightly amusing story. 

How do you react when presented with an obstacle?  Do you let it ruin your day or do you try to make the best of it?  We have to be prepared for obstacles and challenges.  They are going to come at inconvenient times, but that’s just life.  You can resist and be angry or go with the flow.  So next time you face a locked door, look for alternatives or change your plans and have a little fun.

Cast your pebble forward

Make a difference

Why settle for a good life when you can have great!  We give up on dreams because things aren’t so bad and life is ok.  Many of us settle for the day to day survival and fall into the routine of getting up and going to work, paying the bills, buying the groceries, cleaning the house and taking the kids to school, but when you're merely surviving, you aren't really living and you aren't making a difference in the lives of those who need it.  If each one of us pushed ourselves a little further and gave a little more, then this world would be a better place.  

We say we want to help and do more, but we are too busy with our lives and our families.  We’ll volunteer when the kids are older or we’ll donate more next year when the car is paid off.  Stop waiting and do a little more now.  Your giving doesn’t have to be monetary; it can be your time and you can do it with your kids and give them a valuable lesson in giving.  Stop watching television for one hour a day or stop wandering the malls buying more things you don’t need and increase how you give by just a little bit.  Even if you touch only one person and make one person’s life a little better, it will have a ripple effect.  Like a pebble cast in a pond, the ripples roll out and touch the surroundings.  Cast your pebble forward and touch those around you. 

Great things can be accomplished when people come together and help one another.  Why does it take a disaster for so many of us to wake up and step up? People will often ask “if there is a God, how can He allow terrible things to happen?”  If there is a God, maybe He or She is trying to wake us all up.  Maybe He is trying to tell us that in order to achieve more as the human species, we have to come together and help one another, not only in times of disaster.  Maybe He’s showing us what we can accomplish and hoping we will use that in all parts of our lives.  Even with no religious beliefs, you can see what we can accomplish in the face of disaster and should know that we, the human race, can do so much more than we are.  It is not until we push ourselves to the limits that we know how much we can do.  Limits exist only in our mind.

There are no obstacles that can’t be overcome.  Take a lesson from Randy Pausch.  Even in your dying days, you can choose to be sad and miserable or you can have a profound effect on people.  Randy Pausch gave a speech that will resonate with people for a very long time and he did this after being given a fatal diagnosis.  He talks about dreams, enabling the dreams of others and he talks about lessons learned.  He has a perspective most of us won’t see for years to come and has given us a sneak peak at the things we might want to change now, before it’s too late.  If you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to his “Last Lecture” given at Carnegie Mellon.  This is an inspiring piece.  It is over an hour, but I encourage you to set aside the time and watch the whole lecture.  It has touched the lives of many.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

So you can go back to your routine and exist or you can go forward, live your dreams and make a difference.  How will you spend your time and when your time comes, will you have made a difference in the world?  

Dreams do come true

Today as it snows yet again as Old man winter waves goodbye, I dream of warmer weather, but I guess my dream will have to wait another week or two.   

Today I watched a video someone linked to and then I did something unusual.  I watched about a dozen more and came across an inspiring story.  I came across a video for Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent.  Yes, it’s from a couple years ago and apparently I’m out of the loop, but if you haven’t seen it, please watch. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OcQ9A-5noM&feature=related

Here is a 47 year old woman who has a dream and has never given up.  As you’ll see in this video (go watch it, if only the first couple minutes to where she starts to sing, but I think you’ll watch to the end) it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you look like, if you hold onto your dream you will succeed.  Susan may have taken the long road to get to where she now is, but she’s there.  In a moment, her life changed.  She’s been singing since she was 12 years old and had a voice coach, but hadn’t reached her dream of becoming a professional singer.  Still she persisted, and at age 47, this plain looking woman, shocked and stunned the world with her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream”.  What a perfect song choice for this monumental moment in her life.  I love watching these moments when someone who has had so much faith in themselves, finally gets recognition.  She had faith, courage, persistence and a dream.

Do you have a dream?  Do you take action to make that dream come true?  Do you persist when people reject you?  There are so many examples of so called overnight sensations, who in fact have been pursuing their dreams for years and didn’t give up.  I think of JK Rowling, a single mother that received multiple rejections before finally finding a publisher for her Harry Potter books.  There’s Stephen King, trying to work, support his family and write while they struggled to buy the things they needed.  When Carrie, his first published book, was accepted, his first thought was they would be able to afford the antibiotics for his daughter’s ear infection.  These are simple people not so different from any of us, who had a dream and stuck with it until it became a reality.  

I encourage each and every one of you to have a dream, a well defined and clear dream that you can pursue with all your heart.  Your dream doesn’t have to involve fame and fortune, but whatever it is, if you believe in yourself you can achieve the dream with courage, persistence, faith and belief in yourself.  Never give up!

TGIF-Will you sleep in this weekend?

With everyone in my part of the world still getting use to the time change for daylight savings, we see that it can take at least a couple days to acclimatize to this shift.  People are groggy and a little out of sorts for a few days after the time shift every year and people complain and hate getting used to it.  But do you look forward to Saturday and Sunday mornings so you can sleep in? Do you realize that you are essentially doing the same thing to your body every weekend?  It’s harder to get up Monday mornings because we are re-acclimatizing to the earlier waking hours every single week.  

This weekend try getting up at least close to your normal weekday time even if you just enjoy the quiet of the morning.  I’ve found this is a great time to enjoy a cup of tea, watch the sunrise, exercise and maybe read a book.  If it's hard to find time for the action items that get you closer to your goals, this can be prime time, or you can use the time to get some of those weekend chores done before everyone else gets up, leaving the rest of your weekend free for more enjoyable activities with your friends and family.  And if you really want to stay up later on the weekend, try getting up at your usual time and instead take a short mid afternoon nap.

Enjoy your peaceful weekend mornings and enjoy an easier Monday morning!

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Excellence

If you want to be successful, you should aim to do things better than others.  You don’t have to be the best in the world, but you should strive for excellence to achieve ultimate success.  And how does one achieve excellence? 

 

First, be passionate about your goals.  If you are going to persevere, and do everything required to reach a level of excellence, you should be passionate about the goal, otherwise what’s the point.  You may make money, but you won’t be happy and ultimate success has little to do with money.

Second, practise your art.  If you are a writer, write more words every day.  If you are an athlete, practise your sport more hours than others.  If you are a programmer, program more code.  It doesn’t matter what it is that you do, keep at it, everyday and you will get better and better until one day you reach a level of excellence.  Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hour rule in his book Outliers and how those who are the most successful have spent at least 10,000 hours honing their craft.  If you are working full time towards this goal, you can reach a level of excellence in 4 to 6 years.  Even part time, you can reach 10,000 hours in a decade, which really isn’t that long if the result is excellence.

Third, always continue learning.  I don’t care who you are or what you are doing; you can always learn something new.  If you learn one new thing everyday or even every week, you’ll soon be ahead of most people who stay at the status quo and do the minimum.  Even top scientists on the cutting edge of new discoveries are learning everyday.  They may not be learning from books, but rather from their experiments.  You can learn from books and from your experiences.  Read one book a week and you’ll be well ahead of many with between a quarter and a third of people in North America not even picking up a book in the previous twelve months according to an article in the Vancouver Sun.  Pick up a book and read regularly.  Read for fun, read for information, and read to learn, but keep reading.

Fourth, embrace your failures.  “Wait a minute”, you ask.  “I thought we were talking about excellence”.  Well, in order to get to excellence you have to make mistakes.  Those who look at their mistakes or failures and give up because they just can’t do it or aren’t good enough or smart enough will never reach excellence.  When you make a mistake, learn from it and move on.  This is about the perseverance that had the Wright brothers take flight and had Edison develop the light bulb.  Keep at it, everyday and look at your mistakes and failures as necessary steps towards success.  It’s rare anyone will get it right the first time.

Fifth, surround yourself with others who are successful and have achieved a level of excellence.  The people you surround yourself with will have an effect on your motivation, persistence and success.  You will learn from them and network with them.  You will see possibilities you’d never have otherwise imagined.  It isn’t entirely impossible to reach excellence in isolation (I say this only because I don’t believe anything is impossible), but it is much, much easier to do if you are surrounded by forces that will help you down the path to excellence.

Strive for excellence everyday and never settle for mediocrity.  You have more to give and should experience all life has to offer, enjoy the road to excellence and be everything you dream of being. 

Experience.  Enjoy.  Be.  

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