A few moments of inspiration -”We’re all in this together”

I’m a big fan of the glass half full.  When I see a video like this one, it must be shared! Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Excerpt from: Living a Five Star Life – by Betty Mahalik

In this day and age, we are surrounded by messages that virtually scream, “Your life would be perfect if…” My life would be perfect if I had a different job, a different house, car, nose, spouse, bank account (fill in the blank). Or my life would be perfect if I could be like some celebrity whose life appears so well-ordered and perfect-o. This week I encourage you to stop playing “my life would be perfect if,” and start playing “my perfect life.” What’s the difference? Three things: being in the present, an attitude of gratitude, taking action with what’s available now.

When we’re caught up in the “my life would be perfect if” trap, we’ve lost touch with the present. And the moment we detach from the present, we can no longer practice gratitude. Think about it: it’s difficult to be grateful for what you don’t have…and what you don’t have is always somewhere out in future-ville.

Look around you right now. Think of 10 things you’re grateful for. Do you have a roof over your head and food to eat? I’m guessing the answer is yes. Do you have at least a few good friends or close relationships? Then appreciate them too, right now. Keep going, and practice being in the present and being grateful for what is here and now at least a couple times a day.

You’re also probably sitting there thinking “yes but.” Yes, but I want more money, a better relationship, more time to travel, to be thinner, happier or whatever. It’s one of the great mysteries I’ll never figure out. The minute you stop focusing on what you lack, start focusing on what you’ve already got, and add the “magic” ingredient of action, you actually begin to attract more of what you want. It’s an amazing formula for really living your perfect life!

Let’s say you want to lose weight or get in better shape, but you don’t have an hour a day to spend exercising at the gym. Therefore, you’ve pretty well resigned yourself to not losing weight or getting in shape. What if you had five minutes though…just about everyone can find five minutes to exercise, stretch, walk around the block or walk the dog. Would you be willing to be grateful for five minutes and make the best possible use of it? Therein lies the beginning of your perfect life!
A simple formula may help you remember how to apply this principle:
• The present
• + an attitude of gratitude
• + positive action
• = my perfect life.

Try it for a day.
Each time you start dreaming about how perfect your life would be if…come back to this moment, give thanks for what is, and do one thing to perfect what you have and who you are right now. There’s a saying that “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.” If you’re ready to start perfecting your life, your teachers are all around you.

What are you waiting for?

Listen to what Former President Clinton says about Direct Sales:

Join The Evolution!

Walk The Talk Movie

Walk The Talk Movie

I love the message in this movie!  It’s short and simple and inspirational.  Enjoy the message and feel free to leave your comments!

Put Yourself First!

I have a girlfriend whose voicemail message always reminds one to stop and take a deep breath.  I sometimes hope she doesn’t answer just so that I’m reminded to stop for just a moment and think about myself, and breathe…

While travelling, it’s common to hear announcements made by the flight attendants before take off.  The flight attendant reminds us to put on our own oxygen mask before we help anyone else with theirs. This advice is often cited as an example of taking care of ourselves, because it so wisely explains why it is important. It basically says that if you can’t take care of yourself for yourself, do it for others. Rarely in our daily lives do we think that anything “will happen to me” so it’s easy to keep putting off taking care of yourself.  Until we get sick, overwhelmed, or exhausted, and suddenly don’t have the energy to care for the people who count on us. That’s when we realize we haven’t been “getting the oxygen” we need to sustain ourselves. We begin to understand that taking care of ourselves pretty practical.

Putting yourself first means that it may be necessary to say no to someone else. Most of us think there is always something we could be doing for someone else, and it helps to remember the oxygen metaphor. Encourage yourself by saying “I am caring for myself so that I am better able to care for others”.  Make it a daily, affirmation so that it becomes a habit. It also helps to remember that self-care doesn’t have to be huge time-consuming acts. In fact, the best prescription for taking care of yourself is probably small, daily rituals; for example, taking one half-hour for yourself at the beginning and end of the day to meditate, journal, or just be. Think about what gives you pleasure and reward yourself.  Be it listening to music, taking a long bubble bath, or just simply sitting quietly catching up on a good book, take the time out.  Whatever you decide, making some small gesture where you put yourself first every day will bring you more energy, focus and rewards for you and the ones you love. The oxygen you need is all around you; sometimes you just need to be reminded to breathe.

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Defining Your Direction –

Many people are committed to professions and personal endeavors they never consciously planned to pursue. They attribute the shape of their lives to circumstance, taking on roles they feel are tolerable. Each of us, however, has been blessed with a purpose.

Your life’s work is the collection of activities that allows you to express your intelligence and creativity, live in accordance with your values, and experience the profound joy of simply being yourself. Unlike traditional work, which may demand more of you than you are willing to give, life’s work demands nothing but your intent and passion for that work.

No one is born with an understanding of the scope of their purpose. If you have drifted through life, you may feel directionless.  Striving to discover your life’s work can help you realize your true potential and live a more authentic, driven life.  To make this discovery,  consider your interests in the present and the passions that moved you in the past.  You may have felt attracted to a certain profession throughout your young life only to have steered away from your aspirations upon reaching adulthood.  Or you may be harboring an interest in something you’ve yet to explore.  Consider what calls to you and then narrow it down.   You may be able to refine your life’s work within the context of your current occupations.

If you want to change the world, consider whether your skills and talents lend themselves to philanthropic work.  Taking stock of your strengths, passions, beliefs, and values can help you refine your search for purpose if you don’t know where to begin.  Additionally, in your daily meditation, ask the universe to clarify your life’s work by providing signs and be sure to pay attention.  Since life’s journey is one of evolution, you may need to redefine your direction on multiple occasions throughout your lifetime.  For instance, being an amazing parent can be your life’s work strongly for 18 years, then perhaps you have different work to do.  Your life’s work may not be something you are recognized or financially compensated for,  such as parenting,  a beloved hobby,  or a variety of other activities you originally thought inconsequential.  Your love for a pursuit, however, gives it meaning.

You’ll know you have discovered your life’s work when you wake eager to face each day and you feel good about not only what you do but also who you are.

Believe in Yourself!

Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it will achieve!

Dream great dreams and make them come true. Do it now! You are unique. In all the history of the world there was never anyone else exactly like you, and in all the infinity to come there will never be another you.  Never affirm self-limitations.  What you believe yourself to be, you are.

To accomplish great things, you must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.  If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost – put foundations under them.  Yes you can.  Believing is magic, you can always better your best. You don’t know what you can do until you try. Nothing will come of nothing.  If you don’t go out on a limb, you’re never going to get the fruit.  There is no failure except in no longer trying.

Hazy goals produce hazy results. Clearly define your goals.  Write them down, make a plan for achieving them, set a deadline, visualize the results and go after them.  Just don’t look back unless you want to go that way.

Defeat may test you; it need not stop you.  If at first you don’t succeed, try another way.  For every obstacle there is a solution.  Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  The greatest mistake is giving up. Wishing will not bring success, but planning, persistence and burning desire will.  There is a gold mine within you from which you can extract all the necessary ingredients.  Success is an attitude.  Get yours right. It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things to happen.

Attitude Follows Perspective

Shifting The Mood

We all have days when we are faced with chores, errands, or responsibilities that we don’t want to do. At times like these, it’s easy to get into a bad mood and stay in one as we tackle these tasks. However, given the fact that our bad mood will not change the fact that we have to do these things, and will most likely make things worse, we could also try to shift our attitude. Many wise people have pointed out that it is not so much what we do as it is how we do it that makes the difference in our lives.

It’s important when we’re facing something that’s really hard for us, whether it’s doing taxes, paying bills, or visiting a challenging relative, that we lovingly support ourselves through the process. The more supported we feel, the easier it is to open our minds to the idea that we could change our way of looking at the situation. In truth, most of the chores we don’t like doing are intimately intertwined with our blessings. When we remember this, we feel gratitude, which makes it hard to stay in a dark mood.

We can shift our attitude by considering how much we love our home as we clean it and how lucky we are to have a roof over our head. Any task can be transformed from a burden to a necessary aspect of caring for something we love. All we have to do is shift our perspective, and our attitude follows shortly behind.

What’s Changed?

You lost your job. Your 401K was reduced by the market before you got the pink slip. Unemployment compensation sucks. Credit card companies are calling for their money and you spent half the day talking to the bank and pleading for a month’s forgiveness on the loan for that new BMW.

You are competing on the job market with younger cheaper candidates. Recruiters are no longer bugging you with exciting sounding jobs and they don’t take your calls. Do you own a gun? When you wake up tomorrow make a decision; put a bullet in your head or a smile on your face and stop mourning.

Open your mind!  Perhaps the traditional job is not the right road for you any longer.  The skills, knowledge and abilities that earned you a good living a couple of months ago are all still there and now you’re open to gain new ones. The loving wife and kids you had before the pink slip are still there and you are spending more time with them. Wouldn’t it be great if you opened up to the idea of working from home, spending more time with your family, and making more money?  If not married, the luck you had with the opposite sex is still with you unless they only liked you for your job and in that case, think how lucky you are to have found that out now. You still have your friends and now the opportunity to make more and have more freedom. You are just as valuable, as talented and as bright as you were before. It is the market that is screwed up; not you.

If this sounds like a typical, old fashioned positive mental attitude pitch, that’s because it is. The importance of a positive attitude to your health, wealth and happiness is more important as it ever was. At this time your attitude may be the most important factor to your future. You are competing against far more candidates than ever before and there more candidates available with qualifications and skills equal to yours. Regardless of if you are searching for a job or a business opportunity, we know this so we are looking above and beyond the qualifications we searched for just a year ago. What we are looking for cannot be learned on the job or in school. We are looking for attitude. A strong positive attitude is the single most important characteristic you need to demonstrate when meeting people or interviewing.

As long as he can do the job a person who shows this attitude will be considered before people who might be slightly more qualified every time. Think about that. If you are more qualified than me but my attitude is far superior, I show more passion, commitment and belief in myself, I will get to move forward and you get the rejection email.

So what do you do?

Greet everybody with a bright smile and a firm, solid handshake. When you talk about what you do and how you do it show your belief in the value you bring. Talk about yourself and your accomplishments with enthusiasm and passion. You love what you’ve done and you’re open for something new and exciting! If you want the opportunity make it obvious. Don’t show need.  Demonstrate desire. When somebody asks you “how are things?” say “GREAT”. From time to time you are going to get rejected. So what? Go find something else. Sell yourself like you believe it.  Nobody else will do it for you.

Now put the smile on and go out committed to kicking the butt of the competition.