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Miracle or Normal?

We commonly look at certain things in life and label them as a miracle, why? If something has not yet happened or does not commonly happen, why must it be categorized as something beyond human?

Does this not limit our perception of what is possible for people, for us? Could this be a form of self-sabotage?

When you come to realize that everything in our reality is actually a perception, our own perception, you will see how important it is to pay attention to what you are allowing into your awareness and how. What we think is normal is what we are accustomed to seeing most, nothing more. Just because you are not seeing certain things every day does not make them miracles.

I guess we should clarify the term miracle before going on. The common definitions from Dictionary.com are:

1. an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.                                                                                        onions

3. a wonder; marvel.

We know that events occur all the time that get called a miracle, but the reason is because they are just not common on our current view of the world. Everyday, there are scientists discovering new things, athletes breaking perceived performance barriers, people getting well from major illnesses, inventors coming up with new ideas, and so on.

These things are actually a normal part of life, maybe not the most commonplace but normally occurring on a regular basis. Just look at all of what is called progress with mankind, has it not been a steady succession of previously considered unknown or undo-able things? But wait, they have been happening on a consistent manner for as long as we have recorded history, and I’m sure before.

So who does these so called miraculous things? How can they do them and why do they do them? They are people, yes basically normal people with one slight difference, they are not deterred by what has not or what usually does not happen in the world. They seem to have a drive within them that at least says, “What if?”, and they think and act as if it could be possible.

I think most of us get ideas about things that we may have not seen or done before, but don’t we usually dispel them for just that reason . . they are not normal! Or, I have never done that so I don’t have the ability. Or, that’s never been done before! But yet, there are thousands of people doing new and uncommon things all the time – and they are human!

Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you look at things, the way you look at things changes.”

At first this may sound silly, of course that’s the case, but what does this actually mean? You can literally change your perception which changes how you see things, thus affects how you think abut them and what actions you will or won’t take. The way you look a things, your perception is the pivot point in your life.  It can either support you or sabotage you.

The people who do the seemingly miraculous have a slightly different perception of what is possible than most people. It’s not so much in their abilities as it is in their feeling that it is possible. One of the well used analogies for this is the example of Roger Bannister, who was the first runner to break the 4 minute time for running a mile on a track. And soon after he did this, several other runners did the same thing.

tigerWhy? Up to that point, the common belief was that it was not humanly possible – period! This was the belief that all runners help, their perception. Once one man did it, their perceptions changes, they now saw and believed in the possibility that they too could do the same. In sports where the differences between athletes results are very slight, the fastest or best are not considered to have been chosen and provided special help from God. Other athletes know there is just some small difference in training or technique that allows for one to outperform the others.

But in other areas of life we tend to see many of the uncommon things as somehow performed by the hand of God. This is one place where I think a lot of people get stuck in perceiving their ability to do or experience something more uncommon, it’s in their belief about what they are capable of. It’s a commonly held belief that we are separate from what we define as God, and that God is who is doing all the miraculous things.

It’s generally thought that we humans have certain abilities, which we have defined by what we commonly see and anything beyond that must be from God. The thing is, if a few people or even just one person can do something, it is evidence of a human capability. We are here to help the universe express what’s possible. This is why we have free will and the ability to think as we do. In this physical realm, we are the ones that notice what could be done through our experiences.

No other thing on this planet can change at will what the intelligent universe does for them. An onion seed will always be an onion, a tiger will always be a tiger. Yes, a human will always be a human, but he can be a human standing atop a 50 story building built with materials and methods an onion or tiger cannot fathom. We humans are the conduit here on earth for the ever expanding self expression of God.

We have far more capabilities than we know, we are just beginning to imagine our potential. Anything that we conceive of doing is supported byskyscraper universal intelligence, God. What we ask for is provided, just as the tiger gets what it needs and the onion seed can grow into the plant it desires to be. It is our limitation placed on our abilities that keeps us from what is called miraculous. What is new and different to us today is just the next step in the self expression of the universe, and we can allow it to flow through us if we choose.

And it’s not just about our abilities, but our right, our role in this reality we live in. We are of God, just as a leaf is of the tree – both providing something to the whole and receiving from the whole. Of course you and I do not make it all happen, but we are a critical part in the process. We are the conduits through which the divine flows.

The crux of the matter regarding is it a miracle or normal is, our beliefs can and do affect our perceptions, which are the only filters through which we take in everything. And, once we take it in, we interpret it . . .again influenced by our beliefs.

When we see more as being possible for us in our lives and in others, we will expand our thinking as well as the actions we will take. Knowing that you are an integral part of the intelligent universe, an individual expression of God, you realize that the thoughts you get are for a reason. They are for you to act on, not dispel as undo-able. They are for you to learn to allow to unfold. Just as every leaf on a tree has a purpose, you too have this connection with source.

So why not choose to look at what is considered miraculous, as normal. Normal for you to follow the divine nudge you are given. To not have fear and doubt about it because you know where it comes from and how it is supported – it’s possible and doable! Your ideas are supported the same way as the dna of an onion seed is supported.

What if you followed your inspired thoughts? Would that not be a grand purpose!

 

Here are some affirmative statements and questions for you to consider:

Why do I so easily follow my inspiration?

How can I easily follow my inspiration?

How can I allow life to unfold through me?

Why am I so excited about following my passion?

Why am I able to know anything as possible?

 

Life Can Be Exciting

There is nothing more exciting than being in a life that is going and blowing! I think that term, ‘going and blowing’ is an old railroad analogy, it describes a locomotive that is racing down the tracks full speed with a steady stream of smoke blowing out of the stack. We can use this to relate to living a life of constant self-discovery, personal growth and development.

Now I’m not implying that you should be pushing yourself all the time. There is a big difference between moving forward consistently and confidently, and in being in a hurry, rushing around. Rushing is when you are late for work or are trying to cram too many things into a short time frame, this is not freedom! This kind of behavior comes from a lack mentality, usually including the feeling of not enough time, among others.

When you are in a mode of consistent self-discovery and growth you get very excited with what is going on. You see new possibilities for yourself on a regular basis, which lead to more and more. You feel more and more freedom, the feeling of really being alive and unrestricted.

Even discovering what in your thinking has been responsible for an undesirable condition or behavior is exciting as this opens up your understanding and what you can do about it. You will see first hand how life works, what your role is and how you can best participate. You find out more of what you are capable of, which opens even more possibilities.

Your confidence rises substantially as you take command of your thinking, as well as responsibility for it. Your vision expands greatly as your faith in both your abilities and the possibilities available to you grows. Your ability to just accept your current situation along with taking responsibility for it becomes easier and easier. You see how change is more about choices and faith than about current conditions or past experiences.

You become more open to the new and different, and less attached to your existing beliefs and perceptions. You become comfortable with change as that is really life, always evolving. You stop trying to create a perfect, set, predictable life situation for yourself, as that is just fighting the natural flow of life.

You learn to know the difference between guided and inspired thought and the ego based protection thoughts. You take purposeful action based on the correct thoughts knowing that this is what you ought to do in order to have the experience meet with the idea, your role in the law of attraction.

Human history has shown that all this does not happen very often accidentally, although it does. But if you make it your intention to live your life in constant growth, you will. It is really an every day activity that you will have to develop into. Your days are already full, right. You will want to gradually make room for YOU time to do something related to your self-discovery and growth, and you will see that it will expand into everything that you do.

One thing that can help is to get a picture and even the feeling of what you want, because you will actually want to think, feel and act like the person doing and having what you want, in this case a lifestyle of consistent growth and development. Back to the train analogy, we can elaborate on this picture of the train going down the tracks and how it can relate to our life. It can be useful to have mental pictures that you can relate to as a way to further engage your thinking and enhance your feelings.

  • It’s steadily moving forward.
  • The scenery is always changing.
  • It’s moving confidently, it knows where it’s going.
  • It’s being guided on it’s way.
  • Moving is what it was created for.
  • It’s getting something done.
  • It’s involved with people, things and places.
  • It has purpose, taking purposeful action.

And maybe there are more aspects we can relate to, what do you think of when visualizing a fast moving train?

You will find that in choosing constant growth rather than trying to create a ‘perfect’ life, life is much more comfortable and satisfying. You will be less likely to be rushing around and more likely to be calm mentally and physically, getting more done – of what you want and enjoy.

Are You In Command of Your Life’s Priorities?

Are you focusing your time and attention to the right things? Are you placing importance on the right thoughts, feelings and behaviors?

 

 Did you know that for most people, much of what they do in life was not consciously chosen by them? And many times we have done these things for so long they now do seem important to us, but deep down they really are not. At least not as important as what truly is deeply important. This is because doing so requires us to take command of our thinking and analyze the state of our life. But letting our minds just run things is easier, efficient and more comfortable. Most people have not taken the time to discover what is truly important to them, life just kind of goes along with many seemingly important activities going on all the time. Your brain will ‘take care’ of you in it’s own way and understanding this is very helpful if you want any kind of change in your life.

 

 When you put your attention to something you will see and experience more of it, you will think about it more and even expound on it. Have you ever become interested in a certain model of car from reading and pictures, and then in the next few days you all of a sudden see lots of them on the road as you are driving around, and you hadn’t really noticed many before? Now that you have placed some of your attention, and maybe with some heightened emotional feeling, into the car you want your mind will help you experience more of the same. Your mind is just doing it’s job, to help keep you as comfortable as possible, and make your life easier with patterns, habits and easily repeated behaviors.

 

 When you understand the way your brain works you can better work with it to get and experience what you want. In this case, it is valuable to be aware of what your mind will tend to do automatically so that you understand that you must be purposefully proactive with your thought and attention. Your mind gets programmed through repetition to see and pay attention to what you have already paid attention to. So if you don’t consciously otherwise direct your thinking, your mind will normally keep replaying the same things you have already done and have experience with. This is makes life easier, you don’t have to ‘think’ about a lot of things.

 

 This is why we can feel as though our life has just been going on by itself, because it is. Until you step in, taking command of your thought, and direct your thinking – it will remain as it was. Well actually not exactly the same, your mind will continue to help you expand and develop on the theme – good or bad! In addition, whatever your mind focuses on becomes more important to you. This importance does not differentiate between good or bad.

 

When you place your attention on anything, this is a command to your brain telling it what you want. So, your brain works to fulfill this. Now this can be anything, even what you don’t want, or a bad experience, or a fear – anything you have focused conscious attention on your brain will help you experience more of it. This is one reason why habits are so hard to break, you keep falling into routines and have the same reactions and feelings over and over.

 

 What can be done about this? Your brain is performing as intended but you are stuck repeating many experiences you would rather not have anymore or you want something new and different. You need to consciously take command of your thinking and override the automatic aspects of your brain. This is where your true power resides, in your conscious command of your thoughts. Just because your brain throws out thought and defense of it does not mean you must follow this – your conscious thought is ultimately in control. It may not seem this way because you have become accustomed to allowing the brain to keep things going automatically, but you can step in and take command anytime you choose.

 

 You may not even know your deepest desires even though they have likely popped up once in a while. You will need to take some time and give attention to discovering what is deeply most important to you, it may not be what you have thought is important. There are different ways to go about this, with most consisting of quieting your chattering mind talk and learning to be receptive to inner information coming up to the conscious level. Doing things like asking yourself questions about yourself and becoming receptive to answers may not be something you are accustomed to doing, so it may take time, patience and persistence realizing that you are really in charge of your thinking. Even adding this kind of activity into your day means that you will need to make time by replacing something already present.

 

 There are a few factors to be aware of that can hamper your progress:

  •  Realize that new and different are not usually the easiest, most comfortable routes. Understand that your brain will certainly let you know this.

 

  • You will need to exert more authority than the automatic thoughts your brain wants to continue with. Exert your true power here, take conscious command of your thought.

 

  • Your brain will attempt to defend the repeating thoughts, throwing out ‘mind chatter’ to dissuade you from your new thinking and actions.

 

  • There is more short term comfort in what you already know, even if it is very bad for you. Keep your vision on the long term intention and satisfaction, as a way to get by the desire for feeling good now.

 

  • You must remain persistent, more persistent than the brains need to protect what you are trying to displace. Utilize whatever tools and techniques you can to help yourself stay on track. Persistence reveals the winner!

 

 When you begin to see what is truly most important, you will then want to start to change what you focus some of your time and attention to. In order for the new desired experience to come to fruition you will need to continuously give it attention and time in your day. It is like a seed that needs to be nurtured. As you do this your brain will help expound on this and gradually have it become part of the automatic norm for your life just as it has with what you experience now.

 

 Remaining in focus with what you have now or with what you don’t want will only tell your brain to perpetuate it. The first and necessary step for anything to change is your taking command of your thought and choosing what you do want based on what is important to you, then focus on it even if your brain throws up resistance. It’s up to you to choose your priorities and tell your brain what you want to focus on, not the other way around. Your brain will follow your lead once you’ve established your athority over your thinking. Take charge of your life, utilize your true power, choose your thought and your priorities. 

 

Are You Blinded By Your Life?

Your life is going on and on and on. This is a good thing of course and your brain is designed to keep it this way. Part of your brains function is to simplify as much as possible and to help you feel good which it is very good at. Now you may think that you are always feeling as good as you want this is because your brain sees keeping things the same as more comforting than change. So even what may not be good for you is perpetuated. Your brain is very good at keeping everything the same, in fact it helps to enhance whatever has already been experienced. The way the brain sees this is, you must want it – you chose it, even if not consciously.

The easiest course for your life is for more of the same and that is likely what you have been experiencing. This of course may be all good if you are totally satisfied with everything. But if you want anything about your life to be different, that’s not what your brain is in charge of. When your day is completely full of what you already think, feel and do where does the new come in? When your unconscious and conscious though are consumed with what is now going on, which I assure you they are, all of your attention is there as well. Your day to day life is essentially a habit that continues to feed and support itself, keeping you locked in as it is.

What happens is that you can become blind to other things, that are different. How this affects your life is this – You can become so involved with your repeating thoughts which increase in importance by default that you are not even aware of what you are not doing, what you are missing, and what is deeply important to you. I ran across a video that illustrates this. Pay attention to the guy speaking and do what he instructs you to do. Perception

This attention blindness keeps us doing what we have done and away from what is different and unrelated. You’ve heard the saying, “you can’t see the forest through the trees.” You may not see things that are right in front of you because your attention is already taken up with something. When focusing on the trees that are right in front of you, you are not able to see the scope of the entire forest and it’s varied landscapes.

Many of the things that you have grown to think are important because of your continual involvement, may not be so important to you at a deeper level. As you focus your attention on something it’s importance increases just from the increased presence of the involved thoughts and actions. With this higher level of importance your brain gives it more attention too making it even more prominent in your conscious and unconscious thought, thus many other things are completely shut out of your awareness.

It is important to know that you can really only focus on one thing at a time. When you are ‘multi-tasking’ you are actually jumping quickly back and forth from one thing to another. There is only so much of this that your brain is capable of doing. Plus, there is the time utilized factor. There are 24 hours in a day and when you have allowed the repetitive thoughts to inhabit those hours you are awake, there is no more time for other, new thoughts. You can easily use up your day pretty much thinking about the same things as you did yesterday and the day before. So where does new thinking fit it?

Essentially your life is easily consumed with what you have already experienced, have thought about a lot and have established feelings for. This is almost too simple. Allowing your daily life to continue on in the same way, as your brain helps you do, you are actually preventing yourself from seeing and experiencing anything new and different.

You do however have the ability and the right to make changes in your life anytime you want, you must choose to first and then follow through with persistence and determination to override what is already established in your mind. Your real power as a human lies with your ultimate command of your thought. Just because your brain functions the way it does does not prevent you from aver changing any of it. Where the problem lies is that most of us have a pattern of allowing our minds to perpetuate the same thoughts and experiences over and over rather than making frequent changes. Making frequent changes and adjustments to your thinking can become part of your normal operating system once do do it for a while. Your brain will support this just as it has supported anything else you have focused on.

To change any of your repeating life experience you will need to assert your command of your thought and make choices about what you do and don’t want to be your life experience. Just be aware of how your brain works, it wants to keep you comfortable by keeping things as they are.

 As you work on change you may experience some of the following:

  •  Un-supportive ‘Mind Chatter’,
  • Negative thoughts,

  • Doubt and worry,

  • Challenging your ability and self-esteem,

  • Brain fog, clouding your thought,

  • Anxiety,

  • Distraction,

  • Short term gratification,

  • and more.

 

Don’t let this stop you, you don’t need to remain blinded by your existing life experience. Realizing what may occur up front you will be less likely to be influenced by it. Determination, persistence and the belief that you are fully capable will help you learn to make the wanted adjustments to your thought and what you focus on. It’s your mind, use it to your benefit.

Are You Done In Life?

Are you a done with yourself or are you continuing to discover more
about yourself, seek personal growth and development?

You see it all around how science keeps going, discovering more and more
about the world and universe we exist in. As technology improves, which
is change, science is able to understand more about our universe plus
obtain more ways to describe it all. For example, this picture of anasa cassiopeia
supernova remnant was not possible just a few years ago even though the
object was there.

This is how life is, ever expanding in its awareness of itself. Plus,
the increasing awareness of humans to what is already there. Much of the
change seems to not exist or that the change is very slow, but it is
there. Everything in the universe grows and changes we are certainly not
excluded. We have the ability to continue to change and grow throughout
our entire life, including our final change here, death.

But at the same time there are so many people who are ‘checking out’ so
early. Getting tired, feeling aches and pain, feeling beat down –
telling themselves they are wearing out -that it’s too late. I’m not
trying to tell you that pains should be ignored, but how you look at
them can have a huge affect on the power they play in your life.

The biggest factor to your growth is your thinking. What you think about
your life and your growth determines what you see, feel and do. If you
see possibilities – you will see them, and if you see the ‘end’ in your
mind, you will see it in your life. If you think you are too tired, sick
or whatever – you are.

Time to check yourself:

· How are you the same today as you were 10 years ago?
· How are you different?
· What are you doing that you thought were not possible for you a few
years ago?
· Do you look at things in the same way you did several years ago?
· Do you see possibilities for your life or feel hopeless?
· Do you feel that your life continues to move on or do you feel stuck?
· Are you open to new ideas and concepts or do you want to keep things
the way they are?
· Do you feel your problems hold you back, sap your energy and nix your
motivation?
· Are your dreams alive or have you given up on what you want in your
life?

Can you change any of this? Well yes you can – much of it. Many times we
let one thing affect all of our life. We allow our attitude and outlook
to be clouded when one thing has happened when we don’t need to.
Certainly there are situations where something may temporarily set you
back but it does not need to be for all time. Only you can determine if
you are temporarily off or if it has been too long. You will need to ask
yourself honest straight questions about it. The easy answer is of
course, “I will just suffer a little longer” but maybe not the best!

The truth is that a broken foot does not come with a bad attitude,
that’s our choice. A marital separation does not come with resentment
that carries through all of your life, that’s our choice. Because
something did not work out for us does not mean nothing ever will,
that’s our choice to think so. The thing to be careful for is that when
something that appears negative happens don’t allow it to affect all of
your life any more than is necessary.

Ask yourself some key questions that help enhance your self awareness so
you discover how you think and feel about everything. There is always
more out there for you if you allow it and if you are open to recognize
it. When you are clouded by negative reactions it may not seem so, but
you can always change and grow. Your outlook on life is a choice –
yours. You are never done, unless you choose.

John Halderman – More on daily life actions to support a better life,
https://www.effectivepersonaldevelopmentblog.com

 

 

You Are Always A Success Whether You Like It Or Not

Are you trying to be successful at something, or with
several areas in your life? This is a characteristic normal
for us human creatures, to feel good about our abilities
and accomplishments. We seem to be continuously striving
for something more to feel good about. We so often think
that we are not doing or being what we want.

When actually, it’s not a matter of finding out ‘how’ to
have success in your life, but rather how and where to
direct your success. The problem is not, not being a
success. The thing is you actually already are very
successful every day, but maybe not at what you would like.

You are successfully living your life, your body is
functioning and you are thinking about something every day,
all day.  Now if you weren’t having any thoughts at all, I
would be concerned.  And since you are thinking about
something, you are receiving the fulfillment of those
thought requests without fail. 

The universe doesn’t fail itself, and since you are a part
of it you will not be failed either.  Just as a plant seed
always gets what it requests, so do you. So then why don’t
you get everything you think you want? You want it so you
must be requesting it right.

Well, again you actually are getting everything that you
are requesting.  I know it seems like I’m taking you in a
circle here but think about this for a moment, how do you
know what a tulip has requested from the universe? Well,
the tulip would not be a tulip if it had requested
something else. The way to tell what has been requested is
by the evidence that is present. 

bulb_tulip.jpg

Then, the other aspect you have is your mental capacity to
reason, think and choose.  Sure some other creatures have a
little of this aspect but nothing like we do.  A cat can
decide to seek out a warm sunny spot to lay in, but it
can’t learn a new trade or change the way it perceives
things like you can. This second mental ability is one
where you decide what is in the seed – your seed. You have
the ability to design what the seed will request from the
universe, let’s call it your ‘creative seed’. 

Now this part is important to understand, just like the
tulip seed and your physical body, your ‘creative seed’ is
always activated with the universe.  This means the
universe is constantly reading your request within your
‘creative seed’, thus it is always responding in kind. Here
is the scary part, your thoughts, all of them, are the
‘creative seed’ which is a continuous active request link
to the intelligent universe.  So everything you are
thinking is your ‘creative seed’ whether you are or are not
consciously aware of it. 

This is why it is so critically important to make it your
main objective all day every day to discover what you are
thinking and adjust it to be congruent with that which best
serves what you want in your life. When you may say that
you want something, but all the while your inner thoughts
are pointed elsewhere and your behavior is reinforcing
something else, your ‘want’ doesn’t hold much weight in the
request seen by the universe. Your predominant thoughts and
actions are so strong; the universe can’t hear what you
really want.

You are right now completely successful at what you have
invested your thoughts and energies to, even if you are not
totally aware of them. Your experience in life has a direct
correlation to what you think about and feel strongly about
most of the time. There is an exact relationship to the
percentage of time you allot to any thoughts and your life
experience.

So if you want to be successful at something other than
what you are successful at today, you will need to devote a
higher percentage of your thoughts, feelings and energies
in ways that are more in alignment with these desires. Just
occasional lip service will not do.

All of your thoughts combined are what is included inside
of your ‘seed’ that the universe works to fulfil for you.
So ask yourself, “How much of the volume or space in the
seed is taken up with what I deeply want and how much of it
is what I don’t want, don’t like, put up with or just
complain about?” You are constantly creating this seed, and
from this you are completely successful based on what’s in
it.

To change this, you will need to take command of your
everyday thinking, choose to have more of your thoughts,
feelings and actions be congruent with your deep desires.
Using your valuable thought time to complain, ridicule,
doubt, worry, feel angry, resent someone, and many other
negative type thoughts, just steal time you can be filling
your ‘seed’ with what you really want. Plus, you will just
get more in your life to complain, resent, worry about and
all the rest – is that what you really want?

Some people have actually kept track, in time, of their
thoughts all day long in order to discover what percentage
of time they devote to certain ideas. With this you can
discover what undesirable thinking you want to replace with
the aligned thinking you want.

Take command of your thinking now by aligning more of your
thoughts with your deepest desires, you will see your
feelings and actions follow suit, then your life experience
will too. Choose what you are successful at by redirecting
the same tools and power you now use to get what you now
have.  
John Halderman

 

Don’t Wait For A Hole In the Plane

I’m sure you have heard about the Qantas Airways Flight 30 jet that had to make an emergency landing at the Manila International Airport shortly after leaving Hong Kong while in route to Melbourne, Australia. It was discovered that there was a large hole in the fuselage and a this point no explanation has been given as to how it happened, although it’s not likely caused by a terrorism act. All the passengers are fine and were very calm during the unknown course of actions needed to get the plane down safely in Manila.

This is just the event that can trigger your personal growth and development. Have you ever been in a situation where your life is quite possibly in imminent jeopardy? If you have, you will know first hand how you quickly go through an awakening, which commonly includes ’seeing your life flash before your eyes’. You all of a sudden see yourself and your life from a different perspective. It is much like the perspective many people come to when they are at the place of imminent death from old age or illness. They are able to see in a new light many of their long held feelings, thoughts, and perspectives from a more ‘outside looking in’ point of view.

When you are living ‘in’ your life you have a harder time taking an outside view of what you are doing. What you think is important or necessary may not actually be so. Your perspectives and your interpretations of the people, situations and events in your life may not be the most desirable to have to support the life you really want. When your life has evolved as it has, you accept much of it as ‘how it is’ and don’t really look at it as something that can be different.

 

When an event wakes you up so to speak, you are sort of knocked off kilter a bit and suddenly you are able to see things differently. At this point many people do a lot of reassessment of what is important to them and of their priorities, making changes that are more aligned with their true feelings. As undesirable as the trigger event may be, it can be a wake up call for you to take a look at how you are using your life.

 

Like at old age when people look back and say, “I should have done this or that, or not have acted that way” and regret what they did for so many years. Why wait the facing of death to reassess your life? You can do it any time you choose. Just because your life has evolved mostly in an automatic way, you don’t have to let it stay that way. You can shift gears and change direction any time you want. The first point is to realize that you can, and you can. You don’t have to be shocked into it, although that can make it quick!

 

There are many helpful methods and tools available for you to use helping yourself see your life in a new view and then with making any alterations you may choose to make. The second requirement is you must want to change, as your mind will most easily keep doing what it has been doing up to this point so you will need personal motivation to override this. You are intended to continuously change and evolve throughout your life, but many get stuck and don’t realize why they feel unfulfilled and frustrated.

 

You have your thinking, reasoning and the ability to choose which are your basic tools to navigate your personal evolution through life. Your connections with your inner self and your intuition serve as guidance as you go but can only respond to what you seek. A life unquestioned is a life unchanged except by outside influences. Allowing outside influences to be your only guide, you will be much like the ball in an old style pinball machine bouncing from peg to peg with little to no choice.

 

Choice is part of your basic equipment, learn how to use it and do so. Don’t wait for some outside event or near death to wake you up, assess your life and how your feel now. What is working and what is no? Everything in the universe is in constant change, what makes you think you can remain the same and feel good about it? You can’t – dissatisfaction, unrest and unhappiness are the result. Rather, learn to navigate the change to best suit the life you are guided from within to live and you will see your happiness and satisfaction increase dramatically.

 

As you navigate your natural change, as guided from within, you will actually feel more calm and secure than when you were seeking comfort by trying to keep everything the same. Let this latest in air emergency be the catalyst for you to asses your life, don’t wait for something to happen to you. If we can learn from what happens to others, we may not need to experience it ourselves. Your first choice is to take a look at yourself – or not.

 

John Halderman

John Halderman writes and trains in personal growth and development focusing on what can be done daily to enhance your happiness and satisfaction with life through the understanding of how life works, managing your thoughts and purposeful actions. Find out what you can do daily to improve your life. And see the Effective Personal Development Blog for insight, methods and tools for life growth.

Do You Start More Than You Finish?

Another article in the ‘Daily Action For Self Improvement’ series, articles focusing on the personal development and growth actions you can take daily to support a high level of happiness and satisfaction in your life.

How many things have you began and put aside before completing?

If you can answer, “many”, you are a ’starter’.

Do you have a tendency to get excited about doing something, begin it, then soon get sidetracked by interest in somewhat new. This can be any type of project, a new career or job, a hobby, a business idea, even a relationship – whatever, just anything that gets put aside when your interest clings to something new.

If you can relate to this, you are also perhaps quite frustrated with the lack of money, satisfaction and happiness in your life. What’s the problem? You try so hard; you are always involved with or working on something yet you don’t see the results you initially desire.

What is going on with this repetitive cycle you are stuck in?

* You do not have a clear course in your life to act as a beacon keeping you on track.
* You don’t have a clearly defined set of specific goals, targets or a vision to serve as benchmarks in your progress.
* You are not managing your time properly nor sticking to appropriate tasks.
* Allowing your focus to bounce around shows you are not fully committed to a big picture.
* You are not benefiting emotionally from the reward and satisfaction of accomplishment.
* Your personal confidence is likely not how it ought to be.
* Your frustration level is damaging to your personal power, energy and motivation.
* You are likely to be questioning or even doubting your ideas and decisions.
Now look at what a success cylce can be like.

The fact that you are bouncing your attention from idea to idea indicates that you are not aware enough of your purpose. Your purpose is what you are here to do to serve the universe and your work supports this when directed properly. Discovering or getting a better sense of your purpose in life gives you a specific direction to focus much of your attention. From this you will be better able to decide where to place the focus of your thought and the energy of your actions.

Seeing and feeling your purpose will reveal a deep intent and a strong motivation. You should feel strongly like you are on a mission. This helps you to remain focused and on task. You will have the inner strength and conviction to take command of your thinking, directing your thoughts and actions towards supporting your mission.

The questioning and doubting mentioned above comes up when your inner self is hampered by your conscious attempts to seek happiness and satisfy your ego mind. Without consciously knowing your direction you will not be giving your all to what you should be focused on. You can actually cause your inner guidance to be clouded to your perception, not receiving it’s full benefit.

When you determine a direction based on your purpose you can more appropriately set up the steps and focused actions that will support this. You don’t need to know every step in the beginning, just enough to get yourself going and more is revealled as you go. Through your inner guidance, intuition and conscious thought details are exposed as you are immersed in the process. If you sit back and attempt to figure it all out ahead of time before starting you will remain stuck. You must begin, in trust, taking steps forward in order to discover the next steps.. You will see the way forward as you procede in the right direction.

Accomplishing some goals or targets along the way definately gives your confidence and motivation a boost. This is crucial in keeping your energy and interest at a high level. Continued accomplishment and motiovation supports willingness to do what is necessary.

Daily planning and refocusing on the specific tasks to be accomplished each day is important to keep yourself from getting mired in daily life. You must have an intention and the burning desire behind it every day in order to trigger the self-discipline to stick to it, as it is so easy to get distracted amid everyday things that do not directly support your purpose. You can be busy all day and not get done anything that you had set out to if you are not diligent. Time management is critical to your overall satisfaction and progress, there is not time to do everything you can think of in a day. Learn to be selective with the thoughts you hold and the activities you are involved in so that you are not merely getting moved by life but rather focusing on your desires.

This should be reinforced with daily reminders of your purpose, intent and goals. Set up a daily plan for your activities every day, be determined to stay on course, and check yourself often, it’s very easy to veer away. If supporting your purpose includes several things, know that you can’t do everything at once. One thing accomplished provides far more motivation than 3 things half-done. Determine the method and order that projects will be done and commit to when they are to be completed. Focus your focus and atttention to the first or most vital step then go through the list – you are now on a mission. You will soon develop the positive habit of the success cycle.

Your personal development is your responsibility, take control of your scattered thought and find the key to focused attention. Happiness and satisfaction are the result of purposeful accomplishment.

John Halderman is a trainer and writer dedicated to assisting people with ideas, methods and tools to help them do, be and feel better enhancing their overall happiness and satisfaction. Get the guide detailing many activities you can use to daily support your personal development and growth.

Websites: http://www.designalifesystem.com
https://www.effectivepersonaldevelopmentblog.com

The Justification Trap

Have you ever allowed yourself to do something that you really should not have?

The human mind is a wonderful thing, however, it can work against you if you allow it to.

Is can be beneficial to understand how this can happen so you can prevent it, keeping yourself out of undesirable situations.

Last week, in my family we experienced a situation that is a good example of how the mind can lead us astray – if we let it.

My youngest daughter came to a point of thinking something was OK to do, when it was not.

It appears that her path of thought was supported more by her desire to do something rather than all the facts.

She justified, in her mind, that certain things occurred in ways that supported her desire.

The mind can do this easily.

This allowed her to make decisions that further supported what she wanted.

It’s a normal function of the mind that it tries to find solutions that support our desires – this is how we grow, develop and fully experience our life.

You may have noticed how your mind may attempt to circumvent your values in an attempt to take the shortest route to producing your desire.

You support this line of thinking when you take a small step allowing your mind to guide you to think something is acceptable now when previously it was not.

It’s usually a small step, but then another small step, and another and so on.

And you will find yourself doing something you shouldn’t.

This is where you may say something to yourself like;

“It will be OK this time”, or

“They didn’t tell me not to”, or

“But I really want this”, or

“Who will know”, or

“Just this once”, or

You may recall some of your own.

Here is where you need to be in command, to temper the minds tendency to give you what you want- no matter what.

This is an opportunity for you to solidify your standards and principles.

Every time you stop your mind from taking the shortest route to give you what you want, you strengthen the position of your values.

Even when you think you have developed habits that are based on your principles, still be on the watch for what you are doing.

Keep monitoring your thoughts and actions, your unconscious mind can slip into finding the easiest way to accomplish your desires without telling you – that’s how it’s built.

Don’t take for granted that you are all set with your thinking.

Change is constant with new and different circumstances coming before you that need your interpretation.

Continue to filter everything through your principles.

Justification is just a convenient way to circumvent your principles in order to get what you want.

Justification turns off the filtering mechanism you use to interpret what you do.

Vigilant thought management is the key.

John

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your

words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.” — Anonymous

“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way.” — Heraculitus

“The character ethic, which I believe to be the foundation of success, teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.” — Stephen Covey

“Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything.” — Walt Whitman

Stop your busy activities for a moment

Take a look at what you have been doing and thinking for the last few hours or day.

Are you supporting what you want in your life or are you caught up in hectic reactive behavior?

Of course there are many things which you must do,

But in order to enjoy more of what you want,

You must gradually insert it into your life – yourself.

Ask yourself,

How could I have done things a little differently?

What can I do now, and tomorrow that will bring in a little more of what I want into my day?

Come up with a simple plan of how you will do it.

Schedule it in, go over in your mind what and how,

Use reminder notes, set your watch or phone alarm as a reminder,

Whatever you can use to jog yourself out of the routine just enough to insert a little something different.

Change is usually done little by little more often than through a big event,

Yet we tend to hope for the big event.

While you are waiting you can do it a little at a time and before you know it – you are there!

Checking up on yourself everyday is a good way to discover what to change and how do go about it.

Come up with a balance of doing what is necessary along with a continuous process of growth.

The growth part can very easily slip away, getting consumed by all that you think you need to do in a day.

The power of the human mind is in the ability to exert command over your thinking and what you do.

Choose to step in and be the director of your behavior.

Enjoy the discovery,

John