Giving Thanks: A to Zen of Life

A to Zen of Life
LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME

AND MAKE IT A MASTERPIECE
-The Dalai Lama

Avoid negative sources, people, places and habits
Believe in yourself
Consider things from every angle
Don’t give up and don’t give in
Everything you’re looking for lies behind the mask you wear
Family and Friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches
Give more than you planned to
Hang on to your Dreams
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it
Keep trying no matter how hard it seems
Love yourself
Make it happen
Never lie, steal, cheat
Open your arms up to change, but don’t let go of your values
Practice makes perfect
Quality not quantity in anything you do
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer
Stop procrastinating
Take control of your own Destiny
Understand yourself in order to better understand others
Visualize it
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson
Xcellence in all your efforts
You are unique, nothing can replace you
Zero in on your target, and go for it

THE SOURCE

THERE IS A FOUNTAIN OF WEALTH

IT IS YOUR MIND

YOUR TALENTS

THE CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE ENERGY

YOU BRING TO YOUR LIFE

AND THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE YOU MEET

WHEN YOU LEARN TO TAP INTO THIS SOURCE

AND TAKE ACTION

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

-Royce Addington

PEOPLE SMARTS: MOTIVATION

Part IV: Motivating Yourself to Change

Elisa Levy's bi-weekly column from "The Key West Citizen"

THANK YOU TO ELISA FOR GRANTING PERMISSION

TO REPRINT THIS BRILLIANT ARTICLE

The comfort zone is kind of like purgatory; things could be a lot worse, but they're far from great. There are times of course, when our lives are so tumultuous that predictability is a blessing. But when we get to a point that our jobs and lives are routine, it's time to change.

Most of us have something we wish we were motivated to do:

EXERCISE

EAT HEALTHIER

TRY A NEW HOBBY

START OUR OWN BUSINESS

RELAX MORE

FEEL HAPPIER WITH OUR LIVES

Every so often we get fed up and commit (usually around January 1st), then the goal falls to the wayside and we settle back into our old habits. So, what's holding us back?

People often say time. But many of our goals have little to do with time. We could be engaging in a hobby or exercising instead of watching TV. Or we could be relaxing with our families instead of working late. Time may be part of it, but let's face it; change means risk and risk can mean failure. We all know change is scary, so while purgatory may be comfortable, what keeps us there is fear.

Someone once asked Thomas Edison how he felt about failing almost 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb. Edison replied, "I didn't fail. I just learned 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb." There is always something to learn from every fall, and in the long-run, fear is more costly to you than failure.

Take a minute to think about one thing in your life you would like to change. Make sure you choose something you control, and start with something small. In other words, don't choose to change your teenager, or your spouse. You may want to change the relationship, and that's fine. But you can't change the person.The three principles that follow will help guide you through the process of changing the one thing you have chosen. After using them once, try it with some other things in your life you'd like to change.

1. Set goals that are S.M.A.R.T – The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable and Time sensitive. Instead of getting better at your job, decide how you are going to do it, by when, and make sure that it's feasible. You could say, for example,"I'm going to improve my product knowledge in the next month by reading about the product, calling the manufacturer when necessary and talking to people who have been in the job longer than I have."

2. Use the Law of One Percent – This tool is from the well known business author Ken Blanchard. The idea is basically baby steps. Our goals may seem so big and far-reaching that you give up after a short time. Instead of deciding that you are going to lose 30 pounds and get into great shape all at once, focus on getting one percent closer to your goal every week. Bite size chunks make change manageable.

3. Believe. Believe. Believe – The antidote to fear is faith. If you look at anyone who has achieved greatness in any sense of the word, you'll find that they all had one thing in common: the belief that they could be great. Remind yourself that what you want is achievable at the beginning and end of every day. Talk to people who support you, and keep your distance from people who cause you to doubt yourself.

Finally,

Don't forget to reward yourself for your small achievements along the way.

Start with something today.

Write it down.

Set your goals and do it.

Don't worry too much about the mistakes or slip-ups.

Every time you fall,

You are once step closer to getting what you want.

If nothing else, you just bought a ticket out of purgatory.

Postscript: Elisa Levy offers seminars in conflict resolution, communications skills, customer service, anger management and effective leadership. All of her seminars are designed to meet the specific needs of individuals and organizations, and include a pre-seminar needs assessment, and custom designed workbook and optional follow up coaching. For more information call (305) 296-5437 or visit her website.

Turn On The Taps

Artist: Co Rentmeester

PEOPLE OFTEN SAY:

MOTIVATION DOESN'T LAST.

WELL,

NEITHER DOES BATHING,

THAT'S WHY WE RECOMMEND IT DAILY.

-ZIG ZIGLAR

ONE STEP AT A TIME

Footsteps in Sand

Australia

Artist: Jacob Halaska

In the journey of life, there is no magic carpet.
We must walk on our own two feet,
ONE STEP AT A TIME.
It may seem impossible to cover great distances
Using this slow and deliberate method.

You may begin to believe that you will never
Achieve anything great at such a pace –
Yet, you must remain patient.
The accumulation of your small steps
Has a compounding effect.

Daily, tedious effort produces little victories
That urge you on to even greater efforts.
These increased efforts also bring greater results,
And the compounding effect can
Raise you to incredible heights if you simply keep going.

In our personal lives
Or in managing a business,
ONE STEP AT A TIME
Is the only sure way to make a dream come true.

-Kazuo Inamori

Laughter of the Gods

WHOEVER UNDERTAKES TO SET HIMSELF UP AS

A JUDGE OF TRUTH AND KNOWLEDGE

IS SHIPWRECKED

BY THE LAUGHTER OF THE GODS

-Albert Einstein

The Tide Always Comes Back

Jean Carnahan
Author of:

THE TIDE ALWAYS COMES BACK
And Other Irrefutable Truths and Assurances

AN INSPIRATIONAL COLLECTION FROM AN ACCIDENTAL POLITICIAN.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-carnahan/the-tide-always-comes-bac_b_344005.html

Jean Carnahan was the First Lady of Missouri when her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, who was running for the U.S. Senate, and their son, were killed in a plane crash. When Mel Carnahan was elected posthumously (beating John Ashcroft), Jean agreed to take his seat in Washington. She served in the U.S. Senate then, during 9/11, the anthrax attacks, and the vote to go to war in Iraq -- all at a time of intense and almost unimaginable personal loss. Somehow she managed to keep her head up and her heart open. Her upbeat attitude is truly a lesson to us all.

Carnahan, in the public sphere most recently as she campaigned for President Barack Obama, is a skillful writer. A cross between Molly Ivins and Maria Shriver, she brings her tales about aging, change, strengthening the family, history, politics and language to the page with a plain-spoken wise humor that is pure pleasure and genuinely uplifting. The Tide Always Comes Back is the kind of practical inspirational gift book that word-of-mouth could turn into a wonderful, ever-green book.

Jean Carnahan worked in Washington, D.C. for two years, where she was a leading advocate for working families. Her first bill, the "Quality Classrooms Act," was voted into the "Leave No Child Behind" law by the Senate. Both her son and daughter hold government positions. Carnahan, who heads up the website firedupmissouri.com, lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Postscript: We are proud to call one of Jean Carnahan's friends, our friend. MUSEologies thanks Lucy Sutcliffe for bringing this inspirational book to our attention!

Horse Power and The Sea

Spectacular Photo by: Bob Langrish

Check-out his website.

Youth and the Sea

Glamour and the Sea

The good strong Sea,

The salt, bitter Sea

That could whisper to you

And roar at you

And knock your breath out of you

-Joseph Conrad

A horse is the projection of

Peoples’ dreams about themselves
Strong
Powerful
Beautiful
And it has the capability of giving us
Escape from our mundane existence
- Pam Brown

From:

Jill Badonsky’s

THE AWE-MANAC
A Daily Dose of Wonder that INSPIRES!