self-knowledge is power

“…INSIST THAT SELF-KNOWLEDGE IS THE NECESSARY PRECURSOR TO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP OF ALL FLAVORS. SELF-KNOWLEDGE IS NOT SELF-INDULGENCE. SELF-KNOWLEDGE, ACCUMULATION THEREOF, IS THE MOST POTENT MEDICINE YOU WILL EVER TAKE.” Tom Peters

Self-knowledge may be the most important discovery you can make. Not only is self-knowledge a necessary component of leadership, it is a necessary component of followership and a necessary component of self-leadership.

What are you doing today that enhances your knowledge of your self?

Plateau

“Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be.”
~ John Gardiner

Is where you ought to be well defined in your life?

fear less living

 “Let a person rejoice when he is confronted with obstacles, for it means that he has reached the end of some particular line of indifference or folly, and is now called upon to summon up all his energy and intelligence in order to extricate himself, and to find a better way; that the powers within him are crying out for greater freedom, for enlarged exercise and scope.” -James Allen

Fear of the unknown stops many people right where they are.   The next step isn’t taken because of fear.  The footprints stop and then reverse direction when fear overtakes the senses.  

How do you live a fear less life?  How can you face your fears and melt them down (not necessarily away).

Marianne Williamson wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

What if you replaced the negative thoughts with positive affirmations?   “I am powerful” – say that – say it a few times.  “I am powerful.”

Start today, replace fear with your power.

 

 

I am

start living today

“It takes courage to look at yourself and accept your imperfections. It takes courage to love yourself anyway. It takes courage to go beyond merely trying to survive your life and start trying to actually enjoy it.”  Seth Godin  “The Tribes Casebook”  http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/files/CurrentTribesCasebook.pdf

 

It takes courage to change.  It takes courage to want to be better than you are today.  It takes courage to live.

 

When do you want to start living?

 

 

 

Purpose of life

Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The purpose of life is undoubtedly to know oneself.   We cannot do it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives.”

Is that the purpose of your life?   What will it take if it is to know oneself?

goal again

Why does self-help fail so often?   Many people have tried the self-help route.  Perhaps they picked up a couple of books guaranteed to change their lives in four easy steps.   They try the steps and for a while, a short while things seem to improve and as things improve the energy to keep doing what is working fades and before long you are right back to where you started.  Self-help lacks permanence.  You will see it in the diets people go on – they hit their goal and then revert back to their old selves. 

The brain rules and until the brain is reprogrammed it will continue to resist change.   Temptation will grow stronger and stronger until in a flash of “only once” thinking all the discipline will dance down the street.

There a ways others can reprogram your brain.  One way is someone will tell you, you’re not capable of doing something.  That generally collapses dreams into a pile of rubble.  No amount of encouraging will reverse that one voice that said, “You are never going to be good doing that.”, and of course there doesn’t need to be any truth in the statement.    For some reason our ego believes the negative message and resists the positive message.

Now, imagine what it would be like to be fully able to live the life you are capable of. 

Try not to imagine a pink elephant.  Now try to get that image out of your mind.  What is happening?  A “not” thought sticks.  

Do we become the words or stories we tell ourselves?

find yourself

“People often say that this or that person has not found himself.  But the self is not something one finds.  It is something that one creates.”

Thomas Szasz

Believe that you have it, and you do

Do you believe that you have it?

put anxiety behind you

Anxiety, fear and the pressure of daily life takes its toll on many and reduces their ability to sleep, work, and think well.   When the speed of daily living moves at such a pace that it feels like the world would sooner expel you into the depths of space then it is time step back from the maelstrom of chaos.  So, what can you do?

Here are some of the symptoms of a life that is going too fast:

–          Rushed, not enough time to do what needs to be done

–          Not feeling in control

–          Irritation with others who enter your space, consciousness

–          Tightness in the stomach

–          Numbness to the world and self, lack of feelings

–          Disconnection from life

–          Life no longer is enjoyable

–          Feeling like there is always anxiety or pressure in each day

How much are you investing emotionally by being preoccupied by the events of the day?  

When life seems to be overwhelming there are some simple steps that can be taken to restore normalcy.   Practice for five minutes twice a day.

1.      Write down the things that preoccupies your mind.   List them on paper.

2.      Breathe out the things that occupy your mind. Slowly release the things that are invading the thoughts in your mind.

3.      Bring in thoughts of appreciation, of beauty, of peace.  Sustain these thoughts.

4.      Share your positive feelings with others.