Crash and Burn...

Why is it, that we as a population desire to see people crash and burn?  Hey wait, it’s a legitimate question.  Let’s face it, the societal “we” sit around watching, waiting, and even hoping for someone who is successful, prosperous, and even famous to lose everything.  Hit rock bottom and then, at their darkest, lowest point, we tend to decided if they are worthy of our judgments or our wisdom.  It is in those moments our society feels like they have succeeded in cracking another one.  Why is it that we feel better about ourselves when we see someone who is at their lowest point?  Do we really feel better when we neener, neener, neener, them and cast aspersions?  Or are we brushing the perspiration from our own brow, because it wasn’t us?  

I wonder if it’s because we have been raised and cattle prodded into believing this is the way we are supposed to be hardwired.  We let society dictate what is good and bad or right and wrong.   

We all know lying is wrong, but expect politicians do it.  We believe stealing is bad, and yet barely react when huge corporation runs off with millions.  At what point do we stop and begin to think for ourselves.  When do we stop shakin’ our fingers laced with judgment at the wrong people and start seeing the bigger picture?

What if we decided to take all of our preconceived ideas of who and what people should and shouldn’t be, and tossed it aside for a day… a week… a month..  a year?  Imagine how much more peace we would have in our lives.  How healthy we all would be.    We would stop wasting energy on anger, fear, hate, and doubt.  What if, we saw someone who experienced success and we celebrated them; instead of cursing them?  

Our world would change.  That’s what would happen and all because we decided to see things— differently.  

It is believed what you focus on grows.  It all starts in our own hearts and minds and blossoms from there.   Once we stop clinging to the unproductive ideas of jealousy, hate and fear, we allow new thoughts, ideas, and beliefs to fill our minds and hearts.  Suddenly we begin to open ourselves up to understanding, Love, joy, and gratefulness.  We start to see the vibrant colors of our world.   

When those old discarded feelings and beliefs begin to creep into our lives, we can remember that they are nothing more than a reminder of who we used to be.  They don’t hold any power over the type of person we have become and we can let them crumble into the dust of who we used to be.  

So now challenge yourself, next time someone tells you how wonderful their life is going, celebrate it.  You see a person successful in doing what you want to do in your life, support them.    Focus on the little, even sometimes thought of as insignificant successes in your life until the bigger accomplishments find their way to you.   Stand in gratitude for every little and big thing in your life.  Do it until it becomes a habit you are proud of.  

Because life is a huge celebration; and it’s about time you remembered where you left the invitation.

Do You Consider Yourself Wealthy?

When you look around your life; dive deep in the accomplishments and acquisitions that swell around you, do you consider yourself wealthy?  Our society dictates to us what they think wealth is.  Society looks at the car(s) in your driveway, the size of the home you live in, the labels you plaster across your chest and the number of Benjamins in your wallet and according to that status-o-meter, society will plop you where they think you belong.  Wealth in that context is all about possessions.  But can’t wealth be measured by something more personal, more poignant than materialism?  I think so.

Wealth is derived from two words, well being.  It encompasses more than material gains and worldly possessions.  Wealth extends way beyond that; it comprises of our precious family life and abounding friendships, our prolific health and our balanced mental state of being.  It is not exclusive but all inclusive of our well-being—our wealth.  

What would happen if we as a society decided to demolish the Status-O-Meter and replace it with a Well-Being-O-Meter?  Would we be grateful for our abundance?  Would we ever take that moment to step back be in gratitude for the copious riches bestowed upon us in regards to our vitality, love and companionship?  Or are we so caught up in first impressions and lazy definitions that we grasp at the first thing that comes to our minds?  

I think not!  Matter of fact, I will go so far as to say, I know not.  I have had the privilege to meet people who live a very wealthy life.  They define wealth by experiences they share with others and the health they are thankful for everyday.  They don’t worry about the cars they drive, the house they have or what’s in their wallets.  They know everything in life is always in spherical motion and what they put out into the world will always circle its way back.  They tend to live in the moment, instead of being a part of it.  They help without expecting anything in return. 

Now I say, if one person can live a wealthy, prosperous life, than we all have the capability to do the same.  

That is the wealth I want. 

Come on, I’m not saying I don’t want nice things— we all want nice things.  I’m just saying I don’t want material possessions to be what shifts my Well-Being-O-Meter.  It’s just a little more personal than that.  

So I ask the question again, do you consider yourself wealthy?

And to that question; I would have to say… YES!

It’s all about having an attitude of gratitude!  

So thanks for stopping by…and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read!

Bang Your Head!

  Do you ever find yourself banging your head?  I’m not talking about the hard rock, metal music that makes you swing your head forward and back.  That would be so much more desirable.  No, I’m talking about when you feel like you’re talking to a stone wall.  Why waste your breath on strung together words, because the steam you speak goes in one ear and out the other.  Let’s face it- when people get ideas in their heads, they are going to do what they want to anyway; whether it is good, bad or indifferent. 

The power of persuasion is a tough business.  Not only are we faced with it every day in our lives, but from an early age we must learn to do it with humility and civility.  Think back to when you were a kid… you wanted the toy another had, maybe it was a shiny new Barbie doll, so you took the Ken doll that nobody wanted to play with, (remember the painted on hair and if you turned his head too hard it would end up in your hand, disconnected from his body) and you masterfully “persuaded” the other kid to trade with you.  Sometimes it worked, other times you ended up having to play with the anatomically freaky doll.

If you were a brilliant persuader, seventy-five percent of the time, you’d get your way.  Yet there was that twenty-five percent that wouldn’t crack.  That is the percent I am talking about today (Don’t worry; the huge red mark from slamming your head against the wall will eventually fade).  It’s the same twenty-five percent that you will spend the rest of your life trying to change.  

But now instead of persuading them to trade their Barbie dolls, we find it important to persuade them about their beliefs, ideas and religion.  We are raised in a society that is always looking outside of ourselves for bigger and better.  We look at what other people have and either decide that we have to have it or they need what we have.  We all want to persuade people that ours is better, ours is right, and ours is exactly what they need.  Let’s face it, what it boils down to is we all want to be validated, it is human nature.  

It is when our need to change or persuade people starts to ruin friendships or taints our own morality, we need to step back and check ourselves.   Sure we all have the “train wrecks” in our lives we feel need to fix, and the “private jets” we cling too.  Those people are exactly where they are because they need to be there.  There is something they are getting out of it; some type of validity that’s making them stay where they are.  You can tell they really don’t want to be rescued.

Well guess what, I am here to tell you it is okay to leave the train-wrecks at the tracks and rip up the tickets for the private jet.  Hey now listen— before you stop reading— I don’t carry any more power than the next person, let’s clear that up right now.  I am just a voice willing to validate all those feelings you keep bottled up.  It is time to stop trying to change and chase the people around you and look within to what you want out of your life.  

Did the weight on your shoulders become a little lighter?  Did the space you gave to them in your head clear just a bit?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to forget them or let go of their hand as they drown in their lake of poor me; not even close.  What I am saying is you don’t have to validate their definitions or beliefs anymore.  Stop trying to fix them and let them be.  Work on the vision of your life.  Step outside of your comfort zone and try doing something different.  Stop living with your back against the wall and looking at what has happened in the past.  It is time to make the decision to start living on a higher vibration and be excited about your life again.     

I don’t write this because I’ve got the formula, or I have mastered this concept.  I write this to remind myself that it is a constant work in progress and that I will never be done re-adjusting, re-identifying, and re-evaluating my life.  Because our lives will always be a work in progress, always changing and ever evolving.

Lastly, I want to thank those of you, who keep coming back to my blog, for you— I am eternally grateful.  Now get out of here and have a great week!