Monday, January 25, 2016

Knocking on Failure's Door

We have to stop looking at failure as a reason to quit! Stop looking at the hurdles as impossibilities. We lose too many talented people in too many industries because of the belief that failure is a one way ticket to doom and gloom.

Failure is a form of success. Hear me out, if you don't like my explanation, then we'll talk about it later.

We need to reconfigure the definition of what failure means to us. It doesn't have to be something that rips you to shreds and ruins your ability to carry on. When we fail at something, or if the results aren't what we wanted, we grow, we evolve and we learn in the midst of that failure how NOT to do something. We essentially succeed in gaining knowledge when we fail.

I'm not going to say it doesn't sting, hurt, discourage or down right turn us sour, because failure has the ability to do that. But when we step out of the chaos failure creates in our thinking, and we approach the results from a different mind set, failure can become a springboard of infinite possibilities. Let's face it, failing at something can be one of the biggest motivators in our lives. Aaannnndddd, that's because we all have something called EGO.

I couldn't talk about failure without talking about ego.

DEFINITION OF EGO: Your ego is your conscious mind, the part of your identity that you consider your "self."

Ego is a tough thing because it can play into the hands of failure. When we identify as that failure, our ego hands us that failure on the most beautiful shiny platter around. Our thinking takes a turn into the idea that we are our failures and our ego serves it up.

Think about it, how many times have we worried about other people's ideas about who we are and what we do? That's our ego, that's us being conscious of our "selves".  When we approach failure from the outside in, from a different view point, the power failure once had over us, becomes nothing more than a fleeting thought and we begin to figure out a different way of succeeding at something. We can fail once and give up or hundreds of times, it's only those of us who dig back in that will eventually find their way to success.

Just as in nature, we must flourish or parish, (not necessarily in a physical sense). It could be an idea that parishes, a way of doing something, an action, reaction or even a thought process.  When we let go of the "ego-ness" of failure, and we embrace the idea that through being unsuccessful at a particular action or event, we are cementing the stepping stones to creating something greater and more expansive. We are taking the knowledge we just obtained and applying it to the process of becoming successful.

You know failure and success is in the eye of the beholder. It's your eye that defines what your failure and success is. It isn't in the power of those outside of your mind, who define who and what you are, That is your job, your responsibility to take. I keep saying this because it's true; YOU are the only one who has access to your thinking and thoughts 24/7. Nobody can fix your definition of what you believe is success and failure. That, my dear friends, happens to be an inside job.

Take a moment today, to look at something you believe failed at, something that didn't turn out quite as you had planned. Look at it from a different thought process. Maybe you'll see that if you had succeeded you might not have what you have now, Maybe you'll see that through failing you learned compassion, understanding or cooperation. There's always something to learn and grow from, and isn't growing and learning a step toward expanding your consciousness which in turn is a step towards your success?

I say the next statements a lot, and I MEAN A LOT, but I think we just don't hear it enough today, so I'm gonna keep saying it until it becomes as natural to you as breathing. Here goes. YOU ARE A MIGHTY MOVING FORCE IN THIS WORLD. YOU ARE THE MIRACLE YOUR LIFE IS WAITING ON. YOU ARE THE CHANGE THE WORLD NEEDS. YOU ARE AN INFINITE POSSIBILITY WAITING TO UNFOLD. It's time you started to believe in your inner power and strength and stop waiting for others to label you. YOU ARE NOT YOUR FAILURES, you are GREATER than that, you possess within you the same energy that produced the universe. It's time we all started seeing what we are, instead of what we aren't.

Go, take on today, knowing that what you put out into the world, comes back multiplied, and stronger than ever. Make today, the best Monday, January 25th, 2016 ever!

Love,
Gretchen

#YouAreNotDefinedByYourFailuresYouBelongToSomethingGreaterThanThat #BeTheChange #MightyMovingForce #SuccessIsntMeasuredByHowWellOthersSayYouDidButHowYouFeltDoingIt #BigOLove #BigO #O

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Take Your Life By the Horns

Your strength doesn't rest in an outcome, or a result, rather your strength resides in the power of your decision to do something.
You hold the key to your own happiness, nobody or nothing has the authority to take your power of decision away. We often find comfort in blaming others for the results in our lives. It's so much easier to look outside of ourselves for how f*cked up our lives are.
We walk around casting blame for what's so wrong in our lives and yet, when something goes right, we find it easy to look within. Take credit for the good and blame others for the bad. Isn't it time to discover that the outcome of our lives is measured by the responsibility we take for it?
If one person ... ONE person can prove to rise above the disharmony and discontent in their lives, then it shows that any one of us can. It's in the decision to do something. People that over come horrific events in their lives do so by changing their way of thinking. They don't blame past pain for where they are in their lives. They move beyond the pain, suffering and anger into a state of consciousness soaked in forgiveness, peace and love.
Everyone has been a victimized in this life. I'm not trivializing the event that has caused you so much pain. TRUST ME, I know what it feels like to suffer at the hands of someone else. But if we don't find our inner strength through forgiveness, through empowering ourselves, through taking responsibility for how we act NOW, we will live out the rest of our lives tortured by events that can never be changed. If we keep residing in our painful past, how can we embrace a greater future?
Events of your past shape who you are, I'm not one to argue that. I'm also aware that in order to overcome the tragedies in your life you have to work through your anger, fear, guilt, shame and doubt. Some people have more work than others, that I will not discount, nobody can tell you how to grieve or heal. All I'm saying is once you decide to move beyond the pain, you find there is an entire life waiting for your discovery of it. A life filled with love, peace, harmony and compassion.
Sure, you'll have days where you're mentally stronger than other days. You'll have setbacks and spring-forwards, we are human. However, as you learn to look within for your answers, look within for your strength and power, you'll see that blaming others, or looking to others to make you happy is a dead-end road.
YOU are MAGNIFICENT, you are the result of a miracle made manifest! You were created out of the goodness and grace of a Infinite Power seeking to know life. In seeking to experience life, this Infinite Power, (call it what you feel comfortable calling it), gave you volition, emotions and consciousness. You're equipped with everything you need to be empowered in your own life. It starts by recognizing that you are a mighty moving force that is worthy of love, peace, forgiveness and a limitless abundance of goodness.
I'll be the first to tell you, it isn't the easiest thing breaking the bricks which have created the walls that imprison you. It isn't fun working through your past, it's uncomfortable, tiring, icky, painful and downright debilitating at times, BUT when you decide to take back your life, eventually there will be more good days than bad, more moments of triumph instead of defeat. Take the time you need, a little each day is better than trying too much at once and giving up.
I'll leave you with this, "You can't fix a problem using the same consciousness that created it." Albert Einstein.
Keep changing the way you've been thinking about or approaching a problem, and eventually you will find a solution.
May LOVE and PEACE by yours today.

Love,
Gretchen