Living Out Loud

Refresh your outlook

(a Thought for the Week)

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." ~ Marcel Proust

"The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes." ~ Chales R. Swindol

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." ~ Jimmy Dean



You can view my Thoughts archive here

Change your beliefs and you change your world

"Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning." -- Mahatma Gandhi

If your life is less than what you would like it to be, and you wish to address this proactively it is essential that you examine and, if needs be, change your beliefs.

But what exactly are beliefs? Well, quite simply, they are

a) ideas you hold onto as fact
b) thoughts that you've thought many times over
c) the foundation of everything you experience in your life

What are beliefs not?

a) facts
b) universal truths

Beliefs are thoughts and ideas that you give power to through repetitively thinking that they are "true", that they represent the way things are. But the real truth is your thoughts and ideas are no more true than my thoughts and ideas, even if our thoughts differ greatly.

Your beliefs have a great deal of power over you, because you consistently come across evidence to support them. Your experiences in life will constantly prove your beliefs to be seemingly factually correct. The reason for this is that your conscious mind cannot possibly cope with every piece of information that it is exposed to. So your subconscious sifts all the information it receives and rejects that which contradicts your beliefs and retains that which supports them.

Some of your beliefs may have been taught to you by family, teachers, friends etc, and some are completely of your own thinking. And given that we each have a unique combination of environment, upbringing and life experiences, we each have our own set of beliefs.

Where your beliefs stem from however, is not that important. What is really important is to realize that they are not undeniable truths - if they were, they would be universally shared! But your beliefs do inform your view of the world, how you think things are and how you think they should be.

Generally, beliefs are attached to strong emotions. Your attitude to life is completely influenced by them. Therefore, what you believe is of the utmost importance in how you approach your life, and deal with the issues you face on a day to day basis. In order to change your habits, you may need to change your beliefs.

The main problem with beliefs, is that most of us live with Limiting Beliefs, which hold us back in going for what we want out of life, or interfere with our attempts to think about things in a new way. What do you believe about yourself, your qualities, your abilities, your family, your friends, your financial situation, your ability to control your world?

If your beliefs don't support your intentions to change things for the better, chances are you won't manage to implement those changes. Instead, you will encounter plenty of obstacles to support your belief that this is beyond your capabilities/your family don't love you/your friends don't appreciate you or whatever it is that you're assuming to be the case.

If on the other hand, you believe you are a strong person, capable of acquiring the new skills required you will overcome obstacles, rather than falling at them. If you believe your family and friends will provide you with the support that you need, you will find the courage to go for what you want. The obstacles that may arise along the way won't necessarily vanish because of your positive beliefs, but your ability to deal with them and keep moving forward is absolutely dependant on your belief that it is possible.

Changing your limiting beliefs doesn't just help you to change your life, it helps you to transform it!

Change can be temporary - you can change forwards and back, as often as you like. Transformation is permanent. There's no going back. A butterfly cannot go back to being a caterpillar. That is transformation. You can make temporary changes in your life without delving too deeply into your beliefs. But if you want to make fundamental transformations, you will have to examine them and make sure they support you in going for what you want.

The good news is that this is absolutely do-able. The process is simple, but it also requires dedication and commitment. Yes, that means hard work!

What to do?

1. Identify your beliefs in the area of your life you want to improve. (To do this, simply look at your experiences so far - they will mirror your beliefs)
2. For each limiting belief you uncover, ask yourself what belief would support you better?
3. Write affirmations that simply describe the new beliefs you'd like to adopt
4. Recite these to yourself many times a day for as long as it takes to install the new beliefs (remember, beliefs are merely thoughts you've thought repeatedly). Inject strong positive emotion to this process. It will help if you combine these affirmations with meditation. Every time you catch yourself thinking the old belief, recite your new affirmation.

It does take a lot of practice, but if you open yourself to the possibility you could find evidence to support the new belief emerging very quickly. And the more you reaffirm the new belief to yourself, the more evidence you will notice, and the stronger your new belief will become. No matter how sceptical you may be feeling right now about this process, I'd ask you to be open-minded and give it a shot. What have you got to lose?

You've got a whole new world to gain.

Change your Beliefs

(a Thought for the Week)

"Beliefs are the determinant of what one experiences. There are no external causes." ~ David Hawkins

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." ~ Napoleon Hill

"A belief is assuming something to be true, to be a fact. A belief is not caused, it is created by choice. A belief about a thing's existence is not the same as its existence." ~ Bruce Di Marsico

"If you think you have a problem, accept that your belief systems (thoughts), are giving you trouble, not the world." ~ Larry Crane

Trust yourself

(a Thought for the Week)

"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." ~ Golda Meir

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." ~ Garth Henrichs

"Depend upon yourself. Make your judgement trustworthy by trusting it. You can develop good judgement as you do the muscles of your body - by judicious, daily exercise." ~ Grantland Rice

"I've learned to trust myself, to listen to truth, to not be afraid of it and to not try and hide it." ~ Sarah MacLachlan

"Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart." ~ Unknown

"Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else's." ~ Billy Wilder

Something to ponder while you have your morning coffee

I don't know who to credit this with, it was a chain email but I like it

 

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling.  It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

 

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

 

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

 

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

 

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.  She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

 

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile.

Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

 

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

 

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

 

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity?

 

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

 

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

 

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

 

May we all be COFFEE!

Count your blessings

(a Thought for the Week)

"When a person thinks about the things, people and experiences that they're grateful for, their awareness of the good in their life increases, and they start to feel good. What you focus on increases, so the more you feel good about all there is to be grateful for, the more will show up." ~ Jamie Smart

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation." ~ Brian Tracey

"Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play." ~ Og Mandino

"An attitude of gratitude can fend off any sad- itude." ~ Karen Salmansohn

Celebrate your Life

(a Thought for the Week)

"Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think." ~ Horace

"This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy." ~ Susan Polis Schutz

"I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part." ~ Shirley MacLaine

"May you live all the days of your life." ~ Jonathan Swift

All is well, no matter what it looks like

(A Thought for the Week)

"Whatever relationships you have attracted in your life at this moment, are precisely the ones you need in your life at this moment. There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning is serving your own evolution." ~ Deepak Chopra

"A jug fills drop by drop." ~ Buddha

"Your joy is divine and so is your suffering. There's so much to be learned from both." ~ Wayne Dyer

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." ~ Douglas Adams

"Life has to be lived forwards, but it only makes sense backwards." ~ Rod Briggs

"All is well, no matter what it looks like. It's all happening perfectly." ~ Susan Jeffers

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Step into the field of all possibilities

(a Thought for the Week)

"Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security." ~ John Allen Paulos

"Impossible is a word humans use far too often." ~ Jeri Ryan

"Our aspirations are our possibilities." ~ Samuel Johnson

"Relinquish your attachment to the known, step into the unknown, and you will step into the field of all possibilities." ~ Deepak Chopra

Expect the best

(a Thought for the Week)

"Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way." ~ Eileen Caddy

"High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation." ~ Charles F. Kettering

"Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations." ~ Ralph Charell

"Expect the best and a funny thing happens. You often get it." ~ Unknown

You can view my Thoughts archive here