What a wonderful new day to delight in!
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Pleased to announce our next Mission 1 Billion: Official Creator Network meeting will be Wednesday March 11. This meeting is free and open to the public. We encourage members and others invite filmmaker and actor friends! This meeting is at Schmidt’s Bar & Grill 16755 W. Lisbon in Brookfield, WI 53005. JOIN US and please […]
“Resistance isn’t failure. It’s feedback. What is it teaching you?” To help you I’ve got two incredible and powerful tools you need. Get these positive transformative gifts for yourself or someone else! “One of the best books in personal development published in the last 25 years.” Moe Rock CEO & Publisher Los Angeles Tribune “Rex […]
“Presence trumps strategy. How present are you in this moment? Be in the now. Forget about strategies. Once you find the now you will know this is true. Celebrate Everything!” Rex Sikes To help you I’ve got two incredible and powerful tools you need. Get these positive transformative gifts for yourself or someone else! “One […]
“Micro-changes compound. Which tiny adjustment can shift your trajectory? There is great power in baby steps. You just need to know this is true. Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes To help you I’ve got two incredible and powerful tools you need. Get these positive transformative gifts for yourself or someone else! “One of the best books […]
What a wonderful new day to delight in!
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“Why are you frustrated? You don’t seem to be making headway fast enough? You probably hate it when someone says, ‘relax. Be patient.’ You don’t want patience right, you want your efforts to pay off now! Don’t you?
That, wanting, that desire, that insisting, THAT IS your suffering.
You are trying to push a rope. You are trying to force the process. You are trying to make water boil faster and you just can’t. Instead of relaxing and letting go you are getting hot. You do need to be patient and that makes it all the more difficult, doesn’t it?
You are split. You want it, it isn’t working. You know you shouldn’t feel this way but you do. You go back and forth, you can’t make it hurry and you are in a hurry. You are divided. Bouncing back and forth as if off walls. Guess what? You really CAN’T force it.
You do have to relax and wait. SO you might as well learn how to.
If you don’t know relaxation methods you should. Learn them when you don’t need them or when you do. Just take sometime and learn to relax, let go and enjoy life in spite of everything. Learn the value and importance of taking a break, a vacation from your woes. Listen to relaxation mp3s online or CDs. Take a class.
Go somewhere nice for a few days. Enjoy something. Actually take your mind off it. Meditate, go work out, work in the garden. Walk. But take a well needed, well deserved break. Seek to develop the abilities to accept, to let go, to relax and to be patient.
Those who are truly successful know what they can and can’t control. If they can’t control time then they use their time to feel better. The unsuccessful use their time to feel worse. Which do you want to be?
Go golfing, swimming, camping. Engage in a hobby. Have some fun. Let go. Successful people take out their yacht, their Porsche. They do anything to take a break. They aren’t going to let themselves feel frustrated when there are better feelings to enjoy!
You can be, do and have anything you want in life when you first determine what it is you want. Then you passionately let it consume you and you pursue it with persistence. You don’t quit until you have it.
You can transform yourself into a relaxed, successful person with a winning attitude and winning behaviors by beginning to imagine yourself as that kind of person, if you aren’t already.
Go back through my blog site and read and review my posts on how to become who you want to become. Learn to do what you want to be able to do. Find out how to get whatever it is you what to have.
Patience is your attitude and behavior while you wait. It is what you think and do in the meantime. It defines who you are. Patience means you are waiting for an expected outcome.
Imagine how different people were a couple centuries ago. There was no instant on anything, no high speed internet, no jet travel, no microwaves. Whatever time it took, took the time it took to complete.
People had to wait for water to boil; it took time to build a fire and warm the house. Trips took however long they took by horse, ship, and eventually by rail. To cross the ocean or the country you live in took a long time. You couldn’t be in too much of a rush if things too weeks and months. My guess is they were qualitatively different than we are today.
For everything there is a season. Farmers planted and harvested in whatever time it took. They grew up used to waiting. Waiting was a big part of life. Mail took a long time. Communication and change was slow. There was no emergency medicine as we know it. No 911 responders.
People had a much different relationship to time. My guess is that they were less in a hurry than modern people because they grew up waiting for many things. Either you got used to it as a life style or you suffered. BUT they also didn’t have any difference to compare it to.
Those who have grown up with instant access, drive-up banking, microwaves, high speed this and that, the media and advertisers’ promise of faster, quicker, overnight, you can have it yesterday magic pills and silver bullets, get frustrated when things take time.
We think everything should be quicker, easier, take no effort, take no time AND be better. Our thoughts determine what we experience. We don’t have the same quality of patience as the people who lived long ago. We need to think the thoughts that serve us better. Our thoughts are what we can control!
That farmer, back then, planted and expected to harvest a crop. Sometimes the weather or conditions changed and crops failed, Sometime they were more bountiful but either way that farmer planted, WAITED and EXPECTED to harvest. It took all the required time it took. He had to do other things in the meantime!
Wait and see meant wait and see.
Patience requires faith. In faith you wait for what you believe will happen, what you know will happen. You wait for what you expect to happen. After all you expect the sun to come up tomorrow. It is a given. You expect the Christmas holiday madness near the end of each year. These are givens!
If you chose to take a pleasure cruise across the seas you expect to get to your destination. You don’t doubt that you will get there, although anything is possible. You have faith that you will arrive when you arrive. So you can relax and enjoy the journey.
When it comes to making our dreams come true and accomplishing our goals patience is required. We plant the seeds, we think about it day and night, we visualize, we affirm, we work our plan and we wait.
How we wait is important. Either you are patient and expect good things or you are frustrated, tense, hurried and frazzled.
If we are patient we know it is happening. It is coming there is no question about that. It’s a given! The time doesn’t matter because we have put it into motion. We are initiators. We are creators. We make things happen. It will happen, we know it, it is just a matter of when. We have faith.
Yes, that may be tougher today because of our modern conveniences and our relationship to time but patience is still required. It is an attribute or characteristic that serves us well.
We shouldn’t be making excuses and whining and complaining and blaming others or the era we are born into. We should be cultivating winning behaviors and attitudes that make our success and happiness more likely.
You don’t cultivate new thoughts and behaviors thinking and doing the old ones repeatedly. We must change our thoughts and behaviors if we want changes in our lives. We must develop those areas that help us reliably get what we want.
We need to exercise our positivity, our faith, our patience and our persistence. We must commit to excellence.
We must wait expecting the positive outcome. We can’t dig the seeds up and check. We must not let out circumstances convince us that anything but the outcome we want, or better, is on the horizon.
If we give in to worry, doubt, fear, we undo our efforts. We get mixed results. We take a step forward and then backwards. We get caught up. Then we don’t have faith, patience or positive expectations. We are frustrated. You don’t move forward quickly if you undo each forward step you take.
We are looking at the wrong things. We are looking at results we created previously that are presently manifesting while the new results are growing in darkness. Keep your faith no matter what.
In order to get what we want we must remain laser like focused. We must rest assured. We must be convinced. We must know in our heart we have done the necessary work (when we actually have) and now it is only a matter of time. AND we continue to do whatever is necessary; we continue to have faith and wait expectantly.
How do we live in the meantime? We celebrate, we enjoy, we live in the present to the fullest. We delight and are thankful and live with true gratitude. We let every moment fill us. When there are obstacles we overcome them by utilizing our personal resourcefulness. We have a winning attitude! We know how to relax too.
We live with passion, we live in this moment knowing good things are coming in the future. We know that what we have put in motion and what we keep in motion will be ours soon enough. We know the garden we planted in time will bloom. We nurture it along and enjoy where we are now at. This is a great way to live!” Rex Sikes
Enjoy and have fun today!
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“It turns out the universe wants me to slow down. This morning, I was exiting the house, keys in hand on my way to a meeting, focused on hitting the button on the keys to open the car when I hit an uneven spot in the walkway and was pitched headfirst into my car.
I slammed into the car, my left knee hitting the pavement, my right foot twisting and turning under me as I fell on it. I got up slowly, it was difficult, my knee scraped and bleeding, my right foot sore. My wrists and forehead worse for wear but ok. I laughed, ‘what was that?’
I hobbled around looking for my keys. Took about 10 minutes when I noticed them about 20 feet away in the driveway in front of the car. Onto my meeting I went, sore but okay. I laughed it off at the meeting and had a most wonderful, marvelous meeting of new beginnings in many ways. Many new doors opened right then.
In olden by gone days I would have sworn, complained, wondered what I had done to cause this, or wondered why I had crappy luck. I would have been miserable. I would have poisoned the pot with negative self-talk, criticisms and negative questions.
Today, I could only think, ‘This is a blessing! Wow, something good is going to come of this. I wonder what it might be. I have no clue. Surprise me.’ It was automatic.
As we were leaving the meeting I took my foot our of my shoe to see if it had swollen and stepped down onto the pavement and that was it. WOW! The pain was unbelievable. Up until then everything was fine, pretty much. I still had errands to run but now I was seriously hobbled and in a lot of pain.
I did them. I limped around doing errands the pain increasing all the while! I drove home. I barely made it into the house and into a recliner. Eventually, I called my daughter and asked if she could take me to urgent care. She came by and she did. What an angel. We got to urgent care about 4 hours after the injury.
At Urgent Care I passed out twice. I don’t recall it but so I am told. I nearly puked. I was hot and sweating. Apparently, I had spent too much time on the injury.
They x-rayed my foot eventually and gave me a diagnosis. The pain grew and grew. They wheeled me from room to room. They were very caring. Finally, they left my daughter and I alone in a room together.
I looked at my daughter and realized I was exhibiting pain in front of her all the while. She was watching Dad suffer. This isn’t a bad thing we all can hurt. Pain is a natural response.
However, recently I have been trying to tell her you can handle tough times, you can get through the pain, it too will pass and here I am passing out from it. I was not the example I hoped I would be. She, of course, already does know everything I am trying to ‘teach’ her. That’s the kind of person she is! Amazing.
I looked at her and focused on her. Inside I thought, ‘it is only pain’. I focused on my daughter, I kept that thought in mind and looked at her and my heart filled with love. Within minutes I knew I could handle the pain. We were smiling. It was wonderful.
During all of this time, from the accident onward, I kept thinking inside, ‘Wow, something good is coming my way, I have no idea what but something incredible is coming’.
I believe it too. I know it is. I began to say it out loud so she would know what I was thinking. ‘There is a blessing in all of this!, Something good will come of this.’ ‘I don’t know what yet, but it is a blessing.’
Speaking it out loud has its own power. It makes it more real too. AND I wasn’t lecturing I was just Dad talking to himself. I was affirming what I knew to be true and she was hearing me and seeing me. Even in crisis any of us can be resourceful. Everything can be a blessing if we only choose to see it that way!
If ever there is a strong, incredibly resilient person it is my daughter. She truly is my teacher as is my son. From the moment they were each born I committed to being the best guide I could be on our journey together.
I promised to love them no matter what. I also knew deep in my soul they would teach me more about parenting than I could ever teach them about growing up. I am the luckiest guy on earth with such incredible children.
Okay, so I know something about pain management and have practiced it for decades. I have taught pain control in workshops and seminars in various locations around the world. People have flow thousands of miles to spend days, weeks and months with me in seminars and live training.
Yet, in the heat of the moment I was caught up in the hurt.
I closed my eyes put my head back and began to think and ask myself, ‘what part of my body feels the very best?’ ‘In how many different ways can I discover myself feeling wonderful?’ ‘What is the best feeling I can find right now?’
‘Where does it feel wonderful? In how many different ways can I discover all the places in my body that feel good?’ I sent my brain on a search by asking questions and it delivered.
I used Directed Questions™ to direct my mind to what were the best feelings I could find. I found them and began feeling those! I began to experience relief. I was beginning to pay attention to what felt good instead of what felt bad. I was looking for what was right instead of what was wrong. I was finding it too.
My mind was attending to what felt the best. It was searching for the ways in which this incident was a blessing right now, in this moment, AND in the future with many good things coming my way. My daughter was here, we were together, she was helping me. This moment IS a perfect moment.
We were blessed in this way right in this moment! The moment was unfolding. It wasn’t just a blessing and an opportunity for the future it was a blessing right now. How lucky we were to be sharing this moment! An accident brought us this realization. How marvelous is that?
I had steered away from the pain back into the positive. You have read this or heard this from me before if you follow my blog or the materials I have shared for decades. I navigated to the more productive. I didn’t resist the pain or try to stop it. I looked for what was better. I dropped the pain and enjoyed feeling wonderful.
Yes, it really hurt but it began to subside. It became manageable. Yes, it was very painful when they manipulated my foot on the x-ray bed, or tried on various braces but as long as I realized ‘it’s only pain’ and allowed myself to be filled with wonder and enjoyed my awesome daughter I could handle it. Hours went by.
I told my daughter that looking at her helped me. I enjoyed and loved her and was feeling relief. Eventually, they found a brace that fit, gave me prescription for an MRI. Surgery may be required. Okay, so now some focus on healing swiftly may be the order of the coming days.
Right now, she is out running errands for us. Picking up food, etc. I am at home with my leg elevated and ice on it. I am fine. Does it hurt, sure but I am at ease with it. I have let go of the hurting and am focused on the miracles in life.
Everything is grand. I decided to share my thoughts while I had time during the day rather than my early morning writing schedule.
Another lesson I learned is: I should pay attention when I walk. Not be caught up in things. I used to practice ‘Zen Walking’, when walking just walk, the basis of Zen – be the activity and nothing more.
If you are going to wash the dish, wash the dish. If you are going to eat, just eat. No distractions, no TV, no phone or reading, just eat. Be one with the moment!
I had much on my mind. Slow down. One thing at a time. It may not need to be a rule but it can certainly be a lesson. I was inattentive walking to the car. Perhaps, I can use this lesson to remember to be more aware and alert when doing any number of things. A reminder to be aware! How marvelous is that?
I certainly remembered I didn’t have to be a victim to the pain. My first thoughts of pain added to what I was feeling. It made it worse. Once, I changed my thinking the pain lessened. I mean it really lessened!
I am not surprised because I teach this stuff. I know it works. I emphasize this because I was caught up in the hurting at first. Once I realized that, during everything that was going, and I utilized what I know works. It did. It worked! It worked quickly and powerfully. I could share other examples from my past but I won’t at this time.
On top of it my daughter is a marvelous nurse. She picked up delicious ‘OH SO GOOD’ authentic East Indian food from a friend who makes great dishes from her native land. We are having a feast. I am sampling while typing. Yes, very marvelous indeed!
I would never have received this delicious Indian dinner today. PLUS, as a result, I learned about a fantastic Indian Restaurant in my neighbor I didn’t know existed!!! Blessings come in all shapes and sizes.
I feel loved, cared for and grateful to have had this experience and to have such an incredible daughter. Thanks my darling! I’m a lucky Daddy!
I will have to slow down and take it easy for awhile. I have crutches and a brace and have been told to see the follow up doctors as soon as possible. Okay, I can do that. Tonight, I will relax, read some inspiring material and chill out feeling grateful.
All in all the events of the day, while not something I would have picked for myself, have been amazing. I have learned much and feel so loved and grateful. Something incredible has already come my way and I know more is on the horizon. Lucky Me!” Rex Sikes
How many blessings will you discover today? I wonder?!
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“How can you tell if you are focused on what you don’t want or what you do want? It is actually easy. Your have a signaling system that you can use. It alerts you when you are on or off track. You only need to learn how to recognize it to use it. It requires is becoming aware.
Your Feelings Are Your Signal System
If you are frustrated it is a signal you are focused on what you do not want. Negative emotion is the signal you are focused on what you don’t want. When you are feeling good and have positive emotions it is a signal you are focused on what you want.
Negative emotion only means you are thinking about what you do not want. Whatever you are thinking about mostly is what you get more of. You create the conditions of your life experience. You manifest more of the same. What you think about you become.
If you are frustrated, angry, depressed, anxious, worried, fearful, blaming and accusing, whining and complaining you are spending time and energy in a less than glorious place. The feelings that cause you to blame or complain are the signal.
If you catch yourself criticizing and speaking poorly about self, others, events and situations that is a signal. A clue you are focused in less than productive ways on what you do not want.
Once you become aware you are feeling negative, feeling frustrated, and you don’t like feeling that way you can do two things. First, you can get more frustrated, and more angry, you can get more intensely negative to the point where you think and say and commit to yourself, ‘never again!’ You can ramp it up and get to that ‘this is the last straw’ point. From this point you can make changes you need to.
That is one way of dealing with it. It can and does occur naturally for people. They just get to the point where they know they have to change. That intense emotion is fine as long as it serves to take them to a place where they stop focusing on the negative and begin focusing on the positive.
The negative feelings are the signal you are not focusing on what you want. However, if you don’t change your focus to what you do want you won’t have the relief or get the results you hope for. You must wake up, pay attention to the signal and change what you are doing.
You must switch your attention. THAT IS WHAT your feelings have been trying to get you to do. You feelings are trying to GET YOUR ATTENTION enough for you to notice so you can SWITCH!
Remember, if you always do what you always did you always get what you always got. It is an opportunity to be productively different.
Clarify What You Do Want
Use the powerful negative feelings to figure out what it is you do want. Stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on the positive. Commit to staying focused on the positive. Whenever you feel negative there is an adjustment you should make. That IS the signal you are off course.
You have an internal guidance system. You have an internal GPS. You have a system designed to be self correcting. The unwanted thoughts and feelings inform you that you are off course. Don’t fight them, celebrate when you recognize the signal and make the necessary changes. Less than glorious means time to change!
Some people have spent so many years ignoring or fighting and pushing down and repressing their feelings they have difficulty telling when they are feeling good or less than glorious. Still, you can learn to pay attention and benefit from this internal guidance bit by bit, Awareness is your key! It may be more subtle but you can do it.
Commit to paying attention. Do a self inventory frequently though out the day by asking ‘how am I feeling’ . Take a moment to evaluate and be honest. It is useful to color chart your feelings using crayon or markers to indicate the changes during the day.
Notice predominant colors and notice how frequently you actually fluctuate. This is a great learning tool Give it a shot and you may surprise yourself.
You can ask someone to assist you by pointing out when you are acting in certain ways. Just don’t bite their head off when they help. The goal is to become aware when you are feeling less than glorious so you can change direction.
Second, Make Incremental Change
You change from bad to a little bit better. Step by step. The goal is to feel a bit better. Actually, the goal is to feel the best you can most of the time, but if you are intensely down or angry going from that place to joyous is too big a leap.
Going from angry to frustrated is a smaller step and a worthwhile one. You are learning to lessen the anger and move away from it.
People either get frustrated and then angry or they can get angry and cool off to frustrated. It is like a gate that can move in either direction. A swinging door. So when you are really mad the goal is to cool off and begin to think of what you do want.
If you are down you want to get to a bit better place. A place more okay and begin thinking about what you do want. If you are depressed you may want to get frustrated and angry. At least, from angry you can act.
Because it is intense you create more movement. From there you can more readily change. Regardless, one needs to get to a place where ‘enough is enough’ and then make positive productive change.
What you want makes you feel good when you think about it. If when think about what you want you feel bad you aren’ t thinking about what you do want. You probably are thinking about how you don’t have what you do want.
You won’t feel good if you compare where you are to where you want to be unless you are celebrating closing the gap. If as you inch your way forward you are delighted the entire time then it is fine.
Gratitude Helps Make Everything Better
If you celebrate everything you are on the right track and you will feel better more of the time. How can you feel down and out, frustrated, angry or bored when you are thankful and happy and delighted about everything? You can’t!
Find every little thing you can to enjoy, and appreciate. The more you find the better you will feel.
Once you make gratitude and celebration a daily habit you will be thinking and feeling good most of the time. You will be much closer to making your dreams come true as you live this way. Then your head and heart is clear to find more opportunity and advantages each day. You are better equipped to handle obstacles, and disappointment. You are far more resilient and resourceful!
When you live in gratitude and celebration everything is incredible and getting better at the same time. It is one of the wisest and most powerful choices you can make. Celebrate everything, even the tough stuff! Look for the silver lining and emphasize it. Never waste an opportunity to feel grand!” Rex Sikes
Enjoy today!
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“You screwed up! Big or small? It doesn’t matter. We all make mistakes. The big question is what to do when you do make a mistake? How do you keep going?
Okay, this won’t be the first time you heard this. You are human. Humans make mistakes. That is what we do. That is how we learn. From our earliest moment we are screwing up and it is informing us and teaching us.
BUT since we went to school we hate messing up. We hated those red marks on our tests. We were told everything we did wrong. SO we developed an aversion to it. We developed a fear for making mistakes.
We responded out of sorts. We don’t like it. We are afraid of it and feel bad when we screw up.
Stop Focusing On Mistakes
If we focus on what we don’t want we get more of what we don’t want. If we spend time worrying about making mistakes it is more likely we will make them.
If we think ‘don’t screw up’ it is not any different than telling a child ‘don’t spill your mill’. You know what happens when we do that.
Focus On What You Do Well
You have to live fearlessly and expect the best. You need to plan for success and not let mistakes bother you so much. You are so much more than your occasional screw up.
You do more things right than you do wrong. Celebrate that! Embrace this! Accept it! You do plenty of things well and quite well.
How We Learn
As a child you learned to roll over, sit up, crawl and eventually walk by making more movements than were necessary. These movements were way off base. They weren’t at all close to what you need to balance or move forward easily.
When you learned to feed yourself you repeatedly missed your mouth with the spoon getting food all over the place and yourself. You made movements way off base.
You never thought to call them mistakes. They were! They were necessary for you to eventually hone your skills and get the food in your mouth. They were necessary for balance, movement, navigation.
These are called Unwanted Parasitic Movements. Name sounds horrible but you needed to learn how to stop doing them in order to get the spoon to your mouth, for you to sit up, crawl and walk.
They were absolutely required. They were larger than necessary, not even closed to the refined movements you learned to make because of them. It is like coloring outside the lines. You went outside the lines while learning to color inside the lines.
You learned to eliminate all that was unnecessary in order to refine and perform these skills. You got rid of these unwanted parasitic movements to smoothly navigate the spoon to your mouth.
It was all done through repetition. It was all learning. It was all ‘not that way but this way’ when it came to aiming your arm and hand to your mouth.
When you watch an infant sit notice how much it moves as it is learning to sit comfortably still. The infant is learning to balance from all these extraneous movements.
Good thing you couldn’t talk or think about it as you do now, you’d have quit after the first or second try, starved to death and would not be reading this blog.
Accept Mistakes As Part Of Being Human
Mistakes are part of evolving, growing, developing. If you deny making them or get caught up in thinking about them, over thinking about them or worrying about them you will only be miserable.
You will stagnate and prevent yourself from learning valuable lessons. You will make it tougher on yourself. Pat yourself on the back when you make a mistake and say to yourself, ‘You did the best you could. Better luck next time’.
Realize we all make them and they are a part of life. Embrace yourself, forgive yourself. Embrace your mistakes, forgive yourself for making them. It is absolutely ok.
Yes, there may be consequences and you may need to make restitution for your mistakes that should be understood. That is part of the process.
Don’t shirk your responsibility when a mistake affects others. Ask forgiveness do what you can to rectify it. Be positive and proactive. Do not let it ruin you. Make good on it and get over it.
Mistakes Make You More Attractive
People like people more who are able to forgive themselves and admit their mistakes. It actually makes them more attractive. There is the story of a popular television entertainer who was supposed to run up a flight of stairs during his TV special.
He stumbled and fell. The producers said, ‘don’t worry we can edit it out’. He said ‘leave it in’. He understood that it would make him more human and that the audience would feel for and pull for him seeing him falter but continue to go on. And he was right!
Happy people know this inside. They know that making a mistake is actually a learning experience and an opportunity. Since we all make them and it is probable we will continue to make them the best approach seems to be relaxed acceptance.
Don’t get bent out of shape. Keep moving forward. The more you can celebrate mistakes the less the sting. When you are able to embrace and accept, acknowledge, learn and move on your life takes on a much more wonderful quality.
When you give yourself permission to screw up or fail it takes the sting out of it. You will find yourself hurting less and feeling better more frequently. Attitude is important. It makes all the difference in the world. Keep on making mistakes and keep on learning and growing!” Rex Sikes
Have a wonderful day!
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“Keep an open mind. You hear about this frequently. You are told to have it, or acquire it, or maintain it. Some people even think they possess one. Do they? Do you? How can you tell when you are open to new ideas or when you shut down?
Do you jump or rush to conclusions? Do you believe there is a right answer to the problem? Do you believe there is only one correct solution to any given situation? Are things cut and dried, black or white, right or wrong? Do you grab onto the first thing that you hear about, or that enters your mind, and establish it as a fact?
Symptoms Of A Closed Mind
When you have a closed mind it is easy to pass judgement. You tend to lock onto things and argue your points or refuse to let go and see that other possibilities exist. Everyone else is wrong! You know it and you can tell. There ought to be a law for goodness sakes!
My definition is simply: Contempt for a new idea prior to examination is a sign of a closed mind.
Many people dismiss out of hand an idea without exploring the merits of the idea simply because it does not fit their existing gestalt or mindset. To quickly refuse to even examine another point of view is a sign that the door to the mind is definitely shut.
What To Do About It
Explore! I always say exploration is the doorway to adventure. Be willing to journey elsewhere in your mind to discover what is possible. You can do this without even leaving where you are at. Simply decide to explore an idea or a concept, and research it. Read about it, examine it while keeping as open minded as possible.
When the tendency to shut down arises, you stop it. When you begin to think this is BS stop it! Hold it in check. Determine to see it all the way through prior to labeling it as bunk. It requires discipline, especially if you are quick to make judgements, but hang in there.
Sometime you habitually shut down so fast it is instantaneous. When you become aware that you are being closed minded and that you have already shut the door, open it back up. It may be difficult but do it anyway. The more you open it back up the better you get.
Awareness is the goal. You want to be able to recognize when you shut down, or are about to shut down so you can do something about it. Be grateful when you become aware that you are closed minded because that is when you can begin to change it.
Ask questions. Become curious
Examine your own judgements and try to determine from where they arise. Do you base your opinions on something you saw or heard, are these from your past? Did you learn them from someone? Who else specifically that you know thinks or believes as you do? Who is it that believes these particular idea to be true?
Ask Yourself Directed Questions™
Direct your mind to positive things you can think about. Wonder in your mind how it might be better. Look for how you might enjoy the different possibilities. Ask questions that lead you into the behaviors you want to acquire or do more reliably.
How delighted will I be to discover I am able to entertain new ideas, that I otherwise might have resisted? In how many different ways am I easily and naturally able to stay open and enjoy new ideas? How soon can will I begin to enjoy the benefits of keeping an open mind and entertaining new view points? How much fun can I have in exploring new ideas and topics?
Challenge Your Own Thoughts
You can boot strap it and challenge your own thoughts. You can ask questions such as Who specifically says this is true? What makes it true? How is that possible? How might it be otherwise?
Who holds other contrary views? What realistic reasons may they have for holding their point of view? What might I be missing? Do I know everything about everything? Who died and left me god?
In other words, be willing to look for and find other authorities who may have very valid reasons for holding these new ideas. By the way, the ideas may be ancient they may only be new to you. OR they may be brand new ideas. Challenge your own infallibility. This is important.
None Of Us Enjoy Being Wrong
We seek to be consistent in our beliefs. We do not like it when ideology conflicts. So we dismiss it before given it the time it is due. You need to ask yourself whether you view point is accurate 100% of the time.
You can ask, ‘Always? In every single circumstance? Is it true for everyone, everywhere in the world through all time?’ OR ‘Never? Has there never been a single example of it being otherwise? Nobody in the entire world for all time never ever felt differently?’
You might ask, What causes you to think this way? What examples, evidence or experiences do you have for maintaining this point of view? Are their reasons from your past why it is important for you to maintain this position?
What would happen, or be the worst that would happen if you didn’t think this? What would happen if you held the other person’s point of view? How would you, or the world change if you didn’t believe this? Is it possible there are other points of view?
Apply The 100% Test
If something isn’t true 100% of the time why limit yourself? If you don’t have a monopoly on the truth why act as if you do? Let some of these things go. Learn something new. If you aren’t god why act like it? Broaden your horizons. Educate yourself in new ways of thinking and being. Examine things from different perspectives or points of view.
If it isn’t true for all time and all people in all places there are things to learn. Learn about different cultures and practices in different places and times. Expose yourself to new thought and new ways to think and be. Reflect on how it is possible for people to believe and think different things.
Listen
Listen to listen. Listen to undertand. Listen to Learn. Listen without speaking or challenging or arguing. Listen for no reason at all except to better understand and appreciate the speaker and her point of view. Too many of us are only waiting our turn while listening. We are waiting to speak and make our points rather than to reflect on and understand his points.
Ask questions to understand not to counter argue. Ask for clarification. State back in their words what you understand the person to have said and listen to the other person clarify it for you. Determine if you understood what they meant.
Hear it. Pay attention. Seek understanding. This means you are active in the process. You are accepting and open and available and interested in their point of view.
Sometimes when listening this way and they are finished do nothing but accept it. Don’t provide your views. Sit with it. Let them be heard. Appreciate the other person and their point of view without making your points. Silence at times is golden. At other times share and contribute.
Meditation
Mediation is great for helping to keep an open mind. Especially beneficial are those forms of mediation where you watch thoughts come and go without attaching to any of them. When you are able to be quiet and simply witness thoughts arising you can become free of them. You can become open to many new awarenesses.
The Benefits Of An Open Mind
When you are able to view many options simultaneously without closing down an entire new world of possibilities opens up to you. The world becomes more alive and so do you. Everything is more colorful and flavorful.
You have more choices. There are more options. You discover there is more to enjoy than you previously allowed.
You can begin to think outside the box. You become free. You are freed of the weight of thinking you know all the answers. Nothing keeps people back as much as not considering alternatives. When the mind snaps shut you close off to opportunities and advantages that may be beneficial to you. Literally, you are not able to see them.
You explore new territory and venture further than you could before. You not only think outside the box but you can move beyond old boundaries. Instead of stopping yourself where you used to you now give yourself permission to go further. The further you go the more you are able to see.
You open up to more fun because you are willing to entertain new ideas and try new things. You can play more, experiment and enjoy discovering. Life does become an adventure when you are willing to explore. You may even try new foods, clothes and places to go. Who knows?
When your mind is flexible you are better equipped to examine options and find solutions to problems. After all, there are many ways to bake a cake, cook an egg, make a bed. There are many roads to Rome. Lot’s of ways to dive into a pool…
You don’t get stuck trying the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result. Your thinking expands and your world expands. More flexibility means more options. More options means more solutions. More solutions means greater possibilities!
Change happens. You change! When you are open, exploring and having fun you can change your thoughts to serve you better. Your thoughts and beliefs must change first if you want to change your behaviors and keep the changes. You can think better, feel better and learn to develop positive new habits.
As you change you become filled with more positive energy. You become more alive. More affirming. You become more tolerant and accepting. You include more into your world. We become freer and lighter and have more physical energy when we are not resisting and trying to maintain everything. Your thoughts are positive so is your energy.
You are less negative, more tolerant, having more fun and more fun loving. You can enjoy better health, better relationships with family and friends and associates. You can devote more time to that which is truly important. There is far less to argue about and divide you from others. You may become more loving and have a greater ability to be loved because you let go and accept others for who they are.
When we let go of how others and the world is wrong; when we drop intolerance for positions other than are own; when we are able to embrace new ideas and people and include more in are life incredible things happen. We find more friends and fellowship.
When we get entrenched and spend out energy defending our positions we are wasting energy. It isn’t worth it. Instead, we conserve and direct our energy, we focus it in beneficial ways.
We can all point to someone we think is closed minded. Don’t be just like that person! Be open. Accept and embrace that person and allow that person to be who s/he is.
If that person never comes around to your way of thinking so what? What is the worst that can happen? Can you love and accept that person anyways? Go on give it a try! And while you are at it love, accept and embrace yourself!” Rex Sikes
Imagine how wonderful today can be!
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“When you practice giving to others unconditionally you not only benefit them but you truly benefit you. Because you are not looking for any return your motive is pure. You want to help another. Your goal is to help another feel blessed, to heal and to prosper.
Your focus is not on what you can get but on what you can give. Your care is for them not for you, When you give in this way you open yourself up to allow others to gift you too. You open yourself up for the universe to gift you. Doing this is an incredible gift YOU give to you!
Because your care is on them and not that they return your kindness you open yourself to be gifted in whatever way it manifests. If it manifests instantly that is wonderful if nothing immediately happens that is wonderful tool. Recognize that everything is perfect.
Today, practice graciously receiving. Allow yourself to remain open and receptive. Let others give to you. Find delight in the smallest of things. Celebrate being open. Know good things are coming your way even though you may not be able to see them. Live in faith.
Practice this daily. Give and allow. Practice the Golden Rule; think the best and do the best for others. Celebrate them. Go the extra mile in helping people. Rejoice in their good fortune when good things happen for them. Celebrate everything!
Be receptive and expect good things to come your way without demanding anything. Practice gratitude. Really feel grateful. Discover your joy and in bask in it. As you do these things you become more of these things. You transform!
You become what you think about most during your day. Your life can completely transform. You will find yourself more blessed than you might imagine. You will heal and you will prosper! The results of your thoughts and actions can be miraculous!” Rex Sikes
Delight in this day!
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“What would you like another person to do for you? If you had a wish for something wonderful, something small, that someone could do easily for you, some nicety, what would be your hope? If someone could ease your burden a little bit and put a smile on your face what would it take? Have you some things in mind?
Have you thought what would make you feel lighter and happier? Have you sorted through simple tasks another person could perform that would make you feel better; make you feel special, more valued; feel loved? What tiny thing could it be that might make all the difference in the world to you?
Got some? Very well. Are you easy or difficult to please? Did you find some simple things or are you still thinking? Okay, for those of you this might be difficult for and who will only be pleased if larger things are taken care of WHAT larger actions could someone take to make you feel better, feel validated, special and love; that would put a smile on your face, lighten your load and be worthwhile?
Got something now? Okay then.
Whatever you came up with small or large that would improve your life circumstances and make you feel better is exactly what you can do for someone else. Go do it! You want to feel better GO and make someone else feel better! Yes, you can ask them and find out what they actually want or you can surprise them with a gift.
Perhaps, it is as simple as phoning a loved on and telling that person you care. Maybe it is as easy as holding a door open for someone and saying a kind word. It could be you buy someone who looks hungry a meal, give a neighbor a ride, help out with chores around the house without having to be asked. Whatever you can do to help make someone feel special and cared for DO! Do it!
In giving you will be receiving. You will open the doors for your kind actions to be returned. This is especially true if you expect nothing in return. If your kind actions are in and of themselves enough reward for you you will be rewarded. NOW and perhaps in the future. It may not come from the person you helped but you are making a positive difference in someone’s life.
I don’t think it is mystical at all. It is the law of cause and effect. You cause someone to feel good sometime, somewhere, somehow it will be returned. Again, do it for no reason if you really want the greatest benefit. Your own good feelings can be enough reward. Whenever you are down, or down and out, help another person first and you will find strength, joy and comfort.
Go help a child. Volunteer. Visit the elderly, go to a hospital. Help out at a shelter or soup kitchen. Go for a walk with someone. Visit a shut in. Send a thank you note. Help out at an animal center. Whatever you choose to do is up to you. It will make you feel good inside.
The Golden Rule is to treat people AND hold people with the same regard and respect as you want them to treat and respect you. Don’t wait for others to start it YOU begin it and watch what happens. You may not notice much at first but keep at it. You will make the world a nicer place as you pay it forward.
Smile at someone on the street. Say hello. Ask someone how they are doing or feeling. Be genuinely interested. Listen without judgement. You will be doing a world of good for yourself and for others. You may be surprised. Take your wish list I asked you to come up with and bestow it on others bit by bit. Nothing need be grandiose it only need be genuine! Care! ” Rex Sikes
Make magic happen today!
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“What causes suffering? The act of comparison. When we compare where we are to where others are, what they have versus what we have it is possible to suffer. If we compare and come up on the short end and we are envious or jealous it can hurt. If we compare where we think we should be in our career or in life to where we actually are, and we don’t like it, we create more room to groan.
Whenever we create a division, a dichotomy, an incongruency, cognitive dissonance, we suffer. Many people, who expect the Law Of Attraction to save them from where they are in life, begin the process of wishing for changes. Then they keep checking to see if they are closer to getting what they hope for. If they find they haven’t made much progress they abandon hope.
That checking, that constant seeking to find out if anything is happening causes suffering. These people fail to realize that results take time and you just have to give it the time it takes! You have to learn to trust! I think the reason things take time IS so you have to learn to trust or you give up. Trust, faith, belief in oneself, one’s ability to ultimate create what one’s want is acquired through trials.
You Must Realize Everything Takes Time
If you wanted an orange or an apple or a grape it would take time. You have to plant the seed. Then it sprouts and grows and blossoms. It produces fruit, which is harvested. Then you to enjoy. You can’t be checking and digging up the very seeds you planted. You must let them go through the process. The same is true with your goals and dreams and your plans.
You don’t wish for an orange you plant the orange so that you later get it. You expect it to grow and one day be yours. You don’t doubt that you will have it and wonder and check and worry and check yet again. You know at the right time it will be yours. Wishing has nothing whatesoever to do with creating what you want.
Decide What Your Dominant Chief Aim Or Purpose Is
Specify it! See it clearly in your mind. Imagine it AS IF it’s already happened in your mind. Do this daily, frequently, accentuating the all the positive feelings that come as a result of imagining your goal already completed. Enjoy and accentuate those feelings. Enjoy and celebrate! Really celebrate! Really feel it. The stronger the emotions the sooner you get what you want.
Wait patiently with expectation and eagerness knowing it will come about it. Know that you will create it. It is your faith, it is that expectation, and those feelings that bring it about. It is the passion and enthusiasm that make it all happen. What you are consumed with, what you obsess about you bring about.
The More Powerful The Emotions The Sooner We Make It Happen
That is why the goal is to feel the best you can all the time! If you feel incredible most all of the time and you vibrate joy and gratitude and celebration it works faster. The more positive and powerful the feelings the more you resonate with your goals and your dreams and desires.
When you are excited and expecting good things and you are celebrating everything you’re not resisting nothing. Do you get that?You are not resisting but allowing and accepting. Feeling great is when you’re able to invite and receive. Negative feelings and thoughts block and prevent yourself from making it happen.
You will suffer if you doubt, fear, get anxious, worry or check to see if it is happening.
Focus On What You Want NOT On What You Don’t Want
If you expect riches and you focus on what you don’t have you create more of what you don’t have. You attract like thoughts of lack or poverty. You get more and more of them. This is how it works. In order to get the riches you have to celebrate having the riches before you actually have them.
You develop the rich mindset first! You develop the happy mindset first! You develop the successful mindset first before you make the results in the world! The mind is in the right place prior to you getting what you want. We are happy first and then we become successful or rich IT doesn’t work the other way around.
Thought Precedes Action: Believe It And You Will See It!
If you are impatient and go back between what you have and what has not yet arrived you will suffer AND prevent yourself from succeeding faster. You will stall your results. You must stop the suffering and develop faith that you will make it happen in the right time, even if you presently don’t know how to at this moment. The how will come in time. BELIEVE IT!
THINK ABOUT THIS: You develop such a powerful, unstoppable, positive mindset in the face of all odds that you can’t help but bring about what you want and desire most. What you are obsessed about, what you think about and talk about and dream about day and night you will make happen. You develop the wherewithall to accomplish anything and you keep on going until you get it.
It Is WHO You Become While Pursuing Your Wants That IS Most Important!
Fill yourself with delightful thoughts and feelings and you’ll accomplish them soon rather than later. Remember, it is simple. You’re either trusting or you’re not. You’re either believing or you’re not. You’re either patiently waiting or you’re not. You’re either making your dreams come true or you’re not. You’re either positive or you’re not. You’re either feeling good or you’re not.
You’re either contributing to making things happen in a positive way or you do not understand this process. Wherever you spend most of your time; whatever occupies your attention the most; whatever are the predominant thoughts and feelings that you think and feel; whatever consumes you IS WHAT YOU CREATE AND ATTRACT!
You get back what you focus on. You become what you think about! You get back what you put out there. You create what you think and what you feel. If you’re getting what you don’t want instead of what you do want it is BECAUSE you’re focused on what you DON’T want. You need to change that!
The Problem: Most People Are Focused On What They Don’t Want
You have to focus on what you want. They harbor doubts and worries that it won’t happen. You have to stop this and believe you will make it happen in time. They think they are consumed with their goals if they spend a minute or two, or five minutes, or a half hour a day thinking about their goals when most of the time they are thinking about distractions.
You are not believing and celebrating and expecting and consumed pasionately with your dominant chief aim if you are whining and complaing and blaming and gossiping and fearing and doubting and upset with the little and big things that happen each day. If you are caught up in the daily drama of living you are missing. You become what you predominantly think about.
The law of attraction IS AN ACQUIRED attitude and mindset that you bring about by dedicating yourself passionately to creating the life and future successes you want. You learn it by trial and error and through overcoming hardship. You learn to pay attention, concentrate and focus your mind on making what you want happen like a laser beam. You set your sights on the target and never give up.
It All Starts With Believing You Can Do It.
Through this you learn what to do and how to do it. The reality is success is 99% mental and 1% effort. When the mind is right the effort comes easy. It MAY require massive action BUT you are prepared to do it. You have cultivated a winning and expectant mindset. You have made your mind a powerful ally and tool. You are focused and prepared. You are powerful and unstoppable!
‘Whatever the mind can conceive and belive you can achieve!’ said Hill. It begins within to bring about the results without. It isn’t luck or wishes being granted it is the application of principles and dedication that brings about the results. YOU do it because your mind is set to do it. You work alone and in friendly co-opeation with others to make it happen in spite of opposition or circumstances.
You train your mind to be positive and look for opportunity. You develop success practices you make into automatic reliable habits. Lombardi said, ‘When the going gets tough THE tough gets going!’ You do it because you have evolved yourself into the kind of person who succeeds. This is why Henry Ford’s statement is so accurate and applicable. “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t you are right. It is all in what you think.'” Rex Sikes
This is your day to celebrate!
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“What makes this world a beautiful place? Our thoughts. When right thinking, the world is delightful. When we manage our thoughts and think the very best of ourselves, others and circumstances the world is wonderful. We paint this world as we want it to be by our thoughts and attitudes. If it isn’t what you want it to be, then you have to change some things.
Our beliefs determine what we see and what we find. Our experience is shaped first within and then realized without. When we think the best of everything we have the best of everything. When we hold others in our hearts and wish them love, peace, blessings, and abundance, AND when we support this through kindness, our world becomes amazing.
Go First: Bless, Heal And Prosper
We can give first even without others knowing we are giving. We can care and make a difference! It begins with out thinking but it must become our speech and our actions. Only think, say and do those things that help bless, heal and prosper another person and yourself. Live well by thinking, speaking and doing kindness.
There are people who suffer but somehow manage to find bright spots in the darkness. They live in the light while facing incredible odds and still find it within themselves to love, care for and encourage others. In spite of great personal difficulty they act and help to encourage and inspire. \ We all can do more of this. We ought to do more of this. Love and the world loves back.
What makes this world a beautiful place? People do! Without our awareness this place just is. It’s a rock hurtling through space at high speed. People give it color, texture, love and life. People care. They help and they inspire. They uplift and celebrate. This is wonderful!
People rally and support and nurture each other. In pleasant times and in difficult times. People reach out and are there for one another. Know this and embrace this. There is good in this world.
Love One Another
It’s worth it to think the best of all people. Hold everyone in the highest esteem. Love and accept each other as Jesus encouraged us to do. I am not favoring Jesus here. Many have spoken about this need, but his message was simple. ‘Love one another as I have loved you.”
His examples from the scripture are pretty clear. He gave. He healed. He forgave. He fed. He nourished. He taught, uplifted and inspired others. He walked his talk. He was a living example.
Those he chastised were to greedy know-it-alls. They had ego but no remorse. According to his story, he gave his life for them too. He forgave his captors and killers. If he could do this, how can we not do a little something for one another when in need? How can we not give to help feed, clothe, minister and care for others. How can we not forgive and love and accept those who hurt us?
He said, what you do for the least or the most lowly of all people you do for and to him. That’s pretty straightforward. Pretty, mighty clear. We ought to help each other more. We ought not judge. We ought just help without prejudice. We should be open and accepting. Give and give some more.
There are plenty of times a day when a smile, a kind word, a note, a message, a small act of caring may be all that’s needed to uplift a person. Help ease their burden just by being pleasant and nice. Opportunities for kindness abound. Hold a door open for someone. Make pleasant eye contact. Chat with a stranger. Smile. Listen. Say hello.
Of course, we should do this with family, friends and co-workers. Frankly, we should do it with and for everyone!
Smile More, Be Kind, Uplift, Be Friendly In Thought, Word, Deed
Recognize and validate the people you pass by daily without giving a thought to. The person who annoys you; the person begging at the corner; the disenfranchised citizens, the homeless, the needy, the hospitalized. Acknowledge them as you go about your day! Notice and greet them.
Recognize them. Smile, say hello. Wish them well. Act like they do more than take up space and exist. They are people after all. They may be cut off from family, friends and society. They may need medical care, or a meal or a bed. They may need just a moment of contact or a friend.
They’re human. They have needs. Some just don’t have the money or station in life you and others do. So what? Treat all people with care and kindness!
If you can’t do anything YOU can always wish them well. You can think highly of them and for them. You can say a little prayer or shower that person with positive thoughts, feelings of peace, love, joy and positive warm loving energy. People can tell. People feel it. Attitude is everything!
The World Is Filled With People Posing As Strangers
Take moments throughout the day to validate the people who walk the earth around you. They get on elevators with you, walk the streets, pass you by in hallways. The world is filled with people, with those who could be friends, posing as strangers.
We are one species. We’re one family seemingly separated. We have differences. That makes us richer than if we’re all the same. Yet, there’s an aspect of us that IS all the same.
We’re human! We want and need to be noticed and loved. We need to feel that others know we’re here and that we can be heard. We all want to make some form of positive impact and be valuable to another. We want to leave a mark on the world.
There Is Nothing More Sad Than A Lonely Person In The Crowd
To be lonely when surrounded by others should never be the case. We’re all in it together. We are one great human network. Networking shouldn’t only be to get ourselves gain in business, but to get others the help they need.
Some people have fallen out of ‘everyday’ life network and can use some help getting re-connected. Help others connect to resources, their own resources and those available to them. Help each other bless, heal and prosper! Help them to be uplifted, edified and significant.
We are ONE organism with different cells. In a healthy body, these different cells work together and support each other so the organism can thrive. They are different. They have different functions but their goal IS to keep the organism alive.
We should do no less when it comes to people. For the species to survive we need to co-operate more. Recognize and validate. Help and heal! We need to listen, actually understand and take actions. We need to manage our thoughts, focus our attention on the positive. We need to speak and act positively.
What makes the world a beautiful place? When people are there for each other. When they reach out and uplift. There are so many kind, generous, wonderful people in the world. Let’s focus on that. Spend a moment smiling with someone new today!
Celebrate what is good! Recognize it! Celebrate it! Appreciate it! Validate it! Let’s make it a point to create more of it. We can if we believe we can! We will when we decide we will. Join me. Let’s begin right now. Help each other and celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes
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