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How To Learn Every Day

 Learn Something New Today

All humans are blessed with a mind, and it is just that some people choose to use theirs more than others. Just as the muscles in your body need to be exercised to stay as functional as possible, your mind needs to be put through its paces to maintain its most powerful and beautiful ways. This path is not as difficult as it seems because there is a wealth of knowledge and information to learn. Learning something every day will keep your mind sharp and widen your worldview. We can never know everything there is to know, so pledge to yourself to spend a few moments every day just learning a little something you didn’t know before. Your mind will thank you, and your outlook on the world will thank you too.

A Wealth of Knowledge

Learning something new is easier today than it has ever been before. Most people have a device with internet capabilities in their hands, and then it is a matter of just seeking the information you desire to know.  There are organized education methods, like online classes, and some of these can be taken for absolutely no cost. Much of the world’s knowledge is there for the taking. Learning isn’t about accumulating degrees, although those are nice too. It is about expanding your mind and creating new neural pathways to boost your mind.

Even simpler, you have quick access to almost any book ever written electronically. That means the most significant thoughts are there for you to read, digest, and learn from at any moment.  Just a simple download from an Amazon account, and you know whatever you want.  You can move on to the next one when one book is done. Once new ideas from books are in your head, your mind will expand, and it will never, in its natural state, regress after learning the information it has captured. Learning something every day has never been more comfortable.

Grow Your Mind

Each new morsel of knowledge will cause your perspective to change and your outlook on life to change as well. When you were a child, you believed things that later were proven to be false, and a new set of beliefs took their place. Much of what we think about the world and other people have been taught to us by the media and society. Once you start to learn more and judge for yourself, you realize that much of the information you have relied on earlier in life was false. This can be scary at first, but as you become more comfortable learning new things, you know more about the world.

As your perspective grows with each new thing you learn, your fear of the world shrinks. You realize that although evil, bad things exist, fear of them doesn’t have to control your life.  Knowledge is a light that shines in the dark places of your mind. It eliminates racism, nationalism, and discrimination of every kind. All knowledge seems to lead to the same place. We are all connected and living a similar life regardless of the color of our skin, the part of the world we happened to be born into, or the religion we happen to practice.  We are all the same. Read more actual knowledge, and the more you learn, the better you will be.

Keep a Journal

Keep track of what you have learned each day. It can be one thought, or it can be many ideas. But learning is essential, and journaling about it keeps it active. The more you keep track, the more you will revisit it, and the more it will stay in your brain’s hard drive.  Keeping a notebook about your personal growth will help you keep the knowledge and maybe even pass it on to others somehow.  Learning something is a privilege and joy. Nobody knows it all, despite what they think of themselves. Practice constantly developing a growth mindset and understanding that you will still be learning if you have the desire.  What have you learned today?

A man who asks is a fool for five minutes. A man who never asks is a fool for life.      Chinese Proverb

A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” Oliver Wendall Holmes    

Improve Every Day

improvementsOpportunities for improvement in intellect, action, or spirituality are things that exist for us every day. I am grateful today that I can seek and find growth in some aspects of my life experience. And it goes without saying, but YOU can too! We have to be conscious of what we want to change and then make choices that allow us to move in the right direction.

We have to be conscious of what we want to change and then make choices that allow us to move in the right direction.

Only Two Directions In Life

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where you are. I say this to point out that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. A universal fact is that you are going today is one of two ways. You are getting better, or you are getting worse. There is no staying static in one place. This fact is a great thing because if you start to recognize this fact, you will look for ways to make sure you are getting better each day. If you do nothing to improve and assume the status quo is acceptable, you will be slipping in the other direction.

Choose an element of your life, from how you relate to your family, how you perform your improvement 2job or how you relate to the Universe.   If you don’t strive for improvement, regression will most likely be the reward. This idea is valid for physical and mental tasks, and it is true of everything in life. But you have total control over which way you go. If you want to be a better person, then make choices that focus on becoming a better person, and it will happen through your action. There is no other alternative.

It Doesn’t Matter How Far Down You Are

Another great thing about improvement is that it doesn’t matter how far down you currently are. You can change and get better right now. Having the courage to start is the spark ingredient you need to begin the journey to improvement. If you feel you weigh too much, then choose today to improve that aspect of your life. It may be eating healthier and exercising, and you will be growing. If you decide to do nothing different, where will your weight go?

If you don’t think you are intelligent enough, choose to become more informed. Start to read, research, and become more aware and knowledgeable in areas you feel lacking. If you decide to do nothing and keep on watching Netflix and not reading, your intellect will arrive precisely where you have decided it should be.

The same is true for your happiness in life, spirituality, or relationships. If you are not happy, have no connection to God, or are not fulfilled in your relationships, then it is time to start making different choices, and that will lead you to more honoring results than what you want to experience.

You Can’t Do It All At Once or Can you?

It is my nature to tell you that you can’t attack all aspects of your life at once, but that is a cop-out. You can work on improvement in every part of your life and move toward more of story endswhat you desire. Some areas may be improving more quickly than others, but each can improve simultaneously.

Every time you are faced with one of these challenges, you choose how you think about it. Your choice may be a small one only you know, but isn’t it all about what type of person you can become? Make that choice to improve every chance you get.

There will be moments that you fail, there will be times when it is hard, but those times often will only serve as opportunities to reaffirm our desire to be a better person in whatever manner we desire.

Each of us has a talent inside that will allow us to be better.

“Everything is practice.”- Pele

“Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day.”- Brian Tracy

“It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”- Robert Kennedy

“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn

 

I am grateful for the ability to improve every day.

 

 

Suspending Your Belief

There is a skeptic in everyone. The voice inside questions the validity of everything and the intentions of everyone. It is natural to doubt things because we protect ourselves from avoidable forms of suffering. There are times it is appropriate to have questions about something. Otherwise, people would continually take advantage of you. But like everything, there is a balance you have to strike in life, to selectively suspend your disbelief to allow new ideas to reach you. Think of the great things you might experience if you allowed just a little bit of change into your consciousness.

We Suspend Belief All the Time

One of the great things about this process is we have a lot of practice at suspending belief. Any time you watch a movie or show on Netflix, you suspend belief. You know the situations you are seeing are not happening in reality and that the people you are watching are only pretending to be the characters you are viewing.

Yet, people are still moved to tears by the action that unfolds. People allow their emotions to rise and fall with the characters’ plight on the screen. A viewer can sympathize and empathize with a fictional character, suspending your belief in the experience. How many people have seen a good movie and think that a pleasant experience? This is a skill I am encouraging you to develop in other areas of your life.

Growth Comes With New Ideas

I often break life down into simple things for me to be able to understand my journey better. When it comes to development, you go one of two ways, growth and getting better or stagnation and getting worse. There are very few times we are sitting in neutral and staying precisely the same. Growth can happen naturally, like when you are a child, all you have to do is wait for time to work its magic, and a person physically transforms throughout their life.

Intellectually it is not that simple. Without new input, we are sentenced to experience the same old things. Suspending belief for a short time to allow further information to enter your intellect will allow you to evaluate things rationally. Each piece of data can be weighed and measured, and one can choose to use it or not. Either way, they understand it, and there will be natural growth in that understanding.

Stubborn

I have often been accused of being stubborn about my beliefs in life. People like to hang onto the known because it gives them a false sense of security. If the recent pandemic has taught me anything, we have no idea what security is. Everything you know can be wiped away in an instant. It is up to us to learn what information is valuable and what is not.

Growth can result from any suffering if we allow for the addition of new information, new experiences, and unique points of view. I know not one person who has experienced no change over the past two months. It has been stressful for many, looking outside and seeing danger everywhere, and some have found strength. If I can handle this, then I can take anything. Facing this new situation with only the past paradigms will lead to a frightening and frustrating experience. Allow further information in, then decide for yourself what makes sense. Let your heart determine what actions are right for you and whatnot.

Conformity Is Limiting

The choice to avoid new information or, worse, only to accept the point of view of someone else (the media, the government) leaves you with nothing but limitations. There is a comfort in conformity, everyone agreeing on a mode of action. Anything different is frowned upon or even outlawed, but we will get the answer to cure the problems we face through nonconformists. It won’t come through hanging onto the past. It won’t come through judgment, ridicule, or treating people poorly.

I have seen many efforts to force conformity on everybody since mid-March. Many celebrities and government officials urge people to stay home, social distance, wash their hands, and wear a mask. I am sure there is value in all of these things, but we don’t have enough information to know how this will all play out. Unfortunately, that will never happen until this is all over, and then we can say what should have happened, which didn’t. Anyone who claims to know what will happen is fooling themselves.

Growth Recipe

I am for letting people operate at their level of comfort. If the current circumstance frightens you so much, being in public makes you nervous, then stay home and avoid all of this whenever necessary. If you have a higher level of comfort, get out and see what the world is doing. It has been my experience. Life is full of challenges, illness, uncomfortable moments, and fear. Overcoming them is a part of growth, and following the crowd blindly is a recipe for disaster.

Today, try to suspend your belief and allow something new to filter into your reality for just a short time. Try to challenge the paradigms you are living through and see if a method makes no sense. You may find you were right all along, and learning this is also growing. If you do the same things you always have done, think the thoughts you have ever felt, and believe what you have always accepted without question, it leads to stagnation. Any belief we hold without question will end up limiting you. You may have the correct answer for everybody if you suspend your belief for a second and allow a new breeze of thought to blow through your mind.

“It is not disbelief that is dangerous to our society; it is belief.”-  George Bernard Shaw

“It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.”-  Lionel Trilling

“The more you can create that magic bubble, that suspension of disbelief, for a while, the better.” – Edward Norton

“I guess love is the real suspension of disbelief.” – Melissa Bank

 

Perception

Our perception of situations will dictate all of our actions and the emotions we feel in any case. We don’t often pay attention to that any situation provides perceptions in any number of different ways.  Each viewpoint brings other emotions, a different thought process, and a different reality to the perceiver.  So how you perceive things in your mind will directly affect the fact that you experience.  So it is essential to understand your perception is one of the keys to consciousness and creation.  Look at your thoughts, words, and actions in any situation and see if you perceive it negatively or positively. You do have a choice because perception is an ongoing process of cause and effect.

Negative Perception

Our perception is a direct result of our thought process. When a situation occurs, we immediately provide a thought to it, leading to emotion. That emotion leads to chemicals released into the brain and neural pathways created.  If your view is directly about fear, lack, anger, judgment, or any other negative emotion, your brain is hardwiring to build a negative perception of this experience.  Usually, it seems there is a fear of being hurt at some level and that self-preservation drives our natural comprehension. But only if you don’t take control.

Turning around negative perceptions is as simple as changing your mind.  Easy to say, challenging to do, but anyone can accomplish this if they try.  The key is to be in touch with your emotions. People don’t feel angry, threatened, sad, happy, joyous, or anything else for no reason. There is always a catalyst event that causes emotion.  Look at the reason you are feeling the way you are. It is still the thought you attach to in any situation. Changing your thoughts is a conscious process.

Feel a negative emotion welling up. Stop! Just for a second and recognize the catalyst for negative perception. It is a replay of some experience. Can you let it go? Situations contain the charge of negativity or positivity based on our understanding alone.  Can you look at the circumstances and release the negative and relax into a more positive emotion.  Peace, love, kindness, gratitude, excitement, or hope are good examples of positive emotions.

Positive Perceptions

Once you recognize the negative and replace it with positive alternatives, your neural pathways will be built, which reflect this.  Many people seem to spend much of their lives focused on the negative of everything they see. Fighting with people for no other reason than to prove they are right.  Right and wrong is only one’s perception and letting go of the emotions around what other people think differently from you is healthy and necessary to build your consciousness.

No matter how intelligent you feel you are or how much you think you understand the world, you have little control over the perceptions of others. We are all playing the same game, but we most likely are at different locations on the board.  Perceive others with kindness and understanding rather than judgment. If you let someone else dictate your emotions, you lose your power. Keep your potential by controlling how you perceive the experiences in your life — kindness, hope, caring, understanding, acceptance, gratitude, and love.

You do You

People seem to invest a lot of time to attempt to control the perception that others have of them. This view creates through social media; people show the best sides and create an image they want you to perceive. It seems like we would do a lot better in the world by just being ourselves and letting everyone else be who they are.  Social media is addictive because it allows you to both be a voyeur into the lives of others and to create snap judgments about others.

Worry about yourself because that is the only person you can control. Your experiences and your thoughts about them are a single perception that matters.  Spending time in judgment is negative and limits your ability to create positively. Make choices that honor you, that you are proud of and can stand behind.  There is no need to force your beliefs on another because it doesn’t matter what they think. That is their perception. Let them grow in their way.  Focus on your perception, and it starts with your thoughts, words, and actions. 

“It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope.” Ursula K. Le Guin

“The difference between ordinary people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.”   John C. Maxwell

Perception-the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.

 

Goodbye

Goodbye-used to express good wishes when parting.

Life is a non-stop stream of hellos and goodbyes. The greetings are pretty easy to manage, like a breeze blowing into your life, bringing hope and understanding to all. The goodbyes can be devastating because you recognize the promise of a situation, making the experience more enjoyable than you no longer have. Saying goodbye provides lasting, sharp, and painful moments.

We all move through life changes; to change is life, and to live, we must accept it. Saying goodbye can be a change you never want to make because the presence of a person has been so positive. You can’t imagine your life without them.  It should be the hope of all people to leave an emptiness in their absence, which is challenging to fill.   Even though you may be moving on toward better things, you are still going behind people who mean a lot to you behind.  It is essential to be conscious of the good wishes you want to leave behind for those who have touched your life.  It all starts with an awareness of the thoughts you think of others, the words you speak to them, and your actions to show them today.

See You Soon

There are different types of goodbyes. There are the ones that are permanent and those that are just temporary for a time. The problem is that we often don’t know which is which. When it comes to the people I care about, I always say see you soon or see you later because that is my hope. Sometimes in life, you don’t get a chance to say goodbye, and it is too late, and you wish that just for one second, you could expect someone well on their journey. If only to let them know what an impact they had on your life and that you care about them. Unfortunately, you will never know if this goodbye is for the moment or forever. Treat them all like it is forever because if it is, everyone will know where they stand and the impact they have had on you. There is no regret in honesty.

Leaving where you work can be a challenging thing because, lots of times, our identity is wrapped up in what we do. You can lose your sense of self when you leave a job.  That is OK. Eventually, it provides a good learning experience that you are not your job.  The people you work with have made your situation bearable, and if you are a caring person, you will miss the influence they had on your life.  The halls of your life are lined with the echoes of their laughter and memories of their smiles.  Say see you soon and remember those good things, they will always travel with you and when you need them you remember.

Is it Forever?

That is a long time, but life is fleeting, and we will not be experiencing it forever.  All things have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Life is this way too.  The end doesn’t have to be sad. It just has to be recognized.  When I was a young man, I avoided the whole situation of saying goodbye. If I never mentioned it and never talked about it, it wouldn’t exist. But of course,  that behavior didn’t stop anything.  Enjoy the people who make your life better while you are with them.  What would you say if it was the last time you saw them?

Be honest with people and tell them what you feel.  It is the best medicine for you and others. People leave our lives, and we are sad, and sometimes we cry. We don’t call for them, moving on to something else. We cry for ourselves because our lives are a little less vibrant without their colors being painted on your canvas anymore.  There is an emptiness. But that is a good thing because it means that you had a wonderful person in your life, like looking at an empty room once full of joy but now dormant and empty. The current condition does not cancel the old thoughts.

In your Heart and Mind

Even after people have died and left this show forever, when you think of them, for an instant, they are still here and with you. Their influence stays, and as long as you are alive. They are influenced by you as well. Even if they don’t admit it. The same is true as you leave the lives of others because you moved or moved on.  The influence of the people you care about is there whenever you think of it. So think of it and remember the right things.

Other people make our lives what they are. Happy, sad, angry, lonely, complete, or any other way you can describe life. Appreciate the ones that make your life better and tell them often. The same can be said with the circumstances you experience. Enjoy the great things, and the things you don’t like will fade into the background of your memory. There are always going to be valuable diamonds you carry with you from all experiences in life. Sometimes they are tiny, but they still exist. Cherish these positives and let the negative go, only taking lessons with you.

As you look at your life, seeing the times you have had to say goodbye. Evaluate what you have learned, what and who you miss, and make sure that you take advantage of every chance not to say goodbye but to thank you.  Thank the people who have shaped your life better in any small or big way.  It all begins with a focus on your thoughts about the absence of others, the words we use to speak to and about them, and the actions we take because of these goodbyes.  Thank you to all the people who have made my life a great and exciting experience. See you soon!

“It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad, and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.” Ernie Harwell

“Life is made up of meetings and partings; that is the way of it.” ~ Charles Dickens

“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.” -E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web)

“Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.” -Richard Bach

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” -A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)

 

Reading For Life

Positive Thought Project

Read~  look at and comprehend the meaning of (written or printed matter) by mentally interpreting the characters or symbols it is composed.

readAll of us are given a mind, and it is up to us and the choices we make to expand the abilities of this tool, or we let it wilt away over time.  The ability to read is probably the most powerful skill a person can master. Not only does it improve your imagination and comprehension, but you also can learn anything at all a book can provide to you.  This relationship to information is far more personal than learning through listening or watching. Reading is an all-encompassing experience with the knowledge that you are dealing with.  To take advantage of this, all you have to do is make an effort to find sources with the information you are interested in and read it.  It all begins with a conscious awareness of making an effort to read each day. To read becomes a focus in your thoughts, words, and actions that will change your life for the better. (video)

Exercise for the Brain

Of all the skills I have amassed in life, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be literate at some level since I was very young.  Books were a way to entertain and stir my imagination, but the real power of reading and books is that they allow your mind to become better, digest, and become one with the readinformation you read.  It is a close and personal relationship that you develop with books you read, and the thoughts they provoke become a part of you.  There is no more significant life changer that I have found.

Reading allows your mind to develop like a finely tuned athlete.  The more you work, the more it can digest and the better you retain information.  That is how it worked for me. So even if it is a brief period, spend some time every day reading.  It can be just for a couple of minutes, but do it and allow the reading process to work inside your mind. The person who will benefit is you and build your abilities to think and achieve in the world.

Expanded Minds Never Shrink

Once you choose to read and learn, there is no going back. Once a new idea is introduced, the mind expands. It weighs the merits, values, and read beliefs involved in the concept.  What can we take from this? Is this true? How does this jibe with previous experience?  What does this explain?  This process is always happening to the person who reads thought-provoking works.  Find books that make you think, read them and let the magic happen.  At first, it can be challenging to digest new information that changes your paradigms.  We are creatures of habit, and change can be difficult even for the most enlightened. But change defines life, and I choose life.

Once a mind starts to grow and honestly evaluate information, a person has the tools to do more, think more, and become more in life. Enjoying life is a process that comes with natural growth, and reading enhances that. The expanded mind is never going to shrink again. Once you have seen the light, you will not move back into the darkness.  Read today, read tomorrow and read every day.

Diet of Reading is Important

Different books are going to resonate with other people, just like people enjoy different types of music. But remember that the kind of books you read is going to affect the development of your brain.  If you eat nothing but readjunk food, you can live, but you won’t be as healthy as you could be. The same is true of books. Reading works of low thought and little value will help your imagination, but you can’t expect to develop to your best if you are not feeding your mind a well-balanced, healthy diet of words.

It starts with what you are interested in and what you want to accomplish. Whatever that is, there is a book with insight into how to complete a task, create a particular business, or improve skill; You can find it all in a book.  If you choose to spend your time reading cheap romance novels or negative stories fraught with violence, then this will impact your life that way.  The quality of the ingredients used will dictate the value of and the enjoyment of the meal.

So be conscious today and aware of making time to read and reading essential things which will expand your mind and increase your abilities. It is all out there for you to do. You just have to make an effort. It all starts with your thoughts, words, and actions today!!

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” ― Oscar Wilde.

“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” —Malorie Blackman.

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” —Joseph Addison

“Reading—the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay.” —William Styron

“A book is a dream you hold in your hands.” —Neil Gaiman

 

Question

Question everything and only accept those things question everythingthat prove true. How do we learn? There are several different ways that we can infuse our minds and souls with new ideas and knowledge.  However, each individual needs to determine the validity of each morsel of information for themselves, regardless of the source that is providing it.  I don’t believe anything except after individual investigation and introspection have proven it to be so. Finding what is true for you is vital to living an honest and true life. What beliefs you accept will determine your reality.

Don’t Be a Sheep

Just because a message comes to you from an authority figure, that doesn’t make it true.  When we buddhaaccept these messages from teachers, leaders, parents, politicians, or any other authority figure without questioning and/or investigating, we are diminishing ourselves and our own individuality.

That doesn’t mean that all you have been told is untrue. It means that knowledge is a quest for understanding discovered through personal investigation and research. Each idea can be confirmed or disregarded on the merit that you discover it to possess. Each of us owes it to our intelligence to question and research all ideas and theories to establish their truth for us.

Too many people accept ideas automatically from educational programs or religious doctrine. Without investigation and proof of the truth of something, it is just empty words.

Test, Investigate, Prove

Don’t allow other people to cheapen your existence question-everything-163x300and value to the world by accepting ideas without properly questioning them first. Without setting out to provide yourself with the proof of the existence of something or the validity of an idea, it should be considered invalid.

The alternative to this is to accept the truth of something blindly and without question. Once you believe that something is true, it will affect you and influence your life. Don’t you owe it to yourself and those you will influence to be as positive about information as you can? We are not designed to question, but it is through questioning that all proof is discovered.  Look into your heart, mind, and body for the actual truth of things.

Destiny in Truth

It is our destiny on our journey to choose our own path. That is a path in movement as well as in thought. Each idea that we know is true and valid will affect all things that come into our lives. So think, test, prove and grow in your own way. Listening to all, but believing only those things that are proven true. That is the way of your own individual path.

 

Getting Better

Are you getting better or worse?

ImproveIn every moment of your existence, you are getting better, or you are getting worse.  Rarely does an individual linger on the same level? Your abilities, talents, and focus fluctuate like the stock market. The center of your consciousness will determine the determining factor of which way your stock is going. The things you place your thoughts, words, and actions on and about will assess your ability to achieve and value those things you accomplish. Look at where you are and what you are doing and ask the simple question: Is this making me better or worse?

Your Mind is Yours

When it comes to your thoughts, nobody controls them except for you. However, you have to be aware of what you are thinking and why you are thinking. We are all creatures of input. From the time we are born, we are looking for information that will allow us to thrive and enjoy life.  Sometimes we get off track and let our thoughts drift to a focus on things improvethat do not make us better or honor us at all.  It is a simple list of the ideas that make a person better, and they are the thoughts that come from love. Gratitude, kindness, caring, acceptance, understanding, and the like will help you improve both your experience and the experience of those you interact with.

The thoughts to be avoided are all based on fear.  Gossip, judgment, hate, anger, selfishness, greed, and all of these types of ideas take you down the path of a weaker mind.  Your mind belongs to you, and what thoughts you choose to entertain is your decision alone. Taking responsibility for this is one of the first steps for mental improvement. Do not let the media, a teacher, a parent, a friend, or an institution make your choices of thought for you, or not improving will be the least of your worries. Be conscious of your options every moment, and you will be able to progress steadily to enjoying life more, and you will be able to help others as well. You can improve by being conscious about your thoughts every moment of every day.

You Only Have One Body

When we come into this life, we receive a body to go through this ride, and it seems that we are intent on abusing it until the day we die. How many people are killing themselves slowly with addictions, which also limit the improveenjoyment of life?  Smoking, drinking, abusing drugs, problems around food, and unrealistic body image problems are all ways we consciously or unconsciously need to improve.

Your body is a gift that, when you’re young, you take for granted. It does incredible things in movement, jumping, throwing, and running.  Yet, we seem intent on diminishing these skills from the start.  All addictions begin with a choice that something in you missing and can only fill it by adding something to us because we feel we are just not good enough.  Here is a secret that most people never hear. YOU are good enough. You are great, and no matter where you are today, you can improve and be a little bit better tomorrow.

If you have weight issues, do something to improve. Exercise, eat more consciously, or both. It is not easy, but anyone can do it. There are thousands of opportunities for life improvement, and they will only end the day you die.  Make the most of your opportunities to improve your body and your physical experience of life. Be conscious of your thoughts, words, and actions in all of your physical activities.  Are you getting better or getting worse?  It can seem like a mountain to climb, but you can’t undo 30 years of poor choices in an afternoon, it takes a continual focus, and that can happen. Improve your physical self today. Take a small step on your journey to enjoying life more.

We are All Connected

What is spirituality? I define it as how we look at life and what it means to have this human experience. Why are we here? There are many people much smarter than me who have come up with great answers for this. Unfortunately, each of us has to answer this question on our own. Improving your spirituality a matter of answering this question for yourself improveevery day.  How do your thoughts, words, and actions help others on their path? Or do you prohibit the development of others?  Your actions define the energy that you put into the world.

If you don’t believe it, look at your own experiences. If you spend time with someone who holds a negative view of the world and is always complaining, that negative charge can be felt and even transferred into your life. A person can do the same with a positive outlook. Their brighter outlook transfers into the lives of those they touch.  What type of energy are you giving to the world? I think that at its core, that is what spirituality boils down to in your life.  How you look at the world and your place in it.  Are other people out to hurt you or help you? Are you here to hurt others or help them.

Your conscious thoughts, words, and actions determine if you are getting better or getting worse in this area.  Choose to improve, and the world will improve as well.

Today you have a choice to improve and get better in all phases of your life or not. Nobody can control that choice unless you allow it, and in the end, when your life is slipping away, you will be the only one responsible for what you have done. Did you try to improve or allow other influences to determine what you did mentally, physically, and spiritually?

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too. ~ Paulo Coelho

Escaping

Many of us exist in prisons of our own making that stop us from expeiencing life fully
Many of us exist in prisons of our own making that stop us from experiencing life fully. Escape!

Escape-break free from confinement or control.

Are you living life in the way you really want? Do you say everything you would like to? Or do you hold back your real thoughts because of a fear what you really think will cause suffering for you? If you are not confident enough in your ideas to speak to them without fear, you are living in prison.  If you don’t do exactly what you want because you are afraid of what others will think, you are being confined. I believe that for much of my life, I have been in a detention cell of my own making, and it is time to organize a prison break. To escape the cage, we need to assess the limitations we are placing on ourselves honestly.  It begins by examining your thoughts, building your prison walls. The resulting emotions that punish or reward you. The words you speak to express and describe your situation And, of course, the actions you take to escape or remain in confinement.

The Choice of Fear

One of the greatest prisons I have experienced is the prison 2prison of fear. This is a large prison because it contains inmates from all over the world and of all social classes. Fear finds a way to grab hold of us wherever it can. There is no way to avoid it. There is something that we are afraid of and don’t want to experience. This fear can affect the behavior of everyone, and it positively has affected my life in negative ways. For many years I looked at many fears as common sense, but fear is the opposite choice of love. Without love, all of the positive things are removed from your experience.

It has become evident to me as I have grown older that each decision that I make is a constant choice between love (positive for us, growth, understanding, caring) or fear (worry, misunderstanding, judgment, or even hate).   Each thought that you entertain is going to lead you into a prison of expectation and attachment or toward a life of freedom and acceptance of yourself and your actions. That choice is up to you.

The prison of fear is like many others that we create ourselves in our existence. Self-made with no need for guards. Fear will keep you nestled snugly inside your cell at the appropriate time. Not realizing that you are being confined, and you will often feel like things are going just the way they should be. An excellent system for the warden! When you have the most in life, there is always the fear of losing it.

Your identity and accomplishments are exactly what society told you to aspire to.  There is no way that a person solidly bound to the ground can ever reach great heights. Fear will keep you from reaching, stretching, or looking for something new. The comfort zone is the home base of fear, and there is nothing new that will result from it. So either you will atrophy where you are, but more likely, you will shrink backward. Into your cell, comfortably watching mindless entertainment, and thinking very little. With little thought comes small growth, and without increase comes death.  I had met many people who had died long before their lives ended.  I am inspired not to be one of them. I look to escape that fate of fear and mediocrity.

Social Anxiety

There is an ailment that affects people called social anxiety. This is a prison that makes interacting social-anxietywith others a terrifying experience. I paid a visit to this prison, and it is an all-encompassing confinement experience.  To me, it was an unspoken fear about what other people might think about me. Thoughts are created in an active imagination to bind you where you are. In my case, I was surprised, in the end, to learn how little people thought of me at all.  This can keep you from

Hopefully one day we will all fly free.........
Hopefully, one day we will all fly free………

venturing out and experiencing all that life has to offer. New experiences that you might need to grow and become the best that you can be.

All of us have the danger of falling into a prison of our own making if we don’t continue to look for areas in which we need to grow.  Growth and new experiences always remind us about our ability to be free and to make choices that are ours alone and will lead to the path of our life.

The new meanings that we discover in relationships work or hobbies remind a person how good and joyous life can be if you embrace it.  Move out of your comfort zone just a little bit and see what treasures you will find. Plan your escape from whatever prison has you in its grips.  The key exists in your thoughts and mind.

Escape Today, Right Now

Looking at the limits I experience every day, it is evident most have been created by my number one enemy, my arch-villain. This person continually hurts and takes away my value,  myself.  I have chosen the limits in my life. The chains were created link by link in the thoughts I have in my mind.  Thoughts of fear, not being good enough, or loveable.  All of these were first created with good intentions of self-protection, but they grew little by little, each day. Almost imperceptibly, they succeeded, until walls were all around me.  Escape is difficult and treacherous. But flight is possible and necessary for growth and success in life.

I believe I can escape my confinements at this very moment, and that being the case, what can I do today that will lead me to growth outside of my comfort zone and the personal freedom that I am looking for?  It all starts with a close examination of my thoughts I am entertaining, the resulting emotions, the words I speak, and the actions I take today!  My escape begins within the walls of my mind.

“Escape loneliness whenever you can. Life is a game best played in pairs.”

“I feel like life is short, and it’s important to enjoy yourself and embrace whatever comes your way, whether it’s a challenging day or a great day, just welcome it with open arms. No matter who you are, you can’t escape challenges; they are part of life.”—- Miranda Kerr

“No one can live without relationship. You may withdraw into the mountains, become a monk, a sannyasi, wander off into the desert by yourself, but you are related. You cannot escape from that absolute fact. You cannot exist in isolation.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti

“No one can live without relationship. You may withdraw into the mountains, become a monk, a sannyasi, wander off into the desert by yourself, but you are related. You cannot escape from that absolute fact. You cannot exist in isolation.”– Jiddu Krishnamurti

“Anyone who looks or listens will experience the full measure of their truths–the sun’s faith in the sanctity of cycles, the rabbit’s dedication to the purity of the present moment, and the bird’s reminder that every soul is as free as it believes itself to be. I filled my mind with their wisdoms and carried the inspiration with me–down the pathway, past the guards, through the gates, and into my prison cell…”  – Rara

 

 

Learning Something New Every Day

Daily Positive Thought Project-  Learn Something New Every Day

Each of us has a responsibility to make ourselves the best person we can be. Learning is one of the best ways all people can improve themselves and become better.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to expand your mind. Using the internet there is a nearly unlimited resource of knowledge at your disposal. You can take a class from almost any institution in the world and many of these are free.  You also have all of the books of the world at your fingertips. That is a lot of knowledge and understanding that you can download at any moment.

With such a vast store of knowledge, it not out of the realm of possibility that your perspective on life will change with each new thing you learn.  This should challenge old beliefs that no longer serve you and bring you a broader understanding of the world.  The fear that grips our society can be lessened somewhat with a better understanding of those different from us. Learning provides this.

Keep a journal of all that you learn so that you can revisit it later.  It will take more than one read, or visit a piece of knowledge to allow it to become a permanent part of your intelligence.  Write down key facts or moving quotes so that you can get power from them later.

A little learning is a dangerous thing.” —Alexander Pope 

“Never mistake a single mistake with a final mistake.”      F. Scott Fitzgerald 

“A man who asks is a fool for five minutes. A man who never asks is a fool for life.” Chinese Proverb