Tag Archives: Learning

21

Balance

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When you break your life down and put all of your activities into a category, all things we do can be placed in the body, mind, or spirit group. Each of these areas makes up the three sides of your person and your life. It is the great challenge of living to learn to develop a balance between these three areas. Taking care of and strengthening your body in physical fitness through some healthy diet and exercise, continually improving your mind through education, and developing your soul through creative activities and the way you treat the world and its people, including yourself. When you look at your life at any point, the times you are close to achieving a balanced life in all three areas are the good times. Of course, life is continually throwing things at you to force you out of balance, so you have to learn more, develop your body differently, or change your perspective on your soul. It is like standing on a skateboard while life is throwing rocks at you. Development is not an easy path but one we are all on, even if we are not consciously aware of it.

Continual Search for Fitness

Fitness is a goal for everyone. Even though we live in a society that seems determined to undermine any of our health-related goals, all people have an inner desire to be in shape. Most wish it would happen magically by taking a pill, but we all know that is not the way it works. Although we all have the desire to be in shape, we see it as stern and distant. When you are overweight, it is straightforward to give up. But don’t! A life of better physical fitness is simple to accomplish, but of course, it is not easy. Put a consistent exercise program in your life and learn to eat a healthier and more proportionally appropriate diet.

Exercise doesn’t have to involve a gym, an expensive online program, or even cost you any money at all. It can be as simple as walking for about 30 minutes a day, five times a week. You can lift weights, do yoga, run, bike, row, paddle, swim, hike, or any other thing getting your body off the couch and moving around. A consistent commitment to physical activity will be the first step in living at a healthy weight. Of course, there are benefits to your entire body. Diet is much the same. To me, portion control is critical. Don’t eat for any other reason than when you are hungry. Eat less food that is processed and more that is natural. It can be as simple as eating more fruits and vegetables. It isn’t complicated; your body will do what you program it to do and be as large or as small as you train it to be. Anyone can do it. A healthy body is a base for a healthy life because this is where your mind and soul reside.

Your Greatest Weapon

The ability to think is the most excellent tool to create any life we choose. Like a computer, the mind creates a program to guide your life. It is estimated we think somewhere around 70,000 thoughts a day. That is amazing until you realize that only between 3-5% of those thoughts are original, and the rest are all repeats, the same thing we think every day. If you look at your life, are there things you do every day without real thought? A routine you follow or a habit you have that you follow almost unconsciously? We all do because routines are great tools to allow us to accomplish many of our daily tasks. I know my workouts would not be possible without routines. Original thought is the key to mental growth, and we are responsible for this.

Changing your thoughts and developing your mind happens by introducing new information into your experience and reading new books, watching educational videos, and having conversations with people allow you to build your brain. It is estimated the bulk of our mental programming took place before we were seven years old as we tried to figure out how the world works and how we fit in it. Too often, limiting beliefs about money, love, and health were developed then and continue to rule our lives now even though they are not valid. We should evaluate the ideas we follow and how they affect our self-esteem and belief in ourselves. All opinions can change with a bit of effort, and the power of this is you can accomplish the things you always dreamed of doing.

Living from Inside Out

Too often, I have looked for happiness and fulfillment from things on the outside. A relationship, a success in my professional life, how someone treated me, or how life’s circumstances were playing out. The problem with this is that when you look to things and people outside of yourself for happiness, you are at the mercy of those things. You have given all of your power away to something you have no control over. The good news is that it is a minor adjustment to start looking inward for the things that will give your life meaning and bring you a life of joy and enjoyment.

Inside each of us is a creator. Bringing something into the realm of the physical world, which once only existed in your mind, is a magical thing. Some write, paint, draw, and create artwork out of scrap metal; whatever it is you feel called to make, do that. Not for recognition or money, but to express the inner light and love you carry inside. Creativity will bring you home to who you are and allow you to understand your soul’s calling, understand yourself, and hopefully find some form of self-love. We are not encouraged to seek our soul song because it often contradicts the script we learn we should be following. Get an education, get a job, have a family, work for 30 years, retire, and then wait to die. Life is more than this, and we are each more than this. Accept who you are and know your inside greatness, and the outside expectations will matter much less.

How is Your Triangle?

Now it is up to you to look at your life and see where your triangle of body, mind, and spirit is today. It is alright if you are not where you ideally want to be because we are all on a journey. Each of us is moving toward something. I have heard it said we are either in a crisis, coming out of trouble, or moving toward crisis all the time. Through all of these journeys lie the opportunities to develop ourselves and learn about the things we love to do and the ideas which make us happy. No two people are the same, and it is in these differences we find the things only we can bring to the world. Yet, we are all connected in our journey as we all seek the same things in life. To enjoy the experience of living aims to balance your body, mind, and spirit. It is a constant journey to find the balance which will bring us fulfillment. No two people are going to have the same ratio of body, mind, and spirit. But we all gain equal value in the pursuit of it. Enjoy the ride.

“The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you’ve lost it.” Anonymous

“You can maintain a work-life balance even while pursuing careers.” Chanda Kochhar

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” Dolly Parton

“It is better to rise from life as from a banquet – neither thirsty nor drunken.” Aristotle

 

21

Seperation

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What invisible walls separate you from others?
What invisible walls separate you from others?

Many problems come from the illusion of separation that people have been taught throughout life. Almost from birth, we are introduced to group people and label them based on arbitrary measures. Separation by race, religion, region, economics, or any other action is designed to create an identity, but they only build walls between people. Security is a big reason for this. Where you fit in, you are safe, but later it can be attached to a person’s self-worth and value.  We are not separate; we are connected. The truth is that we are far more connected than we are different. Eliminate the separations between us, and the world will be a much more functional place.

Keep Learning and Growing

The more you learn and understand people, the more difficult it is to 428942_418665911504100_1480841243_nput a fence between you. At our core, we are all the same, and we have a soul, emotions, thoughts, and the capacity to love. Each person is blessed with the same essential functions. In this manner, we are all identical and connected.

Circumstances are different, and it is the circumstances that we tend to focus on. Fear makes people look for differences to make themselves feel more secure, self-assured, or successful. All of this is an illusion. Your success or failure is determined by your thoughts, actions, and perseverance in life. The external factors are arbitrary and have nothing to do with life’s joys or sorrows. We are connected in our humanity, wholly and unquestionably.

Behavior Alone Defines You

It is your behavior that is going to define who you are to yourself and the wayne-dyer-quoteworld. Your words can spin many stories, but your actions tell the truth of what you believe. If you look at the world as separate and look down on people because of broad labels, that shows a lack of growth. Racism is one of these things. Suppose a person judges another based on skin color that clearly defines him and nobody else.  People use the perception of separation to manipulate behavior.

The same can be said for political labels, nationalistic or geographic separations. All of the barriers that we create to separate are built on fear and fear alone. Watch the national media, really watch them. Their message is based almost solely on fear. This message is given to control you. The way you think and the actions of our leaders that you will accept. Listen and learn. Messages of love are accurate; statements of fear are false. Listen to the message.

Fear or Love

Like many things in life, separation comes down to a simple choice between love and fear. Love expands, accepts, understands, and makes f5d22fc753c32bd8a5d6c3491f012f2bthings better, while fear does the opposite, retracts, rejects, judges, and makes things worse. As individuals, we are responsible for our thoughts and our personal growth throughout life. You are not done, at 22 when you graduate college. Learning and growth are lifelong duties.

Some look at the world and see a collection of frightening problems, but others look at the same place and see the beautiful possibilities. Which type of person are you? We are all in this together, and we can spend our time fighting and fretting over our perceived differences. Or we can spend the short time we have in life enjoying our experience and erring on the side of love.

 

 

21

Learning Mindset

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“I just can’t do the math!” “I don’t learn very easily.” “I can’t pay attention long enough to learn.” 

If you have ever entertained any of these limiting beliefs before then, I am here today to dispel the myths of these thoughts, even though I have never met you or seen your academic ability before. Here is the secret we were never taught in our education system. You are capable of learning anything. Anything at all.  Now, will you learn at a different pace? In your way? Maybe but when you have been force-fed information in one accepted method, it isn’t easy to recognize your abilities.  Too many have been fed messages of not being good enough or right in the way they think, and soon they stop trying and accept they will not be successful at learning certain things. This is a lie, and it is wrong. You can know anything, and here is why.

Working The Brain Cells

The human mind is a great tool. We each have one, but it is up to us to determine what information is essential and something we want to learn and what is not. Each decision we make will drive our experience in learning and, more importantly, our learning attitude.  Here are some facts. When you start to learn something new, it can be an initial struggle because you have to build the connections in your mind called dendrites, allowing the information to process and the activities to occur. That is what learning is.

Every time you learn something new, your brain is being reshaped. This process is called neuroplasticity.  Where the unique experiences you have become a part of your basic biology. Meaning your brain develops neurons that provide paths to understanding things and doing things. Dendrites are fibrous extensions from neurons that grow as a lesson is learned. Every healthy person can do this in all areas of learning. The only thing that stops it is a limiting belief of some sort. Something you have agreed to because of circumstance or experience in your life.

The more you experience something in reality through practice or mental visualization, the more you create a neural pathway that allows the neural transmitters to move through a synapse into the dendrites. This process is the way your brain learns, grows, and changes. Learning new things expands your mind.  A lack of activity will atrophy a reason and weaken these firing synapses.

Belief Is The Catalyst

Since we all have this ability to learn anything, the only thing that stops us is our own accepted thoughts about anything. Real learning is not easy, meaning there will be some failures as you figure it out and your brain starts to build the synapses you need.  It is OK, and in fact, will allow you to make stronger connections as your mind takes the lessons learned and adds them to the process. This goes for everything from a physical skill like shooting a basketball to a mental gift like calculus.

Our mental ability to believe we can understand whatever it is we are setting out to learn will determine our success in that endeavor. Or it will determine our failure.  That could be seen as a lot of pressure, but I prefer to look at it as the ultimate personal power. We are all responsible for ourselves, what we learn, and how we apply that to our lives. So be optimistic about your abilities, and your success will be attainable.

Pruning the Mind

When you do not use a thought or a neural cluster, the brain will take neurons away from that cluster and use them elsewhere.  So the thoughts you choose are critical. For example, I was a very ardent baseball player when I was a youth, and my brain created a lot of neural clusters designed for me to hit, catch, and

Just like pruning a bush, your mind prunes its synapses as you sleep. So what you focus on, you keep.

throw easily. But over the years, I do not do those things, and the brain has found a better use for those neurons.

I tried to play some whiffle ball once quickly and was extremely frustrated at the foreign feel of hitting. But, with a bit of practice, the good news is that you can rebuild the neural pathways and much quicker.  That is where the phrase, “Just like riding a bike,” comes into play. You will quickly remember and rebuild those skills.

Pruning takes place at night when you are asleep, and this is when your mind determines which pathways need to be strengthened and which ones can be forgotten.  How do they make this choice? They don’t you do, by your thoughts, actions, and emotions.  These things show the mind what is important to you and held in your focus. It will treat the fertile garden of your mind just as you prioritize it.  Learning to visualize and use your imagination can control the pruning and build the neural pathways you want.  That is the power and responsibility we all have in our lives, right now today!

“There is nothing I can’t learn!” Say it with conviction. You will feel the confidence build back in you.

To believe anything else is like poison to the mind!!

21

New Tricks

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doggieWe all know the old saying about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks, but I am here to tell you that an old dog may, in fact, be taught new tricks, sometimes the method of the lesson need to change, but the lessons can be learned. Sometimes it takes a painful experience and others just an open mind, but this old dog has learned many new tricks, and I continue to learn them every day. With each new morsel of knowledge, there is excitement for some new understanding and some regret for not figuring these things out a lot earlier in life. But we are all developing and need to be patient with ourselves and our abilities.  To learn is one of the great things about being a human being living free on the face of the Earth.

Learning is your responsibility.

Learning new things and taking in fresh information is one of the parts of living life that make it interesting. Show me canstock22929502the person who thinks he knows it all, and I will show you a person with no clue about life.

Each day, there are new things to think about, learn about and do that there is no way one person could ever complete, learn or participate in all of the learning opportunities present themselves. The only thing stopping one person from having more knowledge today than they had yesterday is their own mental limit on that desire. Choosing not to practice home learning.

The curiosity that we all innately experience is usually enough to push us in the direction of learning something new.  All you need to do is have thought and expose yourself to the ideas and experiences around that thought. The natural growth of the mind will take over from there, and personal growth will inevitably occur.

New Ideas Are Everywhere

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Follow Your Passion!

If you are looking for a new idea, all you have to do is meet a new person, open a new book, read a news article online, or stop at a location you have never been to before.

Look at things, and observe their attributes. What questions come to mind?  Being inquisitive is the fuel that will lead you to search for answers.  It is the fire to overcome your ignorance and comfort and reach out to new people and investigate new thoughts.

It doesn’t mean you disregard everything you have ever known or done, there are great building blocks in everyone and everything, but it does mean that you shouldn’t be afraid to question what you know and look to test that knowledge.  Don’t be afraid to grow, and it is what you were meant to do.

Seek Your Purpose in Life

What direction should your inquisitiveness lead you? In the direction that excites you.  I think we all have an internal tracking device inside to help guide us toward the things that keytolifelonglearning1make us happy.

If you see something and you are excited about it, that is a loud calling card for you to pursue.  In some form or fashion, you should learn about that thing.  Passion is nothing more than high-octane fuel for your ability to learn. If it is passionate about creating with wood, then create with wood.  If it is painting, then learn to paint.

If writing is your passion, then write and don’t care what anyone thinks about the thoughts you create.  Do what you are passionate about, and you will not only be successful, but you will enjoy life a lot more too. Seek your purpose in life at every opportunity.

You’re The Best Around, Push Yourself

This can be the most difficult thing to do because as we grow older, we become settled in our ways.  The comfort of routine takes over our lives until we get to the point you rely on the

Learn Something new, and you will become a new person.
Learn Something New, and you will become a new person.

Consistency to have life make sense.

To push yourself, you are going to have to step out of your routine.  No matter how old you are, it is possible to change your course, try something new, drive in a new direction, or just be yourself.

The limits of your ability are certainly never going to be tested if you follow the safe and well-trodden path that routine actions provide.  Step out of it, try new things, travel, meditate, read books of philosophy!  Try yoga!  Push yourself to go to places in the world and your mind that you never dreamed existed.

Learn, Learn, Learn

Learning is a life long advernture!
Learning is a lifelong adventure!

There is no way that I can express in words the excitement that learning something totally new can provide.  There is a question in your mind; you search for an answer, that question eventually will have an answer.

Then it will be replaced by another question.  Don’t ever stop answering those questions. Learn with all that you have.  You will never know everything, but if you stop looking, death will not be far away.

Learn what you can, discuss it with who will listen, and ask those who have more knowledge.  Using this model, there is absolutely nothing you can’t learn and nothing you can’t accomplish.  

21

On Your Mind

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a-mind-is-a-terrrible-thing-to-waste-reallyEach of us is given a gift of a mind on the day we are born. People spend lives trying to develop it (or not) and build skills that help us experience success in many different phases of life. As we learn all sorts of things,  from the rudimentary activities of functioning to the most complex ideas, our mind helps us develop goals and make the plans that allow us to make grand ideas a reality.  Our brain is our best friend and most valuable tool. It is designed to learn and grow and has a nearly limitless capacity to accomplish nearly anything you desire.  There are some simple things that we can do to enhance the process and avoid destroying the potential that our valuable brain possesses. Improving your mind is a full-time job.

Don’t Do Drugs

brain-on-drugsThis seems to be a “no-brainer,” but apparently, many people still find an acceptable escape from their problems or look for simple entertainment. Whatever the reason a person chooses to partake in the use of drugs, they choose to damage their most valuable asset. You may not be where you want to be in life, but the way to change that is to change what you believe, and your mind is the tool that can take you there. Drugs and alcohol are detriments to this process. Addiction is the home of the ego, and these well-ingrained habits are nearly impossible to stop, yet it is possible, and when you do it, your brain (or what is left of it) will be there to help you. When you stop these bad habits, you are going to be improving your mind.

Feed Your Brain

Each person has a brain that likes to learn. You may not think so as you remember your experience in the public school system, but that is not an indicator of your joy of learning but rather an indictment of the rigidity and lack of options provided by schools in our world today.  We all like to learn. We all learn differently.  To use a tool well, you need to start to understand it.

Much like a mechanic knows the workings of an engine, we should all learn something about the thoughts our brain is producing and how to control them. Some of the basics are that our brain has different parts, how many are really up for debate, and depends on who is talking. It is agreed that there is a conscious mind which is the part we have direct control over, and there is a subconscious mind working in the background all the time, helping us react and remember how to perform rudimentary tasks.

The subconscious is responsible for most of our choices, and if you let it run by itself, it will make choices based on your experience and how much pain one has felt in the past. The conditioning in the subconscious can be affected by the conscious mind with a little work. How much is up to each individual, and how much are they committed to improving their mind?

R.A.S. Improving Your Mind

Our brain has a mechanism called the reticular activating system, which helps us filter information based on what is important to us.  We are bombarded with somewhere around 2 million bytes of rasinformation at any one time and can only understand and process about 147.  That means that much of our “reality” is being ignored. The RAS works through the context of the subconscious mind, so what we hold in our mind is relevant to our interests.

If you can change your interest, your experience changes. Improving your mind is a process of becoming aware of the control you have with a concentrated, focused interest in something.  Using your Reticular Activating System to notice the things you want in life will allow you to create a life that is more of what you desire.  If you are unhappy with things, try adjusting your focus and seeing how much your life changes.

If you spend your time focused on fear and worry, then you will find more things to fear and be worried about.  If you focus on solutions, then you will find things that provide solutions.  Your life experience will follow your focus. Where that focus is directed is controlled by each of us.

We are all given the gift of a brain that can help us achieve our goals and live the life we would like to live. It makes sense that we take care of this valuable treasure by any means necessary. All of our decisions will impact the function of the mind and, through that, how much we are capable of achieving. So it is conceivable that you can achieve anything that you want if your mind is healthy and you are using it the right way. Improving your mind is a full-time job and needs our full attention.

 

21

Getting Better

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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

21

Be a Thinker

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thinkOne of the things that all people can do is think. Some of us do a better job than others at this skill, but we all create thousands of thoughts each day. In all of this thought creation, it is fun to look at how the brain works. We can only hold one thought in our minds at a time. The tenor of that thought will affect us through a chemical reaction in the brain, so how you think can affect your health and quality of life.

Subconscious Workings When You Think

Most of us go through life thinking that we have control over our lives and the thinkthoughts we think, yet it is estimated that somewhere between 95-99% of our thoughts come from the subconscious mind and are automated responses to well-rehearsed stimuli. This is great in some ways because there are things we do like eating, walking, talking, etc., which would make life difficult if you had to relearn these tasks daily.  The problem comes when other ideas are accepted as true that limit your life abilities or your enjoyment of life.  Most of this programming is done to the subconscious brain during the first 12 years of life. That makes sense as our brains try to figure out the best way to manage our way through relationships, education, expectations, family, and all of the other things that life presents.

Think About Limiting Beliefs

thinkThe limiting beliefs become a part of our programming and lead to our minds telling us what is possible. When we set a bigger goal, our subconscious mind will come up with an attack of negative self-talk. Which makes the goal seem impossible for us to achieve.

We are indeed our own worse enemy in this case.  We need to learn to put our foot down and refuse to listen to this talk. It is time to start to trust your talent and give your goal the attention and action it will take to achieve it. Our thoughts are the true measure of what we can accomplish. Our lives are a direct reflection of the quality and depth of the things we think. Our ability to accomplish is only limited by the level of thinking we create. High or low, you are behind it all.

Feed your brain positive and positive will result, negative will result in negative.

 

7

My Magical Commute Time

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I gather knowledge every day to enjoy my life it is the process of learning new things I can apply to my life experience to understand how and why events and occurrences in my life affect me the way they do.  I have a burning desire to know why I feel and react as I do to other people and the things they do. Unfortunately I had a problem.  I had so little time for learning and thinking about constructive things. I currently work quite a bit and that takes up much of my daily allotted time.  Throw in a daily workout routine and there isn’t a lot of down time.  I  Also have writing to do daily, which is mostly a reflection of my thoughts. I needed to find a way to input new information to gain understand of, think about and write about ultimately.  My commute each way to work is about 35-40 minutes depending on traffic.  When I stopped using this time for thinking about the past to learning new things my life improved immensely.

The problem with Music

Unfortunately I needed permanent solutions and that takes more knowledge

From the moment I first got my license as a teenager, I enjoyed cruising down the road listening to music I liked, singing along and feeling free and happy on the open road. This developed into a habit I couldn’t break.  Most people are this way I think. Music is a great escape, it allows you to feel, think and remember.  I know music transports me to places in my past and reminds me of people and things in the past. And that is a nice thing once in awhile, but you don’t need to do that every day.

I found that my thoughts on my commute would turn to things that were gone and thoughts would arise about people and things from the past and with every thought is tied a corresponding emotion. I was continuously bringing emotions to the forefront which were not healthy to dwell on and I wondered why. I would hear a song and think of the mistakes I made in life and many days I would arrive at my destination with a negative mindset. No way to start your day for sure.  But then I started to learn.

Simple Thoughts, Big Results

One of my biggest challenges is to understand how this human experience is supposed to work.  I made the simple commitment to spend my commute time listening to something which had some sort of educational value to it. I honestly let the Universe decide most days what I am going to listen to and have not been disappointed. I have found learning breeds a positive frame of mind and it carries throughout my day.  As I contemplated the thoughts of many intelligent and insightful people, I know I have become more intelligent and insightful as well. It is a feeling of unlimited possibility.

Learning is only part of the equation because once you learn then you can’t help but take action to make your life a more enjoyable experience. When you know a better way to do something than you did before, it makes no sense not to change your ways and become more efficient and in many ways a better person. Knowledge is the great equalizer for all people, and the great thing about the world is we have access to a vast library of knowing material at the touch of our fingers. And transformation on a daily basis can happen. It has for me.

Thoughts are The Thing

How often do you contemplate the tenor and value of your thoughts? Where do they come from? What comes with them?  These are the very basic things that create your reality day to day.  We create about 70,000 thoughts per day and about 95% of them are the same thing we thought the day before and the day before that. Unoriginal thoughts on a loop which lead to a routine of behavior with no real consciousness driving it.  There of course is value in subconscious programming, we would have to learn how to drive, talk, tie our shoes, etc. every day without the ability but to be able to draw a line between these two is the thing.  Learning is a way to increase the number of conscious, new and creative thoughts you think every day.

Each time a new idea comes into your mind, you contemplate it and your consciousness grows and you will be forced to look at things in a different way and to gain understanding of the events of your past through this new lens of perspective.  That is a very good thing because to understand yourself, I think you need to gather as much knowledge as possible to be able to get comfortable with our lives.  We all have a set of likes and dislikes which drive our behavior.  To know why one feels the way they do gives you the power to control your emotions better and deal with the challenges life puts in your way much more constructively. Learn and grow!

Learn Something New Today

I share this story about learning on my magical commute because I want other people to be able to enjoy some of the same epiphanies I have had. Your interests and motivations may be different from mine but learning is a good thing and improving yourself and your knowledge base improves the world.  One person who is more enlightened will lead to a better life, a more positive attitude, and that will not only make your life better but the lives of all people you come in contact with better as well.  I challenge you to learn something new today and every day for the rest of your life.  Become more conscious in your thinking and try to understand yourself and in that search you will understand others a bit better as well.  Life is a short commute when you think about it , and learning provides more value to you.

Some of he things I learned about this week:

Journalling as a Tool for Success

Neurohacking: Rewiring your Brain 

The Path To Awakening Yourself | Dr. Shefali Tsabary

How to Get Beyond Yourself to Create Your Own Destiny | Dr. Joe Dispenza

Jim Rohn – FOCUS ON ONE THING (Jim Rohn Motivation)

How the Mind Influences Reality

These are just a few of the many I have listened to and learned from. I also use audio books and a great site called optimize which gives your 20 minute summaries of many of the most powerful books in history.  Learn and grow to be your best. 

Life

Birthday Wishes

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Sometimes it is a good thing to stop and smell the flowers

Another year has passed and its events are placed in the history books of my life. I am fortunate to be able to report a very good year, with its fair share of change, new experiences, interesting things, wonderful people and a healthy dose of fun in there as well. When it comes to times of reflection like this, it is always the people who are most prevalent. I am very fortunate to have known many wonderful people over the years and to be connected with some great ones now.  I have learned many lessons but here are a few of the things I have learned over the past year which I wish for all of those I care about.

Nostalgic Music Month

In September of the past year, I was asked to do a project on my blog with Mike Martin to declare October Nostalgic Music Month. He had his own agenda of

Some people never change. This guy never follows the rules

reasons but of course, I agreed. Each day we each contributed some of the nostalgic music that brought us back to some place in the past.  It was fun and connected me to a lot of music in the past.  Here is the link. 

My wish for you today is that you remember the good things and let the negative fade into the background. Life is too short for spending time worrying about negative things in the past. Understand that even negative things can have an ultimately positive result. Letting something from your past affect you like it is happening right now, robs today of the potential it has. Focus on the good because it is always there.  So enjoy some music from the past, and make new memories today.

Words Have Power

I did another long-term project from November to March of the year designed to raise the level of my conscious thought by choosing one word a day and then focusing on how I could make conscious choices in my life around that word. My life changed a lot during that project, and I became a better person for it.  The link to all of those words is here.

My wish for you is that you look at your words and how they are affecting your experience in life. Each day we decide our thoughts, they lead to our emotional response, the words we speak, and the actions that we take. By changing your focus to simple words like kindness, understanding, or acceptance you can change the impact you have on the world and the impact the world has on you.  Think of that.

Try New Things

Life is a tricky experience sometimes. We work hard to put ourselves in positions where we are safe, but sometimes the routines of safe are limiting and stop you from trying new things and allowing new people into your life that can get you to expand your horizons.  This year a cool breeze blew into my life and changed it

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forever. The impact of this person has been positive and fun. My perspectives have been shifted and I am grateful for that.

I wish for all of you to have a cool breeze blow into your life. Be that a new relationship, or a revitalization of one that has been in existence for 30 years. Life is a game that is better enjoyed by two people. It is ultimately more fun, and the choices we make in this realm determines our long and short-term happiness.  Remember a beginning or a new beginning is only a single choice away.  Make the one that makes you happy.

Learning is a Lifetime Activity

I try to learn something new every day that is helpful to my life. We are fortunate to live in an age where virtually all of the knowledge of the world is located at our fingertips. Anything you want to learn about you can access for free just by completing a Google search. I have learned much over the year. Nothing had more impact than reading The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle in a book club format. Asking questions, and thinking about how to take that mentality into my life. It helped me understand the conflicts between my ego, or the false self, and my true self.

I wish for all of you to expand your horizons by learning something new. No matter what your age, or current occupation. Take time to read something new, investigate a new idea and see where those new thoughts take you. Your brain can grow and develop late into your life. Use it, follow your interest and see what comes back to you.  Your life will change and move you closer to who you were born to be. Learning is a lifetime activity, use it.