JD LeJeune

Timely:With all the recent comotion of the holidays, boxing day flyers…etc. I have been feeling overwhelmed with looking for a new TV, paying off debt…etc. I was really noticing my “disconnect” with things. I was thinking about it as I opened my FireFox web browser and hit my Stumble button to see what would randomly come up. Sure enough, the Universe answered with these perfect lines of text.

Here are some suggestions on how to improve and enjoy your life more fully:

1. Find work that you love

Nothing complicates your life more than forcing yourself to go to work every morning when your heart tells you that you should be doing something else. Find work that is fun and uses your natural gifts. Wise people spend their days on pursuits that engage the fullness of their natural strengths. In doing so, they always meet with success.

2. Go on a “news fast”

One of the universal laws of the mind says that “as you sow, so shall you reap.” What goes into the mind determines what comes out. Break your addiction to the news. The killings, the violence and the calamity do nothing to add to your inner peace. To simplify your life, spend the next seven days away from the news. Read great literature or listen to soothing music instead.

3. Learn to say no

The person who tries to do everything ultimately achieves nothing. What separates the peak performers from weak performers is that the first group says “no” to anything that is not important while the second group says “yes” to everything. Have the inner courage to say “no” to all those things you really don t want to do. As if by magic, you will begin to have time for the activities your truly value.

4. Connect with nature

Nature has healing properties. It reminds us of what life is really about and connects us to the simple gifts that we all, too often, overlook. If you are feeling the stresses and strains of modern life, just imagine what a daily walk through the woods or a weekly hour spent watching the sun set would do for you. Even growing a simple garden in your backyard will bring a wealth of benefits.

5. Laugh daily

Daily laughter will renew your perspective and rekindle the childlike enthusiasm that you may have lost. Most of us are too busy to laugh and too serious to smile. We have become caught up in our own sense of importance. We have forgotten to nourish the child within all of us who is just waiting to get out and have some fun. Never forget that children come to us more highly evolved than adults to teach us the lessons we need to learn. Study children. Learn from their natural wisdom. They will remind you that if you haven t laughed today, you haven’t lived today.

6. Sell your TV

Do you have anything to show for all the time you have given to the box sitting in your living room? When you deeply reflect on all the hours, days, weeks and months you have given to your television, has it done anything to raise the quality of your life? While TV has some excellent programs, don t be a slave to it. Don t lose the best years of your life spending every evening on the couch.

7. Be silent

Silence is golden. In this crazy age we live in, the average person doesn t spend even an hour a month in silence. Yet silence renews us, it relaxes us, and it allows us to reflect on how we are living and make necessary corrections before it is too late. Get in the habit of taking daily “silence breaks.” At the office, shut your door for 10 minutes, close your eyes and simply be still. It will be hard at first, but after a few days, you will find yourself feeling calmer and happier than you have felt in a long time.

8. Eat less

Benjamin Franklin once said, “to lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.” Yet in this age of over-consumption, we seem to have forgotten this simple piece of advice. Eating less will allow you to become healthier, more energetic and live longer. It is also one of the best ways to build self-discipline because you are not giving in to the weaker impulses telling you to eat more. Instead, you are flexing your willpower and doing what you promised yourself you would do.

Quotable Quote by Robin Sharma: The person who tries to do everything ultimately achieves nothing. What separates the peak performers from the weak performers is that the first group says “no” to anything that is not important while the second group says “yes” to everything.

Published 7/27/98 Robin Sharma

Robin S. Sharma, LL.M., is an internationally known speaker on sales leadership, peak performance and creativity

CIRCUMSTANCES CANNOT CHANGE OF THEMSELVES. YOU CHANGE THEM BY CHANGING YOUR CONCEPT OF SELF.

If you really want to be what you call “secure,” say, in finances, dare to assume that you are secure, and live as though you were, sleep as though you were; and then it will happen in your world that will cause you to leave your present environment and move on into the state that you have assumed. If you wait for things to change before you dare to assume, you will wait forever. Circumstances cannot change of themselves. You change them by changing your concept of Self.

To attempt to change the world before you change your own imaginal activity is to struggle against the very nature of things.

• Neville

Daily Wisdom from CoffeyTalk.com

“This above all: to thine own self be true.” -William Shakespeare

Authentic means genuine, real, true – and when applied to people it means being true to yourself, being your TRUE self, expressing yourself, and nothing less. We sense when people are authentic, just as we can tell when they are imitating, or role playing. When we are authentic, our light shines through, and our path is illuminated. “This above all…” Shakespeare says. It is important to be authentic, important for our well-being and for our spiritual growth. -Lissa Coffey

“The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is.” -John Lancaster Spalding

The key word here is “appear.” So many times it’s just easier to put on a mask, to play a role, to go along with what is expected of us. But the courage is in being authentic, in being true to ourselves and our convictions. Being true to ourselves is one thing – but showing the world who we are is another. Do we dare risk judgement? When we are authentic we answer to ourselves, we know that to appear to be anything other, anything less than “what one is” is heart-breaking. -Lissa Coffey

“Any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you.” -Carlos Castaneda

It’s okay to change directions. People have been reinventing themselves since time began. This is a good thing! When our heart leads us somewhere, it’s always for a reason. We need to follow and find out what that reason is. Usually this change brings us closer to who we really are, it allows us to discover our true self, and to be more authentic. - Lissa Coffey

Becoming A Better Person

At some point in our lives, many of us find ourselves overcome with the desire to become better people. While we are all uniquely capable of navigating this world, we may nonetheless feel driven to grow, expand, and change. This innate need for personal expansion can lead us down many paths as we develop within the context of our individual lives. Yet the initial steps that can put us on the road to evolution are not always clear. We understand that we want to be better but have no clear definition of “better.” To ease this often frustrating uncertainty, we can take small steps, keeping our own concept of growth in mind rather than allowing others to direct the course of our journey. And we should accept that change won’t happen overnight—we may not recognize the transformations taking place within us at first.

Becoming a better person in your own eyes is a whole-life project, and thus you should focus your step-by-step efforts on multiple areas of your existence. Since you likely know innately which qualities you consider good, growing as an individual is simply a matter of making an effort to do good whenever possible. Respect should be a key element of your efforts. When you acknowledge that all people are deserving of compassion, consideration, and dignity, you are naturally more apt to treat them in the manner you yourself wish to be treated. You will intuitively become a more active listener, universally helpful, and truthful. Going the extra mile in all you do can also facilitate evolution. Approaching your everyday duties with an upbeat attitude and positive expectations can help you make the world a brighter, more cheerful place. Finally, coming to terms with your values and then abiding by them will enable you to introduce a new degree of integrity and dignity into your life.

As you endeavor to develop yourself further, you can take pride not only in your successes, but also in the fact that you are cultivating consciousness within yourself through your choices, actions, and behaviors. While you may never feel you have reached the pinnacles of awareness you hope to achieve, you can make the most of this creative process of transformation. Becoming a better person is your choice and is a natural progression in your journey of self-awareness.

DailyOM

“The only way to be here if you don’t want to suffer is to surrender to what is.”

“The greatest power for transformation lies not in doing but in allowing.”

~ Eckhart Tolle