Giving Thanks!

With the Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday, I think it’s time again to think about giving thanks.  What are you thankful for?  Through gratitude everything is possible.  I have mentioned before that my wife Heidi and I practice gratefuls every day.  We believe in the power of giving thanks.  No matter how dark of a day you are having there is always something to be grateful for.

The more you appreciate your life as it is today, the more you open your heart to other possibilities.  It is only by being grateful that we allow God/universe to work on our behalf.  Remember God/universe only wants to give us what we are looking for but that can be negative things as well as positive things.  By starting each day with gratitude we express thanks to God/universe for the wonderful things that God/universe brought into our lives yesterday.

I have also discovered that by starting the day with gratitude we set a more positive tone for the whole day ahead of us.  This tone then translates into more things to be grateful for today and so on.  So what are you grateful for?  I’d love to hear all of your responses.  Here are some of mine:

1.       I am grateful for my family.  I love and appreciate all my sisters, my mother, my

 3 daughters and my beautiful wife Heidi.

2.       I am grateful for living in Colorado.  I love the beauty of this state and I am

 grateful that I have ended up here.

3.       I am grateful for my house.  I love where we live and appreciate owning my

 own place.

4.       I am grateful for the opportunity to start my own business and to get away  

 for the corporate world and especially taxes.

5.       I am grateful for my community.  I love the people in this area and believe

 together we can do anything.  I am honored to be involved with 2 Chamber

 of Commerce’s and to be the Co-Chair of the 285 Tourism Committee.

6.       I am grateful for our 3 dogs they bring us joy and laughter every day.

7.       I am grateful for all my online friends, some of whom have been with me

 for nearly 10 years.  I appreciate your friendship and support.

8.       I am grateful that I can be a voice for those that need one.

9.       I am grateful for my birthday which this year is on Thanksgiving.  I

 celebrate each year with appreciation as I know too well that nothing

 is guaranteed.

10.   I am grateful for finding joy in the smallest things.

I wish you all a beautiful, warm Thanksgiving and if you are not in the US, I hope the intention of this day can be shared worldwide.

Till next time,

Bill

Quote of the day: “By giving thanks we open our heart to joy and discover the path to a better life.” 

Make the World Better!

Have you ever thought, I want to make the world a better place?  I have often, it is one of the things that drives me onward every day; I try to make a difference.  Not only in my life and the lives of the people I know, I try to make a difference in the world.  The whole idea behind this blog was to make a difference.

So why do I bring this up now?  After the events in Paris last week it is far too easy to fall into the negative.  We are afraid so we need to act in retaliation!  We need to make them pay!!  Can you hear it in your head?  It is so easy to become part of the group.  We feel more secure because everyone is thinking this.  Well just like the person at work that loves to tell you their troubles every day, even though your day is going well, you start to complain.  You find a comradery with this person because you have something in common….remember your day was going well, so do you truly have something in common?  We as humans are social animals and we like the feeling of belonging.  Do not allow others to pull you into the negative.  Do not believe all the negative things you hear.  Listen to your true self, listen to God/universe and remember who you truly are, love!

Do not join the hate, do not join the war believe in yourself and believe in other people.  The world needs more compassion and empathy, not hate and war.  Find a way to your true self, let go of the fear that you hear all around you and make the world a better place today.  I dare you!!

More hate will never bring anything more than more hate.  It is only through love that we can begin to change the world, one step at a time.  I believe in you, I believe in your compassion, I believe in love!!

Till next time,

Bill

Quote of the day: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perception

Here's a look back on a subject we all need to be reminded of; perception.  Your perception affects everything in your life.  It is the most important subject to truly become aware of.

Let's start with the Dictionary.com definition: "the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding." Everything we know in life is filtered through our own perception. Our perception is developed throughout our life by the experiences we've had & the knowledge we've learned. The only way to change your life to a more joyful life is to change your perception of everything. Yes, I know that sounds like a big task, but actually it's just an effort, on your part, to look at things differently.

No matter how objective you think you are in life. Everything is affected by your perception & to complicate things a little more, everything you read, hear or see is someone’s else's perception which you then interpret through your own perception. So everything in life is filtered to some extent at least twice (1st by who's saying it & 2nd by your own).

What happens over our life is that we tend to get entrenched in the way we perceive things & this leads us to seeing things in the same pattern we've always known. The problem with this is that if we want to change our life we need to break these old patterns & look at things differently to begin to find more joy.

So how do we start to do this? There's no defined way it's whatever seems to work for you. What I've done over the past several years is to challenge myself to look at everything differently. I allow the 1st thought into my head & recognize it. I then challenge myself to look at it from at least one other point of view. The next step for me when it comes to other people is to not judge. I let go of all my preconceived ideas of what a person is I don't judge them by what they are wearing, what their appearance is what race or religion (if I know) or what sexual preference. I instead try to understand why they are saying what they are saying. In other words I try to understand their point of view, their perception of what they are telling me.

I believe strongly that every person that comes into your life is there for a reason. This reason is usually to teach something you need to know. Either something about yourself (as talked about in "reflections") or something you need to know to move forward in your life. If you try to open yourself up to this idea you begin to see the world in a different way.

For me the final step is to also look at everything else in your life (that's not people) in the same open (new) way. We can discover messages from everything that enters our life....everything is there for a reason! That's the way the universe works. (To learn more about the meaning of animals that show up in your life a great book is "Animal Speaks" by Ted Andrews).

Change your perception & your new life will begin to unfold in front of you.

Until next time,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Perception is your filter of the universe. Change your perception & the world will change around of you!"

Action!

In the past we have talked a lot about moving forward and not worry about the results.  Today I want to talk about action and what is the right action to see your dreams come true.  This topic came to me through my friend Jason Britt who was talking about taking responsibility for your life.  This is a beautiful way to introduce action!

We cannot just sit back and dream of the life we want to live.  We have to take responsibility for our actions right or wrong.  We need to learn from our mistakes and forgive ourselves for the mistakes we make.  Just as we need to celebrate the right decisions.  This is your life and it will happen with or without you.  You are the only one that can affect the change you want to see in your life.  God/universe will send you the people to help you but if you do not pay attention or if you are unwilling to hear their message, you will be stuck in the same routine that has kept you where you are.

The way forward is to always take a step towards your dreams.  Even when you are knocked down and feel hopeless, by moving forward you will always see change happen around you.  Now as we have discussed in the past if your dreams are completely Ego based; you may achieve what you dreamed of but may find that there is no satisfaction in achieving your dreams.  The reason for this is that the Ego can never be satisfied beyond a moment.  Once it achieves what it wanted it always wants more.

So how do we move towards our dreams?  Start by letting go of the negative thoughts in your head. Take a moment or two every morning, release yesterday, clear your mind and think of one positive thing you can do today to move towards your dream.  This ‘thing’ does not have to be significant but you must take action towards your dreams every day.  The reason for this is that God/universe only knows to give us what we ask for.  If we do not take action towards our dreams and become consumed with negative thoughts and energy will we only see more negative thoughts and more obstacles will appear in our path.

The way to live the life you dreamed of is not as hard as it appears; take action, move forward, release the negative, take responsibility and you will know joy like never before.

Till next time,

Bill

Quote of the day:  “By taking responsibility for our life and always moving towards our dreams, our life will unfold perfectly before us!”

Head vs Heart

Yes one of the oldest battles in the history of man.  Can I shed light on this epic battle?  I hope so; let’s start with misconceptions.  The head is always logical, it always makes a good sound decision based on facts.  The heart is always emotional and every decision is irrational.  The truth is that both the head and heart are both.

Let’s start with the head; it is true that the mind can take in a wealth of information and based on experience and research can make a logical decision.  But unfortunately we rarely act on pure logic.  The mind instead tries to justify the answer that the Ego wants.  What do I mean by this?  Well how many times in your life have you gone ahead with a decision because it was the outcome you wanted?  Often we look at facts and interpret them as we see fit.  This is partly because of who we are but mostly because the Ego wants us to move in a particular direction to try and satisfy its longing for something.

The heart/soul on the other hand can make very emotional decisions.  We can feel the hurt or pain sometimes leading us to things that we would not rationally choose even if the head is telling us something different.  I often call these reactions, knee jerk!  They make no real sense except to us at the time.  But the heart can lead us to true joy, when we are able to move beyond the emotion and truly feel the correct outcome we align ourselves with God/universe and we move in the direction we are meant to move.

So how do we choose?  This epic battle has gone on for so long because there is no easy answer to this.  For the head we need to detach ourselves from the outcome and try to look at the true facts, not the ones we have created.  For the heart we need to move beyond the emotional response and feel the true connection with everything.  The balance between the two can take a lifetime to perfect and understand but if we acknowledge the challenges with each we move closer to the true answer.

Meditation is a great way to quiet the noise of the Ego and connect with our true self and sometimes just taking a breath or taking time can move us away from the emotional response and into a place of true connection.  Allow yourself to become aware of these internal battles and just by becoming aware you can begin to change your life.

The bottom line is we do not have to accept the battle we have to acknowledge the challenges and find our true connection with everything.

Till next time,

Bill

Quote of the day:  “Acknowledge the immediate response that both the head and heart can give us.  Move beyond this response and find the true connection with everything for through this connection everything is possible!”

Asking for help!

One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in my life is that of asking for help.  I have always been the first one to give, either of my time or my money.  I have done this regardless of my current situation because I have always believed that by giving we receive.  But I have always had a hard time asking for help or accepting help from others.

Why is this?  I believe it is all based on the Ego.  The Ego believes it is the best and the only thing that matters, by accepting help the Ego is shown that it cannot do everything or figure everything out.  I lived in this place for many years.  I was very bright and I could always figure out a way around things to create the outcome that I wanted.  As I grew spiritually I let go of the need for my Ego and started the process of listening more closely to my heart and soul.

The feeling of being connected to everything and feeling the natural flow of things; opens your mind and allows for best outcome in every situation.  This process does not mean that everything will always be perfect, or go your way.  It just means there is a time and place for everything and if we allow it things will work out the way they are supposed to.

I still have had problems accepting help from others, it is an ongoing process for me.  At this point in my life I need as much help as I can get to help me get through the process of building my new business.  I have tried to be more open and accepting of help from friends and colleagues allowing them the same satisfaction I receive by giving.

As I open my heart, I allow God/universe to send me the perfect people to help.  In the past I would ignore these people and do it myself.  The results were that I would usually get what I wanted but in the end it truly was not what was best or even what I thought it would be.

As we learn to live a more joyful life; allow your heart to be open to others help and together we can build a better world.

Till next time,

Bill

Quote of the day: “By allowing others to help us when we need it, we open up the process of giving and receiving and can change our lives forever.”

Rainbows & Unicorns

Often in my life I have been told that I am too positive.  That I must be hiding something because no one can be that positive.  Well the truth is I have always been positive but since I have grown spiritually I am more positive than ever.  I certainly have my down days, in fact I have written about them on occasion here, but in general things do not keep me down for long.  I battle with the same emotions everyone does and as I have grown I have learned to deal with them better and better over time.

If you take a look at my life right now you may wonder if being positive helps?  I believe it softens the hurt and helps you move forward.  I have been out of a ‘regular’ job for over a year now, I started my own travel business in February but did not really start ‘selling’ travel until May.  The business so far is not making me the money I need to survive but the business continues to pick up.  So, should I be depressed because as hard as I am working I am not successful yet?  I do not believe so.  I believe that there is so much more positive about my experience than negative.  I am an active member of two Chambers of Commerce and treasurer of one.  This helps me be active in the communities that surround my mountain home and by giving back to the communities I am filled up beyond anything a job or a business could ever give me. 

I do not believe that man’s life is defined by his job and a man’s worth is not just the money he has.  Life is too short to not engage it fully and become who you are meant to be!  Each one of us finds our own path in life but the ultimate path is to discover who you really are….”Love”.  Once you know love of yourself and can express love outwardly to the world your life will change beyond anything you can imagine.

The struggle today is finding the time to discover your true self with all the demands that our busy lives have in front of us on a daily basis.  It is time that we all learn to slow down, it is time that we all learn that money is not the answer.  Life is precious and far too short to only worry about accumulating wealth and possessions.  True joy is found in service to others and spreading the love that you have to give.

So yes maybe I am too positive but I believe in people, I believe in this world and I believe once we all know love this small little blue planet will change forever!!

Till next time,

Bill

Quote of the day: “Being positive about life does not mean that you do not have negative things happen in your life.  It just means you accept them and move on to a better place!