To Inspire You for the Weekend…

Happy Friday!!  I hope you had a prosperous and productive week.  Whether you did or not, here’s something to think about for the weekend…

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege.  Use it.  Dwell in possibility.
-Oprah Winfrey

Until next time…
Aspire to Plan!

Mindset Monday: Live In the Moment

I’ve heard it said, “The fastest way to get where you want to be is to be happy with where you are.” This seems almost contradictory, but, in fact, it reveals a great truth.

The more “good vibrations” you send out, the more good things you attract back to you to be happy about. One of the best ways to be sending out good vibrations consistently is to live in the moment.

What does this mean? It means that you remain in the now – not yesterday or tomorrow. You treat each moment as the precious thing that it is and enjoy it to its fullest. You immerse yourself fully in the moment.

Living in the moment can also:

-Reduce stress
-Relieve worry about the future
-Eliminate anguish about the past
-Enable you to brush away distractions and focus on your task at hand
-Bring more passion to your relationships
-Allow to you leap toward achieving your goals faster than you ever thought possible
-Let you enjoy the peace, happiness, and contentment of a fulfilling life

Here are some action steps you can take to help you live in the moment:

Take time to stop and smell the roses. This applies not only to enjoying the simple, good things in life, but it also applies to literally taking the time to notice what’s around you so you can take pleasure from what your senses bring you.  Notice the physical world around you.  Cherish its beauty.  Revel in the majesty of the sunset, the wonderful aroma of the roses, the delicious taste of good food, the pleasing harmony of music, and the soft touch of a loved one’s caress.

Avoid total focus on your goals. Now I know this sounds weird…especially because most advice about ways to complete your goals means you NEED to be focused.  But hear me out…never get so caught up in pursuing your goals that you cease to enjoy the present. Your life is your journey. Enjoy what you’ve got when you’ve got it. Otherwise, you might wake up some day and realize that you missed living altogether.

Make the most of each moment. Realize that every moment of your life is a gift. Get all the good out of it that you can.  If you make a mistake, learn something from that moment and move on.  Take a cue from your dog. Have you ever noticed that whatever you do with your dog is his favorite thing? If you take him for a walk, it’s as if he thinks, “Oh boy! My favorite thing!” If you play fetch, it’s, “Oh boy! My favorite thing!” When you feed him, it’s, “Oh boy! My favorite thing!” We could all enjoy feeling more exuberance!

Look for the silver lining. Practice finding the good, even when things don’t go as expected. Many times, you can even get something better than you had planned, if you just open your mind to the possibilities that there is something good to be discovered.

Eliminate time spent waiting. Avoid just sitting around and waiting for things to happen to you. Take advantage of your time by making it productive. Use it to listen to motivational audio books, share delightful insights with the people next to you, plan your day, or read something that educates, inspires, or relaxes you.

There’s a Zimbabwe proverb that says, “If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.” Like the proverb, living in the moment lets you live with excitement instead of mediocrity. Living in the now gives you a reason to dance instead of walk, and sing instead of talk.

Living in the moment takes some practice, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Practice this every day, and soon it will become a habit that changes your mindset and helps you live a life full of passion, joy, and happiness.

“Work like you don’t need money, Love like you’ve never been hurt, And dance like no one’s watching.”
– Irish Proverb

Until next time…
Aspire to Plan!

Mindset Monday: Your Perception is Your Reality

Is your glass half full or half empty?  You’ve heard this phrase before.  The lesson is a valid one, so stay with me here…
How you perceive the things that happen in your life – good and bad – not only shows your underlying mindset about your life, but also plays the most important role in whether you ever reach your goals.
Let’s use the glass to demonstrate this concept. Imagine the glass has Nana’s famous, tasty and sweet lemonade in it, and you really like Nana’s lemonade. What are your thoughts when you see it?
If you’re optimistic, of course you see it as half full. You may have thoughts like these:
  • “Oh, boy! I’ve got some of Nana’s delicious lemonade to quench my thirst!  She really loves me!”
  • As you reach for the glass, you feel anticipation and gratitude for this good and tasty drink.
  • Your thoughts are happily focused on what you have in this moment, not on what you lack.

The simple joy of some nice, cool lemonade and the good feelings that go along with it (because YOUR Nana made it for YOU!), cause your brain to send out energy that vibrates in harmony with good things, and attracts more good things back to you.
Now look at what happens when you’re a pessimist and see the glass as half empty. Your thoughts may be closer to these:
  • “Oh, great (sarcastically). I’m so thirsty and all I’ve got is half a glass of lemonade.”
  • As you reach for the glass, you feel dissatisfaction. You wish you had more.
  • Your thoughts are on what you lack.

Not only do you miss out on any enjoyment from the lemonade, but your mind sends out energy that vibrates in harmony with dissatisfaction and lack. What do you think you’ll attract back to you? More things to be unhappy about and more lack!
This also explains why wishing for something too hard can push it away from you forever. When you’re wishing for something you don’t have, you’re focusing on your lack of it. Focusing on your lack of it only attracts more lack of it back to you!
This simple glass of lemonade shows how your perception is your reality. Two different people can have two totally different experiences from the same circumstance. One person’s experience adds to the happiness of a joyful life and the other’s adds more problems to their unsatisfying existence.
It also explains why some people can make lemonade (and enjoy it) when life hands them lemons, while some just can’t.
When you apply this lesson to your own life, what do you find? Are you attracting good things or more lack? Could you use some ways to change your mindset?
Each Monday over the next few weeks I’ll share with you some of the techniques I’ve learned and used to turn my thinking around.  I’m sharing them with you because I truly want to help you reach your goals.  These concepts seem simple and they may even sound corny; but they’ve changed my life….especially when I practice them intentionally instead of just reading them and moving on to the next “glossy, shiny” thing.

Until next time…


Aspire to Plan!