"Faith without works is dead" is a phrase I heard a few times and it's been a great reminder to me to remember 2 important concepts in life and in business.
1) No matter what is happening in my life I must keep faith even if it's only the tiniest glimmer of hope that I carry with me, I must not ever give up.
I have had many times in my life where I thought the world was closing in on me, money just wasn't flying in the door or showing up in my life or my relationships weren't working out. I have always held the belief that it is a lack of faith that actually perpetuates negativity in my life and that it's the undying faith in myself and in the "powers of the universe" that have carried me through.
2) Having faith is usually not enough. Action or "works" is required each and every day, even if it's just a little bit each day, take some kind of action towards a goal or several small actions towards several goals or just one or two. The point is that "Rome wan't built in a day" and the same goes for our lives. Happiness, success, achievement, relationships, whatever topic you want to pick, you can apply the rules to. These things do not just happen magically without some actions.
If I want to learn Italian for example and I just sit around thinking about it "envisioning" it, maybe some magical thing will happen, like I will get invited to live in Italy and be forced to learn. This is the "power of attraction" concept, which I do believe plays a huge role in our lives. However, in the meantime, while waiting for the laws of the universe to manifest our dreams coming to fruition, why not take some actions. If I want to learn to speak Italian, then I just need to pick up a book at the bookstore or some fancy program and just give it twenty minutes of my time each day.
If taking on a new habit like studying a new language for twenty minutes a day seems like a difficult habit to develop, think about how ridiculous that is if you compare it to the amount of time that is spent daily in other activities which are done habitually. For example, think about any and all of the daily habits you have developed.
I take a shower each morning, get dressed, brush my teeth, fix my hair and make-up. This isn't really something I have to think about too much because it's a habit I developed years ago. It would be ridiculous to think about not doing that each morning because it is a necessity for me now, only because I believe that it is important and because I developed the habit.
If you think about all the actions you could take to accomplish a certain goal it might be that it will take a year of working on something for twenty minutes each day, or that more time is needed than twenty minutes a day. The point is, though that if you just dream about it and have faith, it's probably not going to happen as quickly as it will if you do a tiny bit each day towards it.
Think about what you were doing last year at this time, think about where you were then, where you are now and how much time you might have wasted on lethargy, depression or inaction. Maybe that doesn't apply to you. If so, you probably already get what I am saying and have already mastered the concepts that I am writing about. Great!
So, Faith without works is dead, but I say also that "works without faith is also pointless" because the bottom line is that we must believe in ourselves and our abilities and believe that what we are trying to achieve is actually possible. That is why it's so important to do some little thing each day.
Research can be the best place to start. As you do your research though it's important to pay attention to the "ya-butts" that show up in your life.
A "ya-butt" is the thing that pops up every time you start to believe that something is possible.
"Ya, but I don't really have time to study for twenty minutes a day". Or it might be that the more you learn about a thing the more you lose your excitement about the thing. So make sure that when you are researching some project that you have your specific goal in mind and don't get sidetracked into finding a hundred reasons why you can't do the thing.
Accomplishing goals for some people is extremely easy because they learned at an early age how to achieve. Maybe they had a lot of building blocks that led up to a habitual way of achieving goals. This was never the case for me and I have to continuously remind myself to have faith in myself and believe that anything is possible, to take small actions towards my goals each day and to be somewhat patient with myself without too much procrastination and to ignore all the "ya-butts"
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Get off the Couch!
We are all too familiar with the dangers of inaction. One day my car is clean and through a series of non active days, a little bit of lethargy kicks in and before I know it, lethargy becomes depression and then my car is .....well...... you really don't want to know how messy my car was a week ago. You see I had let the "news of the day" get to me over a period of a few months and just started to let things go. I finally got fed up with myself, the downward spiral I was in and was fed up with the news and my reaction to it. That's when I decided to kick myself into high gear and just start DOING. I cleaned my car, I cleaned my office, I did spring cleaning of my kitchen and bathrooms and then one thing led to another. Before I knew it I was studying my Italian lessons again, learning about blogging, making new advertising brochures for myself and just feeling better in general.
Well, maybe you have never experienced depression before, but it is all too easy to let the news of the day start a downward spiral.
My advice is to GET OFF THE COUCH!
No matter what is going on with your business or personal life, there is no good that comes from watching television or sitting around on your behind.
Start each day with purpose and if you can't find any purpose, just start cleaning and organizing everything around you. Get rid of the old stuff that is dragging you down. Don't let the past and the memories of the past get "in your face". Look straight ahead, forward because whatever "this economy" is now, IT WILL NOT BE THAT WAY FOREVER.
Prepare yourself today for a better tommorow.
My father used to quote to me the following:
Count That Day Lost
If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find One self-denying deed,
one word That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small That helped some soul and nothing cost
Then count that day as worse than lost.
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
My dear father, Michael Morier, passed away just before Mothers Day last year. I did not attend his funeral because my own children would spend that Mothers Day camping with me (after some undue separation from them) and I made a difficult choice not to go. I am constantly remembering the words "count that day lost" that he would say and I understand how those words helped him in his life.
Here was a man, who at one point was at the very bottom of the barrel, so to speak, with nothing to call his own, his children far away from him, a long history of self abuse and over time he changed his life.
It was not in one day that he changed his life. It was not in one week or one month. It was by doing a little bit of something each day.
I love line at the end of the movie "Cast-away", when Tom Hanks says something like......"the sun will rise". It is true that each day comes and goes and we have a choice to do something each day.
I found out that as I am studying Italian just a tiny bit each day, I am learning to speak Italian. I found out that by being an "entrepreneur" each and every day for the past 15 or so years that I have gained enough knowledge over time to call myself a knowledgable business consultant and coach.
I learn a little bit each day.
When I let the news of the day, or nay saying friends or family bring me down, it is all too easy to fall into a mild depression, which can soon turn into a deep depression.
Read the poem again and ask yourself how you can help others by helping yourself.
It's of utmost importance to DO SOMETHING each and every day, even if it's just washing the dishes or tidying up a bit. The little things we do each day give us energy to do the bigger things. When we "feel tired", or lazy or lethargic or stop caring about things it is just so so so EASY TO GET OUT OF THAT FEELING. (My son would say I am shouting, so I apologize for that! I am just beginning to learn about bloggging and such!)
The way to get out of the feeling of sadness and depression (no matter what you are sad about!) is to do something. You've GOT to take care of yourself, your surroundings and the people you love, otherwise things could get even worse, because just as you can build wonderful things little by little, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, so too can you build devastation in your life. If you've already gotten to the bottom, there's only one way out and that it UP! If you're half way down the bottom of the barrel, well then you are half way UP too!
Choose Life. Choose Action.
Well, maybe you have never experienced depression before, but it is all too easy to let the news of the day start a downward spiral.
My advice is to GET OFF THE COUCH!
No matter what is going on with your business or personal life, there is no good that comes from watching television or sitting around on your behind.
Start each day with purpose and if you can't find any purpose, just start cleaning and organizing everything around you. Get rid of the old stuff that is dragging you down. Don't let the past and the memories of the past get "in your face". Look straight ahead, forward because whatever "this economy" is now, IT WILL NOT BE THAT WAY FOREVER.
Prepare yourself today for a better tommorow.
My father used to quote to me the following:
Count That Day Lost
If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find One self-denying deed,
one word That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small That helped some soul and nothing cost
Then count that day as worse than lost.
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
My dear father, Michael Morier, passed away just before Mothers Day last year. I did not attend his funeral because my own children would spend that Mothers Day camping with me (after some undue separation from them) and I made a difficult choice not to go. I am constantly remembering the words "count that day lost" that he would say and I understand how those words helped him in his life.
Here was a man, who at one point was at the very bottom of the barrel, so to speak, with nothing to call his own, his children far away from him, a long history of self abuse and over time he changed his life.
It was not in one day that he changed his life. It was not in one week or one month. It was by doing a little bit of something each day.
I love line at the end of the movie "Cast-away", when Tom Hanks says something like......"the sun will rise". It is true that each day comes and goes and we have a choice to do something each day.
I found out that as I am studying Italian just a tiny bit each day, I am learning to speak Italian. I found out that by being an "entrepreneur" each and every day for the past 15 or so years that I have gained enough knowledge over time to call myself a knowledgable business consultant and coach.
I learn a little bit each day.
When I let the news of the day, or nay saying friends or family bring me down, it is all too easy to fall into a mild depression, which can soon turn into a deep depression.
Read the poem again and ask yourself how you can help others by helping yourself.
It's of utmost importance to DO SOMETHING each and every day, even if it's just washing the dishes or tidying up a bit. The little things we do each day give us energy to do the bigger things. When we "feel tired", or lazy or lethargic or stop caring about things it is just so so so EASY TO GET OUT OF THAT FEELING. (My son would say I am shouting, so I apologize for that! I am just beginning to learn about bloggging and such!)
The way to get out of the feeling of sadness and depression (no matter what you are sad about!) is to do something. You've GOT to take care of yourself, your surroundings and the people you love, otherwise things could get even worse, because just as you can build wonderful things little by little, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, so too can you build devastation in your life. If you've already gotten to the bottom, there's only one way out and that it UP! If you're half way down the bottom of the barrel, well then you are half way UP too!
Choose Life. Choose Action.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Dear fellow entrepreneurs
To my fellow entrepreneurs,
I am writing this letter, primarily in response to the so-called economic crisis that the news and radio shows seem to want to perpetuate. I am suddenly reminded of a time not so long ago when I had fallen prey to the media hype, which if you remember had stated there would be chaos and bank runs as soon as the year 2000 would fall upon us.
Millions of dollars were spent on computer upgrades, most of which may have been needed for all I know, but as a new mother of three toddlers, I had been convinced that I needed to take action.
With the internet a fairly new concept to me, I had not yet learned temperance and had soon become obsessed with the “y2k” issue. I was frightened for my family.
Our brand new family business had been providing enough to live comfortably but extra money to spend on “rations” came at the cost of cutting back elsewhere and possibly gave contribution to debt.
Still, in all of this, I must point out that I have always been an “all or nothing” kind of person, a bit of a risk taker, but for me I was not willing to risk the welfare of my family and I spent nearly $3,000.00 on food storage items, food, water barrels and emergency supplies.
Well, I am here to tell everyone that the SKY NEVER FELL! I am not proud to tell you that Texturized Vegetable Protein, Rice, Legumes, Sugar, Oatmeal and flour lined my garage 3 rows deep and 3 rows high of 5 gallon buckets all carefully vacuum sealed with foil and diatomaceous earth to keep the bugs, air and ultra violet light out. In my own defense, it so happened that I was not only being influenced by the media and the internet, but a few members of a community church had found me in fear and were supportive of my fear. Some may have even profited from my overly ardent concern by selling special supplies to me. Oh, and on a side note, if one is ever purchasing Texturized Vegetable Protein, keep in mind that it is extremely light weight and that 50 pounds of it could fill up a garage easily! TVP, as it’s called is used as a meat substitute. The irony is that because I had spent so much money on all of that food storage, I have since refused any kind of prudent preparations for a rainy day, such as in case of earthquake. This fear and panic had ruled my life for a good half a year; I had employees joking about my paranoid behavior and made an absolute fool of myself.
My point is that we must once again disregard the media or at least use caution when forming opinions about what we are hearing and seeing. If I were to believe what some of the news programs are saying I would consider hiding out in the mountains for fear that bank runs could cause a complete meltdown of our system, just as in Y2K.
Does anyone see a pattern, here? I will not go on about politics, because we all love our new president and a positive attitude is what is of utmost importance. But shall we look forward ten years to the next time the corporate media wants to fear us into their control, while we eagerly check the news five times a day to see how the unemployment rate has fallen, or which companies have laid off how many people, or what the blah, blah, blah has to say about the blah blah blah.
Am I the only one who sees the fear mongering hype? Am I the only one who sees a bright future? NO I AM NOT, THANK GOODNESS!
A wonderful man that I know pointed out recently that while the unemployment rate might be down 10%, the employment rate is at 90%. That means that 90% of the country is NOT on unemployment. Every time one of us says: “This economy” or “the recession” or something of that nature, we are only creating a self fulfilling prophecy. We all know this fact, we have all heard about the story of Chicken Little (If you haven’t, please do!)
Now, I am not Polly Anna. I am not walking around with rose colored glasses. Even if it were really true that the economy was taking a dive, aren’t we helping it along faster by clutching onto the belief that the sky will close in on us at any moment? As I said, I am guilty too.
I was at my marketing meeting a few weeks ago and I couldn’t help notice how depressed everyone was. I had noticed that marketing ideas that people gave were shot down before the person could finish the sentence. I remember verbally attacking one of the members when she used the phrase “in this economy”, meaning to attack the phrase and the media, not the person saying it. I felt really bad, and subsequently found myself saying “in this economy” over fifteen times in the following two weeks and then I really felt stupid!
I was trying to find my own solutions to this “problem” and communal style living and gardening came to mind. I thought about buying a few chickens, and then I remembered I have neighbors. I also remembered how much I hate the smell of chicken shit. Then I thought about Y2K, which is what inspired me to write this article.
The most important thing anyone can do in any economy whether it’s a good economy or a bad one, whether a person has a job or they’re self employed, busy with work or with no work or something in between is to Ignore the bad news, really, just pretend they're lying or that it's not true. I cannot say this enough. Any and every single time I have looked at the news since the latest election, just to “check in” or “stay informed”, in order to feel better about “this economy” I have been shot down every single time. The news keeps saying the same bad news over and over again. In the midst of all that we are bombarded with fake stories of god knows what (don’t even get me started).
“Well, then if you don’t watch the news and you don’t read the paper and you don’t listen to the radio, how do you know what’s going on in the world?” you ask. My answer is that if you need to know “what’s going on in the world” you should only pay attention to the media as a point of debate. Become a part of the debate if you like, but you’ll likely drive yourself nuts, drive others nuts and most importantly be wasting your time. But if you must know, you must know and in that case I say to you: follow your inner guide to know what is true and what is not true.
Question everything you hear. Ask yourself what you are gaining from dwelling in fear, depression and doubt. Well, if I am scared about what is going on in the world, then I am more likely to go back more and more often to the source of that fear for a better answer.
If you want to know what’s really going on, just look outside your window. Cars are still driving, people are still buying new cars, new clothing, groceries and new houses are being bought and sold and bought and sold and we all know deep down that everything is going to be okay.
So my own personal solution is to pay my rent, buy my groceries, suffer the consequences of my over spending by having to work a little harder, be a bit more innovative and creative and come up with new ways of making money.
How many millionaires came out of the great depression, anyway? I really don’t mind if the banks get regulated or defragmented or discombobulated or whatever.
We are all going to survive whatever happens by our own ingenuity, but in the meantime do we have to keep feeding the negativity and the gloomers and doomers of the world?
We could just stick our heads into the sand or up high in the clouds and just do what we do, let the chips fall where they may and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If the shit hits the fan, you and I will be the ones picking up the pieces, not the banks or the government or the corporations. It really is true that we are the only ones to save ourselves and there are a thousand ways to do it. You know it, I know it. Let's just wake up and have some fun doing it!
If there’s a positive message in all of this I would say that the lesson is not to feed the media machine by giving into fear. Keep your money in the banks and make a difference a bit at a time by contributing to your community in every way that you can, love yourself and your family and be happy. If you have warm clothing and something to eat that’s a start.
If we keep your head in the clouds and keep dreaming, go easy on watching the news or don't watch it at all, we will likely live a blissful, peaceful and prosperous life. By sharing our wealth with our own communities as much as possible and by supporting the local markets as much as possible each one of us CAN change the whole world. We can also contribute by sharing our stories of hope, faith, humor, success and even wealth without guilt if we just follow our intuition instead of bad news.
My intuition is that no matter what the hype is, we are all going to be okay and some of us with a huge amount of faith, diligence and hope will do more that survive.
Now, “in this economy” we should look back at positive stories from the great depression and respect our elders for that very reason. We should learn from the past and understand that each one of us does make a difference. We are the consumers. My point is that the reason I love this country so very much is because I can write a letter like this and have hundreds and maybe even thousands of people reading it. The reason I love this country so much is because we have the right to be ignorant or not. We have the right by our purchasing power alone. That is still the real truth. At least for now....................................
I am writing this letter, primarily in response to the so-called economic crisis that the news and radio shows seem to want to perpetuate. I am suddenly reminded of a time not so long ago when I had fallen prey to the media hype, which if you remember had stated there would be chaos and bank runs as soon as the year 2000 would fall upon us.
Millions of dollars were spent on computer upgrades, most of which may have been needed for all I know, but as a new mother of three toddlers, I had been convinced that I needed to take action.
With the internet a fairly new concept to me, I had not yet learned temperance and had soon become obsessed with the “y2k” issue. I was frightened for my family.
Our brand new family business had been providing enough to live comfortably but extra money to spend on “rations” came at the cost of cutting back elsewhere and possibly gave contribution to debt.
Still, in all of this, I must point out that I have always been an “all or nothing” kind of person, a bit of a risk taker, but for me I was not willing to risk the welfare of my family and I spent nearly $3,000.00 on food storage items, food, water barrels and emergency supplies.
Well, I am here to tell everyone that the SKY NEVER FELL! I am not proud to tell you that Texturized Vegetable Protein, Rice, Legumes, Sugar, Oatmeal and flour lined my garage 3 rows deep and 3 rows high of 5 gallon buckets all carefully vacuum sealed with foil and diatomaceous earth to keep the bugs, air and ultra violet light out. In my own defense, it so happened that I was not only being influenced by the media and the internet, but a few members of a community church had found me in fear and were supportive of my fear. Some may have even profited from my overly ardent concern by selling special supplies to me. Oh, and on a side note, if one is ever purchasing Texturized Vegetable Protein, keep in mind that it is extremely light weight and that 50 pounds of it could fill up a garage easily! TVP, as it’s called is used as a meat substitute. The irony is that because I had spent so much money on all of that food storage, I have since refused any kind of prudent preparations for a rainy day, such as in case of earthquake. This fear and panic had ruled my life for a good half a year; I had employees joking about my paranoid behavior and made an absolute fool of myself.
My point is that we must once again disregard the media or at least use caution when forming opinions about what we are hearing and seeing. If I were to believe what some of the news programs are saying I would consider hiding out in the mountains for fear that bank runs could cause a complete meltdown of our system, just as in Y2K.
Does anyone see a pattern, here? I will not go on about politics, because we all love our new president and a positive attitude is what is of utmost importance. But shall we look forward ten years to the next time the corporate media wants to fear us into their control, while we eagerly check the news five times a day to see how the unemployment rate has fallen, or which companies have laid off how many people, or what the blah, blah, blah has to say about the blah blah blah.
Am I the only one who sees the fear mongering hype? Am I the only one who sees a bright future? NO I AM NOT, THANK GOODNESS!
A wonderful man that I know pointed out recently that while the unemployment rate might be down 10%, the employment rate is at 90%. That means that 90% of the country is NOT on unemployment. Every time one of us says: “This economy” or “the recession” or something of that nature, we are only creating a self fulfilling prophecy. We all know this fact, we have all heard about the story of Chicken Little (If you haven’t, please do!)
Now, I am not Polly Anna. I am not walking around with rose colored glasses. Even if it were really true that the economy was taking a dive, aren’t we helping it along faster by clutching onto the belief that the sky will close in on us at any moment? As I said, I am guilty too.
I was at my marketing meeting a few weeks ago and I couldn’t help notice how depressed everyone was. I had noticed that marketing ideas that people gave were shot down before the person could finish the sentence. I remember verbally attacking one of the members when she used the phrase “in this economy”, meaning to attack the phrase and the media, not the person saying it. I felt really bad, and subsequently found myself saying “in this economy” over fifteen times in the following two weeks and then I really felt stupid!
I was trying to find my own solutions to this “problem” and communal style living and gardening came to mind. I thought about buying a few chickens, and then I remembered I have neighbors. I also remembered how much I hate the smell of chicken shit. Then I thought about Y2K, which is what inspired me to write this article.
The most important thing anyone can do in any economy whether it’s a good economy or a bad one, whether a person has a job or they’re self employed, busy with work or with no work or something in between is to Ignore the bad news, really, just pretend they're lying or that it's not true. I cannot say this enough. Any and every single time I have looked at the news since the latest election, just to “check in” or “stay informed”, in order to feel better about “this economy” I have been shot down every single time. The news keeps saying the same bad news over and over again. In the midst of all that we are bombarded with fake stories of god knows what (don’t even get me started).
“Well, then if you don’t watch the news and you don’t read the paper and you don’t listen to the radio, how do you know what’s going on in the world?” you ask. My answer is that if you need to know “what’s going on in the world” you should only pay attention to the media as a point of debate. Become a part of the debate if you like, but you’ll likely drive yourself nuts, drive others nuts and most importantly be wasting your time. But if you must know, you must know and in that case I say to you: follow your inner guide to know what is true and what is not true.
Question everything you hear. Ask yourself what you are gaining from dwelling in fear, depression and doubt. Well, if I am scared about what is going on in the world, then I am more likely to go back more and more often to the source of that fear for a better answer.
If you want to know what’s really going on, just look outside your window. Cars are still driving, people are still buying new cars, new clothing, groceries and new houses are being bought and sold and bought and sold and we all know deep down that everything is going to be okay.
So my own personal solution is to pay my rent, buy my groceries, suffer the consequences of my over spending by having to work a little harder, be a bit more innovative and creative and come up with new ways of making money.
How many millionaires came out of the great depression, anyway? I really don’t mind if the banks get regulated or defragmented or discombobulated or whatever.
We are all going to survive whatever happens by our own ingenuity, but in the meantime do we have to keep feeding the negativity and the gloomers and doomers of the world?
We could just stick our heads into the sand or up high in the clouds and just do what we do, let the chips fall where they may and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If the shit hits the fan, you and I will be the ones picking up the pieces, not the banks or the government or the corporations. It really is true that we are the only ones to save ourselves and there are a thousand ways to do it. You know it, I know it. Let's just wake up and have some fun doing it!
If there’s a positive message in all of this I would say that the lesson is not to feed the media machine by giving into fear. Keep your money in the banks and make a difference a bit at a time by contributing to your community in every way that you can, love yourself and your family and be happy. If you have warm clothing and something to eat that’s a start.
If we keep your head in the clouds and keep dreaming, go easy on watching the news or don't watch it at all, we will likely live a blissful, peaceful and prosperous life. By sharing our wealth with our own communities as much as possible and by supporting the local markets as much as possible each one of us CAN change the whole world. We can also contribute by sharing our stories of hope, faith, humor, success and even wealth without guilt if we just follow our intuition instead of bad news.
My intuition is that no matter what the hype is, we are all going to be okay and some of us with a huge amount of faith, diligence and hope will do more that survive.
Now, “in this economy” we should look back at positive stories from the great depression and respect our elders for that very reason. We should learn from the past and understand that each one of us does make a difference. We are the consumers. My point is that the reason I love this country so very much is because I can write a letter like this and have hundreds and maybe even thousands of people reading it. The reason I love this country so much is because we have the right to be ignorant or not. We have the right by our purchasing power alone. That is still the real truth. At least for now....................................
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