Headed Nowhere Fast?
Stop following someone else’s map.Secret Dreamers
Most of us are secret dreamers. Most of us, in our hearts, yearn for lives that are sweeter and more succulent, juicier and more tender than the lives we have. It is one of the unspoken rules of civilized life that we keep our dreams secret.
Break out of the mold
You know there is more to you, more to your destiny. Stop pretending this is it.
Let go
There is much more to life than going through the motions, making a paycheck, and paying for the life you’ve created.
To find that “more”, however, we must be willing to wake up, come to, and come out of the anesthetic of a mindless life lived by default.
A brain scientist watches her brain shut down
A friend sent me this very inspiring video, definitely worth
watching !!
“Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor
<http://www.ted.com/speakers/view/id/203> had an opportunity few
brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she
was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her
brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement,
understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is
a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to
the world and to one another. ”
A loss of perspective
Today I watched a bird get stuck in our pool enclosure screen.
When he couldn’t find his way out he became more frantic as he flew head on into the screen. I opened one of the doors very close to were he was but he didn’t even go close to it. Instead he continue to fly into the screen in the corner he was in.
He didn’t have a true perspective of his situation. There was a wide open door for him to fly through and onto freedom, but he didn’t see it.
How many times do we get stuck somewhere in our lives that we never expected and we continue to try to move forward by doing the same thing over and over? There can be a wide open door to freedom just a few steps away yet we become frantic and don’t see it.
When we lose perspective and cannot seem to be able to get unstuck, we need to slow down and listen to other’s perspective. We need to stop doing what we naturally think will work and fly in a totally different direction.
If you are stuck or confused then relax, breathe, and fly in a different direction. change your perspective and you can see the open door.
The Founding Fathers
I just spent the week in Washington DC with my family. I was deeply struck with how forward thinking the founding fathers of America were. They were dreamers who took chances, lived big, and didn’t listen to the nay sayers around them. I think I would have liked them.
Let me remind you of Jefferson’s famous words – “All men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life , liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
These words sound a lot like the declaration Jesus Christ made when he said that He came for the very purpose of making it possible for all men to live life abundantly.
There is a theme among great leaders and visionaries that we are not to settle for a life lived by default but we are to strive to live our Neverland.
I believe we all need to be reminded from time to time, and sometimes more often, to shake things up and go after the life we want.
What is your neverland?
Go get it!
Millions are crazy
Giving in is a good thing but millions give up.
Give in to your true self but don’t give up to self defeat. Millions are unaware that they have totally given up. How do you tell a quitter? a quitter…..
- Imagines he is normal when he is anything but.
- Has crisis days because he doesn’t believe that all things can be for his good and that. his truth can turn anything that appears negative into a raging positive.
- Fills her emptiness with trash. She doesn’t believe she is worth more.
- Has learned to love his ill tempered nature.
- Shades the truth when she explains her life.
- Drives himself crazy with self defeating thoughts.
Don’t follow the example of these millions of crazy people. You don’t have too.
Give in to your truth that can make you whole and set you free. It is as easy to do as reading this blog post. Just let go and give in.
The Tinkerbell Curse
Some of you may not know this but there are some who call me Peter Pan. Which I guess fits, since I help people find Neverland. And just like the Peter Pan of fame I too know Tinkerbell. That’s right she is alive and well and living in……. well we will keep her home a secret.
Now here’s the deal with Tink. If people don’t believe in her she dies. It is that simple. What you may not know is that if she were to ever stop believing in herself she would die almost instantly.
Why am I telling you all this? Because the same danger Tink faces we all face, just not as quick. You see, if you don’t believe in yourself then other won’t believe in you either. When that happens you begin a slow death. Just like those people I talked about in the last post.
You must believe in yourself at all costs. I mean really believe in your true authentic self. The self God dreamed up when He danced across your DNA.
If you don’t. If you begin to believe the pirate naysayers around you. You may just begin to die. You may be already in the middle of it but I hope not. Never the less there is hope.
Believe, Believe, Believe
I believe in you!
I am tired of dead people!
Last night I went to a dinner of a local group of people in the town I live in.
I spent the night among 25 or so people who small talked, chit chatted about little to nothing, and sometimes stared as they were thinking of what next to talk about it. I am going to be blunt here. They were people who had no real life coming out of them. They were smart people, they had families they loved, they had good jobs, but they had no life.
They were boring. But here is the real kicker – they have no idea that they have no life. they are oblivious to the lack of life in them. they have been lulled into a deep sleep.
Now this wouldn’t get under my skin if it was just some random group of people every once in awhile. BUT
I live in an entire town of dead people and I see dead people all over the world. Zombies walking around pretending that they have a life.
WAKE UP!
As you can tell I am not a big fan of dead people. They just give me the heebbee jeebbees .
There is more to you and this world than death warmed over.
Finding Neverland
In response to a recent post, I was asked how to begin to find your design. I decided to respond through a public post.
Finding your design is an adventure worth undertaking. The truth of the matter is that to be ready to start this kind of adventure you must be willing to let go of your securities. The drive to find true success must be greater than the drive to be comfortable. When you have nothing to lose you gravitate to what’s true. The more you have to lose the more you are willing to settle to protect it. I talk to people all the time who really want to stop existing and find real success, but have not taken stock of the securities that they have built in their life to protect themselves from “reality”. Once your motivation surpasses your desire for comfort then you are ready to begin the journey.
Two essential ingredients to a successful journey to find your true success are: trusted friends who share the journey with you and a guide who is at least a little bit further along on the journey then you. While it is possible to go it alone, it is not advisable. There are too many dark moments when friends provide needed support and too many weak moments when a guide can keep you focused and on task. Then the next step is to just jump in.
Below, I have provided a brief outline of key stages in the journey that I use in my personal coaching and in my workshops to help people find their true success. I model it after a treasure hunt where you are looking for the underwater treasure that is your true success. We each have a treasure chest filled with true success. The problem is we often don’t realize we have it and if we do we don’t know what kind of key would unlock it.
Stage one: Getting Wet!
This is where you begin to acclimate yourself to the process of hearing your heart. This includes reframing how you see things like work, career, goals, and a job. It is re-learning to connect with your dreams and confronting the abstractions that take over your life. Finally, it includes beginning to generate ideas for what your true success looks like. This is a fun time of essentially getting used to the water and the idea of an adventure.
Stage two: Exploration.
Once you are acclimated it is time to get down to work and start searching for where your treasure might be and what it might look like. This is basically exploring all around your life to find clues to what your treasure looks like and where it might be. Once you find it you are ready to see what’s inside. This stage involves quieting your mind so you can train yourself to hear your heart once again.
Stage three: Designing the right key.
Only one key will fit your treasure chest and only you can design it. During this stage of the journey you narrow the focus of your life to your true success and the strengths you were designed with. Then you create goals to achieve your design and a map to guide you once you start living it. This is an important stage because without it you will eventually get lost or give up.
Stage four: Turning the lock.
This is where you create the supports necessary to live your design and start following the map you designed. After this you are in the middle of the journey and as Dory said in the movie, finding Nemo, you “just keep swimming”.
Extra help for finding your neverland can be found in the following posts:
Have Your Cake and Eat It Too Part 1 and 2
A spiritual journey
Universal Energy Audio
A conversation with God at Easter
I love windows with a view,
Vistas spread out like a picnic blanket on a springtime lawn.
I want to see!
What do You see?
What do You treasure?
What makes Your heart flutter?
I fear we have been looking through the wrong window all this time.
Your treasure is surprising.
Colors so vibrant they give us goose bumps.
One who had nothing and has everything.
Strange freaks with alarming beauty.
The outcasts and strangers.
Your own glory revealed through the design of your kids.
Freedom, Love, Dancing, Love, Peace, Love, Creativity, Love, Order, Love, Crazy Faith, Love – the greatest of these is LOVE!
I know your heart sings when your kids love well.
You treasure me.
I am Your treasure.
How can this be true?
I don’t compare to You.
You could treasure anything.
You should treasure yourself.
You are the real treasure!
What was that?
Did I hear You right?
You made me with You in me?
I look like You?
You must be mistaken.
My eyes struggle to see through this window.
Change my vision.
I want to see Your view.
I want to see You in me.
You are worthy, You are breathtaking
I want to be Your beauty!
Got Kids? Know Kids? A child at heart?
I have to tell everyone about the blog – My Imagination.
If you have kids, or kids nearby, or people think of you as a kid then you will love this blog.
My wife has been a children’s specialist for years and a children’s author. I finally talked her into joining the blog o sphere. Every week she posts a new children’s story and they are wonderful and inspiring. (okay, I am a little biased but honestly she is good.)
Check it out and let your imagination soar.
8 rules I live by
I have 8 rules or thoughts I focus on to keep me moving forward.
- Walk with God: This has to be first. I don’t go it alone on this amazing journey.
- Live and play in the moment: The past is history and the future doesn’t exist. Most stress and anxiety revolves around and is powered by our perceptions of either the past or the future. If I let those go, stress pretty much melts away.
- Play to win: Why even play if it isn’t to go all the way?
- Gratitude for everything: Everything that has happened in my life has brought me to the exact place I am, so I give thanks for it. Everything that is happening in the moment is my doing and, because I love myself andpractice forgiveness of myself, I am grateful for the wonder, the lessons, and the joy. Everything that will happen is the result of what I did in the present and will propel me further into the beauty of my design. That is definitely something to be grateful for.
- Trust my design and designer: The one who made me is perfect and the design is perfect. The more I live through that design the more joy, fun, success, and love I experience.
- Don’t beat yourself up: I am my own worst enemy. Let it go and relax. Forgiveness of self is one of the best things anyone can do to move forward.
- Risk vulnerability: I don’t want to hide behind some cleverly designed appearance. This isn’t always easy but the world craves authenticity.
- Expect the positive: In every moment I have the opportunity to chose what I expect next. Why would I choose to expect bad things? Plus, The energy I project attracts what comes down the line. You know the old saying that you reap what you sow? We’ll I want to sow the positive. Period!
Dark Chocalate M&Ms and Compromise
The other day I was at the grocery store and they were giving away packs of dark chocolate M&Ms. Under ordinary circumstances where I had to pay for the candy I would have simply resisted. Even if they were severally discounted, I would have resisted. Not because I have anything against M&Ms, I don’t. In fact they are a wonderful candy. It’s just that I know I want to guard how much junk I put into my body and I can normally resist those candy temptations. However, this time was different. I took the candy, ate it, and then wished I hadn’t. Why did I allow something that I didn’t want and that wasn’t the best for me into my life? Simple – it was free!
Hmmm….
What does life want from you?
Today, as my daughter and I were doing chalk drawings in our drive way, I finally surrendered to the truth that my 10 year old daughter is a way better artist than I am. Not because I am a bad artist but because she is so good. I use to pretend that I was pretty good but I can’t pretend anymore. I have learned drawing skills over the years and I really enjoy the design process, BUT my daughter was born with skills that naturally blow me away. She sees life differently.
She isn’t even aware of how good she is, she just does it. It is part of her design. It is easy for her and she never has any anxiety about it.
You have a design! It is how you were meant to live your life. Life isn’t supposed to be hard or stressed fill. That’s a lie many have bought into. When you tap into your design life begins to happen around you and you love it. you no longer have to force it.
When you live this way you have a quantum change in your life perception and you realize that what is important is not what you want from life. Rather, it is what life wants from you. Your were designed to love life and give back to the world around you through your design. The world then gives back to you in direct proportion to what you have given out. You can’t freely give back to the world until you understand how you were designed to do it. It also won’t be near as much fun.
Accelerate your life by discovering your design and living out of it.
The future can really mess you up
What could you be?
Where could you go?
What amazing results could you bring into your life?
If only you could make all your potential a reality.
Focusing on the future and what could be can keep you stuck in a present you don’t like. When you spend time thinking about what could be you are affirming that what could be isn’t in the NOW of your life. As you wait for your potential to happen, you can become secure in the hope of what might be and never bring it into the now.
Your potential is always in the future, but what is in your present. Start there. If you want to be who you really are rather than who you could be, then you must find out who you really are right now and not who you might be.
There is no need to dream in the future. Instead, dream in the now.
You are a glorious reflection of beauty right now. If you struggle to see it don’t worry, it’s still there. Sometimes you just have a blindfold on that keeps you from seeing it. Maybe your blindfold is thinking about the future? Take it off and your destiny is right before you right now.
Have your cake and eat it too. Part 2
The father of American psychology, William James, said there were three rules for changing your life:
- Start immediately.
- Do it flamboyantly.
- No exceptions.
I couldn’t agree more when it comes to having your cake and eating it too. If you want a life that revolves around your authentic self and you are ready to make the leap, then the best way to be ready is to simply start moving. You don’t have to have all your ducks in a row to get started. You know enough to begin to move and you will learn everything else that you need as you go along.
All the reasons you could come up with for not moving are based in fear and you were not created to live your life ruled by fear. I will admit that feeling fear is normal and probably even healthy, but it is not healthy when it stops you from moving forward.
When I was a child I was afraid of the dark. I had large fears about what might creep around in the dark and live in my closet. I can remember being so scared that I laid in bed paralyzed. I couldn’t move my arms or legs. Now, there was nothing in my room, but even if there had been I couldn’t have done anything about because of my fear. I allowed my fear to be in control. Feeling fear is fine, but letting it guide you will keep you stuck in a miserable and inauthentic life.
Stop waiting for your fears to go away and die. Go after them and kill them. The KEY is to start moving and push through the initial emotions. Stop telling yourself that you need more time or more planning. Trust your authentic self and begin.
Headed Nowhere Fast? 