Can Regret make us SMALL?

There was once a man who loved to go fishing.  Whenever he had  free time he would take off to one of his favorite fishing spots.  In fact, he loved his fishing trips so much that he often neglected his business and family responsibilities in order to get in a little extra trip or two.  He was often found missing at work related meetings and family gatherings with no explanation.  Early one Sunday morning, the man got up early and headed to one of his favorite fishing spots.  He drove for some time anticipating the peaceful time alone and the excitement of the nibble, the bite and the catch!  He arrived near a beautiful lake.  He parked his car, grabbed his gear and walked a long trail for about an hour down to his perfect spot!  He had been fishing only a few minutes when he noticed rather ominous clouds gathering rather quickly.  Suddenly there began a down pour of very heavy rain.  Looking for some kind of shelter from the storm, he saw a hollow log not too far from where he was fishing.  He made his way to the log and crawled inside to wait out the storm.  While he was laying in the log, the rhythm of the rain falling against the old wood of the log became hypnotic and soothing to him.  It wasn't long before he fell asleep ... After some time, the man awoke, looked out the end of the log and could see that the sun was shining again.  Anxious to get back to his fishing, the man attempted to crawl out of the log only to find that he could not move.   He struggled and struggled but could not budge at all!  While he had been sleeping, the old hollow log had absorbed the water from the rain and become swollen thus trapping the man inside.  The more he tried to get free it seemed the tighter he was stuck.  He shouted for help several times and then realized that he was miles from ear shot of anyone.  He also realized that no one knew he had gone fishing that morning and, in addition, he had never told anyone about this particular special fishing spot.  After some time he concluded he would probably die there in the log.  He began thinking about his funeral, all the people that would be there, how big the funeral would be and so on.  This was shortly interrupted with thoughts of all the times he had promised to do things for others and then not followed through because he had gone fishing.  He thought of the family gatherings he missed because of fishing and only thinking of himself.  He thought more and more of all the little things he could have done but didn't because he wanted to do what HE wanted to do first.  The more he thought about these things, the smaller he began to feel... in fact, after some time he began feeling smaller, and smaller so much so that he was eventually able to stand up and walk out of the log without any problem.  Some times we need to reevaluate our priorities.  Regret can make us SMALL!

WORRY IS A WASTE!

"A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man dies but once." Worry is a waste! In the past 30 years there have been a variety of studies on worry that have varied only slightly. Generally the findings are: 80% of what we worry about will never happen; of the remaining 20% we can do nothing about 17% of it. That leaves only 3% of valid worry... if there is such a thing. None of us live life according to reality. We live life according to our perception of reality. "Two men looked out through prison bars, one saw mud the other saw stars." How we view or think about things determines how we experience our world. The most powerful part of our mind, the subconscious, determines our physical and emotional state. What we think about becomes input or a goal to the subconscious which acts immediately to accomplish that goal. What trips many people up is the fact that the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. It interprets everything we think about as reality and responds to it as such. Have you ever entered a dark room thinking someone might be in there who could frighten or hurt you? Your heart starts to pound, your muscles tighten, your nervous system releases adrenalin, all this happening ... then you turn on the light ... and no one is there. Well they might as well have been there. You experienced all the physical and emotional responses that would have occurred if they were. It is our thoughts that create our experience. That is why many people say that we create our own reality. What is worry? I view worry as vividly imagining what we don't want to have happen. Now if we do that, worry, what is our subconscious going to do? Our subconscious will interpret those thoughts as a goal or having already occurred and help us feel and be as if it is reality. If we would vividly imagine what we WANT to have happen (some call this faith, visualization, positive imaging) the subconscious will do powerful, amazing yet natural things for us. Lets not make life so hard. Worry is a Waste!

THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE

I frequently hear, "Knowledge is Power."  I strongly disagree!  Knowledge in and of itself is powerless.  Knowledge, when APPLIED,  is POWER!!  As we apply the knowledge we obtain, we experience growth and with that growth gain even more knowledge.  We have all seen the two different states in our lives.  Their are those who have gained knowledge and never apply it.  Then there are those who gain knowledge, apply it, and continue to learn.  We see them as, one individual has twenty years experience in a field of expertise and the other has one year of experience twenty times.   LEARN - APPLY- GROW

FOCUS

Any man who can drive safely while kissing his wife is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves! In everything we do, we should be there 100%!!  It makes life so much more Rich and Fulfilling when we are totally in the present.  If you are going to spend time with your children, then truly spend time with them. Be there in body and mind.  You will both benefit tremendously.  When you are at or doing work, be THERE 100%.  You will find that you are so much more efficient and that life takes on a joy that only comes when living in THE ZONE!