Replacing negative thoughts and opinions with optimism and new and exciting opportunities We always see what we want to see at least in our own mind, even if the reality is far from the image and opinions we created in our head. We structure our opinions about the outside world based on such images. Often, when we encounter something great in our life’s path – new and exciting job opportunity or highly promising business venture, instead of being happy about what’s right in front of us, we begin looking for reasons why opportunities that present themselves to us are not good, in fact, we often do everything that we can to convince ourselves and others why such opportunities are bad and should be avoided. But how do we know? Why do we create such negative images and perspectives in our mind before taking a closer look at what’s available to us – new opportunities, new situations, and interesting people we had encountered? We do so because it is easier this way. We don’t have to step outside of our comfort zone where we feel safe and comfortable to explore something new and unknown, or to meet someone new, even when we complain to everyone around us how few friends we have. We do not want to change our perspective, because, that would mean that we must change and accept the possibility that we may not know everything and should listen to opinions and feedback of others, and adjust our thoughts, opinions, and actions accordingly. Why not just accept opportunities and people into our life without pre-judgement and with positive and open mind? It’s so easy to do, yet so few people actually do it. Instead, what often observed is constant search for something negative, something bad in every situation. And then we wonder why so many people are unhappy and dissatisfied with where they may be in life, both on the personal and professional fronts. I believe what we should do instead is create a positive environment for ourselves and other and make the best out of every situation wherever we may find ourselves to be. Not happy where you are professional? Then think about the things that you may be able to do or change in your present financial situation in order to increase your job satisfaction and to create a solid path to keep moving forward towards your goals while enjoying what you do every day. Perhaps, you’ve been neglecting your personal development because you’ve been busy focusing all your time and energy on helping others, and not dedicating enough time for yourself and your own professional growth? Maybe you’ve been thinking about trying your professional skills and abilities in another professional role and capacity but have been afraid to share your wants and needs with our immediate boss not knowing how he or she would respond? But, how would we ever know how another person would respond if we never ask the question? We wouldn’t. Not happy where you are financially? Why not analyze your existing financial situation, create a budget and plan to improve your current situation? I am certainly not a financial advisor, but if we do not know where money are going every month, why not list what you make and what you spend each month to better understand where there may be an opportunity to cut back on our expenses and seek new ways to increase the amount of money we bring in? Perhaps there’s an opportunity to start a part-time business and create additional sources of income, or look for additional growth opportunities within your existing role? Opportunities to change and improve or enhance our present are all around us, all we really need to be willing to do is to keep positive mindset towards everything that we do and see. Instead of criticizing everything and everyone, we should look inside of us just to see if there’s an opportunity for us to change our thoughts, our perspectives, and overall view by changing it from negative and pessimistic to positive and optimistic. Be thankful for everything that we do have in our life vs. constantly focusing on what we want but don’t have just yet and look for ways to achieve that what we seek. Our mindset could be our biggest driver of positive change or unmovable roadblock created by our own fear and limiting beliefs and negativity. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hope that you found it to be very useful for you or someone else that you may know. Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may benefit from reading it same way you did
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There's no such thing as the "right time" So many of us make a mistake every day to wait until tomorrow, next day, or even next year to do or start something that we want, something that we feel strongly about. For some reason we believe that waiting for a better or more convenient time may somehow be better, even when we know and understand that there’s no such thing as a ‘better time.’ As result, we miss on many great opportunities in life, we let our hopes and dreams go into ‘maybe-I-will-open-it-some-day’ folder. We know that if we do not take action today, we would most likely never will, and somehow, we are ok with that. But why? Why not act today? Why not start working on your wants, goals, and dreams today? Sure, we may not have everything or even most of what we may need to get going, but we can at least start, can’t we? If we really want to read a great book during the month, why not start today and read a first five pages, and set a goal of reading 5-10 pages each day thereafter? We can do that, can’t we? Don’t have time or place to read in quiet? Why not listen to the same book in audio format? We should be able to do so virtually anywhere, at any time, and still accomplish our goal of reading a wonderful book each month. It’s the matter of getting started. As I am sure you know that we can always find other “more important” things to fill out time, our schedule with each day, creating an excuse as to why we are not pursuing our goals and plans we so want to accomplish, or so we say. Therefore, we must make time every day to pursue our goals and objectives, even if its just few minutes each day. The main point that I want to make in this article is that we should not be waiting for the “right time” to being pursuing that what we want and hope to accomplish. There’s no better time, there’s only today and now, and everything else is a detour on our life’s journey and vacuum of time and opportunities which we could never get back. As Hugh Laurie once said: “It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wain until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hope that you found it to be very useful for you or someone else that you may know. Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may benefit from reading it same way you did
Coming in terms with our own mind Why we continue trying to change someone else as a person by changing their environment, when we know that process of change rests fully in someone’s own mind? We think that by changing person’s surroundings we can somehow change who they are, how they act or see the world. However, environment around us is only one component of how we see the world and how we feel. If our mind convinces us that world is dark and gloomy place full of mean and self-centered and greedy people, then no matter which environment we find ourselves in, even if it’s the most beautiful, safe, and welcoming, all we would see is what’s our mind is telling us to see – dark, gloomy world with greedy and mean people. So, change and how we view the world around us begins in our mind. If we see beauty and positive energy in everything and everyone around us, we would find happiness and peace. If we choose to be happy and positive, we will be happy and positive no matter the environment or circumstances that we find ourselves in. Some people who may not have much, still glow with happiness and positive energy, because, they had made a decision to feel that way. They choose to make the best out of what they do have and where they are. And others, may have everything that they want in life, and yet they feel miserable and only see negative in everything they see around then or all material possessions that they have. Why? Because, they made a decision to feel that way. Therefore, even if more great things will come into their life, their perspective will remain unchanged. Therefore, our environment and our surroundings can only be as good or as beautiful as we make them to be in our own mind. We choose to see beauty, opportunity, and happiness, or destruction, lack of opportunity, and sadness. So, before changing the environment, we must come in terms with our own mind, conduct self-analysis, and understand our life’s outlook to see if, perhaps, change is needed there first. Remember to surround yourself with people who motivate, encourage, inspire, and support you. When we are surrounded by people who inspire us, we want to try harder, work harder, achieve more. These individuals support us when we require support and lift us up when we require motivation and guidance. We are inspired by achievement and success of those whom we look up to and respect. We feel that our thoughts, ideas, and dreams are being heard, which inspires action and desire to keep moving forward towards accomplishment of our goals and plans we have in life. On the other side of the coin, if/when we surround ourselves with people who bring us down, continuously complain and give away negative energy, and only see bad things in the world around them, we would eventually feel exactly the same, even if initially our outlook on the world around us was positive. So, we should remember this when we choose with whom we plan to interact on the regular basis. Based on my personal experience, I found that it’s better to have one to two true friends who see you for who you are, believe in you, and motivate you to achieve great things with each interaction, vs. having ten or more people in your so called ‘circle of friends’ who are only there because it’s popular or expected by others, creating a false illusion of friendship. I’ve been in such situations more than once and felt the pressure and negativity on my shoulders while interacting with individuals who never viewed me as a valued member of a larger group. I had also felt a relief of a weight dropping off my shoulders when I had made a decision to break away from such groups, realizing how one’s mindset and decisions that we make can change and have a long lasting effect on what we do and become later in life. So, if we want to change how we feel about the world that we live in, or our outlook on circumstances that we find ourselves in from time to time, we must first change our mindset and ensure that our thoughts and perspectives are aligned with how we truly want to feel and see the world around us, and make sure that our mindset is focused on our own goals and dreams before we change the environment around us. Before we can create positive change on the outside, we must first create necessary changes on the inside. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hope that you found it to be very useful for you or someone else that you may know. Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may benefit from reading it same way you did
Why surround yourself with lies when truth is an obvious choice? Why spoil someone’s trust? Why go to great lengths to create various stories, lies, vs. simply stating the truth at all times? No reason. We all know that things that we lie about eventually resurface over time, placing us in a very uncomfortable situation with those who trusted us, and who’s trust we had betrayed. Often, it may not seem like a big deal to many, however, it is always a big deal to someone on the receiving end, someone who trusted and who’s trust was broken. It doesn’t matter what happens after once we break someone’s trust, it can never be repaired, because, once we betray another person’s trust once, they will now be suspecting and expecting for us to do it again. Therefore, the only way to preserve and maintain strong trusting relationship with others is always to be honest and tell the truth, no matter how painful or uncomfortable that truth may be initially. A lot of times, the truth itself may not be as damaging as we may think. In many situations escalations or conflict can be avoided if we simply tell the truth no matter how scary that truth may be or sound. However, when we create a lie just to cover up tough truth, over time we tend to make original situation even worse, and instead of us addressing the issue, we extend it over longer period creating more problems than solutions as a result. So, what is the solution? Tell the truth and be honest with yourself and those around you whether it is at home or in the place of business. Honesty is highly valued and goes a long way. When we are known for being an honest person who speaks the truth no matter the circumstance, we command respect and loyalty. People are able and are willing to share their inner secrets with us, because, we can be trusted. We can be relied on to follow through with important projects, goals, and objectives. Why? Because, we had proven to others that we can be trusted. Therefore, to keep mind clear of worries, fears, hesitations, and to tackle each day not from the past but from the present with confidence and clear consciousness, remember that being truthful to yourself and others every day can be a very powerful thing in the short and long-term for you and your future. As Anton Chekhov once said: “One drop of lie spoils the ocean of trust.” I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hope that you found it to be very useful for you or someone else that you may know. Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may benefit from reading it same way you did
Learn from it, overcome it, keep moving forward, no matter what When we fall and bruise ourselves, we don’t just say: “well, maybe walking isn’t for me,” we get up, dust ourselves off, cover up our bruises and keep on going. So, why do many of us feel that failure is something that is permanent, something that if experienced once, should never be experience again and be avoided at all costs? Because, it shouldn’t be avoided. Failure is like a small pebble on a very long and exciting road we call life When failure is encountered, all we need to do is move that small pebble away, study it, learn what we can from that experience and just keep on walking. I know that I make it sound like it’s so easy to overcome failure and find a solution to keep moving forward, however, in reality, anyone who has experienced failure before knows and understands that it’s not always that easy, and you are right, sometimes it is not. Overcoming failure can be often very challenging, frustrating, discouraging, demotivating, etc. But what I am saying is that even though it can be all these things, it is not permanent. Failure can only become permanent if we choose to see it this way in our own mind and try to convince others that it is so. Stop allowing you own negative thoughts, your mind, your own challenging circumstances, dictate how you should see yourself in the mirror, how you should respond to temporary setbacks. Remember, failure is not permanent unless we choose to make it so. In almost every difficult situation, exists a solution. It’s not always easy to find it though, and sometimes we must spend hours, days, weeks, months, or even years looking for a solution. Therefore, it’s very important that we remain patient and focused on a positive outcome when things get and remain tough for some time. It’s important to also remember that as long as we have the desire to find solution and win, and get ourselves out of difficulty we may be in, when we are ready to keep going and keep trying no matter how difficult or unpromising our efforts may get, we will eventually find that what we seek. Why? Because, we try. Because, we did not give up when everyone else did. Because, we knew and believed that failure is temporary. So, let’s stop treating failure as some kind of mountain that we cannot climb, and let’s being looking at each interaction with failure as a challenge of our own motivation and desire to win each and every day. Why? Because, we can! I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hope that you found it to be very useful for you or someone else that you may know. Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may benefit from reading it same way you did
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