- Some people can’t be successful because of their background, education, etc. Anybody can be successful. It’s a matter of wanting to, then doing what it takes to achieve it.
- Successful people don’t make mistakes. Successful people make mistakes just like we all do. They just don’t repeat them.
- You’ve got to work 60 (70, 80, 90…)hours a week to be successful. It’s not a matter of doing A LOT of something. It’s more about doing the right thing.
- You’ll only be a success if you play by the rules. Who makes up the rules, anyway? Each situation is different. Sometimes following the rules is needed, other times making up your own rules is what is required.
- If you have help along the way, it’s not success. Success rarely occurs in a vacuum. Recognize the people who help you become successful; there are plenty of them.
- It takes a lot of luck to be successful. Sure, it takes “some” luck to be successful. It takes a lot more hard work, diligence, knowledge, and application.
- It’s only success if you make a lot of money. Money is just one of the many benefits to success, but it’s not guaranteed.
- It’s only success if everybody knows it. You may think that the more money and the more accolades, the more people know about what you’ve done. But, even if you were the only one who knew it, you’d still be a success.
- Success is a goal. Success is more what you get when you achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. Saying that you “want to be a success” begs the question “at what?”
- Once I’m successful, my troubles are over. You may be successful, but you’ll still have the ups and downs that you did before. Enjoy what success you achieve and live each day as it comes.
Tag Archive | choices
Being Truly Spectacular
You may find it hard to believe, but spectacularity, achieving more than you ever dreamed, is more than just a possibility. It is your birth right to achieve all that you can dream. Although it is the natural state of people, many typically fall short of achieving spectacularity. Some may think they don’t deserve it, that being spectacular is for others, not for them. Some may think that they couldn’t possibly be spectacular. Others don’t know how to achieve it. What stops you from being truly spectacular?
Fear, and its constant companion, lack of confidence, plague the road to spectacularity, creating an endless path of sharp curves, speed bumps and hurdles. A root cause of fear is the misconception that you are alone and powerless, that you will not succeed. Often, ego, the false mask of fear, tags along for the ride, but this false mask serves no useful purpose. The interesting thing about ego is that ego-driven thoughts, beliefs and behaviors can be challenged and discarded, like a pair of worn out shoes or an old coat, at any time you choose. The choice to discard, however, an only be made when you are willing to admit that ego serves no useful purpose. This is a giant step and a continuing challenge on the journey toward being truly spectacular. The antidote to fear, lack of confidence, self-sabotage and ego is the dawning discovery that you are not alone, but rather, that you are intimately connected to an immense reservoir of power that is the Spiritual Universe and that you have within you a great power to be truly spectacular. Not only do you have the power to be truly spectacular, but you also have the right to be amazingly spectacular.
Are you a procrastinator? Many are. Thinking about doing rather than actually doing – or inaction instead of action – is what unfulfilled dreams are made of. When you settle for less than you hoped or dreamed for, you are in essence saying to the world, “It’s OK – I don’t deserve better.” Nonsense! Each and every one of us deserves all the best that the Universe has to offer. When you settle, you give away your personal power and just accept whatever comes your way, you become a volunteer victim. Interestingly, procrastination rhymes with stagnation, and the similarities don’t end there. The antidote to procrastination is a single word: action. Achieving spectacularity lies in this simple rule: Set an intention of being spectacular. Start from where you are and take one step at a time. The journey of a thousand miles starts with that first step, no matter how small that step is. It may be scary, but you can do it. Dare to be spectacular!
Those who are spectacular focus on a clear sharp vision while maintaining a solid grounding of full present awareness and involvement. They practice the art of mindfulness, fully being in the here and now, fully being in the present. Vision is the energy that adds inspiration and ease to action. Vision is the solid conviction that you are about something really important, even though you may not be certain what it is. One of the great paradoxes of life is that, in order to fulfill your vision, it is often necessary to let go of any attachment to a particular result or outcome. When we hold on to a specific result, we give away or may even block the potential of even greater things coming our way. When you release the expectation of a specific outcome, it makes way for the Universe to send the most amazing energy and experiences your way. Commitment, another part of being truly spectacular, is a function of vision, not will. Rely on will, and commitment is sporadic at best. This becomes easier if you can realize that, at a higher level, you are engaged in a grand design in which the full pursuit of process ensures a right result. Being flexible is a path toward being truly spectacular.
The journey to becoming truly spectacular is not without risks. To risk is to be willing to sacrifice that which is comfortable, that which is familiar, and that of which you are sure. To risk involves relying on one’s own measure of success rather than on society’s measures. Often, society’s measures of success are material, transitory, showy and foolish. Society appears to have taken the notion that goals should be concrete and tangible to ridiculous extremes. Relying on one’s own measure of success leads toward being truly spectacular. While on one level, risk-taking involves uncertainty, at a higher level, it involves trust, the trust that you will be guided, step by step. Trust is necessary in order to be truly spectacular. Trust and faith in what is coming your way means that you know you will receive whatever is perfect for you, whenever it is the perfect time to receive it. Spectacularity depends on our willingness to accept that our Spiritual heritage is all good. As a prelude to discovering your own great uniqueness and spectacularity, you need to accept the possibility that it is so! This is what makes you truly spectacular!
Beyond Forgive and Forget
We have often heard the words “Forgive and Forget”. What part do they play in your daily life?
We face disappointments and daily events that, in order to move forward in life, need to be forgiven. Our partners, our friends, and even the world at large, may hurt us through their words or actions. While it isn’t always intentional, it hurts just the same. When such deep emotional pain is placed in your life, how do you forgive and forget? For some, the burden of this event can be with you 24 hours a day, hanging onto your every breath, filling your every waking moment. How could you possibly forget what happened when your life is so changed…and you didn’t even have a say in it? For some, hurt is etched indelibly on your mind, in your memory. How can you possibly forgive them? The pain becomes a part of you, a compass for each day. This pain can also invade and take over your every waking moment, if you allow it.
If you allow it. You see, you do have a choice in the matter.
How does one forgive something when often the unkind act is purposeful and maliciously intended? How do we go through life and say “Yes, I forgive you” for altering the course of my life, for shattering the trust I had in you, in my world, in mankind, for taking someone who I hold dear to my heart, for acts that are so unkind.
Forgiveness does not mean that you accept inappropriate behavior towards yourself. It means that you are no longer prepared to carry the pain of reaction within you, and that is when you can begin the healing process. Take away the power of the act and regain, reclaim your own personal power. Holding on to the pain can set you up for stabs of bitterness. Let go of the substance of the pain that stops you from living a life of unlimited joy and love.
The mere act of releasing the negative feelings of the past is empowering. This release makes room within your heart to truly love and fully live once again. Release this pain and you will break the chains that bind you to the past, to the act. Release the pain by asking for it to be healed without any negative repercussions in all directions, past, present or future.
This act of forgiveness does not only pertain to large events in your world. A friend says a careless word, a partner does something that hurts you, your child hurts you. We easily brush off the little things in life, but it seems that the bigger the hurt, the deeper the emotional tie to the event or person, the harder it is to forgive. Let it go. When you hold on to unforgiveness, you are only hurting yourself. Often, the one who hurt you, the person who you “cannot possibly forgive”, goes on with their life as if nothing happened. You keep yourself chained to a wall in a cage with the invisible chain of unforgiveness. You have the power to break that self-imposed chain. Open the door of the cage you put yourself in. The door, the cage, the chain were never really there. They existed only in your mind and as such, you can move them out of your way at any time.
You see, you do have a choice in the matter.
Forget? What does it mean to you? Forget can mean that you stop thinking about something, that you put it out of your mind, or that you put it behind you. As humans, we hopefully learn from our mistakes, from events in our lives, from the mistakes of others. The event may forever be a part of your memory, but it doesn’t have to rule your life. You deserve to feel happy and have love and joy. Learn from the mistake, and move forward. Letting it weigh you down keeps you from fully experiencing and living the life you were meant to live.
How effectively and safely would you drive your car if you only looked in the rearview mirror and never looked out the windshield? Sure, we must use that rearview mirror from time to time, as well as the side mirrors, which give us a different perspective of the past. We learn about our future by looking at the past, but we can’t get stuck in the past. Life can only be explained by looking backwards, but it must be lived forward.
When you think about it, we have four different kinds of sight that can help us see life through different perspectives. We have eyesight. Another word for this would be our vision. It allows us to safely and effectively navigate our way within the physical world. We have hindsight…that’s always 20/20, of course. Hindsight gives us retrospection, a perception or observation of the past. We have foresight, a forethought that hopefully helps us to not do the same thing, make the same mistake, in the future. Perhaps the most important sight we have, though, is insight. Insight is that ability to really see and intuitively understand the problem at hand. It is that little light that goes on in our minds, that “aha” moment we’ve all experienced. Insight is what helps us find solutions and move beyond. Insight is what helps us move forward in life.
Forgive and forget? You see, you really do have a choice in the matter.
Dr Sue Wisdoms 