The Secret to Success

We all want it: that big pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow!

It could be a promotion at work; working less; having more time to care for our loved ones; gaining financial freedom or fulfilling personal morals. Everyone wants it, but only a few can actually attain it. We feel like we have an imaginary boulder stopping us from progressing in life.

Why is it that there are some people who have absolutely no problem bypassing the boulder while others can’t even go within ten feet of it? Is there a giant secret that only a few people have and the rest of the world doesn’t? Yes!! But – no not really.

Actually, every single person has it.

The secret is, ATTITUDE!

Attitude has got to be the biggest possible game changer in the history of the world. This life was not meant to be easy, and the attitude you set in motion will derive your outcome. If you want to be a pessimist, you will get a crummy attitude in return. If you’re an optimist, the world will give you a break!

The only way you can advance in life is by taking the necessary steps, and not shunning your past, but looking ahead toward the future.

First step to change is your mindset. Our minds are so creative, so capable to constantly grow and learn and adapt to any type of situation.

Carol Dwecks book Mindset gives a fascinating perspective on how abilities can be developed. YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU CURRENTLY ARE!!  Our brains are so malleable that we need to recognize that the brain is like a muscle. It constantly needs nourishment (a.k.a. NEW information) in order to have a growth mindset.

We are born with the growth mindset; we are so curious as we develop and grow into this captivating world we live in. The thrill of having a sleep over with our best friend; the fun of tying a red towel around your neck to become superman! 

We are so eager to learn about this world and what it has to offer. We become engrossed in using our talents to better off the  world!

But something happens as we age. We grow a chip on our shoulder and we start to think the world owes us something. Greed overtakes, and somehow, that chaotic puzzle called life just ain’t fun anymore, and we look for shortcuts as if this will make our time here on earth go just a little bit quicker. This is the fixed mindset.

We have the ability to be whatever we so choose to be in life. Depending on our attitude, it “affects what we want and whether we succeed in getting it”.

If we want, we can have the fixed mindset; if we want we can have the growth mindset. We shape our futures, quite literally. Everyone has a choice, try to make the right choice. And maybe, be mature in making your choice.

The chart below illustrates the difference between growth mindset vs. fixed mindset

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How are you spending your time?

We are so blessed with an abundance of food and material possessions living in North America! Yet, we continually buy, buy, buy, more, more, more. Why?

The word for this is Compulsive Hoarding. Somehow, many of us subconsciously think our THINGS will get taken away, and thus we will become nothing. I’m guilty of this too. It’s a very easy pastime, accumulating STUFF that we might need on a rainy day. The truth is that we’re just bored because we’ve been given everything in life, so that is when the compulsivity starts. The bible teaches us that if we have faith, God will always provide enough to sustain us through life.

There are many verses where this is displayed:

·        Exodus 16:17-18 (¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer (unit of measurement – 1 omer = 3.5 liters), the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.)

·        John 6:33 (³³The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.)

·        Ecclesiastes 9:11 (I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.)

Scripture can be highly symbolic, mythic, theological, metaphorical, and proverbial all rolled into one, that you may be very well taking what is written way out of context. So you need to discern what is truly trying to be conveyed. If you don’t discover what is truly being said, you may be misconstruing what the entire religion means based on your own personal thoughts. The bottom line is this: be curious! Go to places that could have leaders with the right information, like, maybe a Church perhaps? Join a small group. Talk to the Pastor, most of all, read the Bible! I believe God gives everyone gifts that they can go out and use to better God’s world. Gifts such as:

administration
creative ability
discernment
encouragement
evangelism
faith
giving
healing
hospitality
intercession
knowledge
leadership
mercy
miracles
prophecy
service
shepherding
teaching
tongues (speaking and interpretation)
wisdom

The purpose of all spiritual gifts is to serve others and glorify God. Our gifts are not our property to use as we please. We have been given them in order to glorify God. I believe in prayer, but also using the gifts that God has given to support the people around us. To sum up, I believe in prayer and action. If we don’t act accordingly and rely solely on prayer alone, are we really doing what God wants? In a way, that is sinning.

We need to bring our gifts together and better off everyone else in the world. As is said, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but if everyone works together, we can create a community of fellowship between each other

So, to sum up:

Life is short, but it’s not that short. Spend your time here on earth doing the right thing. You’ll just end up regretting not taking the leap.

Q - So... What's the right thing???

A - Everyone is different. Find your passion in life, and continue to sharpen your skills at it. There is no one size fits all answer. Lost the passion for what you had before? Switch it up! We are multidimensional people, meaning we aren't meant to do one thing for our whole life.

The last resort is this song -

UltraVibe machine

I love my new Fitness Machine! I've been using it for a week now@10 min 2-3x a day and already we see results. Just need a full-length mirror to help me with my posture !

Break Free!

How would you measure or define the worth/value of a man in today’s society? Ultimately the deciding factor is how confident you are on your own understanding of the world, and executing and producing the desired result. The life we truly desire and deserve cannot be ultimately attained if we lack the self-confidence to move forward with our intention.

The Bible tells us that man was made in the image of God. In many ways, we bear Gods likeness. We gain a deeper understanding of who we are the more we know about him. That is to say, to know us, we have to get to know God. And, to get to know God, we have to first start with ourselves. We have such an interwoven relationship that you can't have one without the other. 

If our understanding of society's rules are inadequate, we end up having a distorted view on truth as a whole. Therefore, ignorance is bliss! Well, somewhat!

Can you put a price on Freedom of speech? Can you put a price on the love of your life? How about watching a beautiful sunset? How about your emotions, energy, confidence and attitude? Accountability? Respect? Some things have no monetary value, but they mean a lot in order to have a fulfilling life. All of these attributes can be summed up by one core aspect: Intrinsic value.

Intrinsic value is a term used in companies to view an assets worth, but not necessarily its monetary value. However, we are people. We are not a company or an object.

The expression we use for people are your gifts, or your spiritual gifts.

The reality is, you and only you define success for yourself! Yes, society has thresholds that say “You can only do this if you have a diploma stating that you're qualified”, but ultimately, it’s up to you to make the agreement and move ahead with the degree. You make the decision to engage in the cultural norm.

The unrealistic, view people as one-dimensional creatures, only scratching the surface instead of seeing the magnitude of potentiality we all possess.

       God doesn’t make imperfections; it’s the people around us that distort our view of what we have. We are meant to believe that we are worthless, we have no impact on society and will never emit to any-thing, we aren’t worthy of love, we are not enough, we don’t deserve hap-piness, we aren’t unique or special, Our dreams are too unrealistic or im-practical, our circumstances dictate our success, we are not worthy of wealth. And we believe these lies. Once we start to believe these lies, we gain another dreaded emotion, fear. We fear that we can’t speak up. We can’t wear that. We can’t do that. We can’t learn that. We simply can’t. This is a paralyzing emotion that prevents us from living life to the full. How can we break free from the lies and fear that society as a whole has led us to believe?
Knowing that you ARE worthy of love, you DO deserve happiness, you ARE completely unique and special, your dreams and insight ARE completely realistic and practical, YOU ARE ENOUGH.

We are all created fearfully and wonderfully! Maybe, just maybe, the way each of us is made is exactly what God intended for us!

This world is what we make of it. If we choose to look at and receive all the negativity this world can throw at us (and believe me, there’s plenty), then we will only see the negativity; This is where we need to take dimensionality into consideration in regards to “status quo” or social state of affairs. We are imperfect beings living in a chaotic society. Imperfect people living in a state of turmoil. And yet we strive to be flawless. This measure of success will never be attainable. We may do everything in our power to do every-thing right, but when our world has not been created perfect to begin with it causes problems in us, problems that we can’t get away from. The young grow old, the poor get poorer, people are disabled, relationships get torn apart, friends become enemies, and the inevitability that we are all going to die. Why do these things happen? As Gods chosen people, we are given a strong sense of fulfillment that we need to achieve HIS goals for us. It's not about us. It never has been. We are just little chess pieces on a board called life and Gods the player in hand. 
If that's not the case, then WHY? Why would bad things ever happen to good people? The only answer I can give you is bad things happen to any-one and everyone because we live in a broken, distorted world. Bad things are inevitable to happen; it's how you choose to view it. Is it a tragedy or a blessing? 

I choose to look at my battle a blessing. It was a covenant of grace in disguise. Do you know what I gained from it? TIME. Time to actually digest how fragile and precious life is. How the choices we make affect every aspect of our life, and to make the choice that, no, I am here to make an impact on this earth, not to fall through the cracks that life offers so easily. We literally create our own destiny! To manifest means whatever you take in, you give out. Like what you listen to on the radio, what program you watch on TV, even down to the food we eat, we have a choice: is it positive or negative? God gave us free will, and so it’s our choice on how we want to live our life. That is, until a term called determinism comes into play. It means that the choices you make constitutes what’s going on around you in the external world. Once you become aware that everything connects to everything else, you start to see what’s really important in life.

God has an agenda that we have a duty to fulfill. Put God into the equation of how our lives unfold, and all will start to make sense. That is the way, the only way we can undergo suffrage and face hardships with a strong will, and do it all over again the day after that and the day after that. Without sin in the world, we wouldn’t have free will. Our life on earth is a test. A test to experience…
• Joy. ...
• Interest. ...
• Serenity. ...
• Hope. ...
• Gratitude. ...
• Kindness. ...
• Surprise (Pleasant) ...
• Cheerfulness….
• Love…
Just as important as positive emotions are, it is also imperative to face the struggle of negative emotions. Emotions such as…
• Fear
• Anger
• Disappointment
• Guilt
• Feeling Overwhelmed
• Feeling Uncomfortable
• Remorse
• Insecurity
• Struggle with identity
• Discouragement 
• Hopelessness

This is not a list of all emotions by far, but this is the beginning of regarding every essence of your being. If we learn to tap into every single one of these emotions, we can unlock our full potential and become whole brained users. You create your inner genius! Your brain is more flexible and multi-dimensional than any supercomputer. If you learn to tap into your 
Imagine if God took all trials away from you. Imagine if he provided every-thing you wanted and needed at the moment you needed it? Would you be strong and resourceful, or weak and dependent? Would you become the best person you could be, or simply live from day to day seeking only your pleasure?

God doesn’t delight in our suffering, but takes pleasure with us in our victories over it.
It’s fantastic to be positive, but we also need to be realistic. Don’t expect to be handed everything you need just by thinking positively, you need to act on these virtues. 
The brain is a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Become more aware of your consciousness, your perception, your thinking, your judgement, and your memory. This is the very essence of your being. It’s what makes you, you.

Once we realize the key ingredients, nothing can stop us from achieving our full potential! That is, except one thing, us. We are at the heart of a moral conflict. We want to do good, but unfortunately as humans we lack the ability not to do bad. Its embedded in us. We humans have free will. Absolutely every human being has the potential to rise up, stand out of the crowd. So why don’t we do it?

Not to be a record-player, but once again, its fear. Knowing that we create our own destiny is in fact a little scary. We have the potential of being the next Prime Minister or a drug addict living on the streets. The choice is really yours, and you only live once, so what’s it going to be?

One thing that we all take for granted: Life is a gift. We should use it wisely to the best of our ability. We all have gifts; gifts that God has graced upon us. The only way to profit from these gifts is by knowing them and putting them into practice. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 says, "7A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have."

Maturity

As we live in a day with information so readily available at our fingertips, we often get caught up in all the news we hear or read. With this happening all around us, we seem to get hit with one tragic event after another and so on, and so on, until we get caught up in all the chaos going on with the world. Right? If we look for anything to fill the void of our empty little heads, what we receive from the media is depressing, demoralizing news. If they can put the sadness in, surely we must be able to find our own joy. Well, that’s what they think, whoever they are!

This depressing, gloomy news feels like weight after weight being thrown on our shoulders until that vital spark loses its flame. We all want to be happy all the time, or so we think! If only the world was perfect, there would be no depression, oppression and aggression. To be a fully mature person, we need to have the experience of the world, grow in age, and be mindful.

Full maturity is:

• When inner beauty matters more than just physical beauty.

• When you listen more, and speak less. The quieter you become, the more you hear.

• When you start talking about ideas instead of people.

• When you start focusing on being 'healthy,' instead of being 'skinny'.

• When you learn to forgive and ignore people's rude attitude towards you.

• When you build on your skills and long-term goals, instead of attaining materialistic things.

• When you create a life much more than just earning money.

• When you learn to incorporate patience in yourself during tough situations in life, instead of complaining about it.

Season Expectations

I love this Christmas Season! Christmas music playing non-stop, decorating the Christmas tree, snow angels, baking cookies, the smells of Christmas spices in the air, joys of having family around, winter vacation, and of course, PRESENTS!! These joys can easily be annoyances to many. 

Perhaps it is because we live in a materialistic 21st century that seems to ever-lengthen the Christmas season (ie. grocery stores bringing out mincemeat pies in October). Or maybe it’s because others don't like the pressure of buying gifts for family and friends. Either way we choose to view it, we have to face the music and know that this holiday is over commercialized. The media teaches kids that the only thing that matters is getting that next new shiny thing! That’s the media, and we’re human beings. We do know better. Take away Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus, and the elves. Put aside that Xbox game, and that little kid who wants the newest iPhone. Let go of the gift-giving, the parties, the charities, and a White Christmas. Let’s even forget, for a moment, about our hopes for peace on Earth and good will toward all.

What’s left, and what remains the theological and spiritual core of Christmas, is the Incarnation. It’s the reality that God has taken on human flesh, been born as one of us, like us in all things except sin. We Christians believe that in Jesus Christ, the human and the divine are brought together, are simultaneous realities. The Bible teaches us it was part of God’s plan and purpose that he should experience life as we experience it– being born as a child, living and growing as a human child, knowing all our wonder and fear and joy.

This is something we truly need to reflect on, keep in our mind and dwell with it in our hearts. That is the only way we can remain spiritually whole in times where the world tries to sway us of our true values. We know in our hearts the right thing to do. The question is… can we?