Life Is Not A Multiple Choice Test
Are you one of those people that treat life as a multiple choice test? Do you navigate your life by picking from a pre-existing list of answers; maybe you pick the best answer, even if it is not the best answer for you; or, maybe you just guess the answer, and hope it will work out.
Back in school I think I preferred multiple choice tests, because there was the understanding one of the answers was going to be the right answer. Life is not a multiple-choice test, and there is no assurance the options you are selecting from has the right answer.
Human beings are creators, the mind thinks in pictures. Anything that has ever come to fruition in the world has been a thought, or an idea in someone’s mind first. Why not leverage that part of yourself and create the career and life you want.
You can think of your life as the essay portion of the test, or even an art project. Come up with a visual, or an idea, then sketch it out or write out the narrative. You don’t need the whole picture to begin. Start with what you do know; What do you want your surroundings to look like? Where do you work? What are the people you work with like? What are your feeling? What are you experiencing?
Play with this and have fun. Remember, this is a creative project, use your innate power to create. Think of it as a continuous work in progress, a first draft, an outline, you can come back and revise it, any time.
Hug A Tree Approach To Success
The strategy to bring out our best is not always what is most obvious. The common approach is to work harder and longer, until you are worn out for the day, week, decade, or your life.
If you could reduce stress, improve performance, and concentrate better from a single activity, Would that give you enough icentive to get your butt out of your office? If you are the boss and realized that you could reduce employee stress, improve thinking, and maybe even impact performance, would you bringyourself to encourage them to for wa lk in the park?
Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that contact with nature, from passive views of nature through windows to walking in an outdoor setting, leads to an increased ability to concentrate on tasks requiring high mental effort.
Nature provides a constant source of energy . Whenever we safely make contact with beauty in nature, these attractions trigger our brain to release Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that produces good feelings that we seek.
Nature can reduce feelings of overwhelm. Studies reveal that through consciously making connection with natural areas, humans have been observed to reverse challenging personal situations (stress, overwhelm, depression and mental confusion.)
Nature can provide stress relief. Research at NASA shows that long distant views – even painted views in photographs and posters – induce a sense of “mental tranquility,” a natural calming down of the mind. Spending even a few minutes in your favorite place on the earth can help to ease the intensity of daily stresses of life. The smells, sounds, colors and textures that surround you in nature have been known to relax the nervous system. The mind slows down so that you can start to access parts of your connection to your inner spirit that you cannot access when there are high levels of stress and tension in your body. The scent of the dirt, the colors of the sky, and the aromas of the plants increase your sensory awareness and heighten your perceptions.
By spending time in your favorite spot in nature, solutions may arise that were not there before, or you may just feel a few moments of peace . Now are you willing to get your butt out of your chair?
Happy Birthday Granny D
Granny D just turned 99. The icon, activist and grandmother of 16, has walked across America and travels the country fighting for the causes she believes in. At the age of 94 she ran for U.S. Senator Below is an excerpt from one of her many inspiring talks.
Finding your genius is sometimes a hard trick. Sometimes it is easily spotted, embraced and nurtured. But some of you will not find it until you are old and gray. Some of you will never find it, though it was always there for you to find, I assure you. Sometimes we see it and do not want to find it quite where it pops up. “Well, yes, I happen to be very good at that, but, Dear Lord, I don’t want to be that for life.” Read More
Don’t Watch This Video
Don’t watch this video now. Save it for when you feel like you can’t get out of bed in the morning to start your day.
Meet Nick Vujicic:
Don't Watch This Video
Don’t watch this video now. Save it for when you feel like you can’t get out of bed in the morning to start your day.
Meet Nick Vujicic:
TED
TED started as an invitation only conference in the 1980’s; bringing together the most innovative minds from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It continues today, with selected guests invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. While these talks were initially only heard by those in attendance, the evolution of the web sparked the creation of Ted Talks, a video archive of these presentations. They have graciously made them available to the public.
These speakers are not just leaders in their fields, they are the trailblazers knocking down the walls of conformity. They are using their position, gifts, talent, resources and knowledge to make the world a better place.
The talks are classified in categories that you don’t ordinarily see on other sites. They include “most jaw-dropping” which is led by Blaise Aguera Y Arcas, co-creator of Photosynth a monumental piece of software capable of assembling statis photos into a synergy of zoomable navigatable spaces.
Deborah Scranton who tops the “most courageous” category shows clips and discusses her film “The War Tapes” which documents putting cameras in the hands of a unit of The New Hampshire National Guard for one year while in Iraq
The “most inspiring” category includes Richard St. John who spent more than a decade researching the secrets of success — and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book; Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky and Rich: Spike’s Guide to Success
Other recognizable names who’s presentations are archived include Richard Branson, Bono, Jeff Bezos, and Television prodcuer JJ Abrams who is responsible for such shows as Lost and Alias.
There is a dose of inspiration here for anyone and everyone.
Take Responsibility for Your Life – Part 2
Author Melody Beattie wrote a profound book of meditations “More Language of Letting Go“ which offers bold perspective on taking responsibility for our lives. The passage for January 6th in particular speaks with a clearer perspective than anything else I have read on this topic.
This passage begins outlining the risks one would take when they go skydiving, bungee jumping, or a number of other sports, rides, etc. You are asked to sign a waiver acknowledging the danger in what you are about to do. “You sign the waiver to protect others from being liable in case of an accident”.
She suggests that we take this same viewpoint with all of the choices we make in our lives. “Ultimately no one is responsible for my life but me. There is no one to blame, no one to sue, no one to ask for a refund.”
To help the reader on this path, she created a waiver for the reader to sign. This waiver asks the reader to take responsibility for the decisions they make. Where and who they live with..how you spend money and time… “There are inherent dangers and risks in all decisions I make. Life and people have no obligation whatsoever to live up to my expectations…Life is a high risk sport and I may become injured along the way.
The passage concludes with “Although people may voluntarily nurture and love me. I and I alone am responsible for taking care of and loving myself.”
This is pure poetry about how to get the most out of life.
5 Tenets of Freedom – Take Responsibility For Your Life – Part 1
When someone is in a less than ideal situation in work or a relationship, it is easy to feel like a victim of a boss or circumstance. It is not uncommon to feel almost powerless in such a situation, as if we don’t have any choices, while we are actually giving up our freedom to choose. A few years back a coach of mine David Dowd shared with me the 5 Tenets of Freedom; They are about taking responsibility for our lives and our choices. Ask yourself how you are choosing to be in the situation you are in? Take your life back!
The Five Tenets of Freedom
1. Freedom is more important than anything else
2. Uncover where I am operating as a victim and transfor that to a choice.
- Do I feel victimized by someone or something?
- Am I operating out of a sense of feeling entitled or being owed?
- Am I looking to be rescued or saved?
- Am I blaming someone else?
3. Face everything and avoid nothing.
4. Don’t take life personally.
5. Freedom is directly correlated to my ability to see myself as part of a whole.