Flexibility

A lot of people are in a perpetual planning mode. They always have something on the go. It almost becomes a comedy skit as they bounce from one plan to the next without persevering any plan to completion.

It is almost like they are afraid that if they truly pursue a plan they will fail to accomplish it and so dodge the bullet by shifting to a new plan. Plans are really a guide of intent rather than a series of concrete steps leading to the goal as we are never sure of what we will find as a result of our actions until we have done it.

Every step usually has unintended consequences which requires that we adjust within our guidelines and choose our next action based on those results. That is why plans are guides rather than step by step instructions.

When we learn to be flexible on the how we accomplish what we want the more likely we will achieve the goal but in a very different series of steps that we could have imagined when we started.

We need to be as flexible as children are to what is actually going on in our lives.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: flexibility, managing change, plans

Mental Bubbles

When we think about it we cannot even possess ourselves as each moment changes us. Our mind, body, spirit, and emotions are ever changing from moment to moment. Nothing stays still.

If we cannot possess ourselves then we really cannot posses anything. We coexist with an ever changing environment, with other people and life forms that are constantly changing. What can we say is fixed and unchanging.

Yet some of us want the world to be unchanging and ignore what is happening around them when it is inconsistent with their mental world. They live in a mental bubble.

The worlds of our mind is our reality but we need to understand that only we live in that world and no one else can see it the way we do. Understanding and acceptance comes from realizing this fact and accepting others as they are; in their own dream world.

Communication is the key to having others understand us and we to understand them. Sometimes we have to realize that we need to give them an understanding of where we are coming from for acceptance of our ideas. Also that we need to ask them when we don't understand them rather than dismissing them out of hand.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: mental bubbles, communication, managing change

Doing Vs Wishing

We seem to always want more to be able to get out of life what we desire. Some of us want to be smarter, some richer, some want to be more decisive, more forceful, and so on. Almost everyone seems to have a shopping list of necessities before things can happen.

There are some things that we may or cannot ever have. Does that mean that we give up on our dreams as some do or exist in some kind of fairyland tale that we will somehow magically get those attributes we want so much.

No. It means we start from where we are with what we got and instead aim to do the best that we can with what we got. Sure we can and will learn things and gain new skills as long as we are willing to pay the price of time.

If we utilize what we have to the best of our ability we will do better than 95% of the people do in their lifetimes. It is all up to us and how we approach life with what we got.

We can wish or we can do. The choice is ours.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: Wishing, taking ownership, doing

Young in Spirit

We can find ourselves at times becoming tired of our circumstances of life and becoming embittered or disillusioned about our possibilities for change.

Yes we can become old physically and mentally as we see our opportunities appear to vanish along with our youth. Optimism becomes more difficult to maintain under the constant struggle we appear to be in by just living.

What we need to remember is that we may grow old in many ways but our spirit inside is still young and everlasting. Keeping in touch with our spirit is a source of constant renewal available to us at all times no matter the circumstances of our life.

It is in our darkest moments that we need to use the force of spirit to create change and renewal in ourselves.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: spirit, renewal, managing change

Be Prepared

We often hear or read about life lessons. For some it means all of our trials and tribulations are part of what we agreed to come back and learn. For others it means learn so that they can do it to others before it is done to them and others treat life like a book to read about but not really think about. And so on.

A lesson requires a receptive mind to learn anything from it. If we learn just to be able to parrot it we will soon forget about it after the need is over. Just look at your schooling after exams are finished.

But lessons require one additional key ingredient that is often ignored. One is taught according to their fitness to learn. If we don't bring this requirement to the table we ignore the preliminary lessons and preparation often necessary for success. Be prepared and receptive for learning new things opens up new lessons to be learnt. They are there everyday of our lives.

Attitude can indeed be a critical component.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: lessons, life. managing change

Mistakes We Have Made

It is very easy for us to focus on our past mistakes with an eye to preventing them in the future. This can be very counterproductive to attempting new things through worrying about repeating our mistakes.

Life is a never ending series of experiments. We cannot guarantee the future we believe will happen because we cannot control everything necessary for making it come true. Therefore we experiment using what we hope will happen.

In this light we should stop calling things that do not turn out the way we predicted mistakes. instead we should consider that everything up to now has been training. We are allowed to have imperfect results in training and so it mirrors life.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: mistakes, training, life

Life is a Mystery

Some people are always trying to figure out what life is all about. They can adopt beliefs which can be reasonably believed to far out outlandish concoctions that are believed only by themselves or perhaps includes a few friends.

The problem is that once they have it figured out they stop asking anymore and carve it in granite for all time. This is when they can ignore contradictions to their answer and fit it under the umbrella their belief creates.

Anyone who just has to have an answer ends up with some sort of general belief broad enough to allow them to say "you just have to believe". End of story.

What if life is just a mystery to be unveiled as circumstances arise that ask new questions for us to ponder and answer in a process of discovery. There is no finite answer as life is constantly changing and evolving.

Perhaps life will always be a mystery for us to just enjoy and appreciate as we live it.

your thoughts?

Technorati tags: life, answers, beliefs

Key Step for Change

We can sometimes embark on making a major change without proper preparation. This refers to a habit we have had a long time and now wish to change. We have our habits for a reason.

Sometimes the reason is buried in the past and we don't remember how it started. It is not really important to understand why it started but to understand why we keep it. It meets a need no matter how deep or superficial a need it is.

If we want to change something then we should first understand why it exists. Then we can decide to eliminate or replace that habit with one we want.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: habits, managing change

Doing the Right Thing

What is doing the right thing? Is it our public persona or showing up for the right events or donating to the right cause? There are some people who want to be seen doing 'the right thing'.

They miss the point. You don't do the right thing because other people thank you or think you are a fine person but simply because it is the right thing to do. Period!

It is who we are all of the time and especially when no one is looking and therefore would not notice if we don't do the right thing. It is a way of life that gives meaning to our lives through our daily practice an enriches us.

So some people don't need to just look good but to also live a good life by example without seeking only those things that bring recognition from others.

Remember that we choose how we live regardless of our circumstances.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: right thing. good living, choices

Background People

It is amazing when you stop to listen to and watch how some people treat others whom they consider to be background people. You know; the waitress, the cashier at the supermarket, the bus driver, and so on. Some people treat them as if they are subhuman.

Everyone deserves the same respect as we expect for ourselves. They have dreams and in a lot of cases their circumstances simply make it difficult for them to realize those dreams.

When we treat people differently than ourselves and our friends that is discrimination or poor self-esteem. Some might say that is a pretty strong statement and unfair but is it.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: respect for others, esteem

Change your Mind

We can get hung up on making changes for a number of reasons. Perhaps we are afraid of failure or we are not certain that it is what we want and so we hesitate because we don't want to make a mistake. We all can have individual concerns that make a change somewhat like climbing Mount Everest.

This kind of approach makes change an obstacle rather than a natural part of life. We make changes all the time adjusting to what is going on in our environment and often without even thinking about it. We just do it and then in the next moment just do something else.

Change can be as simple as changing our mind on what we want to do in a situation and then if we don't like the results to keep on changing until we are satisfied with the results. No big deal as long as we give ourselves permission to change our minds any time we like as long as we accept the consequences of our decisions.

Worrying about change does absolutely nothing except give us heartburn. We definitely have to think about the results the change will bring to our personal environment and if we can live with that then just do it.

Change your mind change your life.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: change, life, worry

Absolute Answers

We have a tendency to stop at the first answer to our questions and never revisit the question again. For some things that is valid but more often we are just being lazy.

Perhaps we need to think that our answers to our questions are just placeholders until we find or are shown a better answer. This attitude leaves us open to hearing different viewpoints and answers.

Few things are absolute; such as we all breathe, feel, and die that we need to allow differing opinions than our own. After all we are still discovering new things daily.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: answers, questions

Stuck in a Box

We can find ourselves stuck in box with no apparent way out which is caused by our thinking. If we think something is not possible for us then we are in the box and all we do is keep bouncing off the walls of our limitations which are self-imposed.

By changing our thinking from not possible to it is possible but we just don't know yet how it will happen so we will change how we question and what we question. This creates possibilities that will lead to new decisions and actions and before we know it we are no longer in the box.

Another way of putting this is that what we believe is our reality and we always work within our reality. Change our mind and we change our reality.

Your thoughts?

Technorati tags: reality, managing change, possibilities