Finding Your Calling ~ Part 2

If you search, you will find.  This is what ancient scriptures tell us.  If you want to find your purpose in life, it will take commitment and persistence.  Are you willing to do what it takes?  This week is part 2 Finding Your Calling.

There are many keys which can help guide us in looking for our purpose.  They are not often mentioned, many don't even realize there are hidden keys all around us.  More important is the mindset you hold when understanding these keys.

 Your mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is open.  Is yours open?  I can give you clues to assist you in finding what you want to do with your life but unless you’re open to examining yourself and getting out of your comfort zone, what is shared with you will fall on deaf ears.  So for a moment, set aside your preconceived notions, and take in the following ideas:

 Ask these questions:  What do you spend a lot of your free time thinking about?  Is it a person, a place, is it an idea?  When this comes to mind, how does it make you feel?  Do you feel happy, excited, sad or does it promote fear within you?  Most people are not aware of what they randomly think about.  If this is you, pay attention to your thoughts and where they go.

 As a general rule, the very thing you were created for is also something that ignites a fire inside you.  That fire could be anger, happiness or even compassion.  Chances are, you will feel passionate about it on several different levels.  As an example, when I hear about a dysfunctional family where there is verbally / emotional abuse or neglect, a fire stirs up inside me.  This is because my calling is to help people live with healthy attitudes, thoughts and beliefs.  I know from experience dysfunctional families do not hold the same traits that I value.

Whose tears affect you the most?  When you see someone in pain, or someone mourning, does grief stir you?  Many times I have heard that people often start a business or offer a service simply because they had a bad experience in that particular area.  Use your past experiences, both good and bad, to help guide you in what you are passionate about.

 Lastly:  Chances are, your calling will include a person or a group of people.  Your service and passion is needed to some, yet not everyone.  Even Microsoft does not have a PC in every home.  You cannot be all things to all people, nor should you try.  But to some, you will mean a great deal.  Who are those folks for whom you have a great deal of compassion?

 As you answer these questions, I encourage you to write them down.  Then study them.  Invest time thinking about your answers.  Next week we will cover several more hidden keys to help you find your purpose.

Have a great weekend everyone, be blessed.

Attracting Healthy Love Part 1

Do you have the desire?  Do you want it bad enough?  Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?  If your answer is yes to these questions, then this series on Attracting Healthy Love is for you.

The first and probably most important questions, you need to answer, are you, in fact, ready to change some things about yourself? Would you like to stop attracting the wrong kind of mate and start attracting the right one?  If you are, then keep reading.  If you’re not, then what I have to share with you probably won't make a difference.  Not being mean, just stating a fact.  You have to want to or you won't!

Every relationship you have can only be as healthy as the people in it.  Therefore, we have to look in the mirror once in a while and have a check-up from the neck up.  Are we bringing healthy words and actions to the relationship or are we bringing negativity and doubt? 

Remember, we attract people to us that are like us.  Healthy or not, positive or negative, this subconscious attraction is always at work.

Often times I hear someone talking about what they don't want in a person. "I don't want this, I don't want that, I can't stand it when people do this..."  Simply by verbalizing this repeatedly, you are attracting someone with those traits.  It's called, what you give energy to grows.  Or, what you think about comes about.  Ancient scripture says: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Give energy to what you want, not to what you don't.  In fact, don't even mention it anymore.  Not to yourself or to your friends.  Take that energy and start saying what you do want.  Over a short period of time, you will be amazed at what begins to change within you.

Have you made a list?  A list of what you do want in a spouse.  People make lists all the time.  Why not have a perfect spouse list?  Not a mental list, we all have those, I mean a written down, thought out list.  If not, do it.  The list should include all the things that are important and valuable to you.  Things that don't matter, leave them off.  A list of 10-17 traits would be ideal.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT feel like you’re being too picky.  This is not a time to cut yourself short.  This exercise is a time for you to see, in writing, what you are looking for.  Trust me, there is magic in doing this, so do it and be true to yourself!

It may take a few days or even a week or two for you to complete the list.  That is perfectly ok.  We are talking about the ideal person here.  It is imperative you get this right.  Once your list is complete, keep it handy.  We will be coming back to it in the near future.

Next week, we will be looking a little more into what we are attracting into our life and why.  Then, what you can do to change it. Stay tuned!

Have a great Friday everyone, be blessed.

Why Not Ramp Up Now?

This year has gone by fast and now we find ourselves in the last weeks of 2011.  With a new year only days away, many of us will be putting new goals and resolutions in place for the upcoming year.  What I constantly see is that too many people wait on implementing those new goals until it is too late, thus setting themselves up for failure.

The body can only go where the mind is willing to lead and who has control over the mind?  You do, or at least you should.  Meaning, we take control over what we want and where we want to go in life by our thoughts.  With that being said, if we are going to make changes, set goals and change our life, why not start ramping up now?  We can do this by choosing what we think about.

Years ago, I discovered that when I set a goal or want to make a substantial change in my life, I need to ramp up mentally.  That is, weeks in advance, I purposefully start to look at things differently and start to think and focus on the changes I need to make in order to turn in the direction of my goals.  This not only gives me mental readiness, it also strengthens me.  This technique has made a world of difference for me in not only setting goals, but sticking with them, regardless of what tries to detour me.

People everywhere, from all walks of life, want to make changes.  Changes in their weight, jobs, relationships and income are the most common.  The thing that occurs all too often is a lack of follow-through.  When it gets hard, or inconvenient, the goal that was once the answer now becomes the problem, so people quit.  If this is you, I am not trying to make you feel bad, I only want to help you break through this roadblock and find success in achieving what you want.

Changing our daily routine and habits is not easy, not for any of us.  So, let’s get real with ourselves for a moment.  Doing more of what did not work in the past will not make it work any better in the future.  This is just a fact of life.  Accept it and move on.  There is no reason to keep spinning your wheels to only be disappointed with yourself down the road.  Understand that something different must be implemented.

When you set your goals, do something that will support and encourage where you want to go.  Like it was for me, maybe mentally ramping up could make all the difference.  Begin to think about your goal.  Study it and mentally bring it to your conscious thinking.  Then, by the time you write the goal down (because that is critical with any goal) you are ahead of the game and are already committed, both in your heart and mind.

Take the next couple of weeks and think about what you really want to change.  Maybe you feel like God is calling you in a certain direction and until now, you have been a little hesitant.  Has it been on your mind to start a business?  How about losing that last 20 lbs?  Start now and mentally lay out a plan of what and how that will look like.  Then, write it down.

Don't wait!  Now is the time for action because, thoughts do become things.
Have a great Friday everyone, be blessed.