Cassology: January 2014

So here we are, almost a month into the New Year and certainly we will see many changes, both personally and socially. It would be nice to have things stay the same for awhile, but it seem that often that is not the way of life and before you know it, you are swept off onto another path, one for which you did not expect and therefore had no way of planning for it. You may be feeling lost, scared and frustrated. Why? Because you feel you have lost control. Now you have to grasp onto something different, create a new paradigm in your life and find some courage to go forward. I ran across a blog that I would like to share with you that deals with: Coping with life changes Blog by Henri: Here is a link to his site: Looking back a few years, I can see how much I’ve changed. I almost haven’t noticed the change, because it sneaks up on you, until it’s impossible to ignore. It’s like when you were a kid. You got taller, but you didn’t notice until you stood up against the wall. The same holds true for life changes. You are constantly changing, but it’s hard to notice until it slaps you in the face with a leather glove. It’s not even a question of if you’re changing. It’s a question of in which direction are you changing. Most people want change because they want to get away from something. If you’re in this group, know that it doesn’t work. You can’t run away from yourself. Face your inner demons. Deal with them, and heal yourself. That is how you can change your life. Below are the 21 things you can do to change your life. It’s a hefty and spicy read, so grab your beverage of choice and enjoy. 1. Take Small Steps A baby learns to crawl before it can walk, and it learns to walk before it can run. Most people expect rapid life changes. If they’re wasting their time at a soul-sucking job, they expect success and fame within six months. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, because it is, but in most cases it’s not going to happen. People who need life changes now don’t realize that it’s not going to make them happy anyway. All they want is their dream of a future without any problems. When they get there, reality sets in, so they set another goal. And on it goes. Take small steps. Enjoy the process, and have fun. Those small steps will eventually evolve into quantum leaps. 2. Take Quantum Leaps Something I’ve learned in working with NLP is that changes can happen in an instant. Old pains, fears, and negative emotions can vanish and be replaced by something more useful. And this may seem contradictory to what I said above, but in reality it isn’t. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. We don’t live in a black and white world. Quantum leaps are tipping points (as Malcolm Gladwell, the author likes to call them). As you keep taking one step at a time, you will eventually reach a tipping point where everything shifts. The problem is that most people never get to those shifts. They take a few steps, complain, whine, and give up. They stop drilling when they are about to hit gold. 3. Accept Where You Are When I was 18, I started playing poker professionally. I wasn’t going to work at a regular job, because there was no way I would survive doing that. I just couldn’t stand it. Poker helped me realize many things, and one of them was that if I wanted to be happy, I had to accept where I was. I still to this day have a hard time doing this. My mind is constantly going somewhere else. Each day it gets better, and I’m okay with that (sometimes). Things come and go. People live and die. Your life feels good, and it feels bad. The more you accept this, the easier it is to change your life. 4. Be Patient I’ve been building my online business for the past five years. I say building, but what I really mean is learning the ropes. I stumbled a lot in the beginning. I made mistakes, I failed, and I gave up in frustration more times than I’d like to admit. I began seeing results when I became absolutely determined to succeed. It was a big lesson in patience. It doesn’t matter what’s going on. There will always be problems. But they don’t have to clutter up your whole life. Be patient with your progress. You can change your life. Sometimes it just happens in its own time. 5. Forgive We all have memories—painful memories. What you may not realize is that the person hurting you with those memories is you. You are the director of your mind. While the event may have happened in the past, it’s you who keeps playing them over and over again. Reliving the past will get you nowhere. That’s why it’s essential to forgive and forget all those people in your memories. When you do this, your life will begin to change. It takes a lot of energy to keep those memories running. 6. Heal Healing yourself goes hand in hand with point #5. When you know that you can let go of past memories, fears, and obstacles, you become confident. I personally use tools like NLP, EFT, and hypnotherapy on a daily basis to let go of negativity. Sometimes it feels like it’ll never end, but I keep on going. Most people aren’t ready for life changes. All they want to do is complain. They avoid any and all solutions, because they are comfortable where they are. And that’s fine with me, but if you make that choice, you have no right to complain or make excuses. You either choose to be where you are, or you choose to change your life. It’s always up to you. 7. Face Your Fears When you face your fears, possibilities open up. I still have a slew of fears waiting to be faced, but I’ve come a long way since I started. And that brings up another important point. This is not about comparing yourself to someone else. This is about comparing yourself to you. How much have you learned since last year? Have you moved forward? If the answer is yes, then you’re doing well. 8. Kill Your Excuses Your excuses are mere illusions. You may have excuses about why you can’t follow your passion and build an online business, but are they really true? If you really wanted to, you could make those excuses disappear, and when you do, you know what’ll happen? That’s right. Your life will change, once again. 9. Take Responsibility Since talking with more and more readers, clients, and people in general, I’ve started to notice a scary pattern. That pattern is the lack of responsibility. I see people wanting to change their life, but they aren’t willing to take responsibility. They wait for a white knight (or black, depending on your preference) to sweep in to save the day and make change effortless and comfortable. I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s not going to happen. When you take responsibility for the life you’ve created, you can begin to move forward. If you’re blaming someone else for your situation, you’re stuck. 10. Follow Your Heart And what would an article of mine be without me telling you to follow your heart? If you’ve been reading my articles, you know that I keep writing about following your heart, and there’s a reason it keeps popping up. As I’ve been living my life, I’ve started listening to my heart more and more. And when I say following and listening to your heart, I mean it in the broadest sense of the word. It can mean anything, such as following your gut, intuition, feelings, or going with the flow of life. When you begin putting the pieces together, and taking responsibility, and healing yourself, you will naturally begin to follow your heart. 11. Follow Your Passion If you drive up to a gas station, fill your car with the wrong kind of fuel, it won’t run very well, if at all. That’s what most people are trying to do in life. They are listening to outside influences, and that’s when all the “shoulds” come in. It’s the belief that you have to focus on money in order to build a successful online business. I did this in the beginning, so I know what it’s like. You want to do your research and know that there’s potential, but if you don’t do something you’re passionate about, your car will run out of fuel sooner or later. It is your passion that will fuel your journey for the rest of your life. The problem is that you may not know how to even start finding and following your passion. I had the same problem when I was starting out, but eventually things clicked. I share my whole story and how you can find and follow your passion in Passionate Living. 12. Meditate Ever had the experience of your mind racing out of control? It almost feels like you’re going crazy, doesn’t it? A great way to calm yourself (and your mind) down is to meditate. Even five minutes of meditation can do wonders. Did you know that a feeling can only stay in your body for about 90 seconds (chemically)? If it stays longer, you are doing something to maintain it. You have to throw wood in the fire to keep it going. Meditation is a great way to break that spell. So is exercise. So is eating. So is sex. But I think one of the healthiest ways is to meditate and notice what’s going on ;). 13. Express Yourself I find writing extremely therapeutic. It’s something I love to do. It calms me. It’s inspiring, and it infuses my life with serenity. I highly recommend you take up journaling or just writing down your thoughts after every day. If you’ve tried to solve problems in your head, you know it doesn’t work. Your mind is too scattered for that. You can have a conversation on paper, freewrite, and solve problems easily. It has the ability to change your life completely. A great book on freewriting is Accidental Genius by Mark Levy. I highly recommend it. 14. Comfort Zone Kill If you want to change your life in the most positive sense, get comfortable with being out of your comfort zone. When you’re learning something new, you will bump into the walls of your comfort zone. Your spirit wants to be free. It’s when you put yourself into a little box that it feels the need to rebel. You will start feeling bored, and restless. You don’t have to suddenly infuse your life with discomfort. All you have to do is dip your toes from time to time. 15. Flow Let’s face it. You don’t know what you want. Sound harsh? Let me explain. Most people think they know what they want. They make five and ten year plans, acting as if nothing will change during that time. I’m on board with making plans and setting goals. But I don’t like rigidly sticking to them. You will miss opportunities if you do this. In fact, you will miss life. It’s like driving with all the windows painted black except the front window. You see where you’re going, but you miss everything else. Accept that life brings you possibilities. You don’t always know where your life will go. If you go with the flow, it will take you where you need to be. 16. Focus In order to change your life, you have to change your focus. If you don’t take control of your mind, it will run amok. You will focus on the negative. You will imagine the worst possible scenario. So, how do you focus? You take it step-by-step. Meditate five minutes a day. Take a walk and notice how your body feels. Relax and stop stressing. And when you do that, the way will open up. 17. Read I love reading. We live and die by stories. My life has changed several times by simply reading a book. I really need to compile a list of my favorite books into a post. Oh well, another time! The stories you read have a profound effect on how you view the world. You can be stuck on a problem, and the solution can pop into your mind while you’re reading something completely unrelated. Your mind does not work sequentially. You can be reading something, then something goes click, and your life changes forever. And as you’re reading these very words, it causes you to think, doesn’t it? In order for you to make sense out of the funny letters you see here, you have to go inside, and make sense out of it from your own map of the world. Change is inevitable. It’s all about in what direction you’re changing. If you’re looking for something to read, you might want to check out my book: Find Your Passion: 25 Questions You Must Ask Yourself. Just a friendly suggestion 18. Befriend the Unknown You never know what you need. Remember point #15, going with the flow? When you’re open to the unknown, which really is possibility, you accept that life may bring you something negative to teach you a positive lesson. I’ve had some pretty horrible days when I played poker. It can murder you psychologically, especially if you’re playing it for a living like I was. At one point I was looking up at the sky and asking “Why?” And I’m not at all religious. But it helped me realize what’s truly important in life. It isn’t money, or material wealth, although those things can be nice. You just never know what life will bring, so you might as well become curious. How will the seemingly negative turn to positive in your life? What are they teaching you? 19. Reclaim Your Personal Power Stop looking for others for approval. Just like taking responsibility (#9), you have to reclaim your personal power. You know what to do. You can feel it. You just haven’t been listening to that inner voice til’ now. It’s easy to give the decision to someone else, but it’s your life. The sooner you realize that, the more fun you will have. What do you want to do right now? If you don’t know, then start somewhere, because action will bring clarity. 20. Accept Failure You will make mistakes. And you won’t even know if they are mistakes when you make them, because mistakes and failures are skipping stones to success. You only fail if you give up, so if you never give up, you can never fail, only learn, and grow. 21. You Are Always More And above all, remember that you are always more than you think you are. You are more than your problems, more than your fears, and more than your body. I learned this from an excellent NLP trainer called John Overdurf. It’s only when you focus on your problems and believe them to be you that you get into trouble. So, remember to relax, because life is way too important to take seriously

Cassology

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Changing Beliefs

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Errors In Thinking

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Courage During Change

Sunday, January 5, 2014

You ARE and important person

Resilience is the key to overcoming depression

About Me