“Successful people are not without problems. They’re simply people who’ve learned to solve their problems.”
— Earl Nightingale

The universe rewards action. If you have a goal, but you don’t have a plan, it actually could more accurately be called a wish. And even more so, if you have problems and you reason that if you run away from them or turn your back on them, they will somehow just disappear, you may be running for a long time.

That doesn’t mean that you should stop dreaming. It is those thoughts that will help you create your reality. Realize though, that there will not be a magic pill that suddenly changes everything to good in your life. But there can be a magic mindset that allows you to see the situation from a different perspective.

Be a success. Face your problems. Work on them. Set goals and take actual action steps to bring you closer to solving them. Review your goals and see what areas still need work. Revise your goals if your ego has tricked you to make them unattainable, and therefore sabotaging your efforts right from the get-go.

Live in the now. Be grateful for all you have in your life and be responsible for everything that is happening in the present moment, for you are creating the stepping stones for your future “now”.

“Karma: from the root kri, “to do”, is the means by which you become the architect of your own destiny.”
— Definition

At this very moment we are creating — we are creating our Karma whether it is good or bad, by habit or by purpose. It is not something that lives in our pasts waiting to reward or punish us, but is something that we are dealing with daily, in every moment.

So take a good look at your design, your layout, your building that you are creating each moment. Are you building a castle or a dungeon? Our thoughts actually create our destiny by building with the bricks of our mind.

If you don’t really like what you have built so far, there is always time to remodel, renovate, and redesign. Take away the walls of fear and doubt and put in some big picture windows to see the beautiful view before you. Become the best architect you could ever hope for your home, your life.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
— Ambrose Redmoon

Through conversations with friends and family I have seen first-hand what fear-based thoughts can do to hold us back from living to our fullest. Whether it is a financial situation that weighs heavily on us, or a relationship that is struggling, it seems that most of the road blocks in the way are actually imaginary scenarios on which they are placing an enormous amount of importance.

Have the courage to see beyond your fears to a life that is exactly as you might describe in an ideal scenario. When we let our imaginations rule our minds with all the negative possibilities, it is not easy to see the brighter more positive side to it all. Have courage to live a life that is more important than all the difficulties our fear has created in our minds. Real life is more important than fear.

Successful people have fears, they simply walk through them to arrive at their dreams.

Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.”
— Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719), The Spectator, July 12, 1711

It’s free. It’s legal. It’s easy. And it can make you feel good — really good — even if you’re feeling down.

What is it? It’s exercise. And although you’ve probably heard that it acts as a natural mood booster, you don’t need to be feeling down in order for exercise to bring you up.

In a study, women who were already feeling fine experienced just as much of a mood boost from exercise as women who were depressed and anxious. It can be as simple as going for a brief walk, or as intense as an aerobics class. Choose what you like to do and do it often to keep your mood in high gear.

Next time you start to feel yourself shifting into low gear, move on up and get your juices flowing to a brighter day.

“Remember when life’s path is steep to keep your mind even.”
— Horace

Today we hear of different viruses cropping up everywhere — colds, flus, even our computers can catch some. Well, I’m here to add a new one to your list: mental viruses.

These are very clever and are virtually undetectable. You may not even be aware that you have them right now. They start off looking very normal and quite innocent. And really, you often don’t even know you are experiencing one until it is too late…

Here’s how they work. You have a goal or a dream. You start on your path with the clear idea in mind of what your passions are and even though you may not know exactly how to get them, you keep on going forward finding a new clue on the road and moving along from there.

Then suddenly, a fantastic opportunity or idea crops up ahead. You know deep down it has nothing to do with your life purpose, your goals, your dreams. But it is something very inviting nonetheless. So you start exploring this new path. Perhaps this is the one you were supposed to be on all the time, you figure. I mean, it is so promising, so engaging. Yet — so distracting.

Time passes, and that virus has left you in the cold. You don’t know why you are there, you aren’t sure how to get back to the main road. And this road is turning into a dead end.

Keep on your true path and avoid the mental viruses that can lead you astray. They may seem like a quicker route to happiness, or abundance, or simply a pleasant diversion. However, they will end up taking you further from your destination and that is what you need to keep clearly in your view.

“Conversation is food for the soul.”
— Mexican Proverb

Our whole self needs to be taken care of to keep healthy. In the same way that you need to feed your physical body with healthy foods for nourishment, it is important to feed your mind with positive thoughts, and your soul with personal growth through life challenges.

All three, body, mind, and soul, also need to rest in order to function at their best. The body requires sleep, the mind and soul can both benefit from meditation or mindfulness practices.

It is time to rethink optimal health. It is not just the realm of the body. One must take into consideration the whole self.

“Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.”
— Norman Podhoretz

Having a creative outlet may have enormous emotional benefits such as feeling productive and good about yourself and allowing yourself to express your inner feelings in a positive way.

Being creative is not something that you have to leave to the artists of the world. How you choose to uniquely express yourself can be done in many different forms: writing, scrapbooking, painting, drawing, photography, gardening, cooking and baking.

Another great benefit of allowing time for creativity is that you can do it to add some quiet time to your hectic schedule, or find a new group of people to share your hidden passions. It can also be a nice way to spend quality time with your friends and family sharing your interests and teaching each other.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take all the energy you put into thinking about the past and all the energy that you put into wondering and worrying about the future, and put it all into your present self.

That wonderful, powerful, creative person you are can barely come out to see the daylight when you get lost in all the pasts and futures. Create your NOW and forget about the yesterdays and the tomorrows.

You, as you are right at this very moment, is far greater than anything you have been in the past or could be in the future. Don’t waste away your days spinning your wheels for a different time when this is the moment that counts.

“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.”
—Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Gratitude is a great way to maintain balance in your life. Being grateful for the great powers around us that help us day to day is essential to continued abundance and well-being. Being thankful for all the small details that come together to complete the puzzle of our lives is also just as important.

However, one of the most neglected areas to keep in balance is our awareness of our own inner powers. How quick we are to acknowledge others and their abilities, and how quick we usually are to bring ourselves down. We choose to look at the mistakes we have made in our lives, and dismiss all the wonderful things about us that make us powerful, unique individuals.

“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.”
—Stephen Covey

Have you ever thought about how many habits we have? Everyday we go through habitual routines without even thinking about them. When you shower and dry off, have your ever noticed that you wash and dry your body parts in the exact same pattern each time? What about driving to work, preparing food, getting ready for bed. Are you consciously thinking of the steps you are taking, or do they just happen like they did the day before, and the day before that?

Now, what about the habits that aren’t that great for us and we want to change? Do we continue to do them without thinking? Or, do we realize that we are on the wrong path and change direction? (more…)