Reconnect With the Child Within

Do we, sometimes, wish to be a child again?
We felt free, we never wasted a minute thinking about the future. Mommy was the best, the world seemed to be so colorful and perfect. We didn't care about what people think about us at all, when we were screaming, giggling, doing stupid things. Everything seemed to be easy, teddy was our best friend, nobody told us to "finally grow up". We miss these days.

Where did the child inside every one of us go as we grew older?
As we have grown up, our appearance as well as our hearts have no longer remained as that of a kid. In the race of life, we are somewhere caught up in doing things - for the business, for the work, for others and stopped being carefree and colorful we used to be in our childhood.

Why did it happen?
We forget that there is a child inside each of us and this child wants to become out and play. The problem is that we have suppressed it with so much burden that it has gone into hiding. Some of us have never lost touch with this unique part of ourselves. Just like there are many to lose the child in us, there are many ways in which we can reconnect with the child that is inside us.

There is a child

In everyone of us

That leaps ahead in joy

Holding slender fingers

Of molten adulthood

Playing with the stars

Smiling at the sun

Eyes of mischief

So innocent, so pristine

Tugging at my sleeves

The child calls my name

Embracing me with love

In its sweet soft world.

Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.

So what happens if we get the child out?

Well, it will make us more relaxed emotionally and spiritually making us happy and healthy. We will enjoy live and start living in our present.

How to reconnect with the fun-loving part of you?

Here are some ideas for reconnecting with the fun-loving part of you that may just have disappeared under piles of hard work and life's burden.

• Go to the playground after dark. Run, swing, slide, play in the sand or grass bare foot
• Go to a funny animated movie. If you feel silly doing this alone, take along a child
• Collect toys. Play with them when no one is watching
• Collect children's books/comics and read them when you're feeling down
• Watch comedy/cartoon movies - laugh out loud
• Adopt a puppy
• Go fishing
• Buy a fish tank and take really good care of it
• Make paper boats and race them
• Take up a hobby as a family: biking, your favorite sport, visiting museums, library trips, putting together puzzles, learning a new language
• Stop obsessing over calories. Have a lollipop. Have a chocolate fudge. Run around madly afterwards as a kid would do and you'll soon burn off those calories!
• Never say the phrase "I am too old"
  
  Let's get the child out. You are never too old to play or to dream a new dream...
  
  
  Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,
  Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!

Work on Networking

Networking is the single most powerful marketing tactic to accelerate and sustain success for any individual or organization.

It isn't just going out of your way to meet the 'right' people, rather it is creating and sustaining relationships with a group of people that you know and trust, that you will help if asked, and who will help you.

Why Network?

1. Learn dynamics within industry
2. Establish your business contacts
3. Get "plugged in" to your community
4. Seek new career opportunities
5. Facilitate win-win relationships
6. Create your referral networks
7. Accelerate your professional development
8. Develop knowledge resources

Ultimately, it's not about who you know...but WHO KNOWS YOU!!

How Network?
You can build a network internally as well as externally.

Internally,

1. Be visible at your job - don't hide in your office or cubicle
2. Volunteer for projects and make yourself available
3. Expand your lunch partners
4. Meet and talk with new coworkers and continue to communicate with them on a regular basis
5. Be informed, know where your company is going. You may want to brush-up your skills or broadening your knowledge.

Externally,

1. Join a professional organization, group or community within your field
2. Regularly attend the meetings, meet new people and benefit from the information and knowledge presented through seminars and speakers
3. Join an online professional network such as LinkedIn. You can add your professional memberships/organizations to your profile for added visibility. Invite your contacts to join and continue expanding your network with updated information.

Cultivate an influential network which makes your life more successful, fulfilling and rewarding.

Final word
Remember that in the end, it's not about quantity, but also quality. A smaller group of quality relationships is going to be that much more effective that a very large group of contacts that you hardly know. Build quality relationships and keep them strong. Working together is much easier than going it alone!

Relationships are the catalyst for success. People do business with those they like and trust. Serve as a resource, help others succeed.

Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,

Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!

How to Believe in Yourself

The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people isn't intelligence or opportunity or resources. It's the belief that they can make their goals happen.

We all deal with vulnerability, uncertainty and failure. Some of us believe that if we move forward anyway, then we will figure it out.

But the question is HOW to believe in yourself?

Most of the people don't believe in themselves. And when you don't believe in yourself, you're not able to handle the rejections you get on the way to success.

Let me ask you a question. When you set your goals, who are you going to? You are going to yourself. Yet, who is often the WORST person to know what you are truly capable of? You. You are usually the least capable person to know what you're truly capable of.

Your NEGATIVE REFLECTION represents the head trash that most of us are carrying around. It's that little voice that says, "You can't do that. Who do you think you are? No one in your family has ever done that!" We all have our own Negative Reflection; but amazingly, that's NOT the real problem.

The real problem is that traditional success teachers have told us, "Well, if you don't believe in yourself, just believe in yourself." That's kind of like saying, "If you want love and support, just go to your worst enemy."

It's not that believing in yourself is wrong. It's just what when they told us to "believe in yourself", they had the wrong order.

The first stage is someone believes in you.
The second stage is you believe in someone else.
The third stage is you believe in yourself.

So what, then are the STEPS to believe in yourself?
First, find a LOVING MIRROR - someone who reflects your greatness back to you. While you may think this sounds "touchy-feely", the fact remains that every one of the happy, wealthy people has at least one person who believed in them, even when they didn't believe in themselves. That's why having a Loving Mirror is the sine qua non - the "without which, not" - of success.

To begin to find your Loving Mirrors:

First, ANSWER these key support questions...

1. What support do I need most in my life right now?
2. Who would I like to give me that support?
3. What's in it for them to support me?
4. What actions am I willing to take, to get the support I need?

Second, INTERVIEW your potential Loving Mirrors. Ask them:

1. What do you get out of me being in your life?
2. What do you see my strengths as being?
3. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate our relationship?
4. If anything less than 10, what can I do to make it a 10?

Finally, ACKNOWLEDGE the important people in your life. List 10 people who've been important to your growth, whether you've ever met them or not. Find their contact information and connect with them. Tell them what a difference they've made in your life. But here's the key: don't expect or ask for anything in return, even if you really really want to.
Just tell them, "You've been so important in my life. I was thinking about you today, and I just wanted to thank you for making a difference in my life."

Try it. You'll find that the more you believe in others, and let others believe in you, the more you'll automatically believe in yourself. That's not only how to believe in yourself, it's also one of the fastest, easiest ways to enjoy happiness and feel confident without spending a dime.

Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,

Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!

Recipe for Success - The Unconventional Way

We have always wondered what it takes to be successful. All of us know the conventional way. That is good to know, but difficult to start. This time, let's have a look at unconventional recipe for success.

1. Don't chase money, power or status
   If they come to you, that's fine. But conventional ideas about success go wrong because they focus on outcomes instead of on the processes of living. Outcomes come around from time to time, but life itself - the process of living, acting, thinking and being - happens all the time.
   
2. Take whatever time it takes to discover what matters to you the most
   Success isn't simply a matter of money, power or prestige. You could gain all of those and still feel that you have fallen short of what you wanted. We struggle for years to get where other people said we should go, only to find it does little or nothing for us.
   
3. Don't base your choices on others' approval
   We all want to please those we care about, so it's natural to try to do what they approve. But even the most loving parent or friend can't always see what is going to make your heart sing. Listen to others. Value their input and their support. But go your own way. It's better to be committed to doing what you truly love than accept something lesser for the sake of being approved by someone else.
   
4. Stay authentic
   That means always doing what truly matters to you and is part of who you are. Somewhere inside of you is a part that recalls what truly matters and will never quite let you forget it. Over the years, that inner voice is only going to get louder.
   
5. Go for meaning over money over time
   It's perfectly possible to do something meaningless to you and earn a great deal of cash while doing so. Doing something that means a great deal to you almost always makes you feel energized and alive. It's your choice.
   
6. Be endlessly greedy - for learning
   You can never learn too much or overfill your mind with new ideas. Nothing is more useful in life than a well-developed, well-stocked mind, especially one that has been broadened and enlarged in the process. There have been plenty of near geniuses whose education was almost entirely self-produced.
   
7. Make a friend of failure
   You are certain to fail sometimes and the higher your aspirations, the more frequent and significant that failure will be. People who don't strive for anything glorious rarely fail; they take no risks and never aim beyond what is easily attainable. But if you treat failure as an enemy, it's going to lead only to discouragement and even the abandoning of your hopes and dreams. Failure can be a friend, point out what isn't right yet and showing you the way to do better. The more proficient you become at accepting the lessons of failure, the quicker you will succeed.
   
8. Make sure that every time you make a mistake, it's a new one
   Making the same mistake several times shows that you haven't learned what it can teach you. Making new mistakes proves that you're trying something different. The best definition of a loser is someone who makes the same mistakes over and over again, never managing to learn anything in the process. Such a person is doomed.
   
9. Choose to spend your time with the right people
   Whether they're powerful or not, the best people to spend time with are those from whom you can learn most: the ones whose own lives have brought them joy and endless fulfillment. That means people who do what they love and love what they do. Seek them out wherever you can. Listen to them. Never mind if they are no longer living. Read their books and emulate their largeness of spirit. Learn from them all, but don't simply copy what they did in this world.What you need to use as models are their ways of thinking and responding to the challenges of the world; the process of their lives, not what it happened to contain.
   
10. Drop whatever is consistent with these principles
    That means all activities that don't move you forward towards what you value most; things that get in the way of learning; pursuits that waste time and dull your senses; and people who hold you back. You may sometimes have to be ruthless. Each of us has only one life. If you waste it, you don't get another chance. Besides, if you have chosen your dreams and aspirations wisely, what you must leave behind by dropping what's inconsistent with those dreams and will not be worth worrying about anyway.
    
    If you use this "unconventional" recipe for cooking your success, nobody can stop it from creating a masterpiece.

Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,

Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!

Why it didn't work

Think of something in your life that you've wanted to accomplish but haven't. It might be something trivial like, to reduce the amount of TV watching, or time spent browsing the Internet, or to become an early riser, or to quit alcohol, or to start your own business. Whatever it is, what is keeping you where you are instead of reaching your desired destination? Why did it not work?

Is it because you haven't gotten around to it, or are you too timid to go for it, or you took a shot and failed spectacularly.

Let's look at the most common reasons why it didn't work and you failed. We'll start at the shallow end and work our way to the deep end.

9. We don't plan
Improvised living will give us unexpected results. You will always have a better chance to succeed in any venture if you have a plan. By forming a simple plan, former non-planners will increase their rate of success.
When you make a plan, be sure it's specific. Don't say, I am going to exercise tomorrow." Say, "I'm taking the blue van to the YMCA at 6 AM tomorrow to complete a 35 minute leg workout, starting with squats."

Lesson: Having a complete vision of your intentions prepares you to execute them and you'll be more likely to flatten obstacles in your way.

8. We try to climb a mountain before we even leave the house
When you aim high, intimidation is common and that puts your goal at risk. Dream big, but break that dream down into small, daily actions that inch you closer to it every day.

Lesson: One tiny step forward beats one giant leap sideways.

7. A single battle distracts us from the war
It is disappointing to lose any battle. Sometimes it’s devastating. If your business fails, if your book or script is rejected, it’s tough to be positive.
But the war is not over, is it? If your business fails, won’t you know several key things NOT to do next time? Objectively, it’s a highly useful learning experience.

Lesson: If you're not currently in battle or have just finished (an event), zoom out your focus to determine the current best strategy, then zoom back in and prepare for your next battle.

6. We're pessimists
If you go in expecting to fail, you’ve got a great chance to do it. Pessimism leads to failure because it decreases the amount of effort a person will put forth. Success requires effort, which is fueled by the perspective that your efforts are not in vain.

Lesson: You instinctively hesitate to invest in a sinking ship, even if you’re the one sinking it.

5. We're scared
Fear must be cold, because it freezes people. Deer are famous for freezing right before a car hits them. Like that situation, freezing in place isn't a smart strategy in life.

Lesson: Fear is failure's not-so-secret weapon. Fear itself is afraid of the spotlight. Get into the habit of confronting it and soon enough, it will be afraid of YOU.

4. Excuses - we blame anyone and everything but ourselves
"If she didn't...If I wasn't living here...If the economy...If that hadn't happened..."

Blaming others, while a lousy thing to do, isn't even a problem - it's the poisoned perspective it reveals. Do you know what it really means?
Excuses and throwing blame are the same way of saying, "I'm not in control." Now that's scary.

Lesson: You are the only variable you can control in this world.

3. We're in the wrong place
Sometimes failure is simply a matter of location - the wrong country, the wrong state, the wrong job, the worry hobby. This is the tricky aspect of failure – knowing when to move on to something else. Not all people are capable of success in all things.

Lesson: If a fish and a human switch places, they will both die of suffocation. Location matters.

2. We don't care
If you don't care about doing it well, you won't. Apathy can infect any area of our lives, and when it strikes, it produces bucketfuls of failure. The scariest part of apathy is how contagious it is. You’ll have it in one area of life, feel the resulting failure, and let it spread to another area.
This is one more reason to experiment and try different things – to ward off apathy. The more excited about your life and the possibilities to explore, the better! Apathy can often lead to the worst-case scenario of human life. That worst-case scenario is next on the list as the number one reason for failure, and it’s the saddest thing you’ll ever see in a human being.

Lesson: The more you care, the more you’ll succeed.

1. We give up
It crushes me to see it – a human being full of potential…giving up. Giving up is the number one reason people fail because it is the only permanent failure. As long as you are actively trying, you have not failed yet. But once you give up, success will not arrive unexpectedly.
You can have the worst strategy and focus on all of the wrong things, but as long as you keep trying, you will learn and have hope. That is an important truth.
Failure happens; none of us escape unblemished. But for every single person who has ever lived, the secret of life is an unflinching, inspiring little phrase that has shaped nations, bought freedom, saved lives, and fulfilled so many dreams.

Lesson: You're already in pain, you're already hurt. Get a reward from it.

Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,

Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!

Choose Your Flock Wisely

How many times have you heard that idiom? Essentially, this idiom means people of similar interests choose to spend time together. The key word is "choose" - you can choose who your friends are.

But what if you make poor choice in friends?

Are your friends helping you stretch and accomplish what you want in life?
Are your friends supporting you, especially during difficult times?
Are your friends helping you be a better person?

Keep in mind, your friends are not perfect (you're not either). However, they should be adding value - whether your friend is your constant cheerleader, your choice of reason or even the shoulder you cry on when things don't go your way.

Choose a Friend Who Helps You Achieve Your Dreams and Goals
Identify a friend who can help nourish the best in you. Someone who can lift you up, challenge, inspire and hold you accountable. One of the best moves you can make in life is to surround yourself with friends who see the potential in you that you may not even see in yourself.

Choose a Friend Who is Honest
A friend that is honest is one of the best friends you can have. Trust and honesty are cornerstones in any relationship. Choosing a friend who can tell how it is will be something you'll appreciate greatly. An honest friend will keep you walking out of the house wearing what awful green shirt or tell you the girl you're going to ask out isn't interested. They are supportive in their honesty and you should choose someone you know will not lie.

Choose a Friend Who Stands By You in Tough Times
It's so easy for us to be good friends in the fun times. But who are the people who stand by you when times turn rough? Those are your true friends. It's much harder to stand by someone that's having a tough time, so choosing a friend that is strong enough to be the shoulder to cry on or hold your hand when it's needed is a wise choice.

Choose a Friend Who Gives as Much as He/She Takes
We all have friends that only want things from us, but they never seem willing to give to us when we need it. Sometimes you're going to do what your friend wants to do, even though it's not quite your thing, and sometimes he/she is going to do what you want to do, even though it's not quite their thing. When a relationship is one-sided, we just end up feeling resentful and angry. It's not healthy. Choose a friend with whom you feel a balance of give and take.

Choose a Friend Who Gets Your Quirks, Oddities and Weird Sense of Humor
Friends need to laugh together. Choose a friend who gets those quirks and can laugh with you rather than at you. After all, if you choose a friend who gets your odd sense of humor, it's likely they have one, too. Look for someone who will laugh with you at a look or a glance. Those people will be some of your best friends. They don't put you down for the things that make you different, they embrace them.
So, choose your friends wisely to surround yourself with people who will help you become everything you are striving to become in life. And remember, to keep a good friend you need to be a good friend.

Set your life on fire and seek those who fan your flames.

Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,

Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!