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Archive for the ‘Thoughts to Ponder’ Category

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Every person in your path has a gift for you – realize and receive it

Monday, August 16th, 2010

It is not always necessary to have a teacher to learn something. Be a learner and you shall learn from every other person in your life. LIFE IS ALWAYS TEACHING, ONLY IF YOU ARE LEARNING.

An uncooperative colleague may be a pain in the neck. An unfriendly neighbor may dampen your day. An impatient driver who cuts into your way may spoil your mood. A stranger may make your day. A teacher may believe in your potential despite you coming in at the bottom in class. All these people have one thing in common for you. They have all have a gift for you but only if you are open to receiving it. Be thankful that every one of them appears in your path at the most precise moment. Your job is to receive and uncover the gift.

The next time you are negatively affected by someone and you feel upset, angry or hurt over it, do pause for a moment. Coax your negative feelings. Ask them to remain quiet for a moment while you unwrap the gift. Try to put yourself in the person’s shoes and understand why he is acting that way. Maybe he is under tremendous pressure and that has severely crippled his ability to behave in a way that he should have. Perhaps he is suffering great pain and emotionally dehydrated and does not know any better way to release his pain and emotions.  What can you learn here? That we should not let our extreme negativity infiltrate others. That we should not let our extreme negativity cripple ourselves. That we need to learn how to turn our negativity into positivity, into possibilities. Or perhaps he is angel-sent to force you off your current track so that you can embark on a more purposeful track.

The not-so-nice will come into your life with a gift. Be thankful and learn the lessons. Likewise, the nice will also come into your life with a gift. Be thankful and make good use of the gift. Say you may have been discriminated at work over your age/height/weight/looks etc.  Subsequently, you landed a new job with an enlightened employer who recognizes your strength and potential and gives you opportunities to perform and grow. Be thankful for the gift. Do your part. Stretch yourself. Elevate yourself to the next level. Make good use of the gift.

Posted in Attitude, Positive Thinking, Thoughts to Ponder | 8 Comments »

You are what you are, thanks to the choices you made

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

You are where you are right now, thanks to the choices you have made (or have not made).

We make choices every day, from the moment we wake up to the time we fall asleep.

We decide the time to rise and the number of times to hit the snooze button.  We decide what to eat for breakfast or we may decide to leave the choice to someone else.

We decide what to wear for work and how to commute to work or we may decide to leave it on autopilot.  We decide whether we want to greet our colleagues or pretend that we are too busy to notice.  We decide what tasks to do and which one to take priority.

We decide if we wish to invite an old friend for lunch or join the guys in the department.  We choose fast food or spaghetti for lunch and coffee or tea for tea-break.

We decide to knock-off on the dot or stay behind to clear backlog.  We decide whether to stock-up groceries on our way home or head straight home.

We choose between catching up with our children and working on our laptop.  We choose between reading a motivational book and sitting in front of the television watching horror movie.

We decide whether to sign up for an interesting course or procrastinate.  We decide how to spend the weekend , family outing or business entertainment.  We decide how we want to sleep, on our back or on one side.

So, after all the decisions, are you happy with where you are right now?  If you are, that’s great!  Continue with your choices.  However, if you are not happy with where you are right now and want to be somewhere else, you have a choice.  Yes, simply by making choices, big and small, that will bring you to where you want to be. REMEMBER, you are what you are because of the choices you made. So, if you wish you change yourself or something in your life, the choice is yours.

Posted in Life, Motivation, Thoughts to Ponder | 6 Comments »

People come into your life for a reason

Monday, March 8th, 2010

You are the lead actor as well as the director of your life. Apart from you, there are others characters in your life a well.
Now look at your life.  Who are these other actors and co-actors?  Yes, you have guessed them right.  They are your parents, your spouse, your children, your grandparents, your siblings, your in-laws, your friends, your neighbours, your teachers, your club members, your colleagues, your bosses, your customers and your suppliers.

Now let us zoom in, at random.  You may have a difficult colleague who is a pain in the neck.  She is grumpy and flares-up at the slightest matter.  Worse still, she is domineering and likes to boss around.  You must be thinking, how unfortunate to have her in your life.  Believe it or not, she is here for a reason.  She has been sent by the high-powered director to deliver lessons to you.  Probably on tolerance and empathy.  Do not judge.  Do not label.  Try to put yourself in her shoes.  See where she is coming from.  Understand why is she behaving in that manner.  Try to see the lessons she is bringing you.  Then get on with the lessons.  Until you have learned the required lessons, she will be here to stay.

A new chief comes on board.  He implements drastic measures.  He downsizes the company.  He issues punishing deadlines.  Yet he is fickle-minded.  You cannot take his nonsense and decides to leave the company.  Don’t bear a grudge against him.  Instead, be thankful.  He is here for a reason.  He is here to force you to take actions.  You may be comfortable in your current job.  But it may not be the right place for you.  He is here to help you move to a better place, a place that is truly your calling.

Think about the people in your life.  Past and Present.  Think about their roles in your life and the lessons they bring along.  Have an open mind.  It may just turn out to be a significant discovery.  A turning point in your life.

Posted in Attitude, Life, Problem Solving, Stress, Thoughts to Ponder | 4 Comments »

Self Honesty

Monday, March 8th, 2010

The truth hurts sometimes, but trying to keep an obvious truth hidden inside yourself can hurt even more. Making excuses doesn’t help, rationalizing doesn’t help, yelling doesn’t help. Bringing yourself to a painful but honest realization will actually do you better.

When some of my clients have been avoiding a problem and struggling with reality, I have often said something like this, “You can think that way about your problem if you like, pretend it isn’t there. Or you can face the truth and acknowledge its existence. Either way, the reality of your problem will still be there. You just have more power to make your situation better if you face it.”

Reality is trying come to the surface anyway, and yet we keep trying to stuff it down.

Take a person with an alcohol addiction. The truth is that they cannot drink alcohol for the rest of their life. The risk for relapse is high given their history. If they continue to associate good times and stress management with having a drink, they will struggle to accept this reality. Even when they relapse and start thinking addiction thoughts, they keep fighting to ignore the truth. They can try to pretend their addiction really “isn’t that bad” or that they know how to control their drinking now, but the addiction is still there. Period. Trying to justify alcohol use will cause the same problems they came to counselling with. The only way to be free of this bondage is to face the reality of the addiction and make different choices. The solution is in their hands – sobriety – but they will need to be honest with themselves to have the best quality of life.

We will very well be creating misery for ourselves and important relationships by trying to shove reality under the rug. All of this comes down to accepting the maybe ugly but ever-present truth.

Usually, facing the truth of a difficult situation is a shorter-term pain than most people anticipate. It can hurt like a sucker punch, but then the best part comes. You get the chance to move forward with your life, leaving behind a clunky, dirty piece of baggage that you’ve been dragging around behind you. As long as you keep trying to dress up that piece of baggage and keep it with you, it’s going to keep weighing you down. Call it out for what it is, dump it, and get on to the best part of life. If not with others then at least be honest with yourself.

Posted in Attitude, Mind & Thoughts, Thoughts to Ponder | 6 Comments »

The Law of Expectations

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

The Law of Expectations says that whatever you expect, with confidence, becomes your own self-fulfilling prophency. You are continually telling your own fortune when you talk about how you think things are going to turn out in a particular area. Your expectations then determine your dominant thoughts, especially those thoughts that you emotionalize strongly.
By this law, or natural force, the more you think about something you want, the more excited you will attract that goal into your life, like a magnet attracts iron fillings. Your thoughts will create a force field of energy that will attract the people, circumstances, ideas, opportunities and resources that you need to achieve your goals. When you change your thinking about yourself and your possibilities, you will attract into your life the forces necessary to turn those big thoughts and ideas into real-life experiences.

Posted in Mind & Thoughts, Positive Thinking, Thoughts to Ponder | 4 Comments »

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