Sculpt Your Life

Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. ~ Katherine Mansfield ~

How many times do you think or say: "If only _____, then I could ______?"  What if your attitude was the only thing holding you back?  You create your world with your thoughts.  If you choose to think about the hardships and struggles then that is all your life will be about.   It is much harder to roll a stone up a hill if you think you can't do it.  Believe in yourself and things will happen for you.  Try to improve your attitude about your life, about others and about the world.  You will operate differently if you bring positivity and acceptance into your purview.  

Remember positive doesn't necessarily equal naive or unrealistic and being realistic doesn't mean negative attitude.  As a matter of fact, you will be more grounded with a better attitude.  Leaders with a positive attitude are more in control of their emotions and better able to think and see things for what they are.  You are the sculptor of your life - create something worthy by having a better attitude.

1. Close your eyes
2. Breathe
3. Empty your mind
4. As thoughts come in, acknowledge and whisk them away
5. Focus on your breathing
6. Think about the affirmation:

I will sculpt a better life with a better attitude.

Never Tatoo Your Judgements on Others

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them. ~ Elbert Hubbard ~

You decide how you feel about others in the first few minutes of meeting them.  What kind of labels do you assign them?  Friend, foe, stupid, intelligent, kind, mean, selfish, open, shy, funny…You will tend to put the descriptors on them with a tattoo needle.  After time you will look for behaviors in them to defend your opinion about them for fear you may have been wrong. If you decided early on that you do not have high esteem for someone then everything they do will irk you.  You will make assumptions about their behavior that will validate the feelings that you hold toward them.  If you instantly decide they are an enemy, then they will always be an enemy.  

Leaders who are enlightened will open up the possibility that they might not be one-hundred percent accurate in their assessment of someone.  Instead of sizing someone up immediately, they will take the time to get to know them.  “What are their values?”  “What motivates them?”  What is it that they need to be successful?”  As a leader, you too must not immediately judge and hold so tightly to those attitudes.  Otherwise, you might create an undesired self-fulfilling prophecy.  Sometimes it better to be wrong than right.  Those you have judged – revisit your feelings about them.  You might find a new ally.

1. Close your eyes
2. Breathe
3. Empty your mind
4. As thoughts come in, acknowledge and whisk them away
5. Focus on your breathing
6. Think about the affirmation:

"I will give others a second chance."

 

 

 

Leaders: Close Filters, Open-Minds

Be open.  And then the truth follows. ~ Gangaji ~

You use filters every time you read or listen to others speak.  Those filters are created by your values, beliefs and attitudes.  Often you will miss very important nuances and insight.  It happens this way - you will read a word or hear a phrase, perhaps see an illustration and it will trigger your brains memory.  It will cause a positive or negative reaction based upon your beliefs.  At that point your brain begins to look for information that supports your values, beliefs and attitudes about a particular topic.  If you feel the information is pleasurable then you will begin to look for ideas that support you, even if the information is not truthful.  You buy into whatever they are selling only because of a trigger.  You become too trusting. 

Conversely,  if you feel the information is acrimonious, then you will begin to miss the real and true meaning of the author/speaker.  You will close your mind in disagreement without fully processing the information.  You might even decide that you don't like the person and begin to judge them.  As a leader, try to control your filters so that you don't risk missing critical information that others share and losing valuable diversity that people with other ideas can bring.  You are not always right and you don't always have the truth.
 
1. Close your eyes
2. Breathe
3. Empty your mind
4. As thoughts come in, acknowledge and whisk them away
5. Focus on your breathing
6. Think about the affirmation:

"I will shut down filters and open my mind in pursuit of the truth."