Category Archives: thoughts

Take on a New Life – 2 of 2

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Having the new You reaching back and taking the old You by the hand and leading yourself out of the wilderness into the sunshine sounds really nice. It sounds so good it sounds almost like a fairy tale told to children. All the fairy tales in the world can not change one problem into a something else. Only the new You can make that change.

The old you was trapped in a life that no one, not even the old you wanted to live. It consisted of problems, despair and want. It was a life lived on a wasteland with no way out and no hope of making it better.

The New You reaching back and taking the Old You by the hand is going to change all that. The New You understands that life is made of choices and possibilities. The New You knows that making the same old choices does not create any new possibilities. The New You knows there are other ways to manage life, other choices to be made, and other ways to solve problems and make situations better.

The New You is open to fresh new choices and other possibilities. After all, looking around with new eyes it is possible to see that other people have problems in their lives too, but they manage their problems differently. The New You sees that there are other choices to be made, and the New You wants to explore those choices, and see what changes they make in the life of the Old You.

The New You knows that all the changes and fixes to bring the Old You out of your old life have always been there, the Old You was too busy doing everything the same way and expecting things to change. The New You knows that changing the way problems are handled will bring about new choices, and new choices bring about new opportunity.

The New You watches to see how others successfully manage the same problems the Old You can not manage. The New You knows they do not have all the answers, so copying the way other people manage life problems the Old You is struggling with will make those problems go away eventually.

The New You is eager to try new things, and see the world in a new way. The New You is going to be successful, because the New You has already done the hardest part of making life better for the Old You. The New You is taking their best friend by the hand and leading them into a new world the Old You never stopped long enough to look at.

The New You is not afraid of taking a risk, working towards a goal, and knowing that a quick fix is impossible. The New You is going to put in the time and work to make a better world for the Old You. The New You wants to lead you to a better life. All the Old You has to do is reach out and accept their hand.

The New You knows how to be a leader, how to be manager, how to plan for the future, and how to be your best friend. The New You wants a better life for the Old You. Are you willing to take the hand the New You is offering and start living a new life? The hardest part of taking the hand of the New You is accepting what you are doing is not working, and letting the New You show you what is possible for your life.

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Take On a New Life – 1 of 2

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I came across an interesting idea a few weeks ago I wanted to share as a possibility for someone to use in their own life. The idea is too good to be left alone, to die a lingering death in a long forgotten post.

We all have times when we feel our life is not all it should be. Maybe the forces opposing us have joined together and are exerting themselves against us as one unit rather than a number of individual smaller problems we have been ignoring.

Maybe life has been unpleasant for so long we have forgotten what normal life is like. Waking up every day to the same problems and no solutions, with no end in sight can be a pretty demoralizing existence. After some time, the thought of living a life of pain becomes so much it hardly seems worth the effort.

After a time people start to react to their environment. For some, their way of dealing with their problems is hard to detect. Way down inside they have come to terms with the idea that this is the best it is going to get and they blunt themselves to the future in a fugue of apathy.

Others escape into what starts out as a great way to escape, usually some form of reality altering brought about in the form of an ingested substance. For a short period all their troubles seem to disappear. Then they realize they have compounded their problems by adding another big problem to their life.

A small few decide their life in the state it is, is not worth living. Unfortunately, they are so overwhelmed they can imagine no other alternative than throwing in the imaginary towel, with the thought that whatever happens can not be any worse than what they are going trough at the moment.

The idea I read about was another form of leaving your problems behind. Instead of opting out, and ending it all, or practicing substance abuse, how about realizing that life is really all in the perception?

If your life stinks, quit living that way! Decide that from this moment on, your problems are all behind you. From this moment on you are trading in your old life for a new one. No longer will the pressures of your old life keep you down and wear you out. From this moment forward you are going to start living the life you want to live!

Sounds really good to this point this starting a new life. Just walk away and start living the life you want to live. The problem in this simplistic thought is there is no place you can walk to in leaving your old life behind. So what to do to start living a new and improved life? How does one go from the depths of despair to the upper side and enjoy the good life?

The answer is not really as difficult as it may seem. Start living someone else’s life! Quit living in the same downward spiral pattern of failure that leads to the bottom, and start living life as someone with a future lives their life.

Start living life as a new person, who inherited for the short term someone else’s problems. It really is not that difficult. All it takes is a little imagination, and a little willingness to be different.

Wake up the next day and know that all those problems that were dragging you down are now someone else’s problems. You no longer have those problems in your life. You have agreed to help out a struggling friend by taking on their problems and working towards a solution for them so they can get on with their real life.

All the unsuccessful behaviors they have, you do not. Those behaviors belong to another, not to you. You have agreed to help them because they need help and no one else is willing to lend a hand.

Start working on a new way of living. Look at each new day as a day of new possibility and not a day of same old. Reach out and give the old you a hand, and help them start living the life they want to live instead the life they are living.

It will not happen in one day, one week, or in one month. Reaching your hand back to your old self to find a new and better life is better than letting your old self keep you from enjoying a life lived the way life should be lived. Turn around, reach back and take the hand of the old you, and start leading the old you into a new life.

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Gardening for Life

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One of the great myths of today is the myth of we must be doing exciting hoping others might wish they could be doing too. We want to be able to tell our friends we were doing something exotic, new and different when we see them. We sort of stumble when we are forced to tell them we have not been doing anything special. We have only been life each day as it comes to us.

Most of us, with a few rare exceptions spend most of days living life as it comes. Enjoying a few days now and then that exceed all our expectations. If we wake up tomorrow, dyed our hair, bought new clothes and did not do one single thing we did the week before, it would be an exciting new experience for a few days. After some days of doing something different every day, we would start to long for those days of doing those things we are comfortable with. Doing something different every day would start to become no different than our life was before we made the change.

Living life day to day, has a lot in common with gardening. No one expects to plant seeds today, wake up tomorrow and find flowers blooming and vegetables and fruits ripe for the picking. That is a silly thought which is impossible. Tending a garden takes time, and effort.

Life is the same way. Each day we tend our own little life garden, and over time we pick the flowers, vegetables, and fruits which we have been tending. Not everything is ripe at the same time, and not every flower in our garden blooms on the same day. If we are conscientious there will be a flower, fruit or vegetable waiting for us as we go though our days.

The daily question we should be asking ourself is, “What do I plant today, and what do I tend to today”? Every successful garden needs tending. The soil has to be of a type seeds want to live in. Too much of one thing, or not enough of another and our seeds do not grow very well.

The seeds have to be of good quality if we want healthy plants giving us good rewards. If we plant seeds without taking care of where they came from, we may end up with a garden full of weeds. If we do not take care in how we plant our seeds we have a poor garden. Plant our seeds to shallow and our plants may not take root. Plant our seeds too deep or too shallow, and we may as well not plant them at all.

As the days go by we have to make time to tend our garden. Gardens need attention, water, and weeding. Pay no attention to our seeds after they are planted and whatever we end up with is a result of luck, and not of ourselves. If we don’t water our seeds and plants, they may whither and die. If we do not tend to the weeds, our effort may be choked out by faster growing weeds.

Weeds are a special problem for our gardens. Weeds grow fast and if we let them alone they grow faster than our plants, blocking sunlight and drinking up whatever water there is, and pulling nutrients out of the soil. Before we know it our garden is mostly ruined with only a few plants surviving. The remainder of our garden is a weed patch. Full of weeds that may have been cute when they were small, but now have grown ugly with stickers, and are of no use to us.

As we make a commitment to our garden and do all those tasks that need doing, over time we become thoughtful gardeners. Those tasks which at first may have been awkward or seemingly of little importance start to show sumptuous fruit. Every day our garden provides something to smile about and be grateful for. Our life feels fuller, and those days of thinking we were not doing anything important is replaced by feelings of contentment and comfort. Without really thinking about it, we have changed our life of emptiness and wanting into a life of fullness, and bounty.

All it takes is a little careful, thoughtful gardening. Make a space, work the soil, plant the seeds, and tend your life garden. Before you realize it is happening the fruit of your labors will pay you back ten fold. You will never feel like you are coasting through your life again because you will have found the true meaning of a full life.

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Work Towards Success

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It is no secret some of us are working at jobs we dislike. We are working for a paycheck because job satisfaction is sorely lacking. Bills have to be payed, our home has to be maintained, and life has to be managed. It may not be the greatest job in the world, but it happens to be the only job we have at the moment.

How great it would be if one day soon we discovered that we worked our way right out of our job and into a better one! Suddenly spending most of each week at a job would be more exciting than the agony of collecting a paycheck. If only it would happen.

It can and does happen every day to people like you and me. Every day someone wakes up and heads off to work to find that they no longer have to do the job that gets a paycheck. Instead they have been moved or promoted into a job that has some meaning, and feels good walking out the door after the day is done.

The most important part of improving any work situation is creating and following a plan for your working future. Creating a plan to move from point A to point B at work keeps out work distraction and tracks how well the plan is working. Update and modify the plan as needed.

In general do work you are supposed to be doing, and any extra work that is important to your Boss when you have free time, and skip the rest. One of the biggest stumbling blocks holding people back from being selected for raises  or promotion is not doing work which is important to your Boss. Your Boss not only signs off on your time card every week and manages your performance, your Boss also has influence on your working future.

Your Boss generally expects you to accomplish a specific list of tasks and some general tasks too. These primary tasks should be the focus of a day at work. Doing your best can have a big payoff. Performing a task that is not important to your Boss while neglecting primary responsibility leaves a lasting impression with your Boss, and it is negative.

Become an expert at your job if possible. In most cases there is always more to learn about your job. If you are not an expert on your job, ask your coworkers about those things you do not know about your job. Dig down into the details. Most people like to show off how much they know, so finding a willing audience is a breath of fresh air for them.

Look for smarter, better, or faster ways to accomplish tasks. As the workday progresses, imagine other ways of doing the work. Whether any ideas really are faster or better, is not as important as the process of thinking about how the work is done and can be done better.

As technology changes there is are always possibilities of identifying new ways of doing the same old task. If the new way makes the task faster or better capture it, and discuss it with your Boss when the opportunity is there. All it takes is one second in a workday for a flash of insight to help you step out of the crowd and into the limelight.

Manage your relationship with your Boss. Perception is important to your Boss. Your Boss may only have a general idea about what kind of worker you are. Make sure the perception your Boss has of you is as polished as it can be. Show up for work a few minutes early and stay a few minutes late. Talk with the people on other shifts. Speaking with people who do the same work at a different time, may know something worth knowing.

A few  minutes a day invested in making friends across shifts can have unexpected benefits. If nothing else, more people get to know your name, and may share important  information with you, as you share information with them.

Just as you should leave your work at work, leave your personal life at the door too. It is much better to keep conversation general, and keep your personal life personal. All of your Coworkers have conversations with your Boss too. Once something personal is shared, there is no way to recall something that should not have been said.

No matter the result of any calendar period, making and following a work plan, lay the foundation for the future. Skills are honed, knowledge is gained, and new skills are developed that may help in landing a new job at a different company. Nothing is wasted at work except time. Make the most of work time, and let that time create new options for your working future.

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Work Pride Brings Promotion

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When you work, how you look and what you do is your responsibility. There should be no surprise in that idea. Thinking about your job as your responsibility, and your business is how you should see your work. Think this way and see the change in the quality of work you do. Think of the difference between showing up for work, and owning the business. What would you do differently? How you think about your work thinking you own the business? How about your personal appearance? How about your at work attitude?

Many of us head into work, and start doing our job. Whether it is exciting, or more likely pretty boring, we give little thought beyond what it is we are doing at the moment. We take our breaks either at the allotted times, or we take them when we can. Many of us spend our work life this way.

If you believe you own your job, you will think about what can be changed or made better. Start thinking of your job as your business and not a place to collect a paycheck from, and a different work perspective starts to manifest itself. Think about your work as your own business, and think about what you can do differently.

With personal ownership, everything in our job scope is our responsibility and everything about our job takes on a new level of importance. When the success or failure of the company is our success or failure, our job takes on new dimensions and levels of importance.

Start the work day before the work week starts. Are your clothes cleaned and pressed? Do you have a neat appearance? Whether you work with the public, or are only seen by your Boss, the choice of what you wear and how you look has a major effect on how you are thought of. If you show up tired, in wrinkled messy clothes, and tousled hair, how can you be thought of as someone who really cares about what you are doing at work?

Showing up tired is one are which can have different levels of importance. There is a big difference between going to school full time and are doing everything possible to get the best grades possible, or choosing to go without sleep to spend time with your friends. Working hard for grades shows a drive to get ahead. Hanging out with friends instead of getting enough sleep shows a lack of caring about your work.

What type of attitude do you bring to your job? Are you happy to be at work? Are you focused on doing the best job you can each day? Are the people around you happy to work with you? If you serve customers, are they happy to be helped by you?

Most of what we do when we work is controlled by work flow. Whether it is operating a cash register, managing the deep fryer, or making sandwiches, you do have control over most of your work life. Using a quiet moment to do nothing when you could do a quick clean up, or help a co-worker is not good use of your work time.

When it comes time to give out raises, or a slot opens up for a promotion, how do you want to fit in? To get a raise or get promoted more than your work output is considered. Your work, the perception of you, and your attitude compared to the the people you work with are considered as the deal breaker when all else is equal.

Even if you are not the fastest, smartest, funniest, or the greatest talker when it comes to  promoting yourself, you have many other areas where you can let it be known how seriously you take your work, and how important the companies success is to you.

Paying attention to little things that do not feel important determine whether you get a raise or promotion, or someone else does. Look at your competition pretending to be your Boss. What are you doing that sets you apart from them?

Are your clothes as clean and pressed as the cleanest and neatest person in your work group? How about the rest of your appearance, how does that measure up? What kind of attitude do you bring to work, is it at least as good as the best worker you know?

No matter how raises and promotion criteria are explained or written down. Whether a raise or promotion goes to you or someone else is determined by perception of what you have done up to that moment, not what you might do in the future.

If you only put into your work what you are getting paid, that is all you will take home each day. To fell good about your work, and get ahead in the workplace, you need to show you deserve a raise or promotion by working like you already have it.

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Witchcraft and Limiting Beliefs

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There are a couple of different reasons that have brought about this post. One reason is a short note to someone who suddenly has an interest in learning about Witchcraft. The second reason is a thread I was following on Limiting Beliefs. These two different topics are more intertwined with each other than they are apart.

Witchcraft in the minds of some people is evil. Anyone who even mentions Witchcraft is in danger of compromising their soul. If someone might actively pursue knowledge of such a taboo subject they are surely doomed. Truth is, the closer you get to a subject, the more you learn what is true, and what you only thought was true.

Finding worthwhile information on Witchcraft is a study in absurdity and circles. In this period of ‘New Age’, one can go to almost any book store and find any number of books about Witchcraft, how to cast spells, or how to be a Witch. Many books are not worth the paper they are printed when useful information gained is measured against each dollar spent.

Searching the internet, one can find endless web pages, references and groups on Witchcraft. Again, most of what is written is of little or no use to anyone. Finding and joining a group of ‘Witches’ can be dangerous. Some leaders of these groups are really pursuing personal power, sex, or money, maybe all three. Anything resembling true understanding may not exist in these groups. Finding a group or an individual who is real and is willing to share takes a lot of patience and time.

Limiting Beliefs on the other hand makes the world most of us choose to live in. Some of us have a hard time reading past the word ‘choose’ in the first sentence. Yet our world is mostly comprised of what we choose to believe, more than by what we are limited to.

Some examples of limiting beliefs are: ‘The world is out to get me’, ‘I am stupid’, ‘Everyone is happy except me’, ‘my life is worthless’, ‘I do not deserve anything’, and so on. Limiting Beliefs are the concrete walls of our world. Without limiting beliefs to structure our world, we would not know what to do or how to conduct ourselves.

Identifying Limiting Beliefs in ourselves is a scary process most people do not willingly undertake. One reason is uncovering Limiting Beliefs takes us to places most of us do not want to go. Holding in our hands a collection of what we know is false truths we use to define our life is not fun. It is more fun to pretend our Limiting Beliefs are real.

If we dare identify and collect our own Limiting Beliefs, what are we going to do with them? If we made our Limiting Beliefs vanish, we would have this huge empty void in our lives. Suddenly our life would have no walls and no restraints. We would be free to do whatever we wanted with our life. This is a lot of responsibility most of us are not ready to deal with.

This is how Witchcraft and Limiting Beliefs are intertwined. They are two differing approaches to the same end. The endpoint connection between Witchcraft and Limiting Beliefs is two fold. Thinking, saying, or writing that one wants to pursue anything even remotely taboo raises eyebrows, questions, and causes some amount of fear in those around us. Following up on that thought is blasphemy in the eyes and minds of some. Imagining and verbalizing a world different than what we believe it to be also causes the same responses.

As our knowledge grows parts of the walls surrounding us crumbles, and is replaced by nothing. The knowledge we gain may be completely opposite of what we thought we were pursuing. Knowledge does not have to be scary to crumble the opaque walls of our Limiting Beliefs.

Arcane knowledge when properly understood generally reveals itself to be different than what we expected. In the process of learning, we also find out about ourselves, and possibly a world we once knew, but forgot. Regaining what we once knew and forgot, can help release us from hanging on to Limiting Beliefs we no longer need.

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