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Exercising the way nature intended us to. 

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It is about time I had some personal goals.  I have life and work goals that are well defined, but not personal ones.

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A new friend shared this insight with me today: we program people to interact with us in a certain way.  To change the way someone interacts with us, we simple need to change the way we interact with them.  This is achieved by understanding when they shift from one type of mood into another and the reason why on their end (activator) and ours (trigger).  Once we recognize the shifts and understand the activators and triggers, we can create a environment that fosters positive change for all future interactions. 

I will be posting many more insights from my new friend, not just articles: interviews, lectures, and more....

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Have you watched: The Secret, What the Bleep, Down The Rabbit Hole, The Quantum Activist, and more... ?  Have you read about: The Law of Attraction, the Power of Intention, the Power of Positive Thinking, and more... ?

Do you want to know what happens when people understand and applies all these principles to their life w/o hesitation?  Find out in just 10 short minutes by watching the video below:

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The real question now becomes, what do you want to truly learn? I feel a good place to start is designing a picture of your business the way you ideally want it to be. Ironically, when we start a business, we often have a grand vision of how we want things to be, but as time progresses and reality sets in, our vision gets exposed to escalating levels of compromise. I believe this is because we get sucked into the daily minutia and lose sight of our ultimate goal. Granted, the original vision is bound to change, but it should only be improving for the better. After watching What The Bleep Do We Know and Down The Rabbit Hole the second time around, I finally grasp the science behind positive visualization. Quantum mechanics, which is simply the study of things at the subatomic level, provides us with what I believe to be undeniable proof that we as individuals are the predominate influencer of our reality. Furthermore, quantum mechanics has proved that when individuals collaborate over a common goal, that the collective energy greatly magnifies the intent. I am a big believer that time, energy, and creativity are the solvent to every problem and thus the solution to all things. Whatever problems you face in your business or even in your personal life, sometimes it’s good to step outside of your daily activities and refresh your picture of the way you want things to be in the ideal world. By truly learning your ideal state by heart, you will greatly improve the probability of achieving it; but first you have to accept the possibility of it happening. Further reading: Dr. Joe Dispenza's, I Create My Day>>

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I have been studying the Enneagram on and off for the past several years.

The combination of being turned onto DISC by Jim Cecil and my other personality and behavioural studies -mainly Paul Ekman (Micro-Facial Expressions)- has spurred me to find a faster way to learn.  1-on-1 coaching, while more costly than reading books and study programs, is a great way to expedite understanding of the topic at hand. 

Today, I had my initial consultation w/ Clarence from Enneagram Central.  I was astounded by the deep insight into who I am that he was able to gain only by asking a handful of questions. 

Here is what I learned:

1. I am an 8 - the Challenger, and my Stress and Security points are 5 and 2 - the Observer and the Helper, respectively.  (see here)
2. I need to ask more questions to better stimulate the collaborative process in discussions, even if I know the answer, and learn to guide others to their own answers.
3. I do business very differently from the way I cook.  In business, I tend to think fast, therefore I move exceptionally fast; my focus is fixated on finding the most efficient and effective way to do EVERYTHING.  When cooking, I tend to adopt a slightly slower and more methodical pace.
4. I have very high expectations, I have always known this.  But, until today, I never realized that very high standards are easier to meet than high expectations; standards are clearer by nature and therefore provide a clear path to success. 

I am looking forward to my future consultations w/ Clarence so I can more fully understand myself, others, and better tailor my communication to my audience.

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Picture yourself standing on an iceberg in the middle of the ocean in the Arctic Circle.  Since you are on an iceberg, I need you to also imagine that the water and environment extremely cold.  This is a fairly accurate metaphor for some people’s life.

What I have noticed is this: when we don’t like the place we are at, we tend to find another iceberg and step on to it.  The only issue is that we leave our trailing foot behind because we are not willing to fully commit to a new path.  This leaves us standing on two icebergs, which are much harder to balance than one.  Then another iceberg floats by and we reach out and put our hand on to it, in the hopes of finding a better more stable place.  Now we are spread across three icebergs.  Due to the precarious balancing act we are performing and the natural fear of taking a splash in the freezing water, our options become limited.  If we push off and back-up to our feet, we run the risk of losing our balance and falling in.  Also, by this point, we realize if we put our other hand-down on yet another iceberg, our hands will not get a break from the cold surface of the iceberg.   

I am talking from first-hand experience.  I have hand my feet, hands, elbows, knees, and even my forehead precariously balanced on every iceberg I could find.  I thought I was keeping my options open, which now realize was not the case.  Eventually, I took the plunge and what I discovered changed my life.

Life is about choices.  We make the choices and we therefore create our world.  Our families and the country we live in impact the amount of choices we have, and in some cases can determine whether we live or die.  But, one choice can never be taken away for us, even in the most limiting of circumstances or most dire of situations - the choice of how we feel.

My question is this: How do you feel about your life?

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“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” Ayn Rand, Appendix to Atlas Shrugged Many people still ask the question, “why are we here?" We are all here sharing this time and place too… We each must find our own answer. In Ayn’s quote she gives us three constants which serve as a solid foundation from which to explore:

1. We are heroic beings
2. Our own happiness is our moral purpose in life
3. Productive achievement is our noblest activity

Since I can’t tell you what your answer is I’ll tell you mine. In order for me to be heroic I feel I must be bettering society – it makes me happy – by being successful I complete the circle. I leave it to the law of reciprocity to drive my economic engine. My Dad always told me to do what I love and the money will come, so far it’s worked. Jim Collins who wrote a book called “From Good to Great” has another version of the three circles which he calls the “Hedgehog Concept” which I have found exceptional useful in my personal and work life. I believe Jim has designed a universal formula for success [and happiness].

The similarities between Jim and Ayn’s three constants can only been seen when we realize they drive us to the same place "centeredness" – this is key! Where are you going? “To be in hell is to drift; to be in heaven is to steer.” George Bernard Shaw. I believe you can get anywhere in life if you know where you want to go. It wasn’t too long ago that someone wanted to go to the moon and get there they did. Before that someone wanted to simple fly.

TAKE ACTION AND IMPLEMENT

Where do you want to go? What things do you need to get there? Your destination doesn’t have to be a place, it can be a lifestyle, or even a state of being. Once you have the answer break the journey up into small manageable steps. [Bon-voyage!]

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“To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.” Fragment from "Auguries of Innocence" by William Blake

“Without going out the door, know the world, Without looking out the window, you may see the ways of heaven. The farther one goes, the less one knows.

Therefore the sage does not venture forth and yet knows, does not look and yet names, does not strive and attains completion.” Lao-tzu 4th/6th century BC

TAKE ACTION AND IMPLEMENT

Identify something you take for granted, for example water, and then look at it through the eyes of someone who walks 10 miles every day to carry water back to her family so they can simple survive. Learn to appreciate everything around you and eternal happiness will be yours.

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