Today, an acquaintance mentioned my weight loss and asked, “How did you do it?”

“I did it the old fashioned way,” I said.

“The old fashioned way?” she asked.

“Yep,” I said. “I changed the way I was eating, and I started exercising everyday.”

And while that’s true, I realized this afternoon that it’s not the whole truth.

I was looking through my stack of life-changing index cards. These are cards that I review on a regular basis. I have drawn stick figures on these cards with captions picturing goals that I want to attain.

I got this idea from my friend Pat Hicks. Pat has used this particular practice, plus other practices that he learned from Matt Furey, to become the premier provider of high end reclaimed hardwood floors in Texas. It seems so simple, but it works.

And today, as I was flipping through my cards, one in particular jumped out at me. It showed a very buff looking stick figure with a weight and blood pressure goal as the caption. I had not really thought about the role this particular card has played in my success until today.

When I started using this card, I weighed over 230 lbs. Today I weigh 200 lbs, and my blood pressure is significantly lower. I am well over half way to the weight goal as stated on the card, and I know I will get there.

Here’s my point. You have probably read lots of personal development methods for changing your life. You have probably tried many of these methods, and, sadly enough, you have probably stopped using them before you reached your goal.

The trick is to stay with something until it works. You can’t fail if you don’t quit. If a goal is worth setting, it’s worth doing whatever it takes to change your thinking enough to make it happen.

That’s what the cards do. They help you become your focus. Or as Phil Linklater posted in his response to my last blog entry, “You become what you think about – the most.”

The change is as quick as a thought, but it may need to really sink in deep for you to believe it. That’s what the cards do for me.

So, the next time someone asks me how I’ve lost weight, I’ll explain once again  that I’ve changed my eating and exercise regime.  But I’ll also have to tell them about that simple little index card and how it helped me change my thinking.

And when you change your thinking, you can change anything.

Don’t wait until you finish school or get a new job or lose 10 lbs.

Do it now.

Don’t live life vicariously through empty images on TV or the internet or magazines. Live life yourself, full-out, right now.

Why be absorbed by fantasy words and deeds of fantasy people?

Engage real people. Love them. Let them love you.

Engage ideas. Give yourself the gift of deep thought. Hold a thought through it’s completion.

Concentrate more on specifics and less on generalities.

Respect your own ideas. Respect your own beliefs. Don’t look to others to provide your thoughts and your beliefs.

Trust yourself to make choices.

There is power in choosing.

And we always get to choose.

Don’t wait.

Don’t hesitate.

Engage.

Do it now.

Do you know what you love to do?

That’s something I still consider…what do I really love to do?

I know I love people. I love to try and help people figure out the best approaches to their problems. I love to read and learn. I love to reflect and ruminate. I love to write. I love to dream.

But, that one big thing still escapes me.

There are lots of  writers and bloggers in personal development who would never admit that they still wonder about what they love to do. But I tend to identify more with my readers than I do with those “gurus.” I’m not too proud to admit that I still have questions. I’m still searching and learning.

I still haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for.

Neither the woman or the old man were at all impressed with the fact that he was a shepherd. They were solitary individuals who no longer believed in things, and didn’t understand that shepherds become attached to their sheep. He knew everything about each member of his flock: he knew which ones were lame, which one was to give birth two months from now, and which were the laziest. He knew how to shear them and how to slaughter them. If he ever decided to leave them, they would suffer…

…Here I am, between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought. He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have.

from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

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Change  is hard.

The anticipation of change – a new job, a new home, a new challenge – can be exciting. Dreaming about it and planning for it can be fun. But the actual act of making that change is difficult.

In The Alchemist, Santiago has to choose between “something he had grown accustomed to and something that he wanted to have.” And, in order to grow, we have to do the same.

We are always thwarted by apparent comfort. For instance, when we are in a job that we dislike, at least it is a known entity. We may dislike the boss or the pay or the monotony, but at least it is a boss and pay and monotony we know.

I once knew a banker who had grown weary with banking. He was still a young man, so I asked him why he didn’t go ahead and make a change. He said that he was caught in golden handcuffs. He was very comfortable with the money, the position, and the prestige, and these ‘golden’ aspects of the job kept him ‘handcuffed’ to a profession that brought him little personal fulfillment.

He was trading the possibility of passion for the certainty of comfort.

Please don’t misunderstand me. Being comfortable is not a bad thing. The fact is, once you step out and commit to pursuing your passion, you will find a place that is more ‘comfortable’ than you could have imagined. The problem comes when we trade the possibility of true fulfillment for the assurance of easy sameness.

Pursuing this passion takes effort, and that’s where most people fail. They long for change; they dream of change. But they never do anything to change.

What do you want to be, do, or have?

What can you do to move closer to a life of passion?

What is the thing you are here to do, that thing that Coelho calls “your personal legend?”

In your heart, you know what gets you excited. You know what it is that you were meant to do.

Find that thing and vow to take a few small steps each day in the direction of your dreams.

Like Santiago, dare to look away from your “flock” and to move toward your “treasure.”

Sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it? A child’s question. And we should be well past such things.

But I am not past it. Here at the ripe middle age of 53, I’m still wondering.

So I ask myself, “Buz, what do you want to be when you grow up”

And the honest answer comes to me: “I’m still not quite sure.”

You see, I’m no guru. I’m a searcher, just like you. I’m on a quest…a lifelong quest.

Reading Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist, I have fallen in love with his phrase for it.

He calls it (what you want to be) your Personal Legend. I’ve been given glimpses into my Personal Legend. My quest has led me to work on Viral Happiness. It’s led to my writing two ebooks and filling notebooks with reams and reams of unpublished material.

But I long for my Legend to break forth into my psyche like a bright, guiding star. I want a beacon in my life. I long for clarity. Maybe you do, too.

One of the ways that I intend to encourage that breakthrough is to blog more and write more and (selectively) read more. Maybe you would like to join me.

You could start by reading The Alchemist. Offer a comment here or by email about your own personal journey. Let’s start a dialogue that may lead to a deeper realization of our Personal Legends.

Answering that question – What do you want to be when you grow up – is important business. Let’s start fresh giving it the time and effort it deserves.

We are imminently worth it.

They are convinced that 2010 will finally be the year that real and lasting change happens.

Many will try to change their diets or their activity levels or their work habits or their approach to relationships, and some will succeed in these new endeavors.

But the vast majority will fail.

Why?

Why will so many invest so much initial effort but never keep the pace that leads to real success?

The reason is simple and profound.

Those who fail try to change their actions without changing their thinking.

Everything in your life, for good or for ill, begins as a thought. If you want to be healthier, wealthier, wiser, and more loving in 2010, you need to change how you think. All of the physical activity and positive intentions will ultimately fail unless you first change your thoughts.

Would you like some help to get started with real change? Get a free copy of As A Man Thinketh: The Study Guide by filling in the form to the right of this post.  That’s a great way to start changing your thinking.

If you want a little something more, check out 7 Days Away From Powerfully Positive Living (a quick and simple jump-start to a better life) or Mastering Your Power of Release (an expanded version of my approach to changing your life with lots of extra information from ten other personal transformation teachers). Or do a little web research and find something else that will help you change the way you think.

Just know that real change begins in your thinking.

If you ignore that fact, you will fail.

When you embrace that fact, your success is inevitable.

Some are great, some are good, some are so-so.

I read their emails and watch their videos. Often,
I buy their products.

Lately, however, I’ve been feeling Guru overload.

It’s nothing serious, but I am trying to decide exactly
what to do about it.

I’m getting slightly bored with the ‘latest release,’
the ‘information I can’t live without,’ the ‘new
best thing.’

I’m not saying that these methods don’t work. Some do
and some don’t. Some have made huge differences in my life,
and some were throw-aways. But so much of it seems like the
same old stuff rehashed over and over and over.

Here are 3 questions for you.

1) Do you ever experience Guru Overload?

2) If you do, how do you handle it?

3) What kind of information do you most need that
you are not currently getting from Gurus?

I’d love to hear your answers.

Please share your thoughts in a comment below.

I am very interested in your answers. I want to gather and
share information that will really help us all, so please
share your ideas with me.

Thanks!
Buz

Can you identify with that at all?

One travels through life, making progress upon progress, and then life pulls you in several directions at once. Family needs, business needs, community needs, personal needs – your singular vision falters and scatters into myriad directions.

And, instead of feeling whole, you feel splintered.

That’s the way I’ve been feeling for the past few days. Too many objects demanding my focus. And a focus splintered is weak focus.

You don’t make progress with weak focus.

“An organism at war with itself is doomed” Carl Sagan

When your focus is divided, it is almost as if you are at war with yourself. Your forces, instead of being gathered and pressing onward, are rushing in different directions, losing their momentum. Your progress is doomed.

So, we have identified the problem. What, then, is the solution?

Thought. Genuine, purposeful thought.

Whenever I begin to feel this type of mental weakness, I know that I have been ignoring my thinking time. And this case is no different.

I am making time for all sorts of activities, but not purposeful thought, prayer, and meditation.

I am serving others while ignoring myself. And, if that condition persists, I will soon have nothing to offer others.

Even though I blog and write ebooks and practice self development, I am not immune to forgetting that, as Steven Covey teaches in The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, I must “sharpen the saw.” It will not stay sharp with neglect.

Like beautiful orchids, we all need careful tending and feeding.

I need to feel whole.

I believe I’ll start thinking right now.

]]> http://www.viralhappiness.com/blog/splintered-vs-whole/feed 1 http://www.viralhappiness.com/blog/9-9-09-can-be-something-significant http://www.viralhappiness.com/blog/9-9-09-can-be-something-significant#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:54:26 +0000 Buz http://www.viralhappiness.com/blog/?p=199 Tomorrow is 9-9-09. The symmetry & alliteration offer a moment of significance, a clear touchstone for planning and action.

And that special date offers you an opportunity to begin something special, something of real & lasting significance in your own life.

What have you been putting off?

What wonderful accomplishments are you planning when you say, “I’ll get around to it…someday.”

Well, friend, 9-9-09 could very well be that day.

I am using that particular date as my own personal touchstone, my own personal reference for some wonderful goals.

I have set specific goals to be reached in 2 months, in 6 months, in 8 months, & in 12 months…all dated from 9-9-09.

You may be thinking that this is nothing more than a gimmick…you may be saying that 9-9-09 holds no more significance than any other date. After all, they’re all just numbers on a calendar.

And, you know what? You would be absolutely correct.

There is nothing special about any date or any moment unless we make it so.

Allow me to repeat that, “…unless we make it so.”

There is nothing magic about a specific date. The key is in what we do. Success is always about what we do.

But couldn’t you use a little magic?

Why not conjure some now by using this unique date to start building something special in your life.

Use it as a springboard to greatness!

And when you have succeeded, when you have built that castle you know you deserve, when you have forged a golden link in the chain that is your life, when you are basking in the joy of your accomplishments, then you
can look back and say, “This seed of greatness was planted on 9-9-09.”

If you don’t do it now, when are you ever going to get around to it?

Today, I watched clouds.

I sat for an hour in my backyard, and stared up into the sky.

The clouds, full and white, drifted like majestic, shape-shifting islands across the deep blue of sky.

It was magnificent.

When I was young, I watched clouds. And I watched them again when my children were young. But I had not watched them with awareness in a long, long time – until today.

And that, I think, was the biggest gift…the gift of being aware.

We spend our time rushing through life, barely skimming the surface. We are caught up in a very narrow slice of this existence. We act as though so much of what we experience is ordinary, when, in actuality, our lives are miraculous.

Our perspective is mundane, not our journey.

We allow inanity to preoccupy our thinking: “Why is that jerk talking so loud on his cellphone? Is our landscaping as pretty as the neighbor’s? Why doesn’t my boss appreciate  me?” While underneath that surface, underneath everything we experience, there is a continuing miracle.

Try this. The next time you go shopping, make eye contact with the person at the checkout. See them as someone real, someone with the same hopes and dreams and feelings as you. Try understanding your coworkers. Spend time with your loved ones. Be open and loving and available. Don’t be guarded. Refuse to feel hurt. Let other people be themselves. Don’t judge them. Just be aware of them. Be aware of their hearts. Be aware of their souls. Don’t presuppose. Take heed of emotional needs. Give yourself away.

In your heart, you know you have an important part to play. The time has come for you to play it. Don’t be afraid. You are strong and wise, even when you feel weak and stupid. Be aware of your strength. Be aware of your wisdom. Be aware of the real you.

Just be aware.

Be aware that this creation is much more wonderful and complex than we can imagine. Be aware  of your own immensity. Be aware of the voice of God.

Turn off your TV, go outside, and watch the the clouds.