On March 16, 2006 in southeastern Afghanistan during a fierce ambush and subsequent firefight,  Spc. Channing Moss was impaled by a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG). The tip of the RPG was visible beneath the skin of his upper right thigh and the tail fin protruded from his left torso. Through the dedication of fellow soldiers, the live ordinance was surgically removed and safely detonated, and he survived this ordeal.

As I read this amazing story, I began to consider that phrase: rocket in the gut. I think we all have a rocket in our gut that needs to be removed for our survival. We all have something of explosive capability that if brought out and properly detonated, it’s sheer firepower can be harnessed to do it’s job. Now I understand that the goal of a real RPG is to kill and maim, and that’s why I want to be delicate when making sensitive comparisons. Consider the power inherent in an RPG. It could be released from this deadly rocket and harnessed and shepherded into something useful and positive, if properly handled.

You have power in you that needs to be released in order to effect the greater world. Leave it in, and it could kill your desire, your joy, your passion for living. But let it out and direct it into something positive and useful for the world, and you will not only save yourself, you will save those around you as well.

What is your “rocket in the gut?” What  is your ticking time bomb of power that needs to be removed and changed into something that positively effects the world? The time to release that power is NOW!

One of my Facebook friends posted this quote today, and I read it at the same moment I was making another excuse about blogging. It’s been 12 weeks since I’ve blogged. It’s something I’ve meant to do but have not carved out the time to do. Until today.

Excuses are easy. And my excuse is that I have been busy. Besides my online pursuits, I have a retail business and a storage rental business. I also serve on a couple of boards; and my youngest child is a senior in high school and an athlete, so I have lots of ‘stuff’ that keeps me busy. Blogging is one of the things that got left by the wayside over the past few weeks.

But today, in a serendipitous moment, I found myself thinking, ‘I need to go blog,’ at the same moment I read the Eleanor Roosevelt quote. So here I am, doing the thing I could not do.

What do you think you cannot do? What should you be doing that you are not doing? What do you dream about doing that, up to this point, has remained just a dream? What do you really want to do?

Potentially, those are much heavier questions than ‘should I blog today?’ But it’s all related, because if you can do small things you’ve been avoiding, you will eventually do big things you’ve been avoiding. If you can pursue and accomplish small dreams, you will pursue and accomplish big dreams. If you can take a step, you will eventually complete a journey, no matter how long or how far.

So, I’m blogging again, which might not seem like such a big deal…but it is a definite accomplishment and a platform for future accomplishments.

Sitting still gets you no where. So just do it…today, or better yet, right now. Just do what ever it is you “cannot do.” Just do it, and see where it leads.

The decisions you make is how you live your life. Quality choices yield a quality life. Poorly orchestrated choices yield a poorly orchestrated life.

How’s your life right now?

If you’re pleased with how things are going, you’re making the right choices. But if you’re not pleased with your life, it’s time to consider your choices. Or, better yet, consider how you go about making your choices.

It’s time to learn the art of making a quality decision.

Most people spend too much time “fretting” and not enough time doing. Do you ever find yourself thinking or saying, “I just can’t make-up my mind!”  This inability to make a decision keeps you stuck where you are.

Putting off making a decision is actually making a decision. You’ve chosen to not take action. You’ve chosen the life you currently have over the life you would like to have.

A quality decision occurs when you take a committed course. A quality decision occurs when you take action.

You may be saying, “I’m sure this approach works for some people, but that’s not how I make a decision. You see, I don’t jump into anything quickly. I think it’s best to study and plan and discern and ponder. ”

While it may be true that you feel a need to do all of these things, the studying and planning and discerning and pondering are not the decision. These activities may, or may not, somehow eventually result in a quality decision, but they are not a quality decision.

A quality decision happens the instant you take committed action.

Do you want to change your life for the better? Do you want to build a life out of great choices? Do you want to be the kind of person who strides from quality decision to quality decision?

Then pick a course and take immediate action. And then do it again…and again. That’s the art of making a quality decision. That’s the way you make a quality life.

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.

What you think is what you are. Change your life right now by changing your thinking. You can change anything at the speed of thought.

It was not premeditated; it just occurred. But now, I feel it lifting.

I believe in doing what feels right. I believe that you should do what you want to do.

I want to blog because I have things to tell you – things that will help you live the positive life you want to live.

And this is what I want to tell you in this post: your circumstances don’t matter as much as your thoughts and feelings.

I will expand this line of thought in subsequent posts, but for now, mull this over. Circumstances don’t matter.

So don’t fret over circumstances. Instead, focus on developing positive thoughts and positive feelings.

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.”