Reality Check

Good morning friends.  Got your dream?  Or just still planning what you want to dream.  Some of us don’t mind to dream.  They just go with the flow.  Come what may as the others implied.  But in reality we have to check everything.  This will mean  lot to us. 

 

Look at the truth of your life now in terms of budget hours available and family needs and debt?  Do you have young children?  The tension between what is true today and what you want to happen tomorrow will propel you forward because you know where you are now and where you want to be.

 

The journey has to be almost as fun as the destination.  It needs to be an outgrowth of what you love and want to do now.  Otherwise you’re living for tomorrow.

 

That’s why it’s important to talk to women who are already doing what you want to do.  if your dream is owning a store, talk to store owners and get the inside track.  We often have the dream version of what it is to do something,  but you want to get the real version and check your grit to see if you have it in you.

 

For example, you may want to be an actor, but are you willing to live with financial uncertainty or to change your looks to please others?  Can you deal with rejection?  If the answer is no, maybe acting isn’t right for you.  Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean it’s a path you’re supposed to take.  –Laura Berman Fortgang, author of Living Your Best Life.

Never Say Never (1)

Good morning friends.    I came across with the article written by Sally Stich. It’s a good article which I want to share with all of you, if in case it will happen to you.  Few things in life truly lend themselves to such an extreme. There are a few things you really should never, ever do.  consider these fact as a good commandments for living a richer life. 

Never Miss an Opportunity to Share Kind Words  Ever notice how when someone says something nice to you, you tend to say something nice to the next person you see?  Compliments almost always create ripple effect. 

 

Put it to work  Start with sincere “thank-you’s”  and then seek opportunities to give third-party praise.    For example, if you are in a department store and someone gave you a particular good service, you can mention to the manager what a wonderful experience you had.  Never fails to compliment a server or sales-person in front of the manager.

 

Never Sit Still When Action is Called For  When we’re going through tough times, we tend to shut down.  What you need when you’re down is encouragement, ideas and opportunities.  Those things comes from being around people who can help you. 

 

Put it to work When you’re stuck in a rut, talk to a friend.  For example, a writer, her dream job was really a nightmare.   Her cried to a good friend who encouraged her to leave the job and talked her through an exit strategy.  Then she gave a leads for finding a new job.  Maybe this time she now happily working from home.

 

Dare to Dream

Good morning friends.  I came across with an article of Marnell Jameson, while im taking my rest.  It’s a good one.  Many can rely on it.  If you were ask what are your dreams?  Are you ready to make them in reality?  It’s never too late. 

Perks of the Mature Mind

Young minds do have a few advantages.  Children tend to memorize more easily, enjoy better motor skills and have more “plastic” brains, a term used to describe the brain’s ability to mold itself to new information and experiences.  But the advantages of the mature mind trump the advantages of youth any day.

People often compare the brain to computer.  It fact, it’s much more like the Internet, a system that links lots of computers, says George Bartzokis, M.D., a psychiatrist and professor of neurology.  Hitting middle age is like going from dial-up to high-speed.  While adults may have a tougher time than youngsters memorizing, once adults get over that hump, they use what they learn better.

Fortunately, this boost in mental ability comes just in time.  When people move through middle age, they often enter a liberating phase.  “They think, if not now, when?”

THE Power of Desire

Being motivated and interested in learning are key for adults.  One of the attributes of later learners is that they give information meaning.  It has more relevance, so they retain it better,”  says Gary Small, M.D., professor of psychiatry and also the author of The Memory Prescription.  When we’re young and in school, so much of what we learn has no relevance.  When we’re older we have the perspective to put information into a useful contest.  That is a distinct advantage.

A Moment Alone: The Vogage In

There’s a deep and utterly unique pleasure that comes—when you’re travelling alone-the minute the train pulls out of the station.  It’s unlike the exhilaration and the vague anxiety of a plane’s takeoff, unlike the wary alertness of leaving the driveway.  Is it the comfort of the plush seats?  The old-fashioned charm of the fact that the conductor still says “All aboard!”?  I think it has more to do with a kind of promise.  For the next few hours, you will be out of time, free and (especially if you ride in one of the cell-phone-free “quiet cars”) at peace; nothing will interfere with your enjoyment of your own company.  It’s a bit like a long nap, except you remain awake, soothed and rocked by the rumble of the wheels on the track, reading or daydreaming, entertaiend by the spectacle of the world streaming smoothy by—a delightful reverie from which you will emerge having arrived at your destination.

Reference:  Francine Prose

Photo Courtesy:  farm2.static 

Caring without clinging -1

As we consciously cultivate equanimity in our yoga practice, we may start to refine our ability to do so in the rest of our life as well.  We may learn to keep fighting for blue whales or clear air without collapsing in despair when our efforts seem futile.  We may learn to  get up every morning and work on the screen-play we’ve always dreamed of writing, not driven by fantasies of our appearance on Oprah when the film is a blockbuster or crippled by the scathing reviews blaring in our own heads.

The world is full of losses we can’t stop and joys we can’t keep.  We may pour our whole heart into helping our teenager get off drugs, then watch him spiral back into addiction.  We may spend 10 years fighting to save a coastal wetland, then watch it get signed over to developers.  At its highest  level, upekkha can help us  stay centered in the midst of all of these experiences—to savor life’s joys without clinging to them and to open to life’s sorrows without pushing them away.

In Buddhist Literature, upekkha is often compared with the attitude of a mother who lets go of controlling her children as they grow up—continuing to support them and wish them well but recognizing that their choices are theirs to make,  good or bad.  This image particularly spoke to me that first week of preschool, when o got a tiny taste of how hard such a task could be.

How you can go for it!

♥  USE YOUR FEAR.  Often, being afraid of failure or of looking like a fool holds us back from pursuing our dreams.  But fear can be a great motivator, too.  Imagine yourself ten years from now, still totally stuck and afraid.  How would it feel to still be letting fear keep you from achieving your dream?  Use the rear of that to motivate you to take action.

♥  START A DREAM JOURNAL.  Dedicate one to your goal—write about your thoughts and plans, jot down facts and phone numbers, and paste in pictures that inspire you.  Getting everything down on paper gives you momentum.  It makes your dream real before you even get started. 

♥  MAKE A TIMELINE.  Write down when you’d like your dream to come true, and give yourself a deadline for each step that has to happen along the way.  For example, if you want to take a big trip abroad with your kids,  decide when you want to go, then figure out when you’ll need to make reservations, earn money to pay for it, and so on.  Make a poster of your timeline and keep it where you can see it every single day.  You may not hit each deadline exactly on time, but having a time frame helps you keep your dream high on your priority list.

♥  DO ONE THING EVERY DAY.  No matter how busy you are, set aside five minutes each day to take one small step toward your goal.  Whether it’s a phone call or doing research on the Internet, take daily action so you don’t look up and realize another six months have gone by and you didn’t even try to make your dream come true.  Plus doing something, even if it’s small, is what will give you that sense of accomplishment that pushes you to do even more.