Category Archives: Expectations

Do This Whenever You Feel Like Giving In, Giving Up or Quitting!

horizon sun rays clouds pathway

“Do you ever feel tired and want to throw in the towel? It seems like you have struggled for so long and your efforts just aren’t paying off. The days seem arduous and hardly worth it at times. You want to quit? Have you felt this way? It’s tough sometimes to smile and plod your way ahead. Sometimes you just want to give up, right!

Well, don’t!

Keep going!

Stop sniveling right there!

There are so many people who have faced incredible odds and who kept going and who persevered no matter what.  The problems, you and I face, what most of us face, while difficult yes, it isn’t a fraction of what others have  suffered through and triumphed over.

There is no failure if you keep going. There is only failure if you quit. Yes, you may feel like quitting a million times but hang in there. Tomorrow IS another day.

Sadly, we are so conditioned, growing up, expecting bad things and worse things that we often fail to realize that good things can also spontaneously, seemingly miraculously happen any instant. We don’t only have to be bothered by ‘bad news’ perhaps we could be plagued by good news.

Life IS what we make it. Expect good things and the best from yourself and you are much more apt to find these. Develop an indomitable spirit, cultivate a winning, champion attitude and a self confidence that moves you forward. Realize you can do! You can do anything you set your mind to do.

Or you can give up. I say, don’t quit!

Prevail! Be the victor!

Make what you want happen in spite of the challenges and obstacles. Stop focusing on what you don’t want, the hardship. Stop taking a bath in the crap. Get out, rinse off and get going forward.

What I used to think was, ‘if it could only be easier.’ I thought then everything would be great. I’d be happy and positive. Then I realized being happy and positive wasn’t only for the easy times it was to see me through the difficult times.

If I could be happy and positive when things weren’t going well then I had truly learned to live well.

Then I could be happier and positive more of the time. Then most of the time I could enjoy because my happiness and positivity wasn’t dependent on what was going on on the outside. If it were, then I would not have benefited much. I’d be a fair weather positive thinker, feeling good only when times were good.

The key is to learn to feel good no matter what the times are like.

It may be a difficult lesson to learn but it can be learned. The right attitude can see us through all sorts of times. We don’t have to be tired and defeated when times are hard we can be happy through them. Sure, we may feel like we want to quit. Don’t!

Instead, learn to transform those feelings into the means to take hold of your life and live as a champion. Live as a gladiator. Come through serious battle proud because it is a test of your mettle. Without challenge you wouldn’t be a victor. Without the troubles the good times wouldn’t mean much either.

You become what you think about most during your day.

What occupies your thoughts and feelings is what you get back. You create, attract or make happen what you enjoy most or fear most. The point is you are the chooser. You are the one who decides where to place your attention.

Use good taste.  Use good judgement. No more crap baths!

Focus on the positive, the ‘I can do anything’, the good, strong, powerful thoughts and feelings and keep your attention there. Magnify these, enjoy these, bask in these and you will get through tough times. You will transform your work,  your play and your life. You will make for yourself a life worth living! Celebrate It! Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

Notice something? It is an entirely new and different day! What is good and new about it?

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PSS  A great practice is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  COMING VERY SOON –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this and new content will be at new site. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. You will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. Please stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

How You Live Right This Moment Is Critical! The Secret Only A Few Know & Use!

horizons red morning sunrise

“Do you want it yesterday? Some people are impatient for results to show up. Are you one of them? You can’t rush the growth of a flower or a tree. Babies take time to grow into adults. You cannot force the sun to rise. Why are you in such a hurry?

It seems some people want to escape the now and they want to do it quickly. They don’t like where they are at and want a big change to make everything different and better. Occasionally, that happens but in reality most things happen in the same way wine improves. Over time.

I have written on patience and how to wait. You may want to go and explore some of my previous blogs. Most people in Hollywood know an overnight success means 10 to 15 years of work first. So expect to wait, be okay with it and you will fare far better.

Create The Invite And Send It Out

Here is the deal. When you put out a party invitation you send out the word and then you wait for the people to arrive. You can either wait well or poorly.

You can either enjoy what is going on right now while waiting for your guests to arrive or you can worry, fear, doubt, and micromanage each moment. Which do you prefer it to be? Pleasant or painful it is up to you.

Neither of these two ways has any impact of who shows up or when? You have no control over that. The only thing you do have control over is how you wait and whether or not you enjoy the duration. In the same way some people try to push a rope, they try to push the results they get.

They fret, worry, try to do more, they fear, they think there is more to do, something else needs to be done. It becomes an ongoing, endless cycle as the they try to insure they will get their way. I think of it as fishing.

What Kind Of Fisher Are You

You get the proper bait as best you can for what you want to catch. You drop the line and relax. Let the fish take the bait because you can’t make it take it. You can only appeal to it. The fish takes it when it takes it.

You can be frustrated or you can enjoy the time you spend near or on the water. It is up to you.

The key to making you dreams come true is intent. Clarify what you want, be precise, be specific. Focus on it, be passionate it about it, feel wonderful and keep it in mind. Imagine it as if you already have it. Celebrate and be grateful and enjoy the marvelous feelings.

Let Go

Part of getting is receiving. Be open, be receptive, be patient, be relaxed and enjoy the meantime. Live in this time with great delight. Enjoy now! Live in gratitude, with passion and enthusiasm.  Don’t keep checking or comparing. Stop digging up the seeds to see if they are growing.

Let go and be open to receive. Let the guests arrive when and as they do. Stop trying to force and allow. You may be the creator and you may be the attractor but allow yourself to relax and let it come to you.

You Sent Out The Invitation Let It Arrive When And As It Does

We work during the day and we rest during the night. Rest. Trust. Accept. Allow. Enjoy!  This is important. This is a huge part of getting what you want. This is a part many miss. They are so busy managing they don’t realize they are pushing it away.

Have faith. Believe it is coming. Expect it is coming and relax. Trust means you don’t fight for it because you already know it is yours. This relaxed confidence is as much an important part as the effort you put into your thoughts.

Delight and feel wonderful. How you live now is critical! Don’t sacrifice now for the future. Enjoy now and your future will be enjoyable too. Whatever effort you put into making your dreams come true put equal amounts of faith and fun.

Be glad now! Celebrate now! Be grateful now and you will have more to celebrate and be grateful for in the future. Keep this in mind. YOU plant the seeds and you wait for them to grow and flourish. You nurture and you trust.

You Can’t Force The Seed To Grow

If you know this at some level apply it to your dreams and your goals. Relax! Trust. Be open and receptive. Allow yourself to accept them into your life. Stop trying so hard. Do and trust. Keep trusting. Keep celebrating and living in gratitude. Enjoy this moment while you wait. Then you are not waiting you are fully living!” Rex Sikes

Today can be marvelous. Make it so!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

What You Do While Waiting To Succeed Is Critical!

horizons pasture pathway

“Have you ever planted a garden? Have you ever tended to living, growing plants? As a child in school or as an adult did you help grow anything? Did you germinate seeds? Do you remember the process? Do you recall the time it took? You had to wait, didn’t you? Whether you liked it or not you had to wait.

People are in a hurry. They want everything fast and they want it yesterday. Well, some things just take time.  For everything there is as season. You just have to endure winter when it is upon you. It still takes the same amount of time whether you like it or not.

Patience Is How You Wait When You Have To Wait

How you go through it though makes the difference. Summer is shorter typically because we enjoy it more. Most of us. If we enjoy something time seems to go by quickly. Too quick. The key to being patient, when you have to, is HOW you spend your time.

If you are having fun and enjoying it will go by quickly. If you are counting the days and comparing the distance between now and then it will seem to take forever. Waiting is completely dependent on you and how you wait. If you are desperate it sucks. If you are fulfilled while you wait it is a breeze.

Growing up as an actor in Hollywood I discovered everyone wants to ‘break through’ to ‘hit it’ to become an ‘overnight sensation’ this moment. Especially teens and twenty somethings. At that age we want it all!  In the film business, most everyone comes to realize, an overnight success takes between 10 and 15 years.

You Cannot Rush It You Cannot Push A Rope

It is not just a saying. It is a reality. Few pop. Most take years and years. Exceptions are child stars. Look at anyone’s credits on imdb and you will see most started with uncredited roles or one liners and worked hard at it, for years, before you or I ever heard of them. They put in years worth of work before anyone noticed. During that time countless thousands of others gave up.

Those who keep at it usually have success of some kind. Those who quit, well, they quit. If you stop and give up, then you stopped. If you keep going you can prevail. Being patient doesn’t mean you don’t do anything while waiting it means you keep moving forward and keep the faith. What you think and do while you wait is critical!

You have to believe in yourself and what you want. You have to keep faith in your ability to accomplish what you set out to do.  You have to know in your heart that you will make it happen in spite of the odds and the time it takes. You have to know that you can do it and will do it!

Don’t Give Up If You Want To Succeed Keep At It

There will be obstacles, set backs and temporary defeat but if you keep at it you can accomplish it. You can and you will!

Did you know that most successful people nearly gave up just prior to gaining their success? Did you know that prior to ‘popping’ most experienced their biggest ‘failures’?  They were nearly crushed and threw in the towel. Those who did not went on to success.

Did you know the first million seems the toughest to make? Do you know Researchers like Napoleon Hill, going back over 100 years ago discovered this and it remains true today. It always seems darkest right before the dawn. Out of chaos and calamity stars are born!

Stay Focused Stay Purposed Stay Passionate And Have Fun

Any worthy purpose takes time to come into being. Be absolutely clear on what you want and you absolutely want it no matter what. If you believe in yourself that you can make it happen then you can find legitimate means to bring it to pass. Stay focused! Stay purposed! Stay Passionate!

When you plant seeds they germinate. The seed must crack open and send out shoots into prepared soil where it can grow in the cover of darkness for however long it takes. It takes time and we can’t see it. We have to believe all is well and make sure it gets nourished. Then one day it breaks forth from the ground a tiny plant.

With continued nourishment it can continue to grow. Depending on what you planted it could be a flower, a food, or a giant tree. It all takes times. It takes whatever time it takes. Ultimately, it produces more seeds and the cycle continues. All the while we wait patiently there is activity. Their is growth and development.

Keep The Faith You Will Succeed 

Patience is a quality you have. It is HOW you wait. It means expect to win while you wait. It means do whatever is necessary knowing your efforts will pay off even if you can’t see the results today. Stay steady and stay consistent. Step by step you get there. Persist!

It means you can’t hurry or rush it. Take steps each day and nourish your success. Stick with it and you will make progress. What you planted you will one day reap. Don’t abandon your positive garden! How you wait is important! Affirm, acknowledge, stay positive.

Focus on the end result. You can glance at present circumstances or difficulty as you do your dash board indicators, while driving, but keep you eyes on the road ahead and keep faith in your heart. You may need to adjust your plans or take detours occasionally but keep on going. Know your destination and keep traveling to get there. You will. Be patient” Rex Sikes

Have a triumphant day!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

How To Stop Blaming And Start Living

Phil Koch horizon songs of the setting

“How do you respond when someone lets you down? What do you do?  Have you ever blamed or accused them? Did you later regret it? Have you accused, blamed or found fault with your children when what you really want to do is simply love and nurture them?

We don’t want to blame our kids, do we? Perhaps, you blamed your spouse, of life partner, a sibling or friends. Did it help or make things worse?  Usually, it really doesn’t help, does it?  Would you like to find a way to help you respond differently?

In my last blog I shared with you some ideas for putting a stop to self blame and working to follow through on promises you make. I hope you will put the information into practice. That is the proper use of knowledge. To use it! Today I’ll share some on how to ease up on others.

Stop Blaming Others

Nobody likes to be blamed.! Find a way to stop. It may sound easier to do than in actual reality but you can make this change if you really want to. Intense desire for change makes it all the more possible.

When you are sick and tired of the old way being and positive you want to move forward in a new way that makes it much more likely. You have to want it! That is important. Extremely important!

Okay, for example: There are times when others promise you something but drop the ball. They promise you but do not follow through. It may feel good to hurl insults at them and accuse them and tell them how let down you are but it accomplishes little.

In the short term you may have the upper hand but it rarely helps you get what you want it to.  It is mostly just a way to punish. Your ego may be satisfied but nothing else changes. So do something else!

The key to changing behaviors is changing your mindset. Since thought precedes actions working with your thoughts is the place to begin. Most people can use a positive attitude adjustment anyway.

Determine What You Want

First, you know what it is you want to change or eliminate or at least do less of. You have identified the unwanted behavior. Great, now let it go and identify the behavior you want to do instead. What do you want? This is what you focus on from here on out.

You shift your focus away from blame and to what you want to do instead. Perhaps, it is to understand better; listen attentively; be compassionate; or act more loving. Focus on the replacement behavior not the behavior you wish to eliminate.

When traveling you think of your destination and where you want to go. You determine where you want to end up. You can’t be focused on the city you left, looking back at it and move forward at the same time. You have to look towards where you want to go. Steer yourself towards what you want.

You have to want to change. I already said that, but it is important! Really want it and know what you want.

Phrase It In The Positive

What you think and say is important. It is critical. What you say is a reflection of what you think and feel. Words have their own creative power. So you want to state what you want positively. You need to phrase it in positive words. ‘I want to eat healthy food’ rather than ‘I won’t eat donuts’.

You want the mental image to be of what you want. You want healthy food. You want to eat healthy. You want to eat correctly. You want to eat to maintain your ideal weight. This is what you keep in mind and affirm to yourself.

When you say, ‘I don’t want to eat donuts’ or ‘I won’t eat donuts’ What do you picture in your mind? Donuts!  All you end up thinking about are donuts. Remember, we get what we focus on. We become what we think about. It is no different than saying, ‘don’t think of a purple elephant wearing a yellow hat’. Ooops too late.

Since the mind doesn’t process negative language, ‘don’t, won’t, will not’ etc., you want to be certain you phrase your positive affirmation the way the mind processes.  State, ‘I want to breath freely’ not ‘I want to quit smoking’. ‘I want to listen for understanding’ rather than ‘I won’t blame’.

Speak Only To Bless, Heal And Prosper

Don’t get hung by your own tongue! What we think about is what we talk about. What we say has power too. If we talk about negative things or talk negatively about things we get that negativity back.

If you state, ‘I am unlucky’, or ask yourself, ‘why am I so unlucky’ your brain will deliver the answers. Most likely will be more than one because the brain won’t stop at just one example of ‘why’.

If you say, ‘I dread tomorrow’ or ‘I’m having a bad day’ you will. You get back what you put out there. Stop it and make it a point to only speak that which blesses, heals and prospers you and others. You can’t be blaming yourself or others if you can only bless, heal and prosper.

Restrict yourself to find only the best things to think and say. It will take some time to form the habit but you can do it if you want to. Correct repetition repeated frequently for long enough is how we form any habit. People form bad habits and good habits the same way. It is time to start forming some positive productive habits.

Take Responsibility

You are responsible for your own feelings. If someone lets you down it is up to you how you chose to respond. If you react out of anger and blame them you are not taking responsibility but shifting it to them. It doesn’t belong with them.

You are responsible for your feelings when you trust someone else to follow through for you. You are giving away your power when you expect someone else to act for you. You are no longer  doing it they are.

Right there, at this point, you have relinquished control. If that person disappoints, for whatever the reason, ultimate you set the situation up for that to happen. Own this. It is your responsibility.

You may not have intended it to work out as it did but you placed your satisfaction in someone else’s hands. If they let you down and didn’t do what they promised it may suck. You expected them to deliver and they did not. Maybe, you should not have expected it or you should have done it yourself to be certain.

Do you see what I am aiming at? Yes, they did not complete the act as you hoped but it is your hoping and expecting that is the issue. Some one said, ‘disappointment requires adequate planning’. You wouldn’t be let down if you hadn’t expected them to do something in the first place.

When you put your faith in someone else to follow through on your behalf anything can come up to prevent them. Don’t get bent out of shape. I believe people should honor their word but when others let us down it really is our choice how we respond.

The best response may be, ‘oh well’ and then think how to solve or remedy the situation if it is a problem. Don’t get hooked into the disappointment and blame someone else.

Stop Take  A Deep Breath 

If you want to respond more positively and not blame you need to not get hooked. Go back and read through my blogs on how to keep from getting hooked. Go back and read all my blogs it would be good to revisit again and again.

Fill your mind with positive inspiring material over and over again. It makes it easier to only think and speak those things that bless, heal and prosper when you fill your mind. Fill it and keep it filled!

When you begin to get hot, flustered, frustrated or angry and you notice it you want to take a deep breath and interrupt the behavior. There is a sequence we each go through when ‘losing control’ or ‘getting angry’. The key is to be come aware this is happening as soon as possible.

When you are get angry what happens? How do you know you are getting angry? Describe what you first notice when ‘losing control’. When you do this you will begin to recognize the sequence; what happens first, then second and after that and so on.

Some people, ‘see red’, or ‘get hot under the collar’, ‘can’t see straight’, or hold their breath, or feel themselves getting hot, or raise their voice, or pound their fist. Notice what happens as you get angry. Pay close attention to what is the very first thing that happens inside you that let’s you know anger is happening.

That is the moment you want to catch. In many blogs I shared insights into preventing the negative unwanted emotions from gaining momentum and flooding you. You want to short circuit those impulses when you get mad and begin to blame.

You stop, interrupt them, and divert the energy into moving in a more positive direction. You leave the old and focus on the new. A great practice is to take a deep breath and as you let it out, sigh.

This creates a pause in the sequence. Take another breath and another. Walk if you need to. Release the energy through productive movement. Shift your attention from what is upsetting or hooking you to what solution you can find. What are you able to do to resolve it? What resources do you have? Think along these lines. Do it!

Manage Your Expectations.

I repeat, anything can happen, anything can come up to prevent someone from successfully following through. So don’t put so much faith in others to please you. It is not their job. You know the saying, ‘Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’.

You can trust that they will follow through and you can hope BUT if they don’t, for any reason, let it go. You cannot dictate outcomes when you give up control. You need to learn that, adjust and move on.

When you blame you give up your power. You hurl negative energy and that is what you focus on since it occupies your attention. Whatever you focus on expands and that is what you get back. You get more negativity. STOP!

When you assume responsibility you put yourself in charge. You take control. When you are responsible for everything concerning you 100% (even if in reality this may not be accurate) it gives you tremendous power. You assume responsibility.

Claim Your Power Take Control

People can let you down. They may or may not follow through. Sometimes, that is just the way of life. Get over it. There will always be things that don’t go as anticipated. You may have to make corrections for others actions. Suck it up and move on!

When things don’t go as you hoped you can feel bummed or you can put on your positive thinking cap and realize a new opportunity now exists for you. You may not be able to see it yet. You probably won’t be able to. Even if you can’t yet see it there is something there that one day you might discover.

This COULD BE the very best thing that COULD HAVE happened. It COULD be. Only in looking back will you truly know. Time will tell. Expect the best. Stay positive! Often, people look back at something that, when they were going through it, thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen.

NOW, however, they describe it as the BEST thing that ever happened to them. When you look back you are able to see how your decisions led you to where you are right now. A change of perspective allows you to see things differently.

Spend Your Time Wisely

How you spend your time is important. You can be bummed, blame others and yourself. You can let negativity consume you OR you can think, ‘oh well’ and move on. Assume control, take charge, do what you can do to fix it and expect it to work out for the best. Attitude is everything! Stay positive.

You can never be 100% certain they won’t let you down. BUT you can increase your odds. Even then, be wise enough to know, anything is possible and don’t get hooked.

One way to increase the likelihood that they will keep their word is to make it a big deal when they do something for you. Genuinely act so delighted with their attempt that you encourage them to want to please you more in the future.

Teach Them How To Treat You By Going First

Because you respond so positively they don’t want to disappoint you. They like that you are thrilled with them or with their results. Teach them how to treat you by treating them that way first. Encourage!

If you help them feel good all the way through the process they are more likely want to make you feel good with the results. This makes it win win! Whenever you can help another person to win and to feel good do it! It will go a long way towards you feeling good.

When you want something from someone validate that person first. Make them feel good about doing what they are doing for you. Whenever you ask anyone to do anything for you, IMPLIED in your request IS A PROMISE you will be delighted with the result. Keep your promise!

Keep your promise to yourself and to others. Be delighted. Make your tasks and your promises ones you can succeed at. Manage them by making them do-able. Then you will never fail.

Then you can praise and encourage yourself and others along. Life will become much more wonderful when you drop blame and make what you want to happen happen. You can do this! You can find a way and as you do everything becomes so much more delightful!” Rex Sikes

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Delight and celebrate this day!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

Sick Of The Blame Game? Learn The Secret How Not To Play It!

phil koch horizon 1

“Sometimes you screw up and make a mistake. What do you do? You have had times when either you have hurt somebody else or yourself. Do you own up to it? Do you blame others or do you blame yourself? It is easy to do. What do you do? Do you take responsibility?

After all is said and done if you did it or didn’t do what you were supposed to it IS your responsibility. It is your responsibility. Let that sink in. It is your responsibility. No one else is responsible but you.

It Is Your Responsibility BUT Not Your Fault.

These are not the same. Responsibility means it is up to you. It suggests you have a burden or obligation to follow through on. You do, this is true. You should be responsible to yourself and others. You should keep your word.

Accountability (to be accountable)  means you are answerable for or liable for the actions. You are. If you follow through or not on your word, whatever the outcome, you are answerable for your actions. There may be consequences. Usually there are.

Fault, as a noun, means responsible as in ‘I am responsible. It is my fault’. Fault as a verb means to criticize, condemn, attack, and censure. Typically, fault means to  blame. Stop blame!

If you are responsible for something and you don’t do it you should accept you did not do it. You are both responsible and accountable. You are answerable to and for your obligation. The buck stops with you. You should not blame others nor should you blame yourself.

You Are Responsible You Are Accountable But Without Blame

Blame is an added on reaction that has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with others. It is something you learned to do from others while growing up. In blaming other people you seek to escape the consequences for your actions.  You did not, nor do you, want to be punished. No one does, typically.

Parents, peers, teachers, friends have and blamed you while telling you you were responsible and accountable for your actions. The two were unfortunately paired.  As a result when things go wrong you look for someone to blame. This should stop! Finding fault is not the key to positive personal development.

You don’t have to blame yourself to accept responsibility and accountability for actions. When you blame yourselves you punish yourself. You learned to be critical, to condemn and to be hard on yourself.

The original intent, most likely, was to insure you don’t escape the consequences of your actions. The intent may have been worthwhile but what you learned to do while growing up resulted in bad feelings, poor self image and self esteem. You can learn to be loving, kind, gentle and permissive instead.

Stop Blaming Yourself 

If you tell someone you will call them and you don’t. Accept responsibility and be accountable. Call them and apologize. Make good on your promise. Make no excuses, don’t blame yourself or anything else. Own up!

Be willing to state, ‘I didn’t do it. I am sorry I dropped the ball’. Then make good on it. Do what is necessary to repair the situation. Accept responsibility, apologize and never repeat the same mistake twice.

Repair the situation if you are able. If you are not able to (for whatever the reason) then do whatever you have to do to set it straight. Leave the person you let down better off than before. Never leave someone worse off! Make full amends then go the extra mile.

Then, privately, pat yourself on the back for owing up to it and following through with your original intentions. Pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for making good without excuses or blame.

Acknowledge that you took responsibility, owned up, made good, corrected the situation and feel good. Enjoy these good feelings. OWN them! The positive feelings are important! Embrace them!

As you continue the practice of acknowledging yourself positively when you do take responsibility you will learn a new response to it. You will encourage these behaviors to become new habits for you.

Encourage What You Want To Be Able To Do

When you want a baby or toddler to repeat behaviors, if you are a loving parent, you nurture the behavior through encouragement and reward. You help the child feel good about what the child is learning to do. You want good feelings! You praise and promote the child.

Creating pain and punishment leads to fear, helplessness and in some cases hopelessness. Sadly, after the child learns the behaviors, too many people then hold the child accountable and blame if child doesn’t perform as expected. This cycle is repeated in families and by teachers and peers from ancient times to today. It is how we learned to find fault, accuse and blame.

If you try to do something for yourself or family and it doesn’t work out understand that blaming yourself doesn’t help you. Take responsibility and be accountable. That helps! Blame, self criticism, self condemnation, calling yourself names, feeling bad does not. Blame adds insult to injury. Blame is negative.

Find A Way To Release Yourself From Self Blame.

If you want to clean the garage or organize your office or home space but you typically don’t follow through it is easy to fall into self blame. Here’s what you can do when you promise yourself that you will do something. Whatever it is you want to do. If you say you are going to do something – do some thing!

Take tiny steps. Don’t commit to doing it all by a certain deadline. Take it piece by piece. Break it down into easy, manageable tasks that you can easily do.  Make it a point that you are going to pick up or throw out or put away one item each time you enter and leave the room.

This is possible. This is completely do-able! It may take longer to get the room cleaned but each time you do something, you want to and intend to do, you can feel good that you are moving in the right direction. You are creating some forward momentum.

Create Small Wins And Doable Actions

You promised yourself you will read inspirational material 30 minutes a day but you don’t. You let yourself down. You broke your promise. Instead of blame or feeling bad commit to less time. Commit to few minutes. How about 5minutes. If you can’t do that 1 minute.

How about a page? One page, a single page. You COULD do that! Put books in the bathroom and read while in there. Take a book with you wherever you go. Read when you can’t do anything else or when there is nothing else to do. You are stopped at a railroad crossing – read! While waiting for someone, or your coffee or meal -read!

If you want to gain or lose weight or change your eating habits. Break it into tiny steps you can easily do and keep doing. Maybe you want to exercise more or relax more. You want to save more money. You want to think more positively. Anything you can think of.

Whatever you want to accomplish you can do. Make it manageable. Remember, drop by drop fills the tub. It is bette to have small wins often than big loses.

It is better to encourage yourself bit by bit than condemning yourself repeatedly for not following through. You can do this for yourself and you can help others to do it for you as well. Win big overall by gathering little wins along the way.

If you are always succeeding you won’t be blaming and criticizing yourself. When you drop that, when you let it go, and you love and enjoy yourself life becomes so much better. You are so much more free to be, do and have anything you want in life.

Next blog I’ll discuss how you might handle it, what you can do, when others let you down.

How To Easily Make And Keep Positive Changes

Learn to keep your promise to yourself. The key to learning and changing and making the changes you want to make and keeping them is this: Do the right things, consistently, long enough. Put into practice your positive practices. DO them! Repeat them correctly, consistently over time and you will make them new reliable habits.

Stop blaming yourself. Stop finding fault. Release yourself. Acknowledge, praise and encourage. The more you do the more you will be able to do. The more often you become aware of opportunity the more opportunities you will discover. Accept mistakes. Be responsible and accountable, correct and move forward.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Make it manageable and you can do anything. The tallest building in your neighborhood was built one brick or board at a time. Each day construction workers did a little bit more until one day the building was completed. YOU can do this too!

Be delighted. Make your tasks and your promises ones you can succeed at. Then you will never fail! As you do this you will discover so much more that adds delight and enjoyment to your daily experience. It feels good to be winning. Celebrate and enjoy it! ” Rex Sikes

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Have a wonderful!

Enjoy what is glorious about you today!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

Would You Like Your Joy To Know No Bounds?

sometimes we need adversity to become successful

“Research has demonstrated many times over that our beliefs and attitudes determine what we see and find in the world. Our mindset determines the results we get. What we perceive to be our reality is our reality.

Scientific research into the brain, neuroscience, our neurology, our neurological filters, consciousness, ‘the maps’ we live from verify that what we think creates our reality. Whether we enjoy the results we get or not is determined by what we think about.

Most people just don’t get this. I always maintain that the delusion IS the great illusion, or said differently, the illusion IS the delusion. Some people tend to believe that there is an outer world we must contend with. They think we don’t have choice. They insist there is only hard core reality.

Perception Is Everything

They are the type who don’t put stock in positive thinking because it didn’t work, or they haven’t actually tried it but dismiss it anyway, because they believe differently.

Because they don’t believe it works the way I have described it must work the way they believe it does. Do you get this? Either way we are discussing mindset and its effects.

Then there are those who believe that the outer reality is a reflection of our inner reality. How we perceive the world is how we experience it. Perception is everything and it frames our experience. We often find what we expect to find. Whether they believe, or even know about the science, they tend to align with the scientific thinking.

Quantum Physics describes the world in terms of participation. There is an observer who influences the process while being influenced by the process. It is one and the same with many facets that appear separate. Our universe may be holographic. It is described as a matrix or a a field with everything connected or part of each other. In the hologram the whole is contained in each piece perfectly.

If you make a holographic image on the film plate. Then shatter the plate. The entire image is contained in each and every piece without losing any of its original properties. Everything, all the information is there in each single piece. For example, if the hologram were made of the Mona Lisa every fragment would still contain the entire image of the Mona Lisa. Some researchers believe this helps explain our experience in our ‘field’ or matrix.

The Entire Whole Is Contained Within The Part

For some people the concepts are difficult to wrap their head around. Particularly, if they adhere to hard core outer reality. I find ancient philosophers and some scientists have much in common. The world, our experience of it, is a rich, varied mystery. Here is my bottom line.

I choose to believe the world is friendly. If I have choice and I can look for smiles or frowns I am going to look for smiles. If I have to find the good or the bad, well then, I am going to look for the good.

I know that if I look for smiles I will find them. I may also find a frown as well but I won’t let that bother me. Both exist and both are noticeable. If I have a say in the matter then I will chose what I think best for me. I chose to be happy, look for the good and enjoy it all.

Positive thinking doesn’t mean ignoring problems it means looking for solutions. It means finding the potential in each situation whether good or not so good. It means look at the possibilities and aim for the best outcome. I think it is very realistic and it accomplishes lots.

The World Conforms To What I Think And Say It Is

Some would say that is unrealistic and optimism is not always a good thing. I say, if I have choice I am going to choose. If I can be happy why would I ever choose to be unhappy? Some will have reasons for why they might choose unhappiness. That is their choice.

That is what they believe. I believe what we believe determines what we get. So it explains a lot. I have accomplished more in less time as a positive thinker taking responsibility for what I create and do than I ever have as a negative thinker. Positivity and Intentional Thinking leads to more productive actions.

I am 100% responsible for myself. I am 100% responsible for my thoughts, my behaviors and my circumstances. This is how I choose to live. Things from the outside may have an influence but it is up to me how I choose to respond.

I can control my thoughts therefore my feelings and behaviors. I determine my mindset. I shape my attitude and expectations. I fill my mind with the best so that my mind gives me the best. I focus on the best feelings.

What I Look For I Find

I choose to experience and savor feelings of gratitude, love, joy, peace , happiness. curiosity, wonder and amazement. I enjoy feeling eager anticipation and exhilaration. I like making things happen and discovering how things come together in surprising ways.

Birds of a feather flock together. Our brains work by association and when it finds one example it can find numerous. I want it to find more wonderful things and fewer less than glorious things so I focus on what is good and new.

I know we attract back and create more of what we put out there. We become what we think about. So I am very picky what I think about. I wasn’t always but I have learned to be and it has paid off big.

It isn’t always easy but it is within my control. It is the one thing I am able to control. I can’t and don’t control yours. I don’t make the world spin but I can have control of my thinking process.  I can choose to watch it or I can choose to manipulate it.

I Control My Thoughts And My Experience

It is similar to driving in my car. I choose where I want to go and I am responsible for getting there safely. Things arise that require my attention and I may have to adjust to remain safe and remain traveling to where I want but that I can do.

Some times it is very easy. Other times it requires more effort but that is just how it is. I don’t complain or whine about it. I don’t blame myself or anyone else. When I realize I am making it tougher than it need be I adjust what I am doing and move on.

It wasn’t always like this. For much of my early life, though I started researching this around age 10, I didn’t understand it really. I immersed myself deeply but still I would describe it as dabbling. I tried things but felt I wasn’t in control. I couldn’t. Maybe others could get it to work but not me.

Year after year I sought to learn, to grow, to change, to master and yet it seemed to elude me. I went on to teach this stuff by my mid 20’s and had some success. Then one year I had a banner bad year. It looked like I might lose everything. I was consumed with thoughts of why this was happening to me. I was unlucky.

Change The Bad To The Better

I couldn’t believe  how one bad thing after the other happened. At one point I woke up. I realized I have to change something because it wasn’t getting any better on its own. I had to do something! I concluded it my thinking and my attitude that was at the heart of my difficulties. My mindset was the cause of these events.

Whether that is accurate or not it gave me something to work with. I vowed to get back to my roots, to my learning, from my youth onward, and to master it. I made the decision to change my thinking and to start making good things happen instead of the bad. I was going to start getting what I wanted and put an end to getting what I didn’t want.

At the same time I didn’t want to get carried away, I wasn’t interested in ringing bells, lighting candles, hugging trees or any mystical stuff! I wanted realistic, practical, life changing power without becoming a true believer or one who mediates all day but nothing changes.

I started reading again daily. I vowed to read a chapter a day from Napoleon Hill. Wallace Wattles and other inspirational authors for at least 30 days. I would fill my mind with inspirational material. This turned out to be the wisest and the very best decision I have ever made (along with choosing to have children).

Something You Can Do That Will Make A Real Difference

I began as soon as I got up in the morning. I would read. Then during the day I would again attempt to put into practice what I learned and what these authors suggested. When I could I read some more during the day or prior to bed.

This simple commitment changed my life. One month later I was on my way to being a different person. It was uphill for certain but it made the climb easier bit by bit. My attitude was improved and I felt better. I knew I could make my life better. I knew it was up to me!

The journey became more enjoyable even as it was arduous at times. I began listening to audios too. I went back into asking myself Directed  Questions™ and using affirmations correctly full time.

Day by day, minute by minute my life improved. There were times when it seemed like a long haul. There were times when shit hit the fan. There were times when I began to lose hope but I didn’t. I found a way out. I stumbled and fell but pulled myself back up again and again.

I made it a point to go back into celebration and appreciate the tough times as well as the good. Yes, I nearly gave up sometimes but being grateful for whatever I was experiencing saw me through.

Attitude And Gratitude Create Momentum

I have mentioned in previous blog posts momentum and how it can work for you or against you. I have experienced a lot of negative momentum in my life. For years now the positive momentum increases. It is such a wild joyful rife. I can literally feel it. It is so amazing!

Years later life is grand. I am pleased. I went through a rough patch for while some years ago. I got caught up for a bit, but then returned to what made a difference for me in my life. It is all good and all part of being human. I have learned to accept what is while making changes too. Sounds like a paradox but it isn’t.

I am happy. Whether the outer improves or not and it is always improving (even when it appears as if it may not be) I am very grateful and very blessed. Each moment is a moment of enjoyment and wonder. I get hooked or caught up so less frequently and if I do I account for it.

Anyone Can Do It And Succeed

I am no smarter or any more special than any one else. I have screwed up a lot in my life. I have known joys and suffering. I am just a common man on the planet BUT if I can chose to turn my life around so can anyone else. If I can do it so can you!

Anyone can change given they have reason to. If you want to you can. You can make your life wonderful. You may do it faster or slower than I did. Who cares the time it takes? What is important is to make a decision and make a commitment to and for yourself. Decide to make your life better and stick with it. Commit to it. Persist.

I have learned a better way to live. I have experienced and continue to experience a glorious way to live. I feel so blessed. BUT I didn’t always. It wasn’t until I took 100% responsibility for my life and my attitude that things transformed.

It wasn’t until I decided that I created all of my experience! When I became responsible for what I create I became free to create good things. It is the most incredible thing!

It is as if joy comes in from every direction. Yes, there are times that are more difficult but so what. There are far more times when bliss abounds. If you want a similar or even better experience than mine you can have it. I am not special in anyway. Do it today!” Rex Sikes

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HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Savor this day!

Enjoy what is glorious about you today!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others

How To Stop Getting Screwed Over By Your Own Negativity

eliminate blame guilt and worry

“Do you realize that you create whatever you spend your time thinking about? Whatever most occupies your attention is what you bring forth. Success of Failure in career or life is determined by your mindset. You become what you think about most often.

If most of your time is spent thinking about nothing you create nothing. If most of your time is spent in worry, fear, and doubt that is what you end up with in your lives. If you try avoiding what you don’t want you end up getting that most of the time. It just works this way.

Continued from: You Have No Idea How Negative You Are And How It Screws You Over – This is Part 2.

If you are DISTRACTED and NOT THINKING about what you want or you are thinking NEGATIVELY (disaster thinking) or THINKING about what you DON’T WANT (fear, worry, blame, whining, lack) instead of focusing on what you absolutely do want and concentrating on what you do want you aren’t going to get there.

You will get all that you don’t want instead!

You Are What You Are Not Thinking About Too

Whatever you are not thinking about you become too. If you have no predominant desire, no pursuit, then you aren’t going to make anything happen. You are drifting. You go where the wind takes you.

This is why your goals must become magnificent obsessions. You must have positive burning desires and passionate pursuits if you want career success and happiness in life. You become what you think about. Right now, your life circumstances.

You Are Where Your Thoughts Have Brought You

Your thoughts have brought you here. If you are very pleased, congratulations. If you chose to you can make it even more wonderful! If you don’t like it, hang in there, you can absolutely make it better. It is simple and it will require some dedication BUT you can make it wonderful when you chose to!

You are here because of your previous thoughts. Your thinking. You are where your thoughts brought you. This is the result. Your thoughts will take you into tomorrow. You will be wherever your thoughts take you. You can’t escape the power of your thoughts.

Let go of events, circumstances and people in the world that don’t take you where you want to go. You must not get caught up in these easy and far too frequent distractions. It does not contribute to your well being to be caught up and focused on less than glorious things.

Focus and navigate to your destination without being too concerned about the present condition of the sea. Yes, you must negotiate troubled waters but not with fear. When you travel with confidence you will get through them. Attitude determines what we think is possible. It governs what we do and don’t do.

Stop Getting Caught In Less Than Productive Thinking

Negative thinking IS getting caught in the details and worrying about how you will make it happen. It is thinking in ways that limit you. It is worrying about what might or could go wrong and how it is or isn’t happening. Negative thinking is thinking you don’t have enough knowledge, will-power, personality to make it.

It is micromanaging from fear and doubt instead of seeing the big picture. It is trying to arrange all the details and plan all the steps prior to doing anything. Negative thinking is focusing on why you can’t and how you aren’t able to get what we want.

You have to keep an eye on the big picture and the prize. You have to know, that no matter what, even if you don’t know how or have all the details yet, you can and will get through it because that is the kind of person you are. Believe in yourself. Believe you will take the right steps to make it happen. Believe you can adjust if necessary.

Trust YOU! Have faith in yourself and your abilities. Faith hones creative power to manifest what is needed at the right time, regardless of the obstacles, challengers and temporary defeat. Know you will succeed even when you aren’t sure how. Conquer your problems and your fears. Live and think as a champion.

Tomorrow You Will Be Where Your Thoughts Today Take You

How isn’t as important as the why. The method is not as important as knowing you can do it. Most people get far too caught up in details. They want tools, techniques, procedures, rules and if they can’t figure out how first then they won’t act. They wait. They procrastinate. It is not that they don’t act. IT is that they WON’T act.

They put it off hoping to figure it all out and be assured of success prior to taking a single step. It rarely, if ever, works this way. The how is never explained until after the act is completed. Edison didn’t know what would make a light bulb work until after 10,000 tries.

You won’t know the precise ‘how’ before you do it. Afterwards you might. Once he got it to work it was clear to him. Prior to that moment he just kept pursuing it until it came to him. He didn’t sit and wait. He didn’t complain and he didn’t give up.

You Can Not Escape The Results Of Your Thoughts

He kept going in spite of not knowing what the answer was. One day his mind put two and two together and he realized he needed a particular filament and a vacuum tube. He knew what he wanted and he persisted in spite of all odds.

Edison kept the faith and adjusted what he was doing as necessary. Success was assured IN HIS MIND prior to getting any actual results in the world. This is the mindset you and I and everyone needs.

You have to focus your energy and attention around something. You can’t be scattered. You can’t drift. This is why you must have know your purpose and have a positive burning desire and passionate pursuit in fulfilling it.

Your Intentional Positive Thoughts Produce Positive Results

You become what you think about. Stop worrying about how you will make it happen and focus on why it is important to make it happen. Get inspired and motivated to act. Make it your magnificent obsession and keep pursuing it and you will unleash your creativity.

If you get caught in specifics it is dull, boring and annoying. It depletes your energy. You want to keep your energy charged for accomplishing your desires. You want to enjoy life and feel your best while you make your dreams come true.

Thinking too small, having no focus, no direction, being too scattered and thinking about what you DO NOT want, is all negative thinking. Negative means it produces negative results. It does not get you closer to what you want. It produces less than glorious results. You get results other than what you intend.

That is why I call positive thinking Intentional Thinking. I think it helps describe it better.  People have come to misunderstand the notion of positive thinking. The term positive thinking carries too much baggage.

You Are A Creator Whether You Want To Be Or Not

You create what you intend to create! You even will create what you don’t intend to and that is what most people are doing. They get exactly what they don’t want to get because they are focused on what they don’t want almost exclusively.

I’ll share more in Part 3. This is why the ancient texts all the way to the New Thought Leaders point out you must make it deliberate. Creation is a deliberate act! You must be clear on what you want and determined to get it. Know what you want!

You must be emotionally involved to the utmost and have a burning desire for its completion. You must have complete faith that you will succeed no matter what the obstacles to engage your inner processes and resources to make it happen. If you do these you will have whatever you want.

Purpose, Passion, Faith And Persistence Make It Happen

This blog is a resource to help you focus and to share with you the steps you can take to get inspired, motivated and create that burning desire. I want to help you as others have helped me.

My hope is that you read, study, re-read and put into motion these time honored principles and practices that will help you be, do and have whatever you want in life. You can do it.

It isn’t magic but it is magical. There is an immense power that comes when your thoughts and words and feelings are in alignment. Life begins to work in magical ways.

You become a creative and deliberate source of positive intentional energy while at the same time trusting, allowing and knowing it is all coming together in positive ways. It is a fabulous way to live! You can be this, you can do this, you can have this! Absolutely! It is ALL up to you.” Rex Sikes

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HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Meanwhile – keep subscribing and following here!!!

It is a beautiful new day Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others

 

The Secret To Making The Changes You Need To

there is nothing impossible

“Are you aware that making personal change is quite simple and easy? It really is.  It just doesn’t seem that way and that is because you don’t think or believe it is. It really is! It is true!

Most people don’t have to be unhappy, lonely, unsuccessful, broke, in poorer health, they just think they do. They don’t. You don’t! There is a way that you can be, do and have everything you want

Change can be quite easy. People can change.You can be whatever you want to be, do and have whatever you want in life. You can make it happen more easily than you may have ever imagined. You can end bad unwanted habits and create new better ones..

The caveat is this:

It Isn’t Seeing Is Believing It’s Believing Is Seeing

HOW we think about something makes it true for us. Our beliefs actually make it so. The results we get or don’t get are directly related to what we think and believe inside our head first.

I know plenty of people will object to this concept. It will get some people hot as they argue for objective reality imposing on us. These arguments or discussions have been around for a long time.

From, ‘I think therefore I am’, to ‘If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?’ People will find excuses to defend what they already believe rather than trying on new beliefs that serve them better.

There is enough research that anyone can find. I am not going to debate it here.That is not a fruitful use of mine or your time. I ask you to consider this. What if everything you knew were wrong? What would life be life? It surely would be different, how?

I ask this because it isn’t about making assertions it is about becoming open. It is about becoming curious and being able to entertain concepts rather than dismiss them because we disagree with them. There is the Zen story about the master who sent the seeker away because his tea cup was already full.

You Cannot Pour More Tea Into A Full Cup

You must first empty the cup, the master pointed out, then new tea can be poured in. We all have full, completely filled, heads. We have all the assumptions, reasons, excuses, why we are who we are and do and have what we do and have.

We need to let these go. We need to suspend our beliefs, at least momentarily, to even be able to entertain new ideas or new beliefs. We need to be open, empty and available to a new way of thinking and being in order to even attempt it. When the student is ready the teacher appears. Then new tea can be given. Then, life can change!

It is asking better questions that lead us to more useful outcomes. It is not declaring something wrong before trying it out. Curiosity and the willingness to explore opens us up to the possibility of adventure. Dismissal out of hand, too quick, simply shuts everything down. Either we expand, contract or remain the same.

The Flower Is Either Growing Or It Is Dying

Can you be open? It is easy to be open. It just doesn’t seem that way.

Whatever you declare makes it so. You are doing it right now as you read. You either agree or you don’t. You may be one of those who suspend judgement until more data becomes available but more probably you are either agreeing or disagreeing with each statement How open and available are you to entertain new ideas?

We can be, do and have anything in life if we want it. Would you agree? If yes, why? If not, why not? Your answers reveal your beliefs. Either you believe you can or you believe you can’t. You will have reasons why you believe either way. These beliefs and reasons determine the results you get or don’t get.

You Can Be, Do And Have Anything You Want

We can be, do and have anything in life if we want it. Yet, most people don’t come close. A few do. It seems they have unlocked the secret while the rest have not. Others believe god (or the universe) selects certain people to bless and others to fail. OR they believe some are just incredibly lucky while most are not.

People have been taught the secret for eons.  Some people figure it out by accident, which is certainly possible. However, they come to it they come to it. Once exposed to it they either apply it or not. Those who do know what happens as a result. Those who don’t never know.

Either You Believe It Is Possible For You Or You Don’t

Let me provide an example. Let’s take a plank the width of a door, in fact lets take a solid wood plank 2x the width of a door. That is probably about the width of a normal sidewalk. It’s length is 100 feet long. It is as solid as anything can be solid. 100 feet long and about 5 or 6 feet wide and strong.

I put this plank down on the ground and ask you to walk. Do you think you could? Probably, it is the same as walking on the sidewalk. Most people could do so without any thought or effort.You could walk, might even run, skip or hop your way along the board for the 100 feet. No big deal, right?

Ok so I raise it 20 feet in the air. Would you walk it?  Some would some would not. Raise this same plank 100 feet in the air would you walk it?  Fewer would walk it. If we could raise it a half a mile would you walk it? Few ever say yes. I’ve had a difficult time finding anyone to say yes, ‘I’ll gladly walk it’.  Would you?

Why, do most people opt out when it gets raised from the ground? The plank has not changed. It is the same plank people traversed easily while on the ground.  What changed is people’s thoughts about it.

They are fearful of the height. They imagine themselves falling. The higher up the fewer people willing to walk it because they get frightened. They imagine bad things in their mind. BUT Nothing has actually changed.

Our Beliefs Determine What We Will And Won’t Do

Our beliefs determine what we will and won’t even consider. You realize this right? Absolutely, nothing changed. The plank high in the air is exactly the same one easily walked on the ground. What changed was inside one’s head.

Their beliefs changed. What they imagined happening changed. How they felt as a result changed. They couldn’t imagine walking it because of what they were thinking. This meant they wouldn’t even try. If you don’t attempt it you don’t get any results at all.

It isn’t much different than being afraid of a spider. The spider is millions of times smaller than the human but some humans freeze with fear. It is what the human thinks, sees, tells oneself inside one’s head that makes the tiny spider scary.

Our Beliefs Determine What Is Easy And What Is Not

Our beliefs determine what we do AND do not do. Our beliefs determine what is and isn’t possible for us; what is difficult or easy; what takes time or no time. Whether we move forward and change easily or not has to do with our beliefs.

Does that mean if I believe I can jump over the moon I will be able to? No, it doesn’t. I honestly, don’t know if you could or not but I suspect the answer is no. I am not suggesting ‘impossible’ things. But some people think they can no more succeed than they could jump over the moon. That is sad. That is not comparing apples to apples.

Can you make a million dollars by tomorrow? Well, you could. You might. It may be rarer to do that but it could happen. Some people play the lottery and get lucky and become rich with the drop of 6 balls. So it is possible but not likely.

It isn’t about magic. It is not that you wave a wand and things happen because you believe.  It is the practical application of your positive mindset and expectations that determine how successfully you move in the world.

Could you make a million dollars?  Yes.  You certainly can if you believe you can and go after it?  Can you be happy after living a lifetime of sadness. Yes. Can change can be easier than you think it is? Yes!  Sadly, most people think it is tough and never both to change what they believe.

Your Beliefs Work For You – You Shouldn’t Be Their Servant

Why have you come to have these beliefs? Who cares? We could discuss that forever. The question is will you begin to expand your beliefs and abilities so you can live happily and be who you want to be, feel what you want to feel, do what you want to do and get what you want to have.

Don’t let your thoughts prevent you. Have the courage to challenge your thoughts. Make your mental constructs, your images and self talk your servant.  Make these work for you instead of being their servant. You can triumph and be a champion or you can be a victim or remain stuck.

Getting to where you want to get in life is just like getting anywhere in life. You have to know where you want to go, believe you can get there and then get moving. If anything comes along to interrupt or make the travel difficult, adjust your map, but keep going. Obstacles may arise. Keep going! In real life obstacles represent opportunity.

The Poor And The Powerless Fear Failure And Hardship.

Some people won’t even try because they don’t want to fail. That may be safe and assures you that nothing changes. If you don’t try you won’t fail but you also are not likely to ever succeed.

The successful and rich people don’t fear failure. They don’t even consider it an option. They know they will succeed. They know that they will learn more from attempts that don’t work out than from immediate success. They know they will succeed even when they don’t know how.

The successful understand that knowing how isn’t what you need to begin. How will become clear along the journey. They understand that they only need to determine to win and go after it and they will figure it out along the way AND make their dreams come true. They don’t let anything stop them.

They know that challenges equip them with more of what they need to triumph. Their attitude, their beliefs are different. Their mindset supports them. They are in charge. They don’t let the thought of defeat or actual defeat prevent them from making good in the end.

The Successful Know In Advance They Will Succeed

Failure nearly always precedes success. If you interview most of the self made millionaires and influential people you’ll discovered nearly all of them overcame incredible odds. For most, it was anything but easy. Yet, they prevailed. They did because of their mindset.

The people who succeed know they must continue. They are driven. They are passionate about making a difference. They believe they ultimately succeed no matter what. So they do! Attitude separates the wheat from the chaff.

Mindset determines how far you will be willing to go. ‘If you think you can or you think you can’t you are right.’ said Henry Ford. He was right.

Are you willing to suspend your doubt, your suspicion, your fear, your worries, your know it all attitude, or your ‘I don’t know enough’ attitude to allow yourself to try on some new beliefs. Can you begin to believe you can make it happen and that you can change easily?

I know there will be those who can change their beliefs as they would a spring jacket. They will move forward changing and surprising themselves and delighting along the way. They will encounter difficulty but they won’t let it stop them.

I also know there are those who will cling to what they have always believed and always known. Those will dismiss this proposal out of hand as silly or too hard or  impossible. These people will remain the same.

Decide To Be The Victor, The Champion, The Winner

Change is easier than you think it is OR it is as tough as you think it is. (I’ll continue to address this in other upcoming blogs.)

It is whatever you believe it to be. Your thoughts either move you forward toward what you want OR they stop you and hold you back. You are either the controller, the victor of your thoughts or you are the victim of your thoughts.

At any moment you can chose to be a champion if you will let yourself. Take responsibility and recognize you have a choice. You have a decision to make. Which type of person are you? Which type of person do you want to be? Which type of person will you be? It is completely up to you! Decide today!” Rex Sikes

Enjoy today. Make it exciting!

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How To Keep Yourself From Losing It & Have A Happier Life

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“Do you have any of those moments when you know you are about to lose it? You may blow your top or crumple in a heap of tears. Are there times when you realize you are worrying unnecessarily but haven’t been able to control it? Perhaps, you are stressed and overwhelmed or you got hooked into an argument and you would rather be free?

If yes, to any of these unwanted feelings, or other ones you may experience from time to time, there IS something you can do to make it different. You can make it better and even prevent it. Wouldn’t you like to know what you can do?

You can learn to be different if you will practice what I share with you in this blog.

You can do it easily in the privacy of your own home. In a short while you will notice yourself responding more productively and positively and your life changing for the better.

Sometimes, the best way to learn new methods is in seminars or workshops, or one on one, with a coach or a guide where you can practice the process in advance of needing it. Working together with someone is real hands on. That is always well worth it. By having a qualified person assist you – you can learn nuances and pay attention to elements you might otherwise miss. A great coach is great to have!

In lieu of getting training you can still make the positive changes on your own inside your Inner Mental Movie Theater. Are you ready and eager to learn how? I’m going to give you some today and then more in subsequent blogs.

Today Is The Beginning Of A Process I Share With You

Once you have all the process you may want to record it so you can follow along. Today, smart phones can come in handy this way. Read through these instructions a couple of times at least. There will be more information to record another day.

Familiarize yourself with the process. Then actually do what is being asked of you. If you only read about it and do not apply it you will not experience the benefit from it. If you don’t attempt it you will never know how powerful it can be. You have to do the work to get the results you want.

First: Determine How You’d Like To Be And Feel And Behave (Respond) In Difficult Or Less Than Glorious Situations

What do you want to be like instead of doing what you do? You might want to be confident, strong, fearless, happy, loving, silly, playful, energetic, caring, calm, relaxed, thoughtful, patient, anything that is positive for you.

There are times in your past when you have felt good this way. You can recall them, remember them in your mind, and remember the feelings. For example, when you felt happy about something. Notice the feelings, where did you feel them the strongest? Aren’t they wonderful? You feel happy!

Enjoy the feelings of when you feel happy! What are you thinking? What are you saying to yourself when you are happy? How do you think about yourself in that moment? Isn’t it wonderful to feel good? How does the world look when you are happy? Maybe a bit brighter? Notice whatever you notice when feeling happy. Linger with it. Savor it. Enjoy feeling happy.

Really take time to relive the happy part of the experience. Notice and enjoy the sights, the sounds, the feelings (even taste or smells if there are any) while feeling this resourcefulness. End it or cut it off while still feeling happy. Don’t let it fizzle out.

You want your primary attention and time spent feeling the good feelings, and letting or making the good feelings intensifying during the memory. If they start to fade or diminsh cut it off, stop it, shake it off (literally shake yourself a bit) and end it. Take a few breaths and do it again. Learn to create poignant positive moments for yourself. Bookended!

It is:  Feel happy, It increases, And out!

If you were to imagine a bell curve close to the top of the bell say at 9 or 10 o’clock position would be the entry point. You feel happy. It increases or intensifies upward towards 12. Then it starts down the other side of the bell curve. Do you get it? You come in feeling happy, intensify it and exit,

Stop before it starts the downslide. This is how you teach your brain to give you what you want. You want to feel good and feel it increase.  Linger in the good feelings and when the feelings  begin to diminish exit. Wash, rinse repeat! Do it again!

Develop The Knack Of Re-living And Creating The Precise Moments You Want More Of

What is so amazing is you can use your mind to travel back to times, and places, and events and with people, or engaged in activities when and where you felt these positive feeling states. You can recall and re-live them all while sitting in your chair!

Just as when you are out somewhere and something triggers or jogs a memory in you and you enjoy revisiting it. You can deliberately do it. You summon it up. You go back and recall.

Think about, recall a time when or remember a specific place you felt happy. Maybe some activity you do makes you happy or a special person? Fox example, pick a specific instance of being with a person who you were happy with? What were you doing that made you feel happy? It could be anything, such as a sport, a conversation, seeing something happen, getting good news, being at a party. How the person looks at, speaks to or touches you. Anything!

People, Places, Activities, Time, or Things 

To help you remember you can think of people, places, activities, things, or a time when you felt these feelings. For example, think of some activity that makes you feel good. Consider,  what were you doing, who were you with, where were you?

Ask whatever questions you need to in order to recall more details from the positive memory. These questions can help make it more vivid. Ask, who, what, when, where, why and how did any of these make you feel?

Once you make this a habit you won’t have to consciously work so much. It will all come quite naturally. Search through your experiences and find them. Maybe you felt happy on a vacation. That particular place brings back happy memories. Or at home.

Any particular place, a quiet power spot no one knows about but you. Young or old. Memories from the past can be yesterday or go way, way back.

For some the smell of fresh baked bread will take them instantly to another comforting place and time. For others the smell of fresh cut grass does the same. Some people feel patriotic when they see symbols of their country. Music makes us feel many things, relaxed, loved, horny, powerful, heartbroken…

You Can And You Should Go And Find All The Wonderful Positive Memories From Your Past

You can find them. You will as you keep searching. Some are pretty available. This is an important part of self discovery and evolution.It is important to find and focus on the positive in our life more often because we become what we think about. It gives us much more to feel grateful about and celebrate.

What we think about we bring about. Birds of a feather flock together so we find that we get back more and more of what we are thinking about. Think positive!

What you are learning in this, of great importance, is that instead of remembering and reliving past disappointments and being a victim of them, or remembering past positive times with longing we can do something about it.

We don’t have to live with the hurt and the longing we can live positively happily and powerfully. We can fill our mind and being with the positive feelings, and images, and sounds of our positive experiences.

Imagine How Much More Wonderful Life Would Be If You Enjoyed More Positive moments overall.

Now you can. You can go back into your past and begin to unlock all the positive moments there are to relive and enjoy. These moments, these wonderful feelings constitute resources you can begin to use in the present and the future. You can literally transform your experience at any time.

Second: You Don’t Have To Go Back. You Can Imagine Yourself In The Future Behaving As You Want To Behave. 

The ideal you! The person who has it all together. Imagine what you would look like and sound like if everything worked out well for you. You think positive, you feel awesome, and life is grand. As you imagine that notice how this makes you feel. Feel it! Enjoy the feelings!

You can pick any one of the states. Confidence, for example. Notice how you look. The look on you face. Your eyes, your smile your confident expression. Notice how you stand, move, walk and use you body to express being confident. See how you gesture while you speak confidently and with authority.

You are confident, you are self assured, certain, powerful and positive. Watch yourself, as if on a movie screen, and notice how you feel as you enjoy yourself behaving this way. Make it absolutely wonderful. Adjust it.

Make it wonderful this is you creating it. Just as an artist paints on a canvas paint a powerful mental image of you being confident (or whichever resource). It’s you mental movie make it exactly what you want it to be. Make it outstanding! After all, this is using your brain, your mind to imagine, so imagine the very best, Spend time enjoying the marvelous feelings.

Make These Inner Mind Movies Spectacular

Make them soothing if you need them to be relaxed. Joyous when happy. I’m sure you get the concept. Spend time living in this future world. Enjoy the future you in these mental movies. Enjoy the past movie memories.

Consider where you want to be like this, when, with whom, doing what? Use the questions to focus on different times and places in your near and distant future when you want to be resourceful like this. Imagine it fully.

Two Ways Of Seeing: Recalling And Creating

There is something else you may or may not be aware of. There are two ways you can create images and you can remember in your mind. You can watch an event with you in it as if you are watching a video, or selfie of yourself. You can see you and others and the location and the circumstances as a video or movie.

The second way of seeing is through your own eyes. It is your point of view (POV). You don’t see yourself but you see what you see as if in real life. For example, in the number one way of seeing you might see yourself sitting inside a new car from the outside the car on the drivers door side. Or you might see yourself through the windshield, or windscreen of the car right there with your hands on the wheel.

In the second way of seeing you are in the car, feeling what it feels to sit in the seat, comfortable or not. Leather or otherwise. You might smell the new car smell. And you would see your hands on the steering wheel and feel yourself griping it. You’d see out the windows, the dashboard and if you look down your lap and legs.

You don’t see the entire you because what you see is what you actually see in the real world when you look out of your eyes. Your Point Of View (POV).

So there are at least these two ways to see, recall and create. You want to recall your memories first however you recall them. You want to live within them and feel and see and hear everything you are able. You want to re-experience the good feelings. Then you want to do the other way.

So whether you first begin with POV or not notice it and after awhile spending time doing it this give the other way some practice time.

Repeated Correct Practice Makes A Perfect Habit

Remember, this is practice. This is how you are going to build a positive new habit. You will enjoy this habit building. You practice daily, whenever you are able, going back and finding positive times from your past and reliving them as fully as possible. Spend dedicated time doing this. Find as many as you are able. ONE at a time.

Build your mental library of resources. Spend dedicated time going into the future and imagining yourself with all the resources you want to have. One at a time. Imagine people, places, events, activities, situations where you want more of these good feelings and resources. It can be any time, not just a difficult time but wonderful times as well.

Imagine yourself living in the future positively and resourcefully. Build a library catalog of positive future resources. Spend dedicated time doing this too. Do it also whenever you can during your day. Practice both of these using both ways of seeing. Do one at a time. POV for while. The come back later and do those over again but see it as a selfie video. Practice that for while.

Eventually, you practice and do both. In doing these exercises you are building so many positive skill sets and will develop so many positive resources and habits it will amaze and delight you.

Stop! Take a breath and relax for a moment and imagine  how fantastic life will be in the near, near future as you feel, think and act so much more resourcefully. Imagine how incredible you will feel as you tap into your inner resources more frequently and fill your daily moments in this way.

We Become What We Think About. What Consumes The Mind Controls Us

You now have the opportunity to become more happy, confident, peaceful, secure, loving, patient any way you’d like to be more of. You can feel anyone of these and all of them more frequently in your day to day. Isn’t that wonderful? It really is! The more time you spent recounting, re-feeling, recreating, re-experiencing positive memories and moments the more you get back.

SO keep going back and finding them. Find one, then find another one. Have fun finding out how many positive, resourceful moments you have actually had. Some will be real easy to discover, the ones you always remember, but as you continue to look back you will unlock and remember others you haven’t thought about in a long time.

Project into the future again and again in a variety of ways. Imagine your future, specific times and places and people you want to enjoy more. You want to have more fun, delight, and resourcefulness. Spread all the wonderful good resources and feelings throughout your future.

The byproduct of doing this is that more of you present gets filled with positivity as well. You live better right now too! Imagine, you go back transform your past by looking for the good in it, you feel great right now and start getting results you want and you code you future for all this goodness too. Pretty cool, wouldn’t you say?

Do All These Exercises In The Spirit Of Fun, Exploration, Adventure, And Play

Somethings may happen quickly or slowly it doesn’t matter stay with it playfully. Somethings happen instantly some take longer that is just how it is. Consider doing this as if you are planting a beautiful garden.

You plant the seeds and they take time to grow. Some come up sooner than others but eventually the garden appears. Relax, enjoy, keep practicing and let it happen. The benefits will be there.

Some things are simpler and easier than others just stick with it. Speak gently to yourself through all this as if you were a loving, compassionate coach helping you along. If things are tough they are tough no reason to get discouraged. Have fun, be patience, keep the faith and it will pay off.

My son told me today, that doing the top of the pyramid on a three high (three levels of water skiers on each others shoulders forming a pyramid) is scary. BUT he does it any way. He faces his fear and makes the climb and even while on top it is scary but exhilarating. Keep going, don’t let anything stop you.

There is noting to fear I only use that example because some people get frustrated if everything doesn’t occur over night and quit. You have to face the fact that somethings just take some time.

So if they do be prepared to hang in there. You will discover so much more delight than you can ever imagine if you make this daily ritual, a daily routine and practice.

You can’t even yet begin to appreciate how everything can and will transform when you apply yourself in this way. I’ll share more next time as we continue this exploration.” Rex Sikes

Find enjoyment everywhere you look today!

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Do You Ever Get Hooked Bad? How To Get Unhooked!

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“What do you do when you get caught up? Something happens and it bursts your positive bubble. Your momentum is thrown off, the apple cart upset. How do you react? How should you? How could you? Is there a better way to behave when when s–t hits the fan?

First,  to ‘get caught up’ is an apt description. We get caught, hooked just like a fish. We think things are great and the next thing you know we swallowed a big hook. That sucks! What do we do?

We do whatever it is we do. Nature takes its course. We may get angry even while knowing it would be best not to. We may do things against our better judgement and against our own best interests. It happens. Sometimes we react without thinking and sometimes we react while thinking we ought to be doing something else.

We are hot and bothered but not in the good way. We are hurting, angry, scared, lashing out. We are desperate and convinced the world is ending or at least turing bad on this very point. We are absolutely hooked and we are reacting automatically. Again, we are caught up in it.

Whatever it is triggered a response from us. An unwanted, painful uncomfortable response. Maybe we yelled at ourselves. Perhaps, we shouted at a loved one or co-worker. We created pain for others too. Why not? Maybe they hurt us first? Right? Wrong!

Nothing justifies a poor, bad or negative reaction. There is no excuse for yelling at ourself or others. However, if that is what happen that is what happened. I will come back to this in a moment. The first thing is to acknowledge, whenever you become aware, is that you reacted as you did. Accept responsibility and realize you did as you did.

The truth is you went haywire. You lost control. You fought or fought back. Whatever it is accept it. There are consequences to our actions. For every cause there is an equal and opposite effect. You may have started other wheels spinning or like dominos you just knocked over the very first one.

Ok, that is what was, and what might be. First, accept responsibility without blaming yourself for your reaction. YOU reacted. YOU lost control. Sad to say so but that is what happened. Accept it without shaming yourself. That won’t help you end that issue.

Accept you behaved poorly, acknowledge it, and turn your attention to how you could have behaved or responded better or more appropriately. What could you have done differently, even though you didn’t?

Figure out what the most positive response is that could benefit everyone in a positive and productive way. How might you have behaved that could have kept things in check (possibly) instead of them rampaging out of control?

In order to behave better in the future you have to know what behavior you want instead. YOU just got slammed right in the face big time with the behavior you don’t want. Consider it a godsend. Pretend someone somewhere, the universe is sending you an incredible message and opportunity.

Your hot, negative, unwanted thoughts, feeling and behaviors are all exactly what you don’t want. Hopefully, the messenger gets through because the messenger tells you, ‘okay that happened, own up to it, make restitution, and NOW focus on what you DO want instead.’

You reacted instead of responded. You reacted to whatever the circumstances dictated and you fell victim to it. Hey, we all do it so blame is not the name of this game. Get over yourself. Determine your positive course, the positive thoughts, feelings, behaviors and results you want in your future instead.

The first key in getting unhooked is to notice that YOU got hooked. Then, once you notice it, you do what you need to to get unhooked. In the human’s case we need to focus on what we want and where we want to end up instead. We want more productive responses next time.

There are many ways to do this I will discuss in future blogs. We can use our imagination, our internal movie theater, self-talk, affirmations, Directed Questions™ and more for just this sort of thing.

My point is this: We evolve ourselves. In evolution somethings take time. Some things take repeated examples or exposures. Some lessons it seems we have to learn again and again until we eventually get it. AND THAT IS OKAY! That is just the way it is.

We may want it to be different. We may wish it were like all the promises the media makes for instant relief and magic gadgets but life is more like a flowering garden. Beautiful things just take some time to appear. We grow, adapt, and evolve.

So again no blame, no shame. The best thing you can do is acknowledge your reaction and pat yourself on the back and hope you will notice the next ones too. Praise yourself not for your reaction but for you becoming aware that you reacted and were focused on what you did not want. This provides you a choice point and the opportunity to change.

This increases the likelihood  that you will become aware and notice quicker in future episodes because you aren’t punishing yourself. No one likes that. Well, at least fewer people do. Awareness is the doorway that opens for you to find new opportunity. Validate your awareness and it willingly works to benefit you.

Determine to respond better in the future. Again, I’ll share more later but if you read my blog regularly there are lots of tips and secrets and practices and principles you can apply right now to begin doing that.

Own your reaction. Take responsibility. Make an apology genuinely and promise to never do that again. Do whatever must be done to correct any wrong doing or harm. Help provide healing. Sometimes that means walking away too and leaving the other person alone if they request that. Be respectful!

That last point is an important one for behavior in the world. Walk away.

‘When we ‘react’ it causes pain because it is a ‘knee jerk’. It means we have no choice. We actually do have choice but it happens so fast or things start snowballing out of control that it seems as if we don’t and we can’t help it.

We always have choice and the choice point is right smack in the beginning. Something happens outside of us or within us to set it off. Things start happening. There is actually a sequence. It may seem one moment we are fine and the next we flew of the handle but there is an actual sequence of events that happen in real time.

Neurons fire. Neural pathways are activated. Signals are sent Hormones and chemicals are released. Our body is preparing for FIGHT OR FLIGHT!

In jungle days with real world predators we needed this to run very fast or fight very strong to survive. We need it much more rarely in our modern world and we don’t need it when most arguments ensue.

BUT IT IS THERE anyway. To serve us. Because we think we are being threatened when in fact we are, but not in that life-threatening way. We need to learn to better respond and adapt to our circumstances than be walking around as jungle cave people in the 21st century. Don’t you think?

Because there is a sequence it takes time. YES, it happens very fast. REALLY  really fast. BUT you can still catch it. THAT is precisely why we want to encourage our awarenesses. We want to become aware as it is happening that there is something WE CAN DO instead.

We can actually divert the behavior into new more productive behaviors and new neural pathways.

We just have to catch the moment first. AT the very instant of the trigger, we are caught unawares, and then the body takes over and begins to release chemicals. As these chemicals and the neurons begin traveling their routes we feel the changes.

Maybe we get ‘hot under the collar’ or ‘red in the face’ maybe we ‘see red’ or feel tension increase. Anything, any way you describe it, is possible.

The point is to become aware as this happens. As the chemicals release its called Emotional Flooding. We get flooded with feelings and sensations. IF we notice them, again the reason awareness is important, we can change them right then. We have this choice brief choice point to give us time or room to respond differently.

Imagine for a moment you are at the top of a hill with a huge boulder. You are in front of it. It begins to roll down hill. ALL you have to do is put your arm out and you can stop it from rolling. You really can. The reason you can stop it is that it just began. You caught it right in the beginning.

It didn’t have time to build momentum. Had you been four or five feet away, or ten or more you would not be able to stop it at all. You would have to jump aside. It has too much momentum by then. It is the same with our emotions flooding us. If we catch them right at the beginning we can be different. IT can be different.

This flooding seems fast and is because the neural pathways have been traveled countless times before. They are well worn and utilized. In order to change we have to provide new pathways. It will take awhile for them to get well worn in too. Still, we do have choice.

Awareness is the first step. The second is to decide to choose what else to do instead. One of the best things to make habit is to take a very deep breath. Breath. Breath again. Breathing helps to change what is happening in the body. So does pacing or walking as long as you don’t use the walking to build momentum.

Take a deep breath. Change your body posture. Move, walk, don’t remain in the same place. Keep breathing slowly. EMT’s are known to have a person walk off the adrenaline when in an accident or a near miss.

When the flooding happens people get jittery as the chemical floods into the system. You can’t get rid of it, you can’t just dump it. but you can use it in a managed activity. Walking. You could skip or dance but on the street they also are concerned with safety. So move calmly and breath to better utilize what the body is giving you.

Take a breath. Create that pause in the flood. Use your own body to stop the momentum and you prevent the emotional boulder from shooting down the hill. You can stop the flooding. It can be done. You divert it into a more productive and less destructive path.

Choice is important. When you make a decision you can change your thoughts and feelings to respond in a more beneficial manner for yourself and others. You can choose to walk away from the fight.

It may not seem like it now but you really can. You can choose to do nothing at all. It does not, necessarily, require that anything be done just because you got hot.

When you create the pause, the gap, that room, you can begin to see that this is true. You don’t have to continue on you can respond differently!

The only way to decide differently is to create that space by making the pause happen. You create the pause, which slows the flood, you positively manage the resulting emotions converting them into other relaxed responses. You get your head clear.

You are creating new neural pathways. You are changing the old route to a new one. The result is the same as when you moved to a new residence. You have a different address. You end up in a different place.

You pause, (breath and move and continue to) you relax, let go, and continue as needed. You direct your mind to more useful places, thoughts and behaviors (Directed Questions™ were created for this).

YOU chose a new more productive, positive, useful response. It could be anything. As long as it isn’t the old one and it is positive and constructive you are doing yourself a great service.

You have just stopped the emotional flooding, got unhooked and created a new neural pathway to travel to a new address. Fantastic! Celebrate and be grateful!

Appreciate that you have taken control instead of being a victim of your own chemistry and emotions. You determined you were going to re-route them. Pat yourself on the back!

Just as when you actually move from one address to a new address you may, from time to time, discover yourself taking the old way to the old home. This can happen with behaviors too. In time, by taking the new route to the new place enough times you make it a well worn pathway.

You have lost nothing. You can still always find your way to the former residence, if you were to choose to. You haven’t lost anything, you aren’t deprived of anything. What changed is you have a new, more useful productive, constructive pathway to a beautiful new residence.

Travel there happily. You find you don’t even think about the old route but you could if you wanted to. How cool is all of this? Pretty wonderful, if you ask me. You always have choices available.

In the next blog I will share with you  a ways to wire this in. The one after that I’ll discuss developing a new mindset to give yourself new choices. Meanwhile celebrate and enjoy!” Rex Sikes

Find delight in your day and night!

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