Category Archives: Living In The Moment

Acceptance, Blessings, Flow, Living In The Moment, Relaxation

Discover The Secret: How To Escape The American Rat Race

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bhowirown and white and golden

“I want to mention a couple of things up front in today’s blog post. It is important to make this acknowledgement and I may not have done it nearly enough. It is important that YOU know this.

First, I want to thank you. I thank you, the reader, for reading my blog. Thanks for following, subscribing or regularly finding and reading my articles. That is so cool of you. Thanks!

More than anything, I hope you will do the exercises, practice the principles and follow the advice. Action is the proper fruit of knowledge. To know and to not do – is really to not know.

If you know the material you apply the material. It is through the application of these principles that true change occurs. Change doesn’t happen simply by gathering more information. So you have to DO IT to make it work. I hope you are or that you will!

Second. Thanks so much for the support! Thanks for sharing this blog with others by social media and email. It means so much to me when I see that you have taken a moment to pass it along. It really makes me feel good.

More importantly, whenever you pass it along for someone else to benefit you are paying it forward. That is such a wonderful thing to help others and to want to help others. SO a big thanks and kudos to you for sharing. Every time you do it helps someone! Thanks!

Third. Thanks for your comments, questions and support online and offline. I really appreciate hearing from you. This blog is a labor of love. I have received so much in life I enjoy giving back. These principles have helped me so greatly I feel compelled to let others in on them.

I imagine, someday, a community of doers and sharers who have made their lives wonderful and who help each other and strangers as a form of celebration and gratitude. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

That said, I again say, thanks for all of it!

Today, rest. Escape the rat race.

That doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. Continue your practice but don’t push. It is important to learn to relax.

Consider this: it is important to be a loving and kind giver. Give from the heart, without judgement or qualification. Go first, apply the Golden Rule and give. This is important.

It is also important to be a loving and kind receiver. One, who can accept openly without judgement or qualification. Who can appreciate it when others go first and can graciously accept.

Giving and receiving are part of the flow of energy. Doing and relaxing are part of the flow of energy. Be both!

Learn to let go. Accept what is. Enjoy whatever IS as perfect. Be truly in the moment. Don’t try to get or be anywhere else than right where you are. Be at home in the moment and in that location where you are.

Zen is IN the moment. When you wash the dish you do nothing more and nothing less than wash the dish. Your thoughts are not elsewhere. You aren’t thinking ahead or behind you are simply washing the dish. You become ‘one’ with washing the dish.

Whatever you are engaged in be IT fully. When you walk become the walking.  Sitting, become the sitting. Eating just eat. Don’t read, or watch television or watch others. You simply eat.  Be aware. You allow. You are centered and quiet. No distractions. There is nowhere to go and nowhere to be.

Find your center. Relax, accept, let go and go within. Enjoy. Find your center. From your center can arise a wonderful joyfulness. Awareness. Aliveness. So simple yet auspicious.

We can live meditatively.

When we do there is really no need to go and meditate.

Until we can live meditatively it is wise and good to go and meditate.

Create a special place. A special time. Make it wonderful,  make it comfortable for you to sit or lie in. Temples are like that. They are reminders that within the temple you are to go within yourself. That is where the real journey is after all. Inside each of us. Inside you.

Take time to create balance. Go with the ebb and flow of life. Just as waves come in and go out, day becomes night and night becomes day. We need both. We need to push and make our dreams come true. Create! Be responsible and make them happen.

We need to stop, relax, take a breath and smell the roses. We need to settle and center. We need to receive and to allow. We need to allow the universe to gift us with moments as they arise. Find peace. Be peace. Go within.

As above so below. As within so without. Make the moments marvelous, mystical and magical.” Rex Sikes

Have an easy going and relaxing day.

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Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch

NEW SITE TO LAUNCH SOON  –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new URL is coming soon. The site will have a new look and feel.

If 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.

Stick with me. I’d  hate to lose you when it switches over.

PS You may know someone who could benefit from reading these message. Please share DI&G with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

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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Autosuggestion, Creating The Future, Directed Questions™, Focus, Habit Formation, Healthy Choices, Intentional Thinking, Living In The Moment, Positive Affirmations, Self Talk

What Is Your Answer To This Important Life Transforming Question?

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If you don't know where you want to end copy

“People ask me, ‘What can I do to transform my experience into something more wonderful?’ That is an excellent question. I am going to ask you a question in return and I would like you to actually entertain it. Think about the answer. Dwell on it a while.

Imagine the answer as fully as you are able. Let it  come to you. I am going to ask this of you in the first person.

What if, for a half hour each day, I went inside and imagined living the perfect life?  What if I imagined my life as I always hoped it would be? What if I really got in touch with how good  it feels to see myself as I have always wanted to be and to experience my life working out for the best?   What if, for a half hour each day, I imaged this fully and spent time enjoying myself feeling these incredible positive feelings?

Consider This – Imagine This

I am my ideal self.

I am confident and charming. I feel good and I look good. I have the body I always knew I could have. I have vitality and energy, charisma and power. I am comfortable, poised, energetic and relaxed.

What would this be like? What if I had perfect health and well being? What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

I live in the house I want to live in. It is exactly to my liking.  It is a  wonderful home in just the kind of neighborhood I like. It is impeccably decorated, simple, stylish, bold. It is completely me.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

I drive the best car. My favorite car. I get a lot of pleasure from owning this. I wear the best kind of clothes that are in my style and I have the nicest things. I embody good taste.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

Imagine This Fully

I eat the finest healthy food. I am healthy and wealthy. I bask in the glow of health and wealth. I work with the finest people around me. I love what I do and feel fulfilled.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

I am surrounded by people who love me. Family, friends, loved ones, meaningful people, I am at ease and comfortable being alone or with others.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

I am a light to the world. I am positive and powerful. I am happy, joyous, successful, loving and kind. I celebrate and enjoy life. I smile and laugh. I am open and available.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

I am authentic there is no mask to hide behind what you see is what you get.

I let go of past mistakes and move on. I live in the present creating a marvelous future. I am powerful, strong, well-off, worthy and deserving of all good things. All good things are mine.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

Everything Works Together For Good

I focus on solutions. I focus on what I can learn and that which I am able to do. I am in charge of myself. I take control of my thoughts and my feelings. I am responsible for having the kind of life I want. If it is to be it is up to me.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

I am abundance. I am a positive creator and create a positive, happy, successful, powerful lifestyle. I enjoy the best of everything. I am grateful and appreciate everything in my life. I am blessed and joyful. I am confident and secure.

What would this be like? How much would I enjoy feeling this way?

How would I feel if I spent more time focused on thoughts and images like these? What if I did this everyday? What if throughout the day I made these mental images and enjoyed the feelings that come with these?

You Can Do This – Focus On What You Want

See it in your mind first and you can then make it a reality. Chose to focus on the best. Let go of the past. Don’t get caught up in the present circumstances or difficulties but focus on what you want. Think positive and enjoy positive feelings.

The more you feel good the more you will feel good. Imagine what you want, create it for yourself, and make it happen. You can do it. If you can’t spend a half hour, how about 20 minutes? How about 5 dedicated minutes twice a day? Imagine that you could spend a dedicated amount of time  for yourself daily so that you could think, feel and be your very best. What if you did? How marvelous would that be?” Rex Sikes

Have a beautiful day?

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I’M GOING TO LAUNCH THE NEW SITE SOON  –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home is coming!  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. I might launch and update as we go along.

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

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.

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.

Attitude, Creating The Future, Curiosity, Directed Questions™, Energy, Flow, Focus, Getting Over The Past, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Living In The Moment, Overcoming Difficulty, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Self Talk

How To Get Through Any Difficulty!

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horizons rolling hills and clouds

“Times may be difficult but did you know that transformation can be easy? It doesn’t have to be hard. Did you know that it can be fun too? Whether or not you read the preceding blog you are going to want to read these next two.

You can make changes more easily when you know what works and use it. Have you struggled for awhile? If so, it is time to utilize what works and transform your life. Wouldn’t you like to do that now? You can!

continued from previous blog: Use This Powerful Secret To Get Over The Past & Limitations. This is Part 2.

Send Your Brain On A Positive Search

When you do this repeatedly you are occupying your mind with positive powerful ‘things’ to search for. The brain works by searching and finding. The brain loves questions it doesn’t know the answer to because you aren’t forcing anything on it.

You are simply asking and the brain responds with, ‘I don’t know but I will go look!’ The brain never stops it runs on and on. So you want to fill it with positive and productive tasks to do that transform you will it is doing them. Get it?

The fancy word is Transderivational Search. Basically, it means a search for a broad match versus a specific or exact match or answer. It is an unconscious process, we all already do, in order to understand or make sense of language and communication.

Typically, when we ask a question we want or expect an exact answer. We ask, ‘where did you go?’  ‘What did you do?’ ‘Who are you?’ If we say, ‘what is for dinner?’  We don’t want someone to say food. So when I say ask yourself questions most people think I mean find an answer. I don’t

Bad Questions Produce Bad Results

When we ask of ourselves, ‘Why am I so stupid?’ The brain goes ‘let’s find out!’ Then it comes back with a host of answers. “When you were 4 you put your head in the toaster.’ ‘Your parents didn’t love you enough’. ‘You didn’t get to go to the right school.’ It goes on and on. That is its job. To find matches. Broad matches and it will find specific occasions.

When you ask a question like that and you get all those responses it is then easy to conclude, ‘I am stupid. I have always been stupid and will remain so. Look at all the bonehead things I have done. Why me? Why am I such a dope. Life sucks!’ Notice it spirals more and more into self pity, blame, hopelessness or despair.

We already do this. Some spend most of their time and their life doing this. Others occasionally, but the results are the same. The brain knows where to get the answers, the results are bad feelings and memories and reasons and self blame and criticism. It works reliably, automatically because it is a habit.

We Already Do This – Only Now – We Direct The Process

Why theseDirected Questions™ are powerful is because asking questions is what you and I already do. Only now, we ask them with intention. We actively direct them into areas we want to go into. We deliberately use them instead of being used by them.

I was in crisis when I was a young man. I was hurting badly. To say I was devastated and had bottomed out would be putting it mildly. I spent 6 months in utter turmoil with another in the gutter figuratively. At the point when I realized I must do something or die I made a decision to myself.

I vowed to not leave my apartment until I felt better.

I spent more than a month in a recliner chair in meditation and affirming and hoping and wishing. I got up to make something to eat and use the bathroom but I sat in the chair.

One day, I noticed I was asking myself questions such as, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ ‘Why me?’ ‘Why did she have to (do what she did)?’ ‘How come my life sucks?’

Determine Where You Want To End Up Then  Reverse Engineer

I used lots of expletives and wasn’t merely questioning I was suffering. ‘Why am I such an idiot?’ ‘How come no one understands me?’ Can’t they see I am hurting? and on and on.

All the while I was trying to affirm. Trying to white light the situation, pay attention to my breathing, watch my thoughts. My thoughts only seemed to bring me more and more pain and misery.

It was a terrible time. I had been through a really terrible year. I was once again at the end of my rope.

Believe me, when I say this was not the only time in my life when I did this. I remember running into the bathroom or bedroom as a child and crying and asking myself, ‘Why do I always cause my parents to fight?’ ‘Why am I so bad? ‘How come I am stupid?’

In my chair one day, and I do not know why or how, it occurred to me that I was asking questions that were hurting me more. I became aware of something. I noticed something for the very first time.

It wasn’t a flash of illumination but a slow and steady ‘dawning’. I began to slowly ask other questions like: ‘How might I begin to get over feeling bad?’ ‘How long will it take to feel confident again?’ ‘Will she and I get back together?’

‘What do I need to do and be like to win her back?’ ‘When will I be ready to face the world again?’ ‘What do I need to be able do that?’ I asked other questions, too, for certain.

Drop By Drop Fills The Tub

I began to replace the questions that made me feel bad with questions that gave me a bit more hope. It wasn’t all in one fell swoop but gradually the questions I asked became better more useful questions.

The more I replaced the bad ones with better ones the little bit better I eventually began to feel. I mean, I really did inch along. The mere inch created a glimmer. Just a glimmer but a glimmer of hope.

Notice my questions actually still started off on the problem.  I was focused  how long it would take to begin to be different and I was still focused on the problem.

BUT at least it was the first move in a better direction.  Within a few week or maybe two weeks I began to ask even better questions.

‘How soon might I start feeling better?’ ‘What will I have to do to notice things improving?’ ‘Where should I, can I place my attention to notice myself feeling better?’ ‘How much better can I feel?

‘How soon can I begin to feel confident again? ‘How good will I feel when my life is back together?’ “When I feel confident how will I most notice it? Where will I feel it in my body?’

Notice I did not ask (of course I did at first) because I was learning to change direction  ‘Will I ever feel better?’ or ‘Will we ever get back together?’ or ‘Will I ever be able to face the world?’

Good Questions Produce Good Results

These latter questions don’t get us anywhere soon. These tend to keep us stuck. You don’t know the answer but these aren’t aimed in any useful direction.

Many of us waste our time asking useless questions. We spin our wheels and stay stuck wondering, ‘what if’ or ‘what if it doesn’t’ or why am I less than glorious?’

Or we ask about other people, whom we really can’t do anything about. Just like circumstances and events we ask, ‘why won’t they love me?’ ‘will they ever change?’ I know because I have.

We have to ask questions about what WE can see, hear, feel, taste or smell and experience. Our questions are about what WE think, feel and act or behave NOT about the outer world or others.

I’ll continue. More in the next blog.

These are self-directed, directed questions. We aim our mind at discovering and finding and feeling and acting the positive, wonderful, good things we can.

Through questions we can open incredible doorways to adventure. We create no resistance because we are innocently asking? We are seeking. When we are seeking in the right places and open to finding the positive answers all things can begin to change!” Rex Sikes

Have a wonderful new day!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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I’M GOING TO LAUNCH THE NEW SITE SOON  –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home is coming!  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. I might launch and update as we go along.

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

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.

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.

Attitude, Blessings, Celebration, Curiosity, Directed Questions™, Emotions, Focus, Getting Over The Past, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Happiness, Intentional Thinking, Living In The Moment, Overcoming Difficulty, Positive Thinking, Self Talk

Use This Powerful Secret To Get Over The Past & Any Limitations!

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horizons trees and shadows

Are you bother by the past? Do you relive less than glorious moments? Do you have regrets? Are you a survivor? Are there issues right now that you are struggling with? Do you want to be happier and healthier but find it difficult? There is a way transform all that and more. Would you like to learn how?

The Past Brought You To Now

Keep in mind the past has brought you to where you are today. It has been your journey. Each step of the way brought you to now. Some people spend most of now regretting or agonizing the past. Others have survived the past still tending to their wounds.

There are those for whom the past is golden and they spent most of their moments reminiscing and reliving. However one experiences the past there is only one thing that is for sure. It is over! It is no more. To carry the past around with you good or bad is as if you carry all your personal belongings around in a sack on your back.

That is too burdensome! That is far too heavy a load to keep carrying. Let it go. That was then. To let go of the past does not mean you do not learn from it. Learn from it and let it go. There are people, and perhaps you are one of them and already have, who look back at the worst time in their life and are grateful.

They are grateful for their past experience because they realize that without those times, or that terrible  incident, they would not be who they are, or where they are today. They consider it the ‘best thing’ to have ever happened to them. How you chose to look at and feel about it is important.

Celebrate Learn From And Let Go Of The Past

The past is nothing but a collection of memories.

If someone hurt you in the past years ago, and you each day feel that same hurt in your present, the only person hurting you now is you. That person hurt you back then. You are the one who keeps hurting yourself ever since.

Harsh, I know but it is accurate. Some would ask, who is crueler to you; the person in the past or you for keeping it alive? It is time to drop past hurt and trauma and move forward.

You can’t hope the past all goes away. Actually, it already has.  BUT you can turn your back on it. You can learn from it and learn to get over it. You can stop carrying it around.

This is how I discovered it is possible to change. I went through an excruciating time and was reliving it over and over. Until, I started to direct my mind differently by asking questions of myself.

I have taught countless others throughout three and a half decades the power of Directed Questions™. I have a special name for these because it is about the direction you set for yourself asking yourself a class of questions, not just any questions. People have been asking questions since the dawn of human kind.

Others have used portions of my work to spread the power of questions worldwide to millions. I am happy because it works and if you use this you too will discover the power.

Much of the material in my blog posts, including this one, comes from forthcoming books. I have a lot coming out soon. This material will be covered in two or more blogs. This be the first.

Ask Yourself Questions

‘What have you learned?’ ‘What lessons are there for you?’ ‘What do you need to know?’ ‘What do you need to do differently to not do the same things?’ ‘What possibilities exist because you went through those experiences?’

‘What can you now do differently if you would begin to?’ ‘How can these insights lead you into positive and permanent change?’

‘How is it possible that your past experiences contribute to you in positive ways now, regardless of what they were then?’

‘In how many different ways is your past a resource for you, a great learning?’ ‘How many more resources might you have because you lived through then?’

There are so many questions you can ask that will lead you into new ways of thinking and being.

You need to let go of the past. Honor it, honor you. Forgive yourself and forgive anyone from the past. Actually, forgive. Stop choosing to live in the past feelings. Stop preventing yourself from enjoying now and a wonderful future.

Ask yourself questions that move you from then to now and into a glorious future. You can if only you will.

‘How soon can I begin to notice myself paying attention to the little delights that make up right now?’ ‘How often can I discover people and things that make me smile?’ ‘In how many different and pleasant many ways can I draw my attention to this moment to notice how wonderful life can be?’

‘In what different ways can I put my attention deliberately on all the good things in my life?’ ‘How soon can I find myself learning from and recoding all my present and my past experiences as positive resources and learnings that I can be thankful for?’

‘How easily am I going to discover myself being grateful for all the experiences in my life?’ ‘How soon will I find overall well-being and comfort in knowing how strong and positive I am and that I can overcome anything and move forward?’

Direct Your Mind Towards What You Want To Include 

The number of questions may be infinite. The idea is to direct your mind and not get a word answer.  You don’t want to ask a question that you answer with yes or no, or a few words.

You ask a question you genuinely don’t know the answer to.  You may think you do but you really don’t.  For example, if I ask yes or no,’ do you like tea?’

There is an answer. You already thought of it. Right? If I say, ‘how ya doing?’  You can say, ‘meh, good, great, bad, not sure.’ If I say, ‘how much fun can you have today?’ You don’t honestly know, do you? You may say, ‘not much’ or ‘I don’t know’ or ‘little because today is busy.’

You could answer,  ‘I’m not in the mood’ but if you are honest you plainly don’t know. The question, ‘How much fun is possible for you today?’ is not the same question as ‘will you have fun today’ or ‘are you going to have fun?’ or ‘do you want to have fun?

How much fun can you stand  today? Do you get this? You will, if you haven’t yet.

The Direction Is More Important Than An Answer

If I said ‘how quickly do you imagine you could learn to play basketball?’ You honestly don’t know, do you? You may think it could take a long time or short time depending on various factors but you actually do not know. There is no actual real answer because only experience will bear it out.

The goal in Directed Questions™ is to direct your mind to look for the experiences in life you do not yet experience fully. It is about having insights and positive feelings and moving in a direction.

You could say you are seeking answers, but what you are actually seeking is all the good times, the resources, things about you and your world you aren’t presently noticing?

More in my next blog post. Think of it as helping a child to discover all the wonderful things around her. What is there she may not have noticed about herself yet? What can she notice about her abilities and the world around her to enjoy a wonderful life? Where would it be most valuable for her to put her attention?

The Directed Questions I want you to learn and practice are designed to help you to become truly curious and then truly captivated and fascinated by what you find. These questions direct your mind powerfully and positively into what you can be, do and have that you ost want and enjoy! Celebrate and delight!” Rex Sikes

Celebrate today!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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I’M GOING TO LAUNCH THE NEW SITE SOON – 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.

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

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.

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.

Acceptance, Attitude, Celebration, Curiosity, Directed Questions™, Emotions, Energy, Flow, Focus, Gratitude, Intentional Thinking, Laughter, Living In The Moment, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Self Talk, Smiling

How To Stop Being A Slave To Your Thoughts & Feelings!

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horizons road yellow lines

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just stop thinking about things you didn’t want to think about? Did you know there is a way? Would you like to know what it is? It works! Before I get into what you can do let me ask you this. Have you ever watched a scary movie or a horrible show on TV or your computer late at night. It bothers you so you want to quit. You can’t stop thinking about it? What do you do? What is the best way TO STOP thinking about it?

If you said turn it off you’d be wrong. While that MAY work it usually doesn’t. When you turn off the scary show what typically happens? What happens once it is off? You KEEP thinking about! Right?

You turned it off to get away from it! BUT now all you do is think about it! Again and again. In the dark you cannot stop. You have to get up and turn on the lights. BUT still you keep thinking about it. That is the very thing you don’t want to!

The more you try to stop the more it keeps on. When you resist it what happens? You give it more energy. You are focused on fighting what you do not want so the more it persists! When you push back IT pushes back and vice versa. On and on it continues.

The way to change something or to stop something is not to fight or resist it. Nope!

What You Resist Persists

If you want to stop thinking about the horrible show turn the channel. Watch something else.

Get engaged with different upbeat content. Soon you will forget about the bad show. Brains don’t stop. They keep working. It takes more energy to try to shut them down than to re-direct them into a useful area.

You more easily think of something else when you direct your brain elsewhere. You withdraw your attention from what you don’t want and put your attention on what it is you do want. YOU CHANGE the channel in your mind!

I have called this Mental Aikido for decades because we redirect the energy of our thoughts.

A master of Aikido redirects the energy of an attacker. The master doesn’t resist the attackers energy or try to stop it. Rather the master utilizes it to subdue the attacker. We do the same thing with out thoughts. We don’t try to stop them. We redirect them into the positive.

If an attacker charges the master. The master doesn’t try to stop the attacker or block the attacker. The master will use the attackers momentum to pull him or push him into a different direction while tripping the attacker up and sending him to the ground.

The master won’t try to become a wall and stop the attackers charge. The master uses the energy offered to defeat the attack. I repeat: The master uses the energy offered to defeat the attack!

If you encounter something you don’t want. If you have negative thoughts or feelings or behaviors don’t fight them. They only persist that way. Acknowledge them and move on!

Turn Resistance Into Assistance

Redirect the energy. Think other thoughts. Read inspirational material. Listen or watch funny or uplifting audios and videos. Ask Directed Questions™ that lead you in more useful and positive directions. Divert your attention toward the positive.

Direct you attention to what you want, what feels better and which is more productive.

What else can you pay attention to? Get totally present. Notice and comment on what is immediately around you. Take inventory as you notice sights, sounds, feelings, smells and perhaps, even tastes. Explore the area around you. Comment on it. Put your focus there.

Become filled with gratitude and count your blessings. This is an excellent way to feel better instantly. Savor the wonderful feelings of those people, times, places and things you are most thankful for. Let your heart soften as you feel grateful. Soon you will feel marvelous!

Take a walk, work in the garden. Engage in some physical activity. Use your body differently. Change your physiology. Stand straight, smile. Put a determined look in your eye and walk as if loaded with confidence, positivity and self esteem!

Sing, skip, or dance. Jog or hike. But move and use your body differently. You can do any of these things or more than one.

Take Responsibility

You alone a responsible for your emotions. You are responsible for your own emotional well being. You alone can control what you think, feel and do. Only you. No one else can do it for you.

Might it take some time to get the knack of it? Yes, especially if you have lived your life as a victim to your thoughts and feelings and circumstances. Then it may take a little time. So what?

You can change from victim and become a victor. You can become a winner and a champion!

You simply must take control. Take 100% responsibility. Decide to commit to redirecting your energy whenever you notice it is less than glorious. If you don’t like it or don’t want it, or if you are feeling down and bad take it as a signal.

It is a message delivered to you personally so you can redirect your energy. Negative thoughts and feelings ARE signals that you are paying attention in less than useful ways to things you don’t want. Direct your attention toward the positive. Look into what you do want instead.

Energy Flows Where Your Attention Goes

You can’t stop the river! There is too much energy. If you try to dam it up you end up spending much more energy in managing it. You have to keep it from building up and overflowing. Even then you really cannot stop the river. It still is coming.

BUT, like the Aikido master, you can redirect the flow.

You can direct your energy into positive, powerful, pleasant, healthy, fun and fascinating directions. No need to suffer or remain the same when you can change yourself into anyone you want to be.

You can learn to do anything you want to do. You can have anything you want in life. All this is possible when you take charge of the brain between your ears.

Direct Your Thoughts And Feelings And Your Behaviors Will Follow

You thoughts instantly become things. Your thoughts become actions. When you think happy wonderful thoughts your body responds with action. You smile, your countenance lightens up, you feel uplifted, you might laugh. Your voice resonates. You feel on top of the world.

When you think angry thoughts you feel hot. You experience pressure. You become flushed. Your face gets red as your body responds. Thought become things. Thoughts produce action. Your body responds to your thoughts.

When you think sad depressing thoughts your face pulls downward. Your energy wanes. Your breathing becomes shallow. You feel lackluster and depleted. You shoulders slump forward and you compress your chest. You move sluggishly, slowly.

Thoughts Become Things

Change what you are doing. Even a small change in the correct direction matters. Space ships are guided by degrees. So are sailing ships. A one degree change of course now means hundred of thousands of miles difference later.

For example, a rocket aimed at the moon is constantly correcting its course very slightly. If it got off course by ONLY one degree after take off it would miss the moon by hundreds of thousands of miles. Just a small degree of change means a lot of change.

Change it into a positive direction. Tiny steps in your own best interest right now can have monumentally large results down the road. If you want a more wonderful and glorious future then begin today.

A Single Tiny Change In The Right Direction Can Have A Huge Positive Payoff

Take charge! Be responsible. Direct your mind in positive ways towards what you want.

Be your own best friend. Support and nurture yourself. Have fun while you change. Enjoy the process. Celebrate and fill yourself with gratitude and right attitude. You will discover so much richness and well being when you do! Commit to directing and re-directing you own mind. Don’t be a slave to your thoughts and feelings. Be their master!” Rex Sikes

Enjoy today!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

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.

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.

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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.

Attitude, Decision, Emotions, Energy, Focus, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Living In The Moment, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Responsibility

How To Become More Aware, Stop Suffering & Start Living!

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“Do you battle inside yourself? Maybe often? Do you feel conflicted? You want something but feel you shouldn’t have it. You don’t do something but feel you should have. Isn’t that true? Would it be accurate to say, at times, you want to escape the turmoil inside?

You want to rid yourself of certain thoughts or feelings that cause discomfort or pain?

Everyone has some at times. We encounter ourselves. We experience anger when we promise ourselves we wouldn’t get mad. We have regrets we know we should move past or we fear the future when we know we need not. Is this you at times?

I certainly have felt this way.

A Zen Koan: The Warrior And The Master

A great warrior, a Samurai Warrior, approached a Zen Master and asked, ‘Where is the gate to heaven? Where is the gate to hell? Are there any gates? Where do I enter from?’

The warrior was a man of simple understanding. He knew life and death. He understood battle. He did not know or care about philosophy or wanting to learn another way. He simply wanted to avoid hell and go to heaven.

‘Who are you?’ the Master asked.

‘I am a Samurai! I am the leader of the Samurai! The emperor pays respects to me.’

‘You!’ exclaimed the Master. ‘You look like a beggar!’ He laughed.

The Samurai drew his sword to kill the Master.  Just as he drew the Master to him the Master spoke.

‘This is the gate to hell. This anger, this sword, your ego opens the gate to hell.’

The Samurai understood and immediately sheathed his sword.

The Master spoke again, ‘Here opens the gate to heaven’.

Heaven And Hell Are Within You

The mind, your mind, has the capacity for heaven or for hell. Heaven and hell are within us right now. The doors open by the choices we make. What we focus on is what we get. What we entertain and think about most is what we become.

What do you spend most of your time dwelling on? Is it positive and healthy or negative and less than glorious? Which gateway do you find yourself going through most often?

The Warrior was smart enough to recognize this and simple enough to not rationalize. In an instant you can move from heaven to hell or from hell to heaven. Our choice makes the difference. Our decisions govern where we end up. Where do you?

Heaven and hell isn’t a future place at the end of life. It is our moment to moment experience. We choose where we will land. We choose what we experience. We choose the gate we go through EVEN when we are not conscious of making that choice!

Awareness Is The Key To Making The Change

The moment the Samurai became aware that he was reacting to an insult was his opportunity to leave the gate of hell. The insult made him hot and angry. It bruised his ego. He suffered from it. He was prepared to take a life because of it.

The instant he realized the pain put him at the gate of hell he stopped! He put away his sword. He put away his hurt and his anger. He made a choice. He responded differently. He became new!

Thus, opened to him the gate to heaven. He no longer reacted out of habit. He made a change. He became aware that he could decide. He understood! His decision in that moment made all the difference!

Both Gates Are Inside You – Choose 

Choose the one you want to go through. Choose the one you want to spend time in. Where you put your attention is where your energy flows. Make the decision to live positive. It is a powerful choice. Put your awareness there. You become what you think about!

Napoleon Hill stated, ‘Any idea, plan or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.’ We can replace old, tired, negative thoughts, feelings and habits with new ones. ANY idea, plan or purpose can be placed in the mind! Make your mind work for you!

Great masters, educators, philosophers, trainers, and texts new and old, have said the same for centuries. We can replace old behaviors with new. We can make new choices that help us live better. We can live from a powerful, positive place of well-being.

Life Is What You Make It Already – What Do You Want It To Be

We can make new habits by repeating the new thoughts and feelings often each day throughout the weeks to come. Awareness is the key that opens us up to recognize which gate we are at. We need not remain a victim to our reactions and prior conditioning.

Whenever we realize which gate we are at we can choose whether or not to go through it. Whichever we choose accept responsibility for the choice and the consequences. Whenever we realize we are at the gate of hell we can choose not to go there. It is up to you!

You may stumble many times. Eventually, you will go there less and less. Through making the choice to stop and not go through the gate of hell you are doing something of great importance.

In the instant you choose to enter the gate of heaven (and do so repeatedly) you will learn the new habit. It will get easier and easier to make better choices. You will become aware more and suffer less.

You can make new and healthier choices. You literally can be, do and have anything you want when you put our mind to work for it in the right way.” Rex Sikes

Live more fully today!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

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.

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.

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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.

Beliefs, Focus, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Law Of Attraction, Living In The Moment, Patience, Persistence, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement

Do You Know What The Greatest Deception Is?

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“Have you ever considered the impact on you messages from outside of you have? How you have been shaped and molded by those around you from birth until today? We are bombarded every second with messages from others.

Parents, friends and advertisers put out messages in all shapes and sizes in all forms and media. Countless times each day, from when we get up until we go to sleep there is an endless stream. It never ceases. These messages are part of our lifestyle as much as air and water.

We were raised to plan for a rainy day. To be careful, to save and to not put all our eggs in one basket. Some of us were taught to have fall back plans in case our original goals met with failure. We were told our dreams were unrealistic. We were told to try it for a while and if it doesn’t’t work out do something else.

You Have Believed What You Have Been Told

Many were told to get ‘a real job’, ‘a decent job’ and to settle for that. Stop being fanciful. Stop being a dreamer. No one can make money that way. You must work to get ahead. Be happy with what you have. You are too young or too old to do what you want. You don’t have what it takes mentally, physically or emotionally.

Be careful. Take it easy. Watch out for strange men. . It is a hard, cruel world. You name it we received endless messages, repeated again and again, from loving, caring, well meaning people who tried to keep us safe and sound. They loved us and didn’t want to see us hurt. Other messages came from teachers, adults, authority figures, governments, peers and the media and still do.

These messages were (and are) that we aren’t enough; we look funny with funny hair;  we need deodorant because we smell; our teeth aren’t right; we are out of step, fashion and style. We don’t drive the right car; we love or hate the right or wrong people.

Limiting Messages Come From Everywhere

There ought to be a law about;  you need to be a good patriot. Follow the rules; don’t make waves. You will never amount to anything. If you don’t have what celebrities have (or your neighbors) you are nothing. We have been told again and again that we need something more to complete us because we just ain’t enough.

At some point you encountered Positive Thinking or  the Law Of Attraction and you are told that many of the messages you have been getting for all of your life may not be accurate. You are told to ignore, drop or change those prior messages because that is not the real you. You are told things now that you may not even accept.

You are wonderful, deserving, abundant, talented, healthy, and you have access to all good things. You can do it if you think you can. Anything is possible! If you can conceive it and believe it you can achieve it. You are told you are worthy and wonderful, and to have faith in yourself. You can be, do and have anything you want!

Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Poorly At First

These messages encourage you to find your abilities, strengths, resources and talents; to look within yourself to get over past hardship and disappointment and to enjoy an incredible present while creating a marvelous future. These messages say you can do it!

Your mind, already conditioned with habitual fears, stories, doubts, reasons, excuses, blames and all those prior messages from others, responds the way it was conditioned to. It doubts it, fears it, it is skeptical, it denies and all the rest.

You attempt positive thinking and up comes that old conditioning. You encounter resistance. You think it is harder than you anticipated. Perhaps, you fall back into the old way of thinking and abandon the new thoughts altogether. Many do. You wouldn’t be the first. If you stick with it you will join the elite club of those few who are able to transform their lives.

Anything Worth Doing Requires Effort And Patience

Replacing an old habit with a new habit does require effort. If you learned something one way and now you need to learn a new way it can seem difficult but it is very do-able. It is absolutely possible. You train your mind the same way you train a dog. You use patience, kindness, firmness and reward. You must keep at it if you want to succeed.

Consider that anything worth doing requires effort. Anything truly worth doing and getting good at is worth doing poorly at first. Think of anything you have ever gotten really good at; a hobby, a sport, some talent you now have that you didn’t at one time. You weren’t as good when you started as you are today, are you?

It took time and effort and patience to develop your skills and abilities. You may have even considered quitting at one time. Today, you are able to do something you weren’t at first and you are glad you have this talent in your life. It enriches you.

The same is true about changing your thoughts from those that limit you to those that encourage, enable and move you forward. It can be tough. You may feel like you want to quit. If you persist you will get much better. Ultimately, you will be glad you spent the energy because thinking positively enriches you.

If You Think You Can Or You Think You Can’t You Are Right

Keep at it. Don’t quit. Fill your mind with positivity. Do what it takes to get better. Make it a habit and it will serve you faithfully. Be patient and kind and gentle. Celebrate and be glad because what is the alternative?

The alternative is to do what you did previously. Do you really want to continue to live that way? If it is great, by all means continue. If it not as great as you want it to be, then there is an alternative that helps you get what you want to get. Focus on being more positive and you will be more positive as you put energy into it.

The greatest deception is that YOU can’t. The greatest deception is that you are limited! It is a lie. Stop believing it. You absolutely can be and do and have anything you want in life when you learn how! The greatest deception is that YOU aren’t enough. Stop believing the lie and discover what is possible for you!

The greatest deception is that YOU have accepted limiting things about yourself that you unwittingly adopted from others. The deceit is you are living from their beliefs not your own. You are traveling the world using someone else’s road map. Isn’t it time you start thinking for yourself? You are not limited unless YOU accept you are!

Stop Believing The Lies Start Believing The Truth

Your life can completely and most wonderfully continue to change for the better. As wise people have pointed out, happiness is not a destination but a journey. Now is the only time we have. The past is gone the future is yet to arrive. Live well now and enjoy the present and tomorrow will be taken care of too!

I’ll share more about these limiting messages and beliefs and what we can do to live powerfully in the next blog post. Meanwhile, do it! Think positive. Be optimistic. Live with gratitude and in celebration. Have fun, delight, put a smile on your face and on others. Enjoy the present moment and the world around you. Love yourself and believe in you. You will be surprised what you find!!” Rex Sikes

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so. If you benefit from these words please help someone else benefit too.

PSS I have discussed how to make changes more easily using questions throughout these blog posts. You can search by topic and find some. A great thing to do 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.

Today is a new beginning!

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.

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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.

Attitude, Beliefs, Confidence, Creating The Future, Emotions, Energy, Focus, Gratitude, Happiness, Intentional Thinking, Joy, Law Of Attraction, Living In The Moment, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement

Stop Getting What You Don’t Want! Start Getting What You Want!

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“Are you tired of not having what you want? Does it sometimes feel like you are doing everything you can but getting nowhere? If you look around you have you gotten what you want or have you gotten what you do not want?

How are the results in your life? How are your present circumstances? What and how are you feeling? Is your life filled with joy and happiness no matter what is going on or are you mostly down and out? Maybe, it isn’t a matter of anything being bad, it is that, it is just ‘okay’.

If You Aren’t Excited By The Life You Are Living

You can be. It means making some changes. I can’t emphasize this enough.

Use your imagination for a moment. Think of yourself as a magnet. Imagine that you attract everything. You are responsible for your life conditions. Everything you have or don’t have is completely up to you. Imagine this. There is no one else or anything else responsible but you. YOU attract everything.

Some do not believe this. Others do. Whether you think it so or you don’t believe it, this is how it works. We live in a universe based on attraction. You attract what you want and you attract what you don’t want. It doesn’t matter. You get what you focus on.

You And I Create What We Want

We make happen what we want or don’t want but the word ‘attract’ works for me too.

Like moths to a flame we do seem to attract other like minded people, events and circumstances depending on what we are feeling. When we are on top of the world we seem to ride the top of the wave and when we are crestfallen so is much of the world around us.

You may protest the thought. You might even exclaim, ‘but I know exactly what I don’t want and I don’t want it!’

If you state a loud ‘NO!’ to what you don’t want you are not actually pushing it away or getting rid of it. You are inadvertently adding energy to it. You get whatever you are focused on good or bad right or wrong. The universe doesn’t care. The Law Of Attraction (LOA) doesn’t care.

Whatever you hold predominantly in your mind is what you attract. If you want to be, do or have anything you can then you must focus on and energize what you do want to the exclusion of all else. It is similar to using a flashlight in a dark room.

Whatever You Illuminate Is What You See

In this case, whether you want it or not, whatever you put energy into is what you get back.

You can’t look at mounting bills, feel poor and expect to be rich. Your thoughts and feelings are keeping you poor. You can’t be thinking ‘I am so sick’ and expect to be healthy. Our thoughts do seem to make up our reality. There is a reason for this.

Our brain doesn’t know the difference between a memory, a real event or an imagined one. What you recall, observe or create in your mind, if it isn’t what you want it, will be what you end up with. In order to get what you want you must see what you want.

You Must Hold It In Your Minds Eye

You want it faster you must energize it more, feel good about it and think about it more often.

It works this way. You attract and create whatever you put your energy into. If you put little or no energy into creating it you don’t get it. If you put energy into the wrong things that is what you get. If you put energy into the right things that is what you get. If you put lots of energy into the right things you can get it sooner.

Look around. Your life is a reflection of your dominant thoughts. If you don’t like what you see change your thoughts and you change your life.

There is a simple guide you can use. Typically, when you think about what you do not want, what you want to avoid or exclude from your life you feel angst. You feel frustrated, sad, mad or simply less than glorious. When you think about what you want, what makes you happy, what you want to include more in your life you feel good.

Consider for the purpose of discussion there are only two emotions. One is good the other is bad. Just as there is positive or negative, up or down, hot or cold. This makes using the guide real easy. If you feel good, great, wonderful you are on the right track to getting, making happen or attracting what you want. If you feel bad you are not.

Negative thoughts and feelings are a signal you are off track. They are signals you are focused on what you do not want. Stop, turn your back on it, drop it, let it go, forget about it and start thinking and focusing on what you do want. You want to feel the best and be focused on what you want so that is what you make happen.

You Are Creating Your Future Each Moment

It is the process of becoming based on how you are feeling. How you live this instant, this moment, determines how you will live in the next moment. Right now makes up then!

The more often you feel good the better your present and future will be. Feel prosperous, feel healthy, feel happy, feel wealthy, feel grateful and you become these. Whatever you feel is what you attract and create. This makes it very easy to remember.

Whatever you think about AND FEEL most of the day is what you get!

What you think and feel and manifest is always a match. Your predominant feelings are what you attract. So feel your best as often as you can. I have written about what to do when you can’t feel your finest in previous blogs. Be sure to go back and read through these if that is an issue. Read through the posts anyway it will help in all areas.

Happy Creating! Happy Attracting!

Not everyone believes it, but it makes perfect sense. When you think and feel your finest, your resourcefulness and your actions are congruently aligned. Your head and your heart are clear and you are at your most powerful and your most attractive.

Confident people are drawn to other confident, able, Can-Do people. It works like this. Plus, you are better able to recognize and take advantage of opportunity. You feel alive, energized, capable and unstoppable! Your attitude determines your altitude.

From this place of well-being you can become, do and have anything you want. It all makes sense at a very practical level. When you are ‘right’ things go right! Make your life what you want it to be!” Rex Sikes

Delight 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.

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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.

Attitude, Celebration, Confidence, Decision, Emotions, Energy, Focus, Happiness, Intentional Thinking, Joy, Laughter, Living In The Moment, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Smiling

Do This To Feel Better, Be Happier & Have More Fun!

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“Do you wish you felt better? Would you like to? Is your thinking and feeling bring you down? Many people are just plain tired. It is true. Times can be tough and you may feel that way but that is not your only choice. There are other ways of being, did you realize that?

If you want your life to change you have to change some things in your life. You cannot continue doing the same things and expect it to be different. It just works that way. What you can do and what you must do is make a decision. If anything is to change you are the one who has to change it. Everything can begin to change once you decide.

TODAY live your life fully!

Today! See how much gusto and delight you can have. Why not? It is your life and your day!

If you answered why you can’t then realize YOU provided a reason why YOU would CHOOSE to limit your fun and delight. That IS your decision. Think about that a moment. Realize if the answer you supplied says you can’t or shouldn’t it does not have to be the case. It could be any other way! Do you realize this?

You may have said, ‘I can’t have fun at work’. Well, who says? The boss, your co-workers, a sign the wall. WHO specifically states you can’t have fun while working? Do you say that? Who is it that says no fun while working.

You can always have fun. You know that don’t you? You can secretly have fun. No one needs to know you are having fun but you! You don’t have to put on a party hat and run wild. You can have fun in other ways. So why not have some fun?

If you said, ‘I am too busy’, then find a way to have fun on your way to pee. For goodness sakes, if you are missing out because you believe your reasons well then you are TRULY missing out.

There are 60 seconds a minute, 60 minutes and hour, 24 hours in a day certainly you can find some time in all those minutes to have more fun.

Who Tells You What To Do?

Who dictates that you must be serious all day long all week long? C’mon, lighten up and loosen up. How much gusto and delight can you have today? What can you do to smile and enjoy the day more? What little things can you take notice of that bring you joy?

Some people think unless it is a monumental moment it doesn’t count. They are wrong. Joy, delight, surprises, fun comes in all sizes, shapes, ages, colors, places and times. Let go. Let go!

I am not saying raucously abandon your responsibilities and tie one on. I am suggesting you find ways to lighten your load and enjoy each moment more. It is completely possible, even if you don’t believe it yet or are currently filled with reasons why you can’t.

Realize this: whatever reason you have for not living fully at any given moment are YOUR reasons for not doing it. Wherever they came from, whomever you learned them from, doesn’t matter.

Live More Totally Today

You, and you alone are stopping yourself from feeling wonderful because YOU THINK there are reasons not to. You think there is something more important that.

You may blame others, or blame rules but the bottom line is there is no reason for you NOT to feel good other than you have decided not to. Get that! This is important! Whatever is or isn’t going on you can absolutely feel good if you want to. It is up to you and I know many people still won’t accept that.

Live more fully today. Lighten up, have fun. Feel good. Seize the moment and delight it it!

You can do this, can you not? If you can’t yet then you must soon find  a way. Hang out with ‘groovy’ fun people. YES, I used the word groovy. You know what I mean. Spice it up, add some umph to your moments, surround yourself with smiles and well-being. Hang with positive, upbeat energetic people. FIND THEM!!!

You can be more peaceful and relax more too. Fun doesn’t have to be a zillion volts charging through you. Some people have fun fishing, or going to the library or sitting on a beach. Other people like to walk or ride a bike. Expand your definition of fun and gusto and delight. I know you don’t live in a beer commercial.

You Only Have One Life

Add in pleasure! Smile, laugh, let go, enjoy. Help someone else feel good too. Add in more moments where you feel the finest. ‘Meh’ should not be an option. Transform the tiniest moments and get into the habit of doing so. Then move onto larger moments. Soon more and more of you day will be uplifting and vibrant.

Live! You only have one life, as far as we are sure of, so enjoy it. Descartes said, ‘I think therefore I am.’ He is right. What we think creates our reality. I have always maintained, ‘I am therefore I think’. Because I live I think. What I think determines how I live. We can not escape the power of our thoughts.

So if life isn’t all that you want it to be. YOU can begin to make it more of what you want when you harness your thoughts. Prune your thoughts and think only the best most positive ones.

When you manage you thoughts you become capable of anything. Remember, it is YOU who thinks thoughts so run them how YOU see fit. Do not let thoughts run you.

Find The Right Reasons

Find more reasons to have gusto and delight and fun today. Give yourself good reason to let go and enjoy. Do it safely, appropriately, wherever you are. You don’t have to not feel good for any reason.

In spite of where you are, what is going on, who you are with you can still feel good. You don’t have to act like a greeting card to feel wonderful. Use common sense but delight yourself and celebrate.

HAVE MORE DELIGHT! RUN YOUR BRAIN! CONTROL YOUR THOUGHTS AND LIVE FROM YOUR POWER!

Stop being weak, making excuses, blaming, or living as a victim. Put a smile on your lips, your shoulders back, chin out and move into the world with purpose to delight. Have fun and delight others. Enjoy! Celebrate. Make it count!” Rex Sikes

Make each moment majestic today!

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Acceptance, Attitude, Focus, Forgiveness, Healthy Choices, Living In The Moment, Overcoming Difficulty, Personal Development, Responsibility, Self Improvement

What To Do When You Lose Your Temper

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no excuses - when you really matter

“Have you ever lost it? Have you ever behaved opposite of how you wished or hoped you would behave? Have you ever been totally fine, even cool, when, for whatever the reason, you lost your cool, you were no longer fine and you exploded?

The next thing you know you are ranting or wailing and that is not ever what you wanted to happen.

Stop! Take some deep breaths. Just stop and breathe. Walk it off. Give your body a pause and move it to utilize the adrenaline that has flooded your system. Allow yourself to settle.

Shift your focus to things you enjoy. That is why they tell you to count to ten to distract yourself. So you create a pause. Shift to things that you enjoy and want to make happen. Relax your focus on what wasn’t working.

Let it go. Later, return and look for solutions. Learn from the moment. Think (manage your self-talk). I use affirmations such as “everything works out for me’, ‘no weapon formed against me shall prosper’, ‘all things work together for good’, ‘great things are coming to me even though I can’t yet see what they are’. Fill your mind with positivity!

Have you ever lost it? I SURE HAVE. I have lost it many times. Sometimes everything is going well and bam, something happened and I lost it. I lost control of my temper, or emotions. Sometimes it seems everything sucked and finally, bam! I lost it.

Take Responsibility

I have I admit it. I take responsibility for it. When it happens I am not necessarily happy about it but I accept it. I have learned not to regret it or shame myself for it. However, if it involves another person, I do the responsible thing and apologize and attempt to make good on it.

If no one else is involved I apologize to myself and make good on it.

I accept that it happened. I move on. I steer back to center and intend for a better day. I go inside my mental movie theater and make adjustments. I watch the situation unfold, i rearrange it, change it, free myself from it and program myself for future positiver behavior instead.

I have learned that when I lose it I am focused on the wrong thing. I am focused on what I don’t want. If I have lost it I have gotten caught up or hooked by what I don’t want in that moment.

When I become aware that I was caught up I acknowledge that I got hooked and celebrate that I noticed. I extract whatever learning I can from the situation and move on. Less and less I get caught up as a result. I lose it less frequently altogether. Life is much more what I want and intend it to be.

Shift Your Focus To What You Want

Still, every now and then are moments. These moments teach me a few things. We are all human, we all make mistakes.  Don’t linger in the crap but return swiftly to the golden moments and opportunity. Be responsible and do the right thing. Accept the consequences of your actions.

I learn I am more in control than I think and yet, I should never consider myself a hotshot or two big for my britches. I also know that it doesn’t ever help to make excuses, whine or blame others even if they actually were the cause.

It does nothing to assign blame. You’d think it would bring satisfaction or some sort of better feelings, or relief or resolve but it doesn’t. Blame is its own form of punishment. I prefer not to get hooked twice.

I realize that if I lost it there is a lesson I haven’t learned yet. I look for what that lesson might be. I think I find it and maybe I do. On the other hand, perhaps, the lesson I found isn’t the one and there is still more to learn.

There are few people who can get me but they still are there. I used to think it was about them. I know it is an opportunity for me to transcend being  ‘gotten to’. They are there to test me and provoke me so I can be better.

What You Resist Persists. Let Go

Do I think this is accidental or by divine design, nope. It just is. Anyone is free too conclude or believe what they wish as far as I am concerned.

Would it be easier if these ‘trying’ people went away. Perhaps, but if I am not free others might just take their place. So I might as well learn to get over these people, or these events, situations, and circumstances! Whatever it is, persists until I stop resisting.

It is like my blog about traffic and surrender. Whatever is is. You can resist, fight and cause yourself and others pain (sometimes I do) other times I surrender, relax and accept. I think more and more it is all about surrender. Letting go and going with the flow.

I think ultimately you learn to create your future the way you want so you can relax about the past and forgive and let go, so you can enjoy whatever the present presents. If you can live and celebrate everything, really celebrate and appreciate. no matter what, then life is absolutely amazing!

The more I find this moment perfect, whatever it is, the more I enjoy each moment. I can still intend to create beautiful things for tomorrow. I can intend health, wealth, well-being and a happy future without losing sight of the glorious now.

Being human means ups and downs. That seems to be the way it is. It seems everything is in flux. Happily there is change and we can change too. I’d hate to think we were predestined.

Be Flexible, Be Forgiving  Be Kind

I look at Bible stories sometimes and find messages and comfort. I look at all sorts of philosophical text. One story comes to mind. The story of Lot and his wife. Many people think it about sin and punishment.

I think of it this way. The ‘sin’ was the old way. I’m not calling it good or bad.  It was the old way of doing things. Lot and his family turned from what they didn’t want, the old way, and toward what they did want.

They left, traveled, moved toward the new. They left the city representing the old way of being and doing (what they did not want) to head to a new destination (what they do want).

Lot’s wife looked back and was frozen in a moment as a pillar of sand. She froze while focused on the old way. She got caught by what she did not want.

Okay, maybe this is not what the story is about at all. But it could be.

When we take our eyes off where we are headed we freeze. We can not move forward looking backwards. We have to keep moving in the positive and worthwhile direction.

Create What You Want Don’t Get Caught In What You Don’t Want

We need to focus on what it is we want and not get trapped by what we don’t want or negative circumstances. Keep our sight on what we want to create that is good and new.

If we fall we get up. If we make a mistake we correct it. Abusing ourself or others with harsh words and bad feelings does not help. Nor does it benefit to treat ourselves with harsh words. Be gentle and kind.

We all make mistakes. We all get hooked noe and then. It is okay. We are human. If we had no possibility to fail we would be robots. We would have no choice. We could not create. We would never learn and our enjoyment would be limited.

Because we can fail we can also triumph. We can celebrate all. We can be victorious and fill our life with greater meaning. We can delight in all things. We can live fully no matter what. I’m glad we have choice. I’m happy we can make mistakes and correct them. It means we can do anything!” Rex Sikes

How often can you smile today?

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