LIFE’S GUIDING FORCE, The Power of Grace

By Tony Robbins

Some call it luck, some call it God, some call it grace. Call it what you want, there is a guiding force that shows up in all of our lives. And the more you acknowledge it, the more it appears.

To understand the power of grace, you must understand that life is not about me; it’s about we. Anytime you do something that is greater than yourself, you get a different level of insight. Your experience is enhanced. Life is really about creating meaning – and meaning doesn’t come from what you get; it comes from what you give.

Ultimately, to be happy you need to figure out what you believe and then live it.

Here’s what Tony has to say:

SOURCE

13:21:00 - By Vincent 0

TIE IT ALL TOGETHER, The Pyramd of Mastery

By Tony Robbins

Let’s take a look at how far you’ve come. We’ve been focusing on the most important areas of your life to have an extraordinary quality of life. To recap, these areas are: Physical Body, Emotions and Meaning, Relationships, Time, Career, Finances and Contribution and Spirituality. Each of these areas requires focus – neglecting any one of them can cause massive pain in your life. To create a life of true fulfillment, you must master all seven areas.

While some areas may be stronger than others, it is important that you continue improve each of them. In doing so, you will create more balance in your life. This balance will allow you to create more momentum and power. Continual progress is the way you get bigger and better results while feeling more fulfilled.

To live an extraordinary life, you must know where you are and where you want to be – and the Pyramid of Mastery is your map for closing the gap and creating the life you deserve.

SOURCE

13:07:00 - By Vincent 0

FEEL GOOD NOW, Progress equals happiness

BY Tony Robbins

If you want to have ongoing joy and fulfillment in your life, the secret is just one word – progress. Progress equals happiness. While achievements and material things may excite you for the moment, the only thing that’s going to make you happy long-term is knowing that you’re making progress.

To do this, you have to remember: While change is automatic – progress is not. Progress results from actively and consciously choosing to create a life you love; a life where you can’t wait to jump out of bed in the morning because you are growing, contributing, impacting and serving.

How do you start creating a life like that? By first learning that you don’t need an excuse to feel good – you can feel good for no reason.

Watch what Tony has to say and then tell us what you do to make yourself feel good.

SOURCE

13:28:00 - By Vincent 0

THE SECRET TO LIVING IS GIVING, Be a part of something that is bigger than yourself

To truly feed your spirit, remember this: The secret to living is giving. No matter how busy or broke you may be, you have something to offer others. So many people miss the opportunity to know that their life makes a difference – but it does. Your life matters – and if you align yourself to be congruent with the truth that you’re here not just to “get” but to give, then other people will feel your authenticity and they will open up to you.

When you give back to other people and your community, it reminds you what you’re made for. Focusing on the needs of others has a way of motivating you to do more than you thought possible. You feel the benefits immediately. You become more productive. You find creative solutions to problems. You find strength when you’re exhausted. That’s because life supports that which improves the quality of life. When we contribute to our community, we become part of something that is bigger than ourselves.

SOURCE

13:17:00 - By Vincent 0

Managing My Depression Is a Constant Struggle. Here's What's Helped

BY JOHN ROMANIELLO

We throw the word "depression" around a lot. That's the unfortunate truth. We use it to describe a weeklong period of sadness after a breakup or a few days of feeling bad when things aren’t going our way. I don’t mean to trivialize those experiences or emotional hardships. But being sad is not the same as being depressed—that’s only the smallest part of it.

Depression is about feeling trapped by overwhelming unhappiness, completely surrounded by an impenetrable fog of misery, and a general acceptance of the idea that it will never go away.

Winston Churchill called depression “the black dog.” His reasoning was simple: Like a hunting dog, it would always be nipping at his heels, following him. For some people, the black dog is omnipresent. For others, like myself, depression comes and goes—but even when you’re not suffering, you’re always aware of the black dog off in the distance, waiting to close in. This is an uncomfortable thought to which one must adapt: Even when you’re not depressed, you’re afraid of depression.

In My Case

 PIN IT

When I say I’ve suffered from “debilitating” depression, I mean exactly that: I’ve had long periods of time (three months or more) when getting out of bed was the only thing I could accomplish each day. And sometimes that was a stretch.

There have been times when I would break down and cry for seemingly no reason or randomly snap and put my fist through a window before I could rein in my temper. There were months when I hid from friends and family, pretending everything was fine and that I was too “busy” to see them while sitting alone in the dark. More often than I care to admit, there were times when I needed to be working on some massive project, but instead would spend a weekend watching an entire season of some TV show I’d already seen.

That’s what depression is like for me: a general inability to perform. And with it, a feeling of shame and guilt for not being able to do so, compounded by the ever-growing anxiety of deadlines.

In many ways, being truly depressed is sort of like being immunocompromised: It weakens you emotionally and psychologically, wears you down to your bones—and suddenly, things that would not normally affect you or which you could fight off with ease overwhelm you. When I’m depressed, I’m infinitely more susceptible to things like guilt, fear, shame, and regret. I’ll dwell on mistakes I made years ago and think about all of the ways I could have done things differently. I’ll feel ashamed of myself and my actions or inaction—and actively fantasize about the ways the lives of everyone around me would be better if I were simply not there.

Small setbacks seem like incomprehensible obstacles. Tiny transgressions seem like reasons for justifiable homicide.

Small setbacks seem like incomprehensible obstacles. Tiny transgressions seem like reasons for justifiable homicide. Mustering up the energy to shower sometimes takes days. Sleep comes unbidden or not at all. Training is half-hearted at best. Food turns to ash, and everything that isn’t made of chocolate seems to be made of cardboard. Life is pretty sh*tty.

Coming Out the Other Side

 PIN IT

Since I’m clinically depressed and not bi-polar, I don’t have cycles of depression alternated with extreme mania. I just have periods of being depressed and periods of being a relatively normal human being. Most of the time I’m fine and happy and productive. I’m typically brash, boisterous, happy-go-lucky. I’m friendly and goofy and annoyingly passionate about love and life and sex and food and literature and music.

But depression doesn’t really follow any schedule or come at predictable intervals. Things just start feeling awful, and then they feel worse. And then you sort of get used to feeling awful. And then maybe things change a bit.

There is no massive change, no celebratory event, no clear signal that the storm has passed. Things just slowly get better. Day by day you’re able to function just a little bit more.

There’s an old saying about the month of March: It comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Depression, then, is the March of your emotional calendar. And like March, it strikes suddenly and takes over absolutely everything. When it fades, it’s gradual. There is no massive change, no celebratory event, no clear signal that the storm has passed. Things just slowly get better. Day by day you’re able to function just a little bit more. And then one day you look up and realize you’re doing pretty well. Things seem less gray, and the world seems to offer reasons to keep living.

And there are reasons—thousands upon thousands of reasons. And they’re all around you. You just need to wait things out long enough for the veil to lift so you can see them. Now let’s talk about how to do that.

How I’ve Coped

Therapy and medication are viable options for treatment, as are other less clinical approaches: meditation, exercise, certain dietary changes. All of them work in their own way. While I dislike medication, I admit that antidepressants, taken in moderate doses for short periods of time (8 to 12 weeks), have seemed to get me through the hardest times.

Whether you find yourself besieged by depression and/or thoughts of suicide, or you know someone who may be in distress, I’d like to provide some other resources that have helped me.

1. Pick up the phone.

If you’re actually considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline immediately: 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).

2. Educate yourself.

If you’re exploring depression from an academic perspective and trying to figure out how the pieces fit together in your particular emotional landscape, I encourage you to spend some time reading the following articles:

Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide, by Tim Ferris
This amazing series on The Art of Manliness, collectively titled Leashing the Black Dog:

• Part 1: My Struggle With Depression
• Part 2: The History of Depression
• Part 3: What Causes Depression?
• Part 4: The Symptoms of Depression
• Part 5: A Realistic, Encouraging, Compassionate, No-Nonsense, Research-Backed, Action-Oriented Guidebook to Managing Your Depression

3. Do nothing; be silent; be still. Breathe.

Take a moment and try to take the long view.

Perspective is important because chances are whatever fresh hell you’re experiencing is a temporary thing. Eventually you’re going to feel better—or at least, less awful. Your experience of depression, however powerful, is an exercise in exposure to the impermanence of humanity—and there is simply no real upside to facilitating death with suicide. Because once you’re dead, that’s it. Game over.

While I admit that the idea of committing suicide might occasionally reach out to the tortured artist in me, the pragmatic side of my personality rails against the thought. Because suicide is permanent—and ultimately robs the world of whatever contributions you may make in the future. What if Hemingway killed himself before The Sun Also Rises? Or The Old Man and the Sea?

While I cannot claim any Pulitzer Prize-winning manuscripts, in my own small way, I change lives. I have a file on my computer of emails filled with several hundred notes from people who have said my work has changed their lives; those are lives I would not have had the chance to change had I checked out years ago. To me, that is a reason to keep living.

4. Take control.

I’ve come to believe that suicide is an attempt to feel in control, and both depression and anxiety result (in part) from feeling out of control. So take control—of something, anything.

Take control of your body. Cut your hair. Get a tattoo. Sign up for a transformation challenge. You’d be surprised how this can help. (I am endlessly surprised by how many of my clients tell me they were suffering from depression before starting their fitness journey.)

Take control of your environment. Change something. Devote five minutes a day to imposing your will on something external. There have been some surveys that suggest that something as simple as making your bed every morning can mitigate the symptoms of depression.

Take control of your mind. Meditate. Read. Write. Examine. Discuss. Whatever seems interesting to you, dive into it and allow it to eat up some of the energy the black dog is trying to siphon from you. I have a friend who was experiencing intense feelings of anxiety and who decided to address it by taking control of his inbox. He made it a game to see how many things he could unsubscribe from or delete in a single day then tried to beat it the following day; within two weeks, he was at inbox zero—and he said that helped.

5. Do less.

A big part of feeling out of control is simply feeling overwhelmed. If you have too much sh*t to do and your ability to produce is already hampered by your emotional state, then you’re not going to get it all done. Trust me, this will push you further in depression.

If you can eliminate something, do it. Do less. Say no to as much as you can. Push off any obligations or projects that aren’t immediately urgent. Delegate things to other people, and actually allow them to help you.

6. Ask for help.

This is the hardest thing of all but also the single most important—and the most beneficial. If you’re anything like me, you feel deep shame about asking for help and more so about needing help.

I find it almost impossible to look back now and get into the mind of the person I was in those moments—but I do know that I did not allow myself to ask for help.

I’ve had three actual suicide attempts: two of which I can say in retrospect were more a cry for help (ironic, as I never told anyone about them), and one that qualifies as what mental health professionals label a sincere attempt. I find it almost impossible to look back now and get into the mind of the person I was in those moments—but I do know that I did not allow myself to ask for help.

What I’ve come to believe is that suicide is something that is contemplated for extended periods of time— yet the decision to execute is made in a single moment. Had I just reached out to someone, anyone, I would have gotten through that particular moment and been able to lean on them for support.

Ask for help. From a friend. A loved one. A stranger. The hotline. A support group.

SOURCE

13:01:00 - By Vincent 0

Creating a Life Plan Can Change Your Life

Why, when, and how to create a life plan

BY Harleena Singh 

Do you think that creating a life plan can really help change your life for the better?

Sounds unbelievable, right? I bet it’s easy to believe that money and power alone can make a difference to your life.

They sure do, but not without a plan!

Without a plan or a program, even your best resources will fail to produce the desired results. Life is no exception.

Creating a life plan is one way to control the outcomes of your life, attempt to manifest your desires or materialize your dreams, and decide your future as well as the state of life.

Let’s learn more about life plans.

“A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.” ~ Confucius

What is a Life Plan

I’m not talking about an insurance plan. Here I’m talking of a strategic plan that gives you some control over your life, to safeguard yourself from failures and taking unnecessary risks.

Life plan is what sets the course of your life, helps you accomplish your aims, and assists in bringing happiness into your life.

The dictionary defines a plan as a series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished.

Life plan is a design that you create with all the will and intention to achieve favorable outcomes. It’s a plan for life, just like the plan you’ve for your business or career.

You can consider a life plan as a map of your life that helps you find the right path, keeps you on track, and makes you happy by making your life meaningful.

Life plan is a structure that gives shape to your hopes and dreams.

You can also consider it as a recipe that tells you about which ingredients you should mix in a specific proportion to bring you the taste of success.

My life plan might be different from yours.

In fact, we all could have different life plans; yet live together in harmony, because life, in general, has a bigger plan that involves all of us.

“You have had a dream for so many years. Let today be the day you make a plan for it. Just think about how much more likely you are to hit your target when you finally aim at it.” ~ Steve Maraboli

Why Create a Life Plan

Do you really know what you want to do or become in life? Do you have a plan for life or a purpose for living?

Obviously, there must be a reason that you’re here in this world and still living – there’s nothing that happens without a reason.

It’s not just about choosing a career, a job, or planning your holidays, investment, and wedding.

Isn’t it ironical that we create plans for everything we do in our life, but not about life itself?

What could be the reasons?

Moreover, if a life plan does help, then why don’t people create one?

If you don’t have a life plan, what’s your reason? Please take the poll to find out why people don’t create a life plan. You may abstain if you’ve created one for yourself.

What are your reasons for not creating a life plan?

Not being aware of a life planNot knowing how to make a life planNot wanting to make the effortsNot believing in life plans

VoteView ResultsPolldaddy.com

Are there any surprising results?

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” ~ Allen Saunders

True. Life happens, and sometimes you’ve to accept it, even if it is not in accordance to your plans. Agreed that we aren’t in control of our lives all the time.

But that doesn’t mean that you don’t set up a life plan. Yes, you should not let your plan control you because that makes life difficult.

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Even if plans don’t work your way, you need to do life planning.

A life plan is effective and it does not bind you. It also gives you the freedom to be yourself and achieve your potential.

You need a life plan because it gives you power, makes you strong, and helps to show you the direction of your life.

Most importantly, you need a life plan because it makes your life focused.

Focus and direction are two important elements among others requirements to be successful.

If you do not have a life plan, then it’s just like sitting on logs that drift away with no control, in the river of time.

You can even compare a life plan to a motorboat that can be steered at your will and doesn’t make you feel helpless, but very much in control.

If you feel you’re losing control of your life, things aren’t happening as you wish them to happen, and you feel that your efforts are not bearing the expected fruits, then you must think about creating a life plan.

If you’re not happy with your life, or wish to achieve more in life, then you must plan your life.

A life plan may not guarantee you success, but it can surely make your life easier. It’ll provide you with the specifics to make sense out of the chaos in your life so you don’t waste more time.

Your life plan would define all the milestones, everything you need, all you have to do, and make you realistic about your life.

Do you now believe in the importance of a life plan? I hope you do!

It’s great if you want to evolve in life. It’s not that you don’t evolve if you don’t plan long-term. Even day-to-day plans and living consciously helps you evolve.

However, a long-term plan will give you a new perspective, and an overview that will make your day-to-day living more meaningful.

Now that you know what a plan is and why you need it, when should you start?

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” ~ Zig Ziglar

When to Create a Life Plan

Any time is the right time for creating a life plan, but the earlier the better.

There may be many reasons trying to stop you from doing so, or there could be much doubt in your mind.

You just need one strong conviction to take the positive step and live to the fullest of your life’s potential.

“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you’re ready or not, to put this plan into action.” ~ Napoleon Hill

What could be a better time than the beginning of the year to reset the course of your life and steer it into the track of progress.

Generally, those who value life and don’t take it for granted are interested in having a life plan. They’ve a strong desire to succeed.

Passion is the fuel that drives all plans. If you’re inspired by now, and are filled with zeal and fervor for life, then it’s time to plan for it.

Some go for a life plan when all options in life seem to have failed them. That’s the time necessity becomes the mother of all reasons to plan their lives.

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” ~ Anatole France

You’ll make a life plan when you strongly believe in it. I’d say, don’t wait for the extreme situations, or think that you’re too old and it’s too late.

It’s never too late. The time to create the plan of your life is NOW!

If you’ve made up your mind, then just pick up a pen and paper and start creating your life plan.

“You have to create your life. You have to carve it, like a sculpture.” ~ William Shatner

How to Create a Life Plan

The first thing you need is a reason to script your life plan, and a strong belief to follow it. I hope by now you’re convinced that you need to have a strategy in place to make your life as you want.

Like all other plans, your approach to creating a life plan should be very logical.

1. Know what you want or where you want to go

2. Find the best and easiest way to achieve your aim or reach your destination

3. Assess yourself and your status to know the resources you have with you

4. Choose the best strategy as per your condition and circumstances

5. Make an action plan and commit to it

Do you believe in a different approach? Please share in the comments; I’d love to know them.

You need to have your own life plan. Don’t try to copy that of others, because you’re unique and you’ve your own beliefs, dreams, purpose, priorities, and qualities.

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” ~ Jim Rohn

I believe you can control your life to a great extent and transform it into how and what you want. Isn’t it?

But, how do you go about doing that? I mean achieving happiness not by chance but by your will. I’d say you can follow the following steps to designing your life.

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” ~ Napoleon Hill

Steps to Creating a Life Plan

Your life plan will take the real shape and better form only when you write it down. It will make you serious, accountable, and committed to your design for life.

Creating a life design will give you the focus and force to execute and achieve your dreams. With this dynamic map in hand, you’ll never lose your way.

You need to be very precise and positive while creating a life plan. Use positive sentences to express your precise goals, and make them measurable.

A good plan will always be clear and achievable. You can make it in form of an outline or in detail if you like, or perhaps without being time-specific or a time-bound plan.

Creating a life plan can be a three-step process. A smart tip is to create your plan from top to bottom and implement it from bottom to top.

KNOW and PURPOSE

First, you need to know what you want.

Do you’ve a dream or a vision? Will achieving that make your life complete? What will make you happy in life? What is the purpose or aim of your life? What is the one thing that you’ll settle for in life?

You’ll create your life plan especially for yourself. So, the first thing you need to do is know and understand yourself.

I know this appears to be the most difficult step for some, and it really is not easy. You may understand complex mathematical equations, but understanding yourself seems more difficult at times.

The strongest drives and solutions are all within you. Let yourself be guided by your inner-self and intuition.

If self-introspection seems difficult, what you can do is list all your likes and the things you love in life or about yourself, to make a personal assessment.

Though your likes and dislikes keep changing with time, but you’ll have a better idea and picture about who and what you’re, and what you should be doing.

What are the things you want in life? What is the state of life you want to achieve? What are your innermost desires and drives?

All plans have a purpose, aim, or a goal to start with.

All sportspersons use strategies, and all players have plans to win their games.  The military, doctors, teachers, and all professionals go by their plans.

You must’ve observed the nature and its manifold aspects around you. Do you know that each element of nature has a specific purpose?

Nothing exists without a purpose. Have you found your purpose of life?

Well, I won’t delve with this aspect in its depths, but if you‘d like to do that, you might like to read my post about it.

MUST READ: How to find purpose in life and be happy

As per the dictionary meaning, a purpose is an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions. In other words, it’s your aim or objective.

In general, the purpose of life for everyone is to be happy. You can define more specific, realistic, and measurable outcomes that you want to achieve for a limited period.

Having a purpose in life is like knowing your destination, where you’ve to go, in the journey of life. Do you have a dream – if you believe it’s realistic enough, make it your purpose in life!

You need to make short-term goals that serve as milestones to your long-term goal, the destination. Goal setting gives you a vision, a bigger picture, guide, and motivation.

Describe your purpose of life as clearly and precisely as possible.

Besides the purpose, you also need to set your priorities in life. This should be in line with your short-term and long-term goals.

If the main goal of your life is to be happy and achieve happiness for your family, then you need to set intermediate goals at different intervals of your life that can lead to happiness in life.

ASSESS and DEFINE

Second, you must assess and define all aspects, including yourself.

Have you taken a stock of yourself, gathered resources, and defined the critical success factors? Have you defined your success and set the achievable goals? What steps would lead you to your destination?

Observe yourself and find out what are your personal qualities, aptitude, abilities, skills and whatever you’re good at – your strengths and talents.

You can take the help of your family and friends, who might be able to give you some feedback that probably you never took into consideration earlier.

However, you yourself have to figure out what your needs are – emotional, financial, mental, physician, and spiritual needs. Your hopes and dreams have great value too.

Now that you’ve a realistic understanding of yourself, you can get ahead with creating a life plan that is entirely unique for you.

Find out the resources that you require that will help you in achieving your purpose of life. If you don’t have everything, you may’ve to make do with whatever you’ve.

You need to define what success means for you. We all may’ve different definitions and interpretations of success.

You need to find, define, and write the factors that can contribute to your success. Your life journey will become easier when you define your short-term or intermediate goals.

Next, you want to know how to get results.

PLAN and OUTCOMES

Third, plan how you’ll get the results that you want.

Have you created your mission to achieve your purpose? Have you defined your objectives, strategies, and action plans? Do you have specific commitment in place and ways to measure the output or result?

Outcome is the result of your efforts. How precisely can you define the outcomes you desire in your life?

What do you want to be in life? What is your goal and how realistic it is? Is that leading you to your next goal in the scheme of progress that you’ve defined for your life?

Defining the outcomes is like putting up milestones that measure the progress you’ve made or the distance you’ve to travel in your efforts to reach the final destination.

The more outcomes you’re able to think of, the more clearly you’re able to define your life, make it meaningful, know exactly what you want to do and how to proceed in your life.

Remember that the outcomes and purpose of your life should be realistically in line or in coordination with your personal abilities and capabilities.

For example, you’re a blogger and you want to be the richest person in the world. Now this is a bit exaggerated and unrealistic, isn’t?

What about if you want to have a bank balance of 5 million dollars after 5 years.

It’s a great plan, but is it realistic and feasible being a blogger?

Well, I personally feel it’s difficult, but not impossible either. It depends on your skills, attitude, approach, and the timing. Of course, hard work included.

May be you can’t be the world’s richest person, but you can make big achievements if you’ve a combination of high goals, aspirations, resources, a winning attitude, and a strong life plan.

Don’t disbelieve me; there are exceptions and people who’ve done it. Look at Pete Cashmore of Mashable, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Timothy Sykes, and many other bloggers.

You too can transform your life!

All you need are right strategies, well-configured action plans, and specific commitments to carry out the plan objectives.

Once you know all about yourself, define your purpose of life, assess and define everything, and describe your desired outcomes along with your action plan, you need to pen them on paper.

“Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” ~ Napoleon Hill

Sounds great and simple, doesn’t it? However, there’s more to designing your life. One thing you need is a correct format that suits you for creating your life plan.

I haven’t made one for you because good formats are already available created by personal development experts.

You can have a look at Michael Hyatt’s popular life plan here or a simple goal-planning template here.

You create a life plan according to what matters to you and what you want to be.

Make sure that your aims or goals are measurable. You need to define them clearly.

Remember, you need to keep re-visiting your plan, adjusting it according to relevant changes, and keep refining it. A life plan need not be rigid and static; it’s always flexible and dynamic.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Remember that not all good things in life happen by chance. You can create happiness by your efforts and change your life for the better by creating a life plan.

This is the time to start a new life and journey when lots of festivities are going on all around the world.

I wish to extend all my wishes to you for a brighter, healthier, prosperous, and more importantly, a happier year ahead.

“Plan for the future because that’s where you are going to spend the rest of your life.” ~ Mark Twain

Over to you –

What are your views about scripting your life plan? Have you ever created one? If yes, then please share your experiences and tips to make our lives meaningful in the comments below.

SOURCE

13:42:00 - By Vincent 0

Letting Go: How It Helps You

BY Donna Merrill 

Letting go does not mean giving up! In fact, it helps you gain peace of mind and move forward.

Today I’ve a special guest – please welcome Donna, who’s an intuitive life coach and personal development expert. Let’s read all that she has to share with us today – over to her.

Letting go of anything is so difficult for some people. It can be a hurtful family member or just a piece of furniture.

When we refuse to let go, what happens? We remain stagnant.

Our life is so cluttered with the old, often useless and dysfunctional stuff that we have no room for new things to come in.

I know how difficult it is when a loved one passes on. We mourn our loss and go through a ritual such as burying or cremating the person. Each culture has its own way of facing the “ending”.

We give ourselves time to mourn and then let go. I don’t want to sound morbid by using this example, but it is the ultimate experience of letting go.

Death is something everyone learns to handle because it is an inevitable part of the natural life cycle.

But what happens to people when they become entrenched in a specific lifestyle, or a particular journey and they just can’t adjust to any alteration or modification?

Why People are Afraid of Letting Go

People may stay at a job they don’t like because of fear of what is beyond their potential. Some stay there for years and do not allow themselves to grow and enjoy the things they may love to do.

I notice that when people refuse to let go of things that just don’t work for them any longer, their happiness and sense of self worth start to melt away. They cannot enjoy their spouse, their family, etc.

They may get angry or play victim to the very circumstances that they foster. In any case, they won’t allow themselves to try to extend themselves even for a job interview, let alone starting their own business.

And, often enough, if they do step out of their comfort zone and things don’t work out, they quickly play the blame game to make things somebody else’s fault.

Letting Go of Things in Your Life

I know a woman who is quite a hoarder. Now, this is a physical and transparent form of refusing to let go.

This person cannot let go of her furniture because it reminds her of her past. Her garage is full of surplus furniture and she always complained about it, and begged me to help her get rid of it. But first, I extended myself by visiting her to take pictures of everything, from furniture down to the silverware.

I made a photo album for her so she could keep those memories without cluttering her home. Little by little, she started to give away something here and there. But she didn’t let go of these things without anxiety.

So each time she gave something away, I suggested that she look at the picture we took. After two years, her house has nothing but the essentials in it. Now she is even ready to move to a new place.

Unsurprisingly, this woman’s willingness to let go of her furniture has opened her to letting go of some negative relationships in her life. As she has done so, she’s been able to replace them some good and positive relationships that she had previously avoided.

This is one simple way to illustrate how letting go of things go in our lives enables us to grow, and to move on to new adventures and possibilities.

Letting Go and Starting Your Business

When it comes to our wonderful world of business on the internet, I find that lots of folks are fearful of letting go of menial jobs that are going nowhere in order to start their own business.

So, what can we do with the person who can’t let go of dead-end jobs and careers, even though they are fully capable of doing better?

“Create a back door!” I usually suggest. Go on working as usual, but create time to work on your own business. Nothing happens overnight.

Start your new venture part time, utilizing spare evening or weekend hours. There are many successful people who are doing business part time via the Internet.

That phrase “create a back door” is comforting to those who find it difficult to let go all at once. All one has to do is be diligent, persistent and a business will bloom.

Time is not necessarily of the essence here. “Letting go” is.

Starting an online business part time affords a comfort zone to many people that I’ve consulted with.

They can rely on the job that keeps them financially and emotionally comfortable, while taking daring little chances for a few hours a day.

It’s really not uncommon that before they know it, they are able to totally let go of the go-nowhere job and mentality, and apply themselves fully to doing what makes them happy.

Letting Go of People in Your Life

Letting go of people that are toxic is a biggie, too!

I must have heard a hundred stories about people that won’t let go of a toxic or worse,abusive relationship.

I feel this is the worst form of refusing to let go, especially if there are children involved in the situation.

It is often not an easy thing to let go of a partner because of financial situations, or worse, the syndrome whereby one spouse believes that they cannot survive without the other, even if it puts them (and others) in harm’s way.

Now, if there are children involved in this situation, they are being abused, too. Yes! If daddy is putting down mommy or even worse, displaying violence, the children will suffer, too. To me that is criminal.

But hey, I’m not Queen of the world. I just know this from my own personal experience!

When the abused spouse lets go of the abusive partner (and sometimes it is best to get help before one does it), they end up gaining strength. Why? Because it takes so much strength to deal with that situation, when it is over, the victim who couldn’t let go – turns into the victor who did.

Conclusion

So you see – letting go is often required in order for you to move forward in your life, and in your business.

We all need to let go of some things in our lives in order to grow. The above examples may be pretty extreme, but try applying it to even small things in your life.

Are you holding on to something that you just cannot shake? Do you dream of anything at all that you aren’t doing right now?

What are you waiting for? Let go of ANYTHING that is holding you back and realize that you never stuck in time, you are always evolving. Growth and development never end!

Over To You –

Do you believe in letting go? What can you let go of to make room for growth and improvement in your life? Share in the comments.

SOURCE

13:33:00 - By Vincent 0