Sunday, June 7, 2015

You become what you think

Some of the most successful people will tell you that their achievement was fast tracked by learning from someone who had already achieved success in what they wanted to do. It is also true that you become your environment, if you surround with people with low aspirations… who moan and complain all the time, then that is what you will become. People like that are toxic to your own happiness and success.

Many successful people will tell you that they found the most benefit by being in a mastermind group of like-minded people they could bounce ideas off and feel inspired by!


Friday, June 5, 2015

Rules for the Game of Life

from If Life Is a Game…These Are the Rules
by Chérie Carter-Scott, Ph.D.



You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life." Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.

Why are you here? What is your purpose? Humans have sought to discover the meaning of life for a very long time. What we and our ancestors have overlooked, however, in the course of this endless search, is that there is no one answer. The meaning of life is different for every individual.

Each person has his or her own purpose and distinct path, unique and separate from anyone else's. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.

Once you have learned the basic lessons taught to you by your own body, you are ready for a more advanced teacher: the universe. You will be presented with lessons in every circumstance that surfaces in your life. When you experience pain, you learn a lesson. When you feel joy, you learn a different lesson. For every action or event, there is an accompanying lesson that must be learned.

As you travel through your lifetime, you may encounter challenging lessons that others don't have to face, while others spend years struggling with challenges that you don't need to deal with. You may never know why you are blessed with a wonderful marriage, while your friends suffer through bitter arguments and painful divorces, just as you cannot be sure why you struggle financially while your peers enjoy abundance. The only thing you can count on for certain is that you will be presented with all the lessons that you specifically need to learn; whether you choose to learn them or not is entirely up to you.

The challenge of Rule Two, therefore, is to align yourself with your own unique path by learning your individual lessons. This is one of the most difficult challenges you will face in your lifetime, as sometimes your path will lead you into a life that is radically different from others. Don't compare your path to those around you and focus on the disparity between their lessons and yours. You need to remember that you will only be faced with lessons that you are capable of learning and are specific to your own growth.

If you are able to rise to this challenge, you can unravel the mystery of your purpose and actually live it. You cease being a victim of fate or circumstance and become empowered—life no longer just "happens to you." When you are working toward fulfilling your true purpose, you discover astonishing gifts within yourself that you may have never known you have. This process may not be easy, but the rewards are well worth the struggle.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

We become what we think...

 An Excerpt From
The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale


George Bernard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them.”

Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn’t know where he’s going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry—his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing… he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I’ll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision.

We’re comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn’t care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn’t care what you plant.

Now, let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand—one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds—one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land…and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

As it’s written in the Bible, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Remember the land doesn’t care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants—one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn’t care what we plant…success…or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal…or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant. 

Monday, June 1, 2015

The heart of a leader

 The Heart of a Leader
by Ken Blanchard

Start your people on a journey to the land of empowerment, but don’t forget that they need boundaries. If you cut them loose without any direction, they will get lost and revert back to their old unempowered habits. Like the banks of a river, boundaries have the ability to channel energy in the right direction. If you take away the boundaries, your people will lose their momentum and direction. Boundaries that create autonomy include:

Purpose—what does your company do?
Values—what are your company’s operational guidelines?
Goals—where is your company headed?
Roles—who does what?
Structure—how is your company organized?

Don’t send inexperienced people off alone and then punish them when they make mistakes. Establish clear boundaries that will free them to make decisions, take initiative, act like owners, and stay on track.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Change Maker




Can a little girl's lunch money help save the world? Watch this TRUE story about 11-year old Melissa and see for yourself what is possible when passionate changemakers commit to making a difference in other peoples' lives.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

A simple truth

"A Simple Truth" – Author Unknown & Greatly Appreciated


A great master was sitting on the seashore, on the beach, and a man who was seeking for truth came to him, touched his feet and asked, "If I am not disturbing you, I would like to do anything you suggest which can help me to find the truth."

The master simply closed his eyes and remained silent. The man shook his head. He said in his own mind, "This man seems to be crazy. I am asking him a question and he is closing his eyes." He shook the man and said, "What about my question?"

The master said, "I answered it. Just sit silently... don't do anything, and the grass grows by itself. You need not bother about it -- everything will happen. You just sit silently, enjoy silence."

The man said, "Can you give it a name -- because people will be asking me, "What are you doing?"

So he wrote on the sand with his finger: meditation.

The man said, "This is too short an answer. Be a little more elaborate."

The master wrote in big letters: MEDITATION.

The man said, "But these are simply big letters. You are writing the same thing."

The old master said, "If I say more than that, then it will be wrong. If you can understand, then just do what I have told you and you will know."
 

Monday, May 25, 2015

Crowning of Mary Help of Christians

Our Blessed Mother Mary was crowned on her Feast day the 24th of May.  The outgoing provincial Fr. Tom Dunne did the honors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rutxegc7bEM