photo credit: thebusybrain

Part of it may be blamed on a warped idea of what it means to be successful.
Bigger, faster, stronger; larger engines, huge tires, bigger, Bigger, BIGGER, more, more, more.
Already driving a nice little Civic?
Great!
Now, take a look at this SUV over here-isn’t that what you really want? Your buddies would be absolutely green with envy!
And let’s not forget jewellery.
Wouldn’t it be great to be flashing gold from every orifice? Why not add a couple of places while we’re at it–that guy over there did, and we know what good taste he has! Just look at his girlfriend!

It’s incredible, how extreme this comparing of what we have, and what we believe we are, to others can become.

Next time you find yourself doing this, stop for a moment to notice: does this comparison make you feel good about yourself? Does it make you feel good about your accomplishments, your ability to secure a life you will be proud of and look back on when the time comes with pride? How does it make you feel about the other person?

Do you honestly think “Good for Phil. He deserves a great life!” or do you wonder why he has whatever he has that you don’t, seethe inwardly, and look upon the world with a greedy, “I want it all until I have it, then I want even MORE!!!” kind of attitude.

A certain amount of honest admiration for the material possessions of another may be a healthy thing. It may be what you need to keep you moving towards goals of your own, seeing the coveted item as a prize to be earned by improving your lot in life.

If it is something which brings only negativity, self-doubt and envy, it is something you should work towards changing.

Begin by taking a good, honest look at your own life.

Really consider how fortunate you are. Think of the things others may see you as possessing, that they do not.

Perhaps you have an impeccable way of dressing.

Perhaps you have talent in the arts, such as musical talent or painting.

Perhaps you can light up an entire room with your smile, or pick up a conversation which has been flailing, infusing it with energy and enthusiasm like no other person they know can do.

Perhaps you are the one with the giant SUV, the huge house, fabulous jewellery and great winery.

Wherever you are in your life today, you worked to get there.

You have dreams for your future, friends who care about you, not what you can do, buy, or be for them.

Acknowledging what you have, being truly grateful for being where you are, what you are, and who you are, is one of the greatest weapons against the tendency to compare yourself to standards other than your own.

Comparing yourself only to standards which are yours, which resonate with what you feel deep inside to be true, is another.

Wield these weapons daily, and you will defeat the green-eyed monster of the meaningless.

Nothing can compare to that.

photo credit: bitmask
Having just gotten back from a restful camping trip with my family, I decided to wander through the web in search of something new to do.
Boy, did I find it!
I have just signed up for the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge at Hundred Pushups.com.
The initial test revealed the unhappy fact that I am able to complete 8 pushups in total, which left my arms quivering like Santa’s belly and my spirit determined to do better next time. Soon, I vowed, I would have arms of steel, Superman (Superwoman?) arms, arms that will ripple not with mushy fat, but with sinewy, gorgeous muscle.

Well, at least arms that can carry me confidently through one hundred pushups!

Apparently being able to do 8 pushups makes me just about average.
I’m at a level 2 according to their site, and will be able to complete 100 pushups before I know it!
Maybe not in my customary 30 days (although of course that is my idea. Not theirs. They figure a 6-week program is in order. Hmm…perhaps 2×30 days?).
Anyway, wish me luck, and why not head on over there and sign up for the challenge yourself?

Wonder if I should challenge my brother to an arm wrestling match in, say, six weeks or so? Hmm…

photo credit: ??????™

Do you know someone who does things as a matter of course that you wouldn’t dare to do?

I don’t mean walk on fire type of things, or race into burning buildings to rescue kittens.

I mean everyday things.

They go places in their career because they take some sort of risk you never would have dreamed of.

And even if you had thought of it, you wouldn’t have done it, because if it didn’t work out properly, you could have lost your job.

But they did it, and it worked out well, and bully for them, but how the heck did they know it would turn out well in the end?

They didn’t.

Do you secretly wish you could do the same sorts of things, but somehow, they seem too frightening, too powerful, too life changing, too–well, they just seem too much, is all.

Do you ever wonder why some people jump in with both feet, while you meekly dab in your big toe to just maybe test the waters?

Call it courage.

Call it love of a challenge.

Call it what you will.

It’s the something inside every one of us that propels us forward, prompting us to take action where others will not, pushing us forward to try new things, to invent, to create, to excel.

Courage. Nerve. Confidence.

You gotta love the ones that have it.

The good news is, that you can grow your courage muscle.

Like any other part of you, it just needs to be used on occasion.

Try something a little different.

Go to different places.

Try different types of food.

Learn a new language, then go visit a country where they speak it.

Try things.

That’s all it takes to build your courage muscle.

Then, like any other muscle, with regular use, it will grow stronger.

More resilient.

Trying different things will become easier.

Don’t try foolish things.

Don’t go sticking your head into the mouth of a lion, or anything like that.

Try good things.

Things that take you at first just a bit beyond your comfort zone.

Gradually, you will find it comfortable, and need to stray further from the edge.

Then you will be the one others will be looking at and wondering where you got the nerve.

Strayed from your comfort zone? Have a related story or experience you’d like to tell? Why not share? Comments are always most welcome!

I just got my copy of Holly Lisle’s Create A Plot Clinic book from Lulu!

This wonderful book promises to teach you (and I’m stealing this from the back of the book. Hope nobody minds!)

*How to choose and use your structure

*How to create story ideas from 20 easy tools

*How to organize your plot before you write (I need this. Last time I attempted a novel, I got through part of chapter 8, then had no idea where the story was going. Hence, my purchase of the book! Oh boy, Oh boy!)

*How to adapt the plot while writing

*How  to deal with “late, great ideas and your stubborn muse”

*And much more!!!!!!!

Awesome!

I can’t wait.

And it got here just before we are going away for a week camping!

Will I have time to read?

Will I have time to work on my writing?

Stay tuned, and find out.:-)

(Oh boy, Oh boy!)

Here’s some of the great writing help books available from Holly Lisle!

photo credit: theogeo

Ed. Note: This is, regrettably, the final instalment of the series, the Achievers. It is my own humble answer to the question, what has had the most positive impact on your life? I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to make this series such a fantastic success. I wish I could keep it going all year long. And thank you to all who have been reading it, and those who have Stumbled it, Digg’d it, and put it on more social media than I even knew existed! This series has reinforced for me the final message of this post: there are heros and villians in this world, and best of all, here there be angels!

Thank you all so very, very much.

I found in my Internet wanderings today, a post on developing intuition. I found it here Unusual Way To Develop Intuition, and it got me thinking about the importance of listening to that inner voice in our lives.

It also reminded me of a related experience.

Very much like Lexi, when I was a young girl, I was drawn to late-evening walks. Mine did not share the wonderful terrain that hers did–I lived in a small town with streets lined with lights and a small store at the end of our block.

I would be at home, feeling a sense of anticipation, an urge to go out. Almost a restlessness.

And I would venture out, breathing in the cool evening air, doing errands for my mom if she wanted me to pick something up for her.

I remained unharmed in my evening walks, for something about the crispness of that air brought to me an awareness, a curious sense of when I should and should not venture forward, a timely distrust of shadows on occasional jaunts I would not have thought twice about going towards most evenings.

Days, as well, found me often out walking.

I would walk for miles, literally, going off to the larger city eight miles down the road, walking.

Most of these hikes prooved uneventful. They were pleasant times, where I meditated without knowing that was what I was doing as I moved.

One particular day, with the sun shining above and birds singing alongside the road, I turned a bend towards the city, and I froze.

There were clusters of trees, thick with summer’s growth, across from each other ahead of me.
I was absolutely certain there was someone hiding behind one of them. It was the one on the side of the road that I was walking.

There seemed nothing amiss–birds kept singing, a breeze lifted my hair, and I stood momentarily transfixed, aware of something–a sensation, a warning.

At the same time, it went through my mind so quickly it wasn’t so much a thought as it was a feeling–I was on a country road.

On the other side, behind the trees where I thought it looked safe, there was a farmhouse.

No cars were in the long driveway.

Going back would mean turning away. I would not be able to see if anyone were approaching me from behind, as in from those trees to my right.

Going forward would mean I would have to make it about a quarter of a mile before I would reach the small convenience store where I could stay until the bus arrived. Beside that store was the first bus stop for buses that would take me safely to that city.

I crossed the road and moved forward.

A man, skinny and tall, crossed ahead of me, from behind those trees to my right.

He smirked, and waited patiently for me behind the trees to my left. He moved the branches a little, and I was sure it was deliberate.

He knew I was aware of where he was.

He knew I was on a highway in the country.

No cars were visible nearby.

He also knew I was alone.

He continued moving the branches of the trees which shaded part of the field in the farm where no one was parked.

I thought–do I cross back over again?

I still did not want to turn my back.

I had a deeply-felt certainty that I would be unable to outrun him if I were to try.

Then a feeling came over me, an almost urgent calm.

I was going to be all right.

From behind where I was walking, I heard a vehicle approaching.

This was a highway. In the country, granted, but a highway.

That vehicle could have been absolutely anybody.

Instead, it was someone turning into the long driveway to the farm.

Somehow, someway, the man driving it (it was a beat up blue and white pickup truck. I can still see it so clearly it’s like I could reach out and touch it), stopped at the head of this long country driveway, got out of that truck, and confronted my would-be attacker.

The thing is, I had no inkling until I had turned that corner, that there was any danger ahead of me.

I do not recall getting that feeling of dread in my gut which had kept me home from would-be walks many times before then.

But it was there, very strong, warning me, telling me to take heed, causing me to pause just long enough for that man in the blue and white truck to appear.

I do not always listen when my intuition whispers, but on that particular day, I absolutely knew there was someone there.

I knew as well that I would be all right.

I have no idea who was in that old pickup truck.

It could have been someone just turning into the driveway so they could go the other way.

But I am absolutely certain to this day, that I owe that man my life.

He’s been the subject of many silent prayers of thanks since back then.

I’d like to take the time to thank him publically now.

I hope he knows he has made a huge difference.

To me, he was my guardian Angel when I badly needed one.

That one walk showed me at a young age that there is good and bad in the world, that there are heros and villians. and at times, just exactly when you need them the most, there may appear an Angel.

Had a similar experience where your intuition warned you of danger before it was otherwise evident? Been saved by the kindness of a stranger who was passing? Did you learn somewhere in your life to listen, really listen, when your intuition speaks? Why not share? Comments are always most welcome!

photo credit: JaeYong, BAE

I do a lot of 30-day challenges on this site.

Currently, I am wrapping up several of them: my Stuff Reduction Program (done), eating a healthy breakfast every day for 30 days (done), not eating anything with sugar listed in the first four ingredients for 30 days (started over), and making one trip to Goodwill per week for 30 days with a minimum of one bag full of good donations (done). Also, I am starting to walk for at least thirty minutes, every day, for 30 days.

Pretty busy stuff.

The Goodwill trip one went nicely with the Stuff Reduction one, and the food-related ones go well with my  body tuneUp program,which I have reembarked on after leaving it due to health related issues within my family. My walking for thirty minutes per day is also helpful to that goal.

Ordinarily, I would not at this point take on any more challenges.

However, there is one I am going to begin.

I do not want to drive an automobile at all for 30 days.

With regular gas having shot up to $1.34 per liter where I live, I feel that this is one way that I will be able to quietly protest the rising cost of transportation. I would like it very much if anyone who can do so would join me.

Instead, we can bike ride, skooter, walk–anything and everything other than driving a car filled with gas at that price.

This will save us money, increase the amount of walking we do, ease the load on the environment, and force us to be more creative in acquiring groceries, etc. As a bonus, I believe we will think carefully about wants versus needs, when faced with carting goods home without an automobile (in my case, in the bottom of a stroller.)

The only time I will use my automobile in the next thirty days, is in bringing my kids home from a camping trip next week.

What are you doing, to fight rising gas prices?

Have a related story or idea? Are you doing something truly unique to fight gas usage? Have you abandoned your automobile in favor of gas-free transportation? Why not share? Comments are always most welcome!

photo credit: binababy123

Many truly fabulous things we have in this life, we are simply given.

Water to drink, the ability to somehow get around, whether by walking, running, jogging, or some other mode of motion. Also free to us is the air that we breathe.

All given to us, at no cost.

Even the ability to monitor and perhaps to change our thoughts and our attitudes–all that is asked in return is some self-monitoring and a bit of work on our part. Free, nevertheless.

On the web, as well, there is made available some pretty incredible stuff, right there, for the cost of the click of a mouse.

For instance, at the site Free Personal Development Material you will find tons of free ebooks, videos, and audio programs. These are all brought to you courtesy of Lyman Reed, of Creating A Better Life.

As well, you can find free forms on personal development, life coaching, etc, at Synergy Institute .

Even Personal Development Partners has a free membership option available. If you prefer, you can take a Premium membership for more perks. The Premium membership costs just $19.95 per month. Until the end of June, you can do what I did, and take advantage of the Lifetime Premium Membership offer, for just $57 U.S.. It’s a small amount to invest in your personal development. And the people there are great!

At VistaPrint, you can take advantage of their Free Offers, for which you pay just the charge for shipping. Recently, I ordered 250 Business Cards through them, and I paid just over $10.00 for shipping. Not a bad deal! check out this and other offers at Summer Clearance Sale at VistaPrint! Save up to 90%!.
.

Also, just released is a PDF book from several fellow members of Personal Development Partners. It’s called Secrets to Creating More Inner Peace. It’s filled with great tips and ideas for doing just that! You can download this ebook here, free of charge Secrets to Creating More Inner Peace.

Why not go on over and check out these great offers? While you’re there, why not take a look around. I’m sure you will like what you see!

photo credit: Zest-pk

 Ed. Note: This is Part 7 in the series, The Achievers.

Suzie Cheel. is an artist, an internet entrepreneur,  and has recently become a Certified Law Of Attraction Facilitator. Suzie writes at The Abundance Highway, Art and Beyond, Thinking Home Business and each Sunday in Beach Notes at Successful Blog.

 The Achievers: Creating Change to Achieve Success

When  Jennifer asked the question “what has had the most positive impact, made the biggest difference, in your life?”

I thought of 2 specific times when I took a risk and stepped out of my comfort zone, both times have changed my life’s direction.

Risking The Safe Secure Path.The first time was about adversity generating change and I chose to really get out of my comfort zone and give up the security of a salary, superannuation, paid holidays and more.

This was 20 years ago when I had been acting for two years as a Head Teacher in Childcare at a college of the State Department of Technical and Further Education (TAFE). I enjoyed the job, I liked the college and liked and respected the Principal and had good staff to supervise. When the position came up for a permanent appointment I applied and expected to get the job.

But I didn’t get the job. I remember that it was during the holiday period and I was doing a retreat, an MSIA retreat when I had to make a phone call to find out what was going on and I discovered that I hadn’t got the job. Another teacher from another college, who did not have my experience, had been appointed instead.

Also, I was told that I wasn’t going back to that college that I liked: I was being transferred to another college.

At the time, I was devastated.

But when I look back now, I see that experience of not getting the Head Teacher job as in some ways like a gift. It also changed totally the direction of my life.

At that time I had applied to do a Graduate Diploma of Social Ecology at what was then the Hawkesbury Agricultural College and is now part of the University of Western Sydney. I was planning to use that to help me in my leadership role, with my staff and the child Care students we were training.

I had always been involved with textiles,  tie dye, weaving) and had started, about a year before missing out on the TAFE promotion, and while on a Club Med holiday with a friend,  the wonderful art of hand painting on fabric. I then was commissioned to make some banners. I had planned to build this as a hobby.  That all changed with the news about my TAFE career.  I then applied what I had started to do with my art and turned that into a business.

The postgraduate course helped me with this change of direction and I had my very first exhibition at the “Feed Shed” center at the college, “Hawkesbury Ag” as it was known.

Out of doing that course also came a book of poems and art on the theme of self-esteem and the emotions of change, a book I have yet to publish. It is called emergings and I am planning to self publish  and have it ready for launching at Blog World in September this year. Another getting out of the comfort zone

I created a successful textile business, Suzie Cheel Handpainted Originals, which I ran and which sustained me for about fifteen years. I have recently re-launched my art-as-business in a blog, Suzie Cheel Art and Beyond. I later went on to do a Masters degree in Social Ecology which relates closely to the next story.

My Big Hairy Audacious Goal

The second taking a risk and getting out of my comfort zone is more recent. This time I deliberately chose to get out of my comfort zone. This has created both change and success and has me building a new business. I decided to use my blog tagline Law of Attraction in Action and put it to work. Using the law of attraction is something I now realize I have been using for many years of my life.

Since the late1970’s when I first bought Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, then Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life, I have been involved with Personal Development on one level or another. I have  read Wayne Dyer, Catherine Ponder, Robert Kyosaki and many others, attended seminars too numerous to mention, watched and listened to The Secret, and more.

Last year I was shown Michael Losier’s Law of Attraction Book, sub-titled The Science of Attracting More of What You Do Want and Less of What You Don’t . I couldn’t buy the book at that time here in Australia and as we were going to the States later that year I put it on my Amazon list to order.

Since reading this book, then joining Michael’s tele-classes and listening to him on Voice America, I found myself drawn to the simplicity of his message.

Michael came to Australia earlier his year and we went to hear his 3 hour seminar. I got excited, I thought this is the “how to guy” -  he walks his talk. There was no hard sell that is so often the case with similar seminars. I came away from the seminar with the tools to use to, all from a simple handout and

I knew Michael was having his first Master Law of Attraction Facilitators program in Vancouver in June 2008. He mentioned on a tele conference call in April that he was going to doing this program in April 2009, in Malaysia. I thought, that’s great, I can fly to Malaysia from the Gold Coast for $300. In the meantime I kept using his simple system and I found I was experiencing more joy in my life and attracting more of what I did want in my life.

Something then changed for me and I decided I wanted to go and do the program in Vancouver in June this year. It was now May. I needed $7000-8000 to get there. This was a real stretch: as I mentioned at the time in my blog post “My Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG), I didn’t have a hidden reserve of cash to draw on for the purpose.

I launched my BHAG on May 3, asked for help from fellow bloggers and went into action. We sold domain names and a website. I finally launched my art blog and sold scarves and art quilts, some of which I had previously intended to keep. Many were designs and styles I no longer produce, and as everything I make is a one-off, they were truly irreplaceable. I organized a Tweetathon with Glenda “The Left Thumb Blogger” from Vancouver.  We established the Team World, Be the Law of Attraction in Action community on Ning, which will become a fund raising site for various causes.

When I reached around $4,000, with only ten days to go till the course started, I took a deep breath (several actually) and bought the air ticket and booked to share a hotel room with another participant. By the time I stepped on the plane to Vancouver I had raised close to $5,000, some from supporters who wished to remain anonymous. I was still $2,000 short of what I needed, but I remembered from a personal phone call I had had with Michael that he was going to teach me how to build a successful business, so I had every confidence that I would effortlessly attract the balance of my target very soon.

I flew out on June 3rd, did the course and am now back home. And yes I feel I made  a great decision. The program was awesome, as is the after support Michael is providing, not to mention my 70 fellow LOA facilitators.

I am  very excited about the new business I will build as a result of stepping outside my comfort zone. I am also very excited that I now have a powerful platform which I will use to satisfy my long held passion for making a difference by inspiring others and empowering people to live lives full of joy, freedom and creativity.

 Share your taking a risk, stepping outside your comfort zone stories in the comments below.

 Ed. Note: Next week’s edition is the final one in the series.

photo credit: peterme

This morning, I happened upon a post Multiply Your Time by Nneka at Balanced Life Center, about how she no longer watches television.

It gave me pause–I realized it has been over two years now, since I quit watching television (other than monster truck shows with my son. He loves them, and I love watching his face while he watches. There is such joy there!).

What do I do, now that I am no longer attached to the television?

What would you do, if you stopped watching, even for a short while? What if people just started turning away from the tube?

It’s astounding, how much time you get back, entire evenings and weekends to spend fully engaged in your own life, rather than watching others living out theirs.

Here are some ideas of what you can do, instead:

1) Read a book. 

I love reading, so this is number one for me.

I don’t get to do this as often as I would like to, however, but I do get to do lots of the second one!

2) Spend time with your family. 

Ok, so you could be spending that time watching the tube with your family.

Or, you could be taking your kids outside, to parks, to the backyard, for walks.

You could actually TALK with them.

Imagine!

3) Workout. 

If I wasn’t blessed with my family, this is likely what I would be doing with some of my used-to-be-t.v. time.

It’s tough to find time for this, and utilizing some of that tv-watching time in this fashion would be a great answer.

For me, however, I tend to workout by walking with my son in his stroller.

And usually we’re going to a park.

4) Cook a new recipe. 

Some people rush through meal preparation, in order to be able to see their favorite television show.

Still others solve this problem by having a television in the kitchen.

Why not savor the experience, deeply inhale the aromas, invite others over to share in a meal they could help you prepare?

Or do the same with just you and your family.

Or just you.

5) If you are a student, this is a good time to do your homework or studying. 

Television can distract you from your studies, impairing learning and therefore affecting your grades.

Turn off the tube while doing your schoolwork.

6) You could join a club. 

It could be a bookclub.

Or a sports team.

Or Toastmasters.

Or any other club or team you have been thinking of joining, but haven’t because you don’t have the time.

7) You could socialize.

Imagine, going out and actually spending time with other people, real people, rather than sitting and watching actors/actresses performing before a camera!

What could happen to your life?

8 ) You could take a course. 

Always wanted to learn photography?

Or painting?

A new language, or to play a musical instrument?

This is a great time for doing this.

9) Go for a walk. 

I enjoy walking.

We have a lovely waterfront park near where I live, miles of shoreline for boaters, bikers, walkers, and a playground for the children.

I especially enjoy it, when I can convince someone to join me.

10) Call someone. 

Call a member of your family, a friend you haven’t spoken to for awhile, or a relative you don’t see often, but like.

Bonus #11)  You could use this time to write a book. 

Have you always wanted to write a book?

Fiction or nonfiction, if you haven’t done it because you don’t have the time, why not shut off the television?

Instantly, you have gifted yourself with hours of time to do whatever it is you would like to do.

Why not try it, for a week, or thirty days?

For me, this not watching television, is one habit I plan to keep!

Have you stopped watching television? Has it improved your life in some way? What do you do with the extra time? Or did you try it, miss it, and turn the tube back on? Why not share? Comments are always most welcome!