Be Courageous

Courage is being scared and doing it anyway.  Change is scary, because we’d rather stick with the same crappy situation because at least our situation is familiar, and we fear it could be worse.  But if we don’t do what we are a little or a lot afraid of, we can’t make it better or do something worth talking about.

Stand up inside yourself – and be courageous!

Leave the nest

When we get away to another part of the country or world, where people think and live differently than we do, we gain insight and expand our thinking.

Traveling makes the world look new.

Be nice

How do we deal with our enemies in the physical world or online?  Ignore them.

How do we make friends?  Say nice things about them.

What do you do?

Follow people who are smarter than you.

The people we hang around have a huge impact on us.  

Who are you following/getting with/reading that is doing what you want to do?

Keep a gratitude file

When you get an email, note or card from someone who is thankful for what you have done for them, three-hole punch it and put it in a binder.  Writer Austin Kleon calls it a “Praise File”.  I call it my “Gratitude Book”.  

Not only does it make you want to do more of what people appreciate, but it can help you on your dark days to look back and see that you’ve done some good.

Use Your Hands

“In the digital age, don’t forget to use your digits!” – Lynda Barry, cartoonist.

Some of us use computers a lot.  Some use computers all the time.  But don’t forget the analog world we were made for.  Do things and create things you can feel, smell, and shape.  

Inspiration for the digital world comes from the physical, tactile world. 

To learn is to be reminded

We know or have learned most all we need to know.  But we forgot.

We learned what was important, and it got covered up, camouflaged, and misfiled by so much of what is less important.

You know.  You just need to be reminded – and reminders will come.

How to apologize well

1) Don’t wait.  (If you have, don’t wait anymore.)

2) Be sincere.

3) Use the right words.  Acknowledge their feelings, take ownership, assure them it will not happen again, and don’t use “if” or “but”.

4) Take action if necessary to make things right.

5) Don’t expect instant forgiveness.

Let go of the Story

If you keep telling yourself that story, (the one about you, what happened, them, what’s impossible, limited options, etc.) then the story will be your reality.

If you want the story to change, let it go.  

When your EGO takes over

Your ego thrives in negative thinking.  It loves it.  Conflict, conspiracy, doom.  Your ego rises to “protect you”, when all it is doing is protecting itself by keeping the conflict going.

When you think positive, you chase that ego back, because it can’t do much with positive thinking; there’s no job for it there.

Living well is easier when we don’t have to fight the voice in our head that we think is us.