A person can do what they believe is best for themselves or they can do what is best for the community. Very often though a person can not do both. Within our home we have three different small groups of people. Two by design and one that is just sort of happening.
The first is renters, people who do not have an interest in our overall vision and goals. These people just pay money to share some of our extra space.As long as they continue to pay their rent on time and do not make a nuisance of themselves, how they live and what they do in general is of no
consequence to us.
The second group is the people that are committed to our vision and goals who are dedicated to improving the lives of not just our community but of creating gradual world change.Instead of having a specific person that decides what we are or are not allowed to do we let our ideals decide. At any
point where our goals alone are unable to provide a clear picture of what to do we put things to a vote.
The third group is a splinter of the second. Those in this third group think a lot of the things we stand for are good ideas but they want to go off and do their own thing somewhere else. They are part of our group for now, but in a couple of years they won't be.
The problem with this is, in the past they could be counted on to always make whatever decisions were best for our household on the whole. Now, it seems like a crap shoot whether or not they will do what is best for themselves or best for all of us. In the past the two things were one and the same- Now they are not.
This creates disharmony. It seems unfair to ask a person to make choices that are not in their own best interest. But when those choices are better for you, it is difficult not to ask them to do so. It was kind of the whole point of us all living together in the first place.
There is kind of an us vs them mentality at times, as if we were rivals instead of friends. This is somewhat infuriating to me because I don't think that way. I see all of us as us. In my mind, we either all succeed together or we all fail together.
It is not impossible for us to move forward with our goals while they move forward with theirs but things are certainly more complicated this way. There are less win-win circumstances and sometimes the compromises that we end up making are less than ideal.
For me, I guess, the biggest problem is, I want to respect their goals and wishes while at the same time pushing towards going in the direction that is best for our group goals and vision. I don't want to choose between the two.
But I have to. So, I will focus on and in the end insist on whatever is best for those in our inner circle. I will still be polite and respectful whenever possible but much less concerned about the thoughts and feelings of those that are choosing a different master than my own.
Showing posts with label vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vision. Show all posts
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Ask before you tell.
"You can only boost a man up a ladder if he is willing to climb"
That's a recent quote I found inside a fortune cookie. And while it may not be perfectly worded it is very true. The people in our group do their very best to help other people whenever possible, but what often happens is we spend a great deal of time and effort struggling to provide assistance to someone that isn't even looking for it.
We each have our own beliefs as to what life should be like and even those of us with similar visions still don't see things exactly the same way. And quite often we get stuck in our own head. We take it for granted that other people see things the same way we do and that they think the same things we do. So with this image of how things should be, we offer to assist others in coming more in line with our vision. But they refuse the assistance and we become momentarily confused.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. There's a whole bunch of different ways of saying it. They all basically mean the same thing. Don't waste your time attempting to help or change someone that doesn't want it.
A lot of people, women in particular, tend to decide that they know how a person, generally a man, ought to be. And with the right manipulation, they think that they can change that person into exactly who he should be.Without asking him what he thinks, or giving him a chance to say how he would like to be, they begin the long arduous process of turning him from the person he is into the person they want him to be.
Typically, somewhere along the way arguments spring up because she pushes him in a direction he has no interest in and often does not have any idea why she is even pushing him in that direction. She says she is doing it for his own good. He disagrees. They fight. She gets hurt because she feels she is doing the right thing He gets mad at her attempt to control him.
Her vision and his vision are different. If they sat down and talked about it, there's a chance they could unify their visions and work towards the same goal. But as long as she has a secret agenda that he knows nothing about she is going to want him to change in ways that he has no interest in and he is not going to understand why she is offering. People are the way they are because it is how they want to be. You are not going to get a person to change without them agreeing to, without them deciding for themselves that change would be good.
The problem here comes from assuming that one knows what is best for another. And that is something that is very rarely ever true, at least where adults are concerned. If you want to assist a person first find out if they are open to assistance. Ask questions. Be clear on what it is that they want and what it is that they do not want. If they do not want coaching, guidance or support your efforts to provide those things are guaranteed to fail. If they do not want to change, don't try to change them.
That's a recent quote I found inside a fortune cookie. And while it may not be perfectly worded it is very true. The people in our group do their very best to help other people whenever possible, but what often happens is we spend a great deal of time and effort struggling to provide assistance to someone that isn't even looking for it.
We each have our own beliefs as to what life should be like and even those of us with similar visions still don't see things exactly the same way. And quite often we get stuck in our own head. We take it for granted that other people see things the same way we do and that they think the same things we do. So with this image of how things should be, we offer to assist others in coming more in line with our vision. But they refuse the assistance and we become momentarily confused.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. There's a whole bunch of different ways of saying it. They all basically mean the same thing. Don't waste your time attempting to help or change someone that doesn't want it.
A lot of people, women in particular, tend to decide that they know how a person, generally a man, ought to be. And with the right manipulation, they think that they can change that person into exactly who he should be.Without asking him what he thinks, or giving him a chance to say how he would like to be, they begin the long arduous process of turning him from the person he is into the person they want him to be.
Typically, somewhere along the way arguments spring up because she pushes him in a direction he has no interest in and often does not have any idea why she is even pushing him in that direction. She says she is doing it for his own good. He disagrees. They fight. She gets hurt because she feels she is doing the right thing He gets mad at her attempt to control him.
Her vision and his vision are different. If they sat down and talked about it, there's a chance they could unify their visions and work towards the same goal. But as long as she has a secret agenda that he knows nothing about she is going to want him to change in ways that he has no interest in and he is not going to understand why she is offering. People are the way they are because it is how they want to be. You are not going to get a person to change without them agreeing to, without them deciding for themselves that change would be good.
The problem here comes from assuming that one knows what is best for another. And that is something that is very rarely ever true, at least where adults are concerned. If you want to assist a person first find out if they are open to assistance. Ask questions. Be clear on what it is that they want and what it is that they do not want. If they do not want coaching, guidance or support your efforts to provide those things are guaranteed to fail. If they do not want to change, don't try to change them.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
How is not important
In a lot of my previous work, I discuss plans and vision. There is talk, at length, about the fact that there needs to be a specific plan to get you from where you are to where you want to be. It is mentioned that without such a plan you are doomed to repeat all the things that you have done up until this point, for the rest of your life.
From all this, one could easily get the impression that I believe you should be micromanaging every hour of every day and how it gets done. That how every single little thing gets done should be planned out ahead of time to the last detail. That there should be a vision of the way everything is done and that everything must be done exactly according to that vision.
This could not be farther from the truth. In fact such micro-management leads to insanity. It leads to a person becoming a completely obsessive control freak. Let me show you what I mean.
When I was younger, I lived under the thumb of my stepfather. From my perspective at least, I could never do anything to his satisfaction. And for a long time the things that happened simply boggled my mind.
He DID have an exact method by which he wanted everything done. My natural inclination was to do things by the simplest most efficient methods. We obviously grew up very differently because my way and his way were never the same. Doing things his way often seemed like the thing itself was a punishment. It would take longer, use more resources and quite often produce a lower quality result than the way that I was used to doing things.
I would do things my way. He would get mad at me and ask me why I didn't do things the way he wanted them done. But anything I responded with that wasn't me agreeing with him about his way being better either got ignored or got me disciplined.
Sometimes he would ask if I did what he asked and when I said I did, things seemed to be okay for awhile, until he queried whether or not I had done them his way. Then all hell would break loose. It was always his way or the highway, with no quarter given.
Let me ask you this. If your plan involves becoming the owner of a yacht, and a deceased relative wills you one just like the one you would have bought for yourself, should you sink it and go about getting the boat "your" way? Would you do that? Of course not. That would be insane.
You may intend to get wealthy by writing the next great American novel. But if what happens instead is a penny stock that you invested in suddenly becomes a Fortune 500 company and you find yourself swimming in money, why be upset about it? Just quit your job and enjoy the new freedom. If you want to, you can still invest the time and energy to become a bestselling author, but now you don't have to.
We all have a vision of the way things are going to be or the way they should be. But the bottom line is the result. As long as what you are doing is morally and legally sound, who cares how things get done? What matters is that it gets done and that you are happy with the quality of the result. Don't be attached to the image you have in your head of how things will happen. Because most of the time, that image is wrong.
Specific things do have to happen in order for your life to be the way you want it to be. Exactly how they happen is really not important. Let go of the image. Become attached to the results. Or as I like to say, function over form. Screw the details.
From all this, one could easily get the impression that I believe you should be micromanaging every hour of every day and how it gets done. That how every single little thing gets done should be planned out ahead of time to the last detail. That there should be a vision of the way everything is done and that everything must be done exactly according to that vision.
This could not be farther from the truth. In fact such micro-management leads to insanity. It leads to a person becoming a completely obsessive control freak. Let me show you what I mean.
When I was younger, I lived under the thumb of my stepfather. From my perspective at least, I could never do anything to his satisfaction. And for a long time the things that happened simply boggled my mind.
He DID have an exact method by which he wanted everything done. My natural inclination was to do things by the simplest most efficient methods. We obviously grew up very differently because my way and his way were never the same. Doing things his way often seemed like the thing itself was a punishment. It would take longer, use more resources and quite often produce a lower quality result than the way that I was used to doing things.
I would do things my way. He would get mad at me and ask me why I didn't do things the way he wanted them done. But anything I responded with that wasn't me agreeing with him about his way being better either got ignored or got me disciplined.
Sometimes he would ask if I did what he asked and when I said I did, things seemed to be okay for awhile, until he queried whether or not I had done them his way. Then all hell would break loose. It was always his way or the highway, with no quarter given.
Let me ask you this. If your plan involves becoming the owner of a yacht, and a deceased relative wills you one just like the one you would have bought for yourself, should you sink it and go about getting the boat "your" way? Would you do that? Of course not. That would be insane.
You may intend to get wealthy by writing the next great American novel. But if what happens instead is a penny stock that you invested in suddenly becomes a Fortune 500 company and you find yourself swimming in money, why be upset about it? Just quit your job and enjoy the new freedom. If you want to, you can still invest the time and energy to become a bestselling author, but now you don't have to.
We all have a vision of the way things are going to be or the way they should be. But the bottom line is the result. As long as what you are doing is morally and legally sound, who cares how things get done? What matters is that it gets done and that you are happy with the quality of the result. Don't be attached to the image you have in your head of how things will happen. Because most of the time, that image is wrong.
Specific things do have to happen in order for your life to be the way you want it to be. Exactly how they happen is really not important. Let go of the image. Become attached to the results. Or as I like to say, function over form. Screw the details.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Why are you where you are?
Our parents say it to us all the time as we are growing up. Its in movies and books everywhere. They say it in most commencement speeches. You can be anything you want to be. You can go anywhere you want to go. You can do anything you want to do. The sky is the limit, anything you set your mind to you can accomplish.
Those words aren't just empty platitudes. They are truth itself. Yet, how many of us are who we really want to be, are where we want to be and do what it is that we want to do? Very few, if any. There lies before us a world of infinite possibilities, countless open doors. Why do we not simply walk through them and change our lives forever, for the better?
Most of our lives are filled with other people's junk. Things that we really have no interest in and really don't know what to do with. There are the desires of our parents, pushing us towards the lives they either have or weren't able to have. There's our well meaning but often misinformed friends guiding us towards their idea of a perfect life. Teachers, guidance counselors, other family members all telling us what we should do and filling our lives with the things that they want for us. Many of those things aren't ever going to work for us, even though they come with the greatest love and best intentions. But, from the ideas that will work for us why can't we cobble together the perfect life from the bits and pieces of all the things they shove our way?
We try. We take the parts that seem like good ideas and we make them part of our life, but more often than not we aren't happy with the results. Why is this? Each of these people that love and care about us are sharing with us their vision of who we are and who we could be. The ideas and things that they suggest would work better if we were exactly who they envisioned. But we are not the people that our friends and family see us as. It simply isn't possible, because no two people see us exactly the same way
If we know thirty different people there are thirty different points of view on who and what we are. Piecing together a life from these different ideas would be like taking thirty different clips from thirty different movies about thirty different people and attempting to make one two hour movie out of the clips. It's probably doable it just wouldn't make any sense.
Some of the ideas and thoughts that our loved ones have of us are mutually exclusive, they can't exist within the same person. Some are ways that we could be but aren't. Others are things that at one time were true but aren't anymore.
So how do we get to be who it is that we want to be, live where we want to live and do what we want to do? There are clues in some sayings and cliches that have been around for centuries. Fortune favors the bold. God helps those who help themselves. The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
That's right. It isn't for anyone else to tell you what you want or what it is going to take to get it. In order to get what you want out of life, you get to decide, who you want to be, where you want to go, and what you want to do. Have a clear vision of exactly what your life will look like when these things are a part of your life. Search your life from the bottom up and discard all the thoughts, feelings and ideas that are holding you back, no matter who or where they come from.
You are where you are either because it is where you have decided to be or because it is where you let others decide for you to be. Take back the reins. Direct the movie you want to see. It is only your vision that can get you where you want to be, only your plans, ideas and work that will make it happen.
Those words aren't just empty platitudes. They are truth itself. Yet, how many of us are who we really want to be, are where we want to be and do what it is that we want to do? Very few, if any. There lies before us a world of infinite possibilities, countless open doors. Why do we not simply walk through them and change our lives forever, for the better?
Most of our lives are filled with other people's junk. Things that we really have no interest in and really don't know what to do with. There are the desires of our parents, pushing us towards the lives they either have or weren't able to have. There's our well meaning but often misinformed friends guiding us towards their idea of a perfect life. Teachers, guidance counselors, other family members all telling us what we should do and filling our lives with the things that they want for us. Many of those things aren't ever going to work for us, even though they come with the greatest love and best intentions. But, from the ideas that will work for us why can't we cobble together the perfect life from the bits and pieces of all the things they shove our way?
We try. We take the parts that seem like good ideas and we make them part of our life, but more often than not we aren't happy with the results. Why is this? Each of these people that love and care about us are sharing with us their vision of who we are and who we could be. The ideas and things that they suggest would work better if we were exactly who they envisioned. But we are not the people that our friends and family see us as. It simply isn't possible, because no two people see us exactly the same way
If we know thirty different people there are thirty different points of view on who and what we are. Piecing together a life from these different ideas would be like taking thirty different clips from thirty different movies about thirty different people and attempting to make one two hour movie out of the clips. It's probably doable it just wouldn't make any sense.
Some of the ideas and thoughts that our loved ones have of us are mutually exclusive, they can't exist within the same person. Some are ways that we could be but aren't. Others are things that at one time were true but aren't anymore.
So how do we get to be who it is that we want to be, live where we want to live and do what we want to do? There are clues in some sayings and cliches that have been around for centuries. Fortune favors the bold. God helps those who help themselves. The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
That's right. It isn't for anyone else to tell you what you want or what it is going to take to get it. In order to get what you want out of life, you get to decide, who you want to be, where you want to go, and what you want to do. Have a clear vision of exactly what your life will look like when these things are a part of your life. Search your life from the bottom up and discard all the thoughts, feelings and ideas that are holding you back, no matter who or where they come from.
You are where you are either because it is where you have decided to be or because it is where you let others decide for you to be. Take back the reins. Direct the movie you want to see. It is only your vision that can get you where you want to be, only your plans, ideas and work that will make it happen.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Never give up. Never surrender
So, you take the time to sit down and plan out the life of your dreams. You get every detail of what you want down to the very last chandelier and garden gnome. Once you know what it is that you want, you spend days or weeks even planning all the steps you are going to have to take to get there.
Then you decide to start following the plan. You plot out your course and put yourself on autopilot. Several weeks or months later, you put life a on hold for a few minutes and check to see how you are doing. You find, somehow, much to your chagrin, that you are way off course.
What happened? After all you had a plan. Why didn't it work? If the plan isn't going to work, why bother? Should you just give up like everyone says? Throw the plan away? Maybe it'd be better to just let whatever happens happens. This working for a goal thing is just too much.I should give up.
Don't you ever make that decision.Because the moment you do, all of your hopes and dreams for the future die. While it is not pleasant, it is both okay and expected for you to meet with obstacles and ,yes, even failures on your journey to the life of your dreams.
None of us has ubiquitous vision. It is impossible to foresee ahead of time all of the curves that life is going to throw your way. Anyone who has ever been in the military or part of any professional sport knows that even the best made plans only survive until it is time to put them into action. Then theory and reality clash and in most cases reality wins.
Left to fend for themselves most plans will wither and die shortly after implementation begins. But, if you really care about the results, you won't let that happen. If you truly desire success, you don't get to leave things on autopilot. The reason for this is because you need to be constantly checking to see how things are going. If everything is on track keep following the plan.When life throws you an obstacle or teaches you a lesson modify your plan accordingly.
In the beginning example the only problem was you weren't checking often enough to see how you were doing. And in all fairness it can be hard to do something new or to do old things a new way. You have to learn to get past not just the resistance of others but your own resistance to doing things differently.
Failures in your day to day life are fine. They are learning experiences that you can use to more accurately tailor your success plan. Don't beat yourself up about them. Learn the lesson and move on. When you find you are off track, for whatever reason, refocus,recommit and get back to work.
Remember, you can have anything you want. If you are willing to do the work to get it.
Then you decide to start following the plan. You plot out your course and put yourself on autopilot. Several weeks or months later, you put life a on hold for a few minutes and check to see how you are doing. You find, somehow, much to your chagrin, that you are way off course.
What happened? After all you had a plan. Why didn't it work? If the plan isn't going to work, why bother? Should you just give up like everyone says? Throw the plan away? Maybe it'd be better to just let whatever happens happens. This working for a goal thing is just too much.I should give up.
Don't you ever make that decision.Because the moment you do, all of your hopes and dreams for the future die. While it is not pleasant, it is both okay and expected for you to meet with obstacles and ,yes, even failures on your journey to the life of your dreams.
None of us has ubiquitous vision. It is impossible to foresee ahead of time all of the curves that life is going to throw your way. Anyone who has ever been in the military or part of any professional sport knows that even the best made plans only survive until it is time to put them into action. Then theory and reality clash and in most cases reality wins.
Left to fend for themselves most plans will wither and die shortly after implementation begins. But, if you really care about the results, you won't let that happen. If you truly desire success, you don't get to leave things on autopilot. The reason for this is because you need to be constantly checking to see how things are going. If everything is on track keep following the plan.When life throws you an obstacle or teaches you a lesson modify your plan accordingly.
In the beginning example the only problem was you weren't checking often enough to see how you were doing. And in all fairness it can be hard to do something new or to do old things a new way. You have to learn to get past not just the resistance of others but your own resistance to doing things differently.
Failures in your day to day life are fine. They are learning experiences that you can use to more accurately tailor your success plan. Don't beat yourself up about them. Learn the lesson and move on. When you find you are off track, for whatever reason, refocus,recommit and get back to work.
Remember, you can have anything you want. If you are willing to do the work to get it.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Are you a visionary or a dreamer?
Imagination.
It is an awesome powerful tool that has been used for countless things by billions of people for the last few thousand years.
Imagination has kept us entertained through the creation of literally millions of plays,books,movies songs and works of fine art. Nearly every great invention throughout history has been the direct result of imagination.
Without imagination nothing new could ever be created, well not intentionally anyways. A person first must conceive the seed of a new idea and then continue to use their imagination to cause that seed to begin to grow into the thing which they see within their mind's eye, so that their vision of the thing can become real.
It is the tool that is used the most by people who want to change their lives for the better and by those that want to make the world a better place. But there are really two main types of imagination and it is important to know the difference between them.
There are visions and there are dreams. Vision includes plans of action, goal setting, seeing an end result and working towards it. Vision is about your mind disagreeing with the world around it, about the way things are as opposed to the way it should be and deciding that you are going to do whatever it takes to bring about what you see in your mind. It is a powerful force that bears with it the seeds of change.
On the contrary, dreaming has no power behind it. There is no drive to change the way things are. Dreaming includes hoping,wishing,wanting,desiring. On its own it is essentially a waste of time and even though the dream may be a beautiful one, it really only causes us pain if there is no intention of putting in the effort to make any change. Don't get me wrong a dream can turn into a vision, but until it does it is useless.
Men of vision would be people like Gandhi, the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison or Alexander the Great. And although he is famous for saying "I have a dream" Dr Martin Luther King was a visionary. He saw the world as a very different place than the one he was living in and set out to make his vision match reality.
Visionaries make the world into their image. Dreamers pine over the fact that the world is not how they envision it. People who have vision, while not satisfied with the way things are, are generally happier than people who spend their time dreaming. This is because even if it takes a long time to succeed they are making their dreams come true rather than waiting for someone else to come along and do it for them. Being a visionary empowers you. Being a dreamer disempowers you.
Which are you? Which would you rather be? How different would your world be if your dreams became visions, if you actually spent the time and energy to make your dreams come true?
It is an awesome powerful tool that has been used for countless things by billions of people for the last few thousand years.
Imagination has kept us entertained through the creation of literally millions of plays,books,movies songs and works of fine art. Nearly every great invention throughout history has been the direct result of imagination.
Without imagination nothing new could ever be created, well not intentionally anyways. A person first must conceive the seed of a new idea and then continue to use their imagination to cause that seed to begin to grow into the thing which they see within their mind's eye, so that their vision of the thing can become real.
It is the tool that is used the most by people who want to change their lives for the better and by those that want to make the world a better place. But there are really two main types of imagination and it is important to know the difference between them.
There are visions and there are dreams. Vision includes plans of action, goal setting, seeing an end result and working towards it. Vision is about your mind disagreeing with the world around it, about the way things are as opposed to the way it should be and deciding that you are going to do whatever it takes to bring about what you see in your mind. It is a powerful force that bears with it the seeds of change.
On the contrary, dreaming has no power behind it. There is no drive to change the way things are. Dreaming includes hoping,wishing,wanting,desiring. On its own it is essentially a waste of time and even though the dream may be a beautiful one, it really only causes us pain if there is no intention of putting in the effort to make any change. Don't get me wrong a dream can turn into a vision, but until it does it is useless.
Men of vision would be people like Gandhi, the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison or Alexander the Great. And although he is famous for saying "I have a dream" Dr Martin Luther King was a visionary. He saw the world as a very different place than the one he was living in and set out to make his vision match reality.
Visionaries make the world into their image. Dreamers pine over the fact that the world is not how they envision it. People who have vision, while not satisfied with the way things are, are generally happier than people who spend their time dreaming. This is because even if it takes a long time to succeed they are making their dreams come true rather than waiting for someone else to come along and do it for them. Being a visionary empowers you. Being a dreamer disempowers you.
Which are you? Which would you rather be? How different would your world be if your dreams became visions, if you actually spent the time and energy to make your dreams come true?
Monday, December 23, 2013
Social Unification Through Widespread Dissemination of Information pt2
We are about 2/3 done forming a household of like minded people. While it may be a good idea, this gradual growing of a physical community limits the amount, speed and ways in which our tribe can grow.
With the advent of the internet, people of like minds need not live in the same communities, or in fact, even the same countries as one another, in order to share their ideas and thoughts. We need to no longer be limited to physical location, like the Indians were.While most of the tribe may be centered in one area, seeds of growth can pop up all over the world.
That subject line should have deciphered itself by now.
If we want to change the world, why not do it on a global as well as a small scale? We can focus our attention primarily at home, but share our philosophies and ideas with other people around the world that want to see the same kind of change that we do. Those that disagree with the ideas can just choose to ignore what we have to say and those that agree can speak up and join the tribe.
It might take decades using the mindset of the one household at a time type expansion, from our tribe's current center to affect places like Africa, Europe or Asia. But, through the sharing of our thoughts and ideas over the internet, other people can take it upon themselves, right now, to form a local branch of our tribe within their own community.
I do not currently do a lot (very little ever) of social media type stuff. But some other members of my tribe do. And I plan to start doing more. A major change for me is that I will probably start putting this blog on my Facebook page, so others who know me and have no other way of contacting me can see where my mind and heart are at and so those who do not know me personally can get to know me and my tribe.
We are about empowerment, positivity and personal growth. We have a vision statement that describes what we stand for as individuals and as a community.It is as follows
[We the people of "Grok the Planet " are committed to changing the world, one soul at a time. Our goals are to constantly continue to grow and improve ourselves emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially as well as physically and to encourage others to do the same. We will achieve these goals by each one of us being a leader, living in excellence, being impeccable with our word, making no assumptions, taking nothing personally and striving to do our best in all things]
The idea is to perform positive personal change and to encourage and support others in doing this as well. If these goals and ideals match yours, please join our tribe. I am co-creator, general idea guy, and somewhat spiritual leader for the tribe. To find out more about the ideas and philosophies of Grok the Planet, please, read the rest of my blog. It is chock full of the beliefs and examples of our way of being.
Decide for yourself, if you want to be part of a group that changes the history of the world, by changing the way people interact with one another. If this is your cup of tea, shoot an email over to darkg0d@hotmail.com . Interested parties only please. Flames will be ignored.
See you tomorrow.
With the advent of the internet, people of like minds need not live in the same communities, or in fact, even the same countries as one another, in order to share their ideas and thoughts. We need to no longer be limited to physical location, like the Indians were.While most of the tribe may be centered in one area, seeds of growth can pop up all over the world.
That subject line should have deciphered itself by now.
If we want to change the world, why not do it on a global as well as a small scale? We can focus our attention primarily at home, but share our philosophies and ideas with other people around the world that want to see the same kind of change that we do. Those that disagree with the ideas can just choose to ignore what we have to say and those that agree can speak up and join the tribe.
It might take decades using the mindset of the one household at a time type expansion, from our tribe's current center to affect places like Africa, Europe or Asia. But, through the sharing of our thoughts and ideas over the internet, other people can take it upon themselves, right now, to form a local branch of our tribe within their own community.
I do not currently do a lot (very little ever) of social media type stuff. But some other members of my tribe do. And I plan to start doing more. A major change for me is that I will probably start putting this blog on my Facebook page, so others who know me and have no other way of contacting me can see where my mind and heart are at and so those who do not know me personally can get to know me and my tribe.
We are about empowerment, positivity and personal growth. We have a vision statement that describes what we stand for as individuals and as a community.It is as follows
[We the people of "Grok the Planet " are committed to changing the world, one soul at a time. Our goals are to constantly continue to grow and improve ourselves emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially as well as physically and to encourage others to do the same. We will achieve these goals by each one of us being a leader, living in excellence, being impeccable with our word, making no assumptions, taking nothing personally and striving to do our best in all things]
The idea is to perform positive personal change and to encourage and support others in doing this as well. If these goals and ideals match yours, please join our tribe. I am co-creator, general idea guy, and somewhat spiritual leader for the tribe. To find out more about the ideas and philosophies of Grok the Planet, please, read the rest of my blog. It is chock full of the beliefs and examples of our way of being.
Decide for yourself, if you want to be part of a group that changes the history of the world, by changing the way people interact with one another. If this is your cup of tea, shoot an email over to darkg0d@hotmail.com . Interested parties only please. Flames will be ignored.
See you tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Vision. What you see, you create.pt2
Yesterday, we talked about how my vision ten years ago for how I
wanted things to look today did not turn out quite the way I actually
wanted it to. It was mentioned that specific things were just the way I
wanted them to be, but others were not.
And therein lies the key. The things that I was specific about came to pass. The things that I wanted but only imagined in a vague sort of way either did not happen or went horribly wrong.
Some people would say the fact that I got any of the things that I wanted was sheer luck and I should be happy with my results. And I am. I am ecstatic that many of the things we worked so hard for turned out the way we wanted them to.
We, me and my chosen family, no longer live in separate apartments. We have a house to call our own. Not including the house itself, our debts have dropped dramatically. Our home is a peaceful, nonjudgemental environment, where people can feel free to be themselves, as long as who they are is not a danger or threat to others within the home. People can let their guard down here, reflect on their lives and relationships and can tear down the parts of who they are that they do not like and begin the process of personal reconstruction.
Every bit of that was something I very specifically wanted to make real. It was not luck. It was a vision of how things could be, backed up with enough desire to cause the actions necessary to make that vision a reality. Concentrated effort made our home and its current environment what it is today. Not luck.
Just as the parts that did not turn out well were not bad luck. They were simply poor planning or in some cases not planned for at all. But the great thing about time is it brings us experience. Before starting on this grand adventure it was something completely new to me and I had no idea what sort of pitfalls lay ahead.
Now that I have had some practice living in and working with the people in our home I have a much better idea of what to expect. I can and have adjusted my vision and goals accordingly. It is more fully fleshed out, less vague. Before I was literally creating something out of nothing. I had a blank table in front of me with a single puzzle piece on it. The level of specificity necessary to create the whole puzzle exactly as I wanted it would have been nearly impossible to achieve no matter how long was spent planning it.
Things are different now. A lot of what we intended to create we have. What we have now is a puzzle that is more than half put together. I just get to work with my family to find or create the missing pieces. And once we do, then we'll scale the camera back and start working on an even larger puzzle.
And therein lies the key. The things that I was specific about came to pass. The things that I wanted but only imagined in a vague sort of way either did not happen or went horribly wrong.
Some people would say the fact that I got any of the things that I wanted was sheer luck and I should be happy with my results. And I am. I am ecstatic that many of the things we worked so hard for turned out the way we wanted them to.
We, me and my chosen family, no longer live in separate apartments. We have a house to call our own. Not including the house itself, our debts have dropped dramatically. Our home is a peaceful, nonjudgemental environment, where people can feel free to be themselves, as long as who they are is not a danger or threat to others within the home. People can let their guard down here, reflect on their lives and relationships and can tear down the parts of who they are that they do not like and begin the process of personal reconstruction.
Every bit of that was something I very specifically wanted to make real. It was not luck. It was a vision of how things could be, backed up with enough desire to cause the actions necessary to make that vision a reality. Concentrated effort made our home and its current environment what it is today. Not luck.
Just as the parts that did not turn out well were not bad luck. They were simply poor planning or in some cases not planned for at all. But the great thing about time is it brings us experience. Before starting on this grand adventure it was something completely new to me and I had no idea what sort of pitfalls lay ahead.
Now that I have had some practice living in and working with the people in our home I have a much better idea of what to expect. I can and have adjusted my vision and goals accordingly. It is more fully fleshed out, less vague. Before I was literally creating something out of nothing. I had a blank table in front of me with a single puzzle piece on it. The level of specificity necessary to create the whole puzzle exactly as I wanted it would have been nearly impossible to achieve no matter how long was spent planning it.
Things are different now. A lot of what we intended to create we have. What we have now is a puzzle that is more than half put together. I just get to work with my family to find or create the missing pieces. And once we do, then we'll scale the camera back and start working on an even larger puzzle.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Vision. What you see, you create.
Ten years ago I had a vision of what I wanted my future, my now, to
look like. And for the most part it does. There are parts that I wish
were different, but the things that I was specific about in that vision
happened more or less the way I wanted and expected them to.
When I was young it was pretty much just my mom and me against the world. We were dirt poor but I was happy. But then she met my step-dad and it turned out to be me against the world. He made me pretty unhappy. And even when she did disagree with him, which was often, she submitted to his will in how to treat and raise me.
I decided around the ripe young age of six that I didn't have a family and wasn't going to until I could choose for myself who they were going to be. Fast forward through my teenage years full of frustration and angst. By the time I was in my mid-twenties I had gone through a lot of self empowerment and transformational stuff.
There was this one group of people that I regularly played Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games with. Most of them were amenable to my overall philosophy of empowerment and the pursuit to bring positive change to the world. We got along really well and spent a lot of time together. They were all good people. I got this idea in my head that these people should be family and that we should live together, pooling our resources and our debts, over time allowing the former to grow and eliminating the latter.
At the time we all lived in separate apartments. It appalled me the amount of money that was being thrown away every month. None of us owned our own residence and at the rate we were going none of us ever would. We were all separately struggling to survive.
My vision was for the core group, which at the time was four of us, to move into a house together, vastly cutting down on our monthly payments so we could get out of debt and actually own something, while at the same time bringing our message of personal growth and self improvement to the world.
For awhile I was fired up and really motivated and it showed in our results. It took a little over a year. But we did find a house big enough for us to move into. The problems came in that it was not just the four of us. Initially when we moved into the house there were not four but six of us. Things kept fluctuating until at one point there were twelve of us living in the house.
Our other friends had heard about our idea and thought it sounded great. They saw the good in what we were doing and jumped on the bandwagon. They wanted the pay off but they did not want to do the work of bringing the vision fully into reality. For awhile, it became pretty uncomfortable around here. Somehow it was harder to pay our bills with ten or more people working and living here than it was with four. The housing market falling apart did not help at all. The "new" people would not work together here and things were more or less chaos. I almost gave up.
Gradually, people started leaving. And with each person that left it actually got easier and easier to run our household. Our debts are decreasing. Our secondary mortgage has been paid off. There is a good chance that in the next year or so we will own our home free and clear. There are six people living in the house now, four core group members and two roommates. Or as I like to say it, four family members and two roommates. As a family we love and support one another. We do our best to make life better and easier for each other.
Over the last ten years a lot of mistakes have been made and a lot has been learned. I have a new vision now that includes the things that I have currently that are not exactly the way I want them and things that I do not have but do want. And this time I have a one year, five year and ten year vision. The shorter goals can be used to more directly focus on ensuring the larger picture turns out the way I want it to.
What does your now look like? Do your results match your vision from ten years ago? What is your vision for the future?
When I was young it was pretty much just my mom and me against the world. We were dirt poor but I was happy. But then she met my step-dad and it turned out to be me against the world. He made me pretty unhappy. And even when she did disagree with him, which was often, she submitted to his will in how to treat and raise me.
I decided around the ripe young age of six that I didn't have a family and wasn't going to until I could choose for myself who they were going to be. Fast forward through my teenage years full of frustration and angst. By the time I was in my mid-twenties I had gone through a lot of self empowerment and transformational stuff.
There was this one group of people that I regularly played Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games with. Most of them were amenable to my overall philosophy of empowerment and the pursuit to bring positive change to the world. We got along really well and spent a lot of time together. They were all good people. I got this idea in my head that these people should be family and that we should live together, pooling our resources and our debts, over time allowing the former to grow and eliminating the latter.
At the time we all lived in separate apartments. It appalled me the amount of money that was being thrown away every month. None of us owned our own residence and at the rate we were going none of us ever would. We were all separately struggling to survive.
My vision was for the core group, which at the time was four of us, to move into a house together, vastly cutting down on our monthly payments so we could get out of debt and actually own something, while at the same time bringing our message of personal growth and self improvement to the world.
For awhile I was fired up and really motivated and it showed in our results. It took a little over a year. But we did find a house big enough for us to move into. The problems came in that it was not just the four of us. Initially when we moved into the house there were not four but six of us. Things kept fluctuating until at one point there were twelve of us living in the house.
Our other friends had heard about our idea and thought it sounded great. They saw the good in what we were doing and jumped on the bandwagon. They wanted the pay off but they did not want to do the work of bringing the vision fully into reality. For awhile, it became pretty uncomfortable around here. Somehow it was harder to pay our bills with ten or more people working and living here than it was with four. The housing market falling apart did not help at all. The "new" people would not work together here and things were more or less chaos. I almost gave up.
Gradually, people started leaving. And with each person that left it actually got easier and easier to run our household. Our debts are decreasing. Our secondary mortgage has been paid off. There is a good chance that in the next year or so we will own our home free and clear. There are six people living in the house now, four core group members and two roommates. Or as I like to say it, four family members and two roommates. As a family we love and support one another. We do our best to make life better and easier for each other.
Over the last ten years a lot of mistakes have been made and a lot has been learned. I have a new vision now that includes the things that I have currently that are not exactly the way I want them and things that I do not have but do want. And this time I have a one year, five year and ten year vision. The shorter goals can be used to more directly focus on ensuring the larger picture turns out the way I want it to.
What does your now look like? Do your results match your vision from ten years ago? What is your vision for the future?
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A few more words on gratitude pt1
In some previous posts I have mentioned that being grateful is an
important part of being successful in life. Some recent real life
experiences have caused me to do some more thinking along those lines.
We have been attempting to replace the lender placed insurance that we have had for the past several years with actual homeowner's insurance. I say attempting because this has been going on for the last four months. There have been multiple roadblocks all along the way. We have always been polite and professional with the people over the phone, but once they were off the phone we were cursing the circumstance and wanting to take out our frustration on the customer service or insurance people.
Recently my point of view has changed and now things are moving along pretty smoothly. Some data even came up while working with the fourth insurance agent that looks like it is going to save us from needing to make a big up front out of pocket payment. This would not have happened if the first insurance agent months ago had been able to help us right away.
What caused this change? Essentially I realized that I was not showing an attitude of gratitude which I will explain shortly.
If you have read some of the other things that I have written, you probably already know that I believe very strongly in the power of positive/negative energy. What you say do and think creates a response from the universe. If what you say, do and think is positive the universe will bring you positive results. If what you say, do and think is negative the universe will bring you negative results. If you send out mixed messages the universe will bring you back mixed results.
Now about gratitude. It is easy to be grateful for the things that you have and you should be. That is awesome and positive and does tend to bring more good things to you. But what is even more powerful yet is being grateful for the things which you do not have as of yet. I know that may not make sense to you, but bear with me. Here is how it works.
First, you decide that you want something. Next you put into motion a plan to go about getting it. While you are working towards your goal, put forth your best effort in every step where your participation is required and live in faith that the thing that you are working towards will soon be yours. Be thankful as if that thing were already yours and imagine the things that you will be able to do once it is. This gratitude creates a sort of vacuum in the universe between the vision of what you want and what you have, pulling the two together until they become one.
Sometimes things do not always go according to plan though. And just today a new way of looking at obstacles has come to me. Imagine, if you will, any obstacle that comes up as the universe asking you if you are sure that this thing you envision is something that you really want. The way of saying yes it is what you want is to continue putting forth your best effort with faith that it is yours and gratitude as if it were already yours. The way of saying no is allowing your thoughts, words or deeds to become negative in any way shape or form.
Doing the latter halts all forward progress towards you and causes you to start the process of positive thinking all over. Every time you tell the universe that you do not want the things which you have asked for more and more obstacles will come up and those things will move further and further away.
Think about this. Some of the things in your vision will likely require less time and effort to achieve. Some of them will take more. And some that you think will take less end up taking more. But the fact of the matter is everything is going to take a certain amount of energy. Before you begin any process you do not know how much of each will be required. Let's say that instead of being you, you are the universe and the universe does know how much energy needs to go into each portion of your vision in order to see it realized.
We have been attempting to replace the lender placed insurance that we have had for the past several years with actual homeowner's insurance. I say attempting because this has been going on for the last four months. There have been multiple roadblocks all along the way. We have always been polite and professional with the people over the phone, but once they were off the phone we were cursing the circumstance and wanting to take out our frustration on the customer service or insurance people.
Recently my point of view has changed and now things are moving along pretty smoothly. Some data even came up while working with the fourth insurance agent that looks like it is going to save us from needing to make a big up front out of pocket payment. This would not have happened if the first insurance agent months ago had been able to help us right away.
What caused this change? Essentially I realized that I was not showing an attitude of gratitude which I will explain shortly.
If you have read some of the other things that I have written, you probably already know that I believe very strongly in the power of positive/negative energy. What you say do and think creates a response from the universe. If what you say, do and think is positive the universe will bring you positive results. If what you say, do and think is negative the universe will bring you negative results. If you send out mixed messages the universe will bring you back mixed results.
Now about gratitude. It is easy to be grateful for the things that you have and you should be. That is awesome and positive and does tend to bring more good things to you. But what is even more powerful yet is being grateful for the things which you do not have as of yet. I know that may not make sense to you, but bear with me. Here is how it works.
First, you decide that you want something. Next you put into motion a plan to go about getting it. While you are working towards your goal, put forth your best effort in every step where your participation is required and live in faith that the thing that you are working towards will soon be yours. Be thankful as if that thing were already yours and imagine the things that you will be able to do once it is. This gratitude creates a sort of vacuum in the universe between the vision of what you want and what you have, pulling the two together until they become one.
Sometimes things do not always go according to plan though. And just today a new way of looking at obstacles has come to me. Imagine, if you will, any obstacle that comes up as the universe asking you if you are sure that this thing you envision is something that you really want. The way of saying yes it is what you want is to continue putting forth your best effort with faith that it is yours and gratitude as if it were already yours. The way of saying no is allowing your thoughts, words or deeds to become negative in any way shape or form.
Doing the latter halts all forward progress towards you and causes you to start the process of positive thinking all over. Every time you tell the universe that you do not want the things which you have asked for more and more obstacles will come up and those things will move further and further away.
Think about this. Some of the things in your vision will likely require less time and effort to achieve. Some of them will take more. And some that you think will take less end up taking more. But the fact of the matter is everything is going to take a certain amount of energy. Before you begin any process you do not know how much of each will be required. Let's say that instead of being you, you are the universe and the universe does know how much energy needs to go into each portion of your vision in order to see it realized.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Imagination
By rather serious minded people it is often called cloud gazing or
staring at your belly button. They say, your imagination will not get
you anywhere. It is a waste of time. You need to pay attention and stay
focused.
Perhaps those very same people have not ever heard of inventors like Thomas Edison or the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers gave us the ability to travel across the country in just a few hours. Edison invented hundreds of different things including the light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera,the voting machine and nickel-iron batteries, just to name a few.
Other people with great minds have used their imagination to take those ideas and turn them into things that we use everyday. Cellphones, movie theaters, cd players and rechargeable batteries would not be if not for people who came after Edison looking at the world and imagining how they could make it better. Without imagination we would not have many of the modern conveniences that people are so strongly attached to. Things that we often take for granted are the direct result of people who dared to dream of a better way.
People used to believe that the world was flat and if you sailed too far you would just fall off. If not for Christopher Columbus and other like minded dreamers there would likely have never been English colonists settled on the east coast of what we now call America. Christopher Columbus believed that the world was round. He could imagine it even though so many in his day could not. He believed that he had sailed around the world to India which is one of the reasons why native Americans are called Indians. It turns out he was right about the world being round, he just hadn't sailed far enough to reach India.
If certain people living in America had never suffered under the harsh tyranny of the English king and imagined a way to make things better, the United States of America would never have been created. We would still be a colony under British rule. If the leaders of our newly forming country had not used their imaginations to compare the life they had with the life they wanted, the Declaration of Independence could not have been written and neither could the Constitution.
Every successful business started out at one time as a vision in the mind of the potential owner of such a business. And what is a vision but a fully fleshed out plan that one imagines.
Nothing worthwhile ever gets done without first there being a plan formed in the imagination of the one who ends up doing that worthwhile thing. It is important to note however that imagination alone is not enough. One must also have the passion, the drive to see through the plan that they have dreamed up.
Dreaming is the key to unlocking our power of creativity. Imagination, backed up by personal action is how we transform the world we have into the world we want. So, while listening to a lecture may not be the most appropriate time to daydream, I say to you, ignore those who say that imagination is useless. It is in fact one of the most useful tools with which a person can be equipped.
Perhaps those very same people have not ever heard of inventors like Thomas Edison or the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers gave us the ability to travel across the country in just a few hours. Edison invented hundreds of different things including the light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera,the voting machine and nickel-iron batteries, just to name a few.
Other people with great minds have used their imagination to take those ideas and turn them into things that we use everyday. Cellphones, movie theaters, cd players and rechargeable batteries would not be if not for people who came after Edison looking at the world and imagining how they could make it better. Without imagination we would not have many of the modern conveniences that people are so strongly attached to. Things that we often take for granted are the direct result of people who dared to dream of a better way.
People used to believe that the world was flat and if you sailed too far you would just fall off. If not for Christopher Columbus and other like minded dreamers there would likely have never been English colonists settled on the east coast of what we now call America. Christopher Columbus believed that the world was round. He could imagine it even though so many in his day could not. He believed that he had sailed around the world to India which is one of the reasons why native Americans are called Indians. It turns out he was right about the world being round, he just hadn't sailed far enough to reach India.
If certain people living in America had never suffered under the harsh tyranny of the English king and imagined a way to make things better, the United States of America would never have been created. We would still be a colony under British rule. If the leaders of our newly forming country had not used their imaginations to compare the life they had with the life they wanted, the Declaration of Independence could not have been written and neither could the Constitution.
Every successful business started out at one time as a vision in the mind of the potential owner of such a business. And what is a vision but a fully fleshed out plan that one imagines.
Nothing worthwhile ever gets done without first there being a plan formed in the imagination of the one who ends up doing that worthwhile thing. It is important to note however that imagination alone is not enough. One must also have the passion, the drive to see through the plan that they have dreamed up.
Dreaming is the key to unlocking our power of creativity. Imagination, backed up by personal action is how we transform the world we have into the world we want. So, while listening to a lecture may not be the most appropriate time to daydream, I say to you, ignore those who say that imagination is useless. It is in fact one of the most useful tools with which a person can be equipped.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Working together pt2
The home that I live in was bought by a group of supposedly like
minded individuals who all agreed to a certain vision for the world.
Originally there were six of us who intended to use this home as a
springing off point to bring our vision to the world. And for awhile it
seemed like things were going well. The number of people living under
our roof increased to I believe twelve at one point. We had weekly group
meetings to handle all of the issues that came up each week.
It became evident over time though that nearly all of the people living here were only concerned about petty day to day things and not at all interested in the group vision and goals. We were unable to have conversations that revolved around our vision because certain people would not let us get past simply ridiculous daily problems. Meetings that should have taken no more than a few minutes routinely started taking seven hours or more. People dreaded Sunday evenings and did not want to be there at all. These meetings which were absolutely essential in making it so that our group could continue to exist became something that nobody wanted to attend.
Most of those people are gone now. Of the original six only three remain. There are a couple of other people living with us as well but those are people who are not ready yet to share our vision of change for the world. They are still at the point of focusing inward on themselves and getting themselves the way they want to be first.
My vision has not changed and nor is it likely to. But in the beginning I did not see the power of harmony. I felt that it was okay for people to disagree and have different overall goals as long as they were still willing to contribute to the group when asked to, whether in the form of rent, chores, or simply imparting their knowledge and experience whenever necessary. I have learned that if we are all facing different directions we will not end up going the same way. We all need to be focused in the same direction. I see now that harmony is a necessity. Without harmony group goals are impossible.
The point of this is that we have lived in this house for about seven years. And in the last two years, with less people, we have made more progress towards our vision than we did in the five years before it.
Before inviting a person to work with you to accomplish a goal, find out if that goal is important to them. Find out if they are interested in the goal just because it seems like a cool thing be able to say that they did or if it is something they find truly worthwhile. If they are not into what you are doing for the same or very similar reasons as you are the chances are good that you should not have them as part of your mastermind group.
To sum up. Harmony is what makes it possible for a group to handle issues better and more efficiently than the same number of individuals that make up the group could. And with even one person causing discord your group once again simply becomes a series of individuals.When in a group, seek harmony where possible. Where it is not, be okay with the results not being any greater than whatever you could accomplish on your own. Or find another group.
It became evident over time though that nearly all of the people living here were only concerned about petty day to day things and not at all interested in the group vision and goals. We were unable to have conversations that revolved around our vision because certain people would not let us get past simply ridiculous daily problems. Meetings that should have taken no more than a few minutes routinely started taking seven hours or more. People dreaded Sunday evenings and did not want to be there at all. These meetings which were absolutely essential in making it so that our group could continue to exist became something that nobody wanted to attend.
Most of those people are gone now. Of the original six only three remain. There are a couple of other people living with us as well but those are people who are not ready yet to share our vision of change for the world. They are still at the point of focusing inward on themselves and getting themselves the way they want to be first.
My vision has not changed and nor is it likely to. But in the beginning I did not see the power of harmony. I felt that it was okay for people to disagree and have different overall goals as long as they were still willing to contribute to the group when asked to, whether in the form of rent, chores, or simply imparting their knowledge and experience whenever necessary. I have learned that if we are all facing different directions we will not end up going the same way. We all need to be focused in the same direction. I see now that harmony is a necessity. Without harmony group goals are impossible.
The point of this is that we have lived in this house for about seven years. And in the last two years, with less people, we have made more progress towards our vision than we did in the five years before it.
Before inviting a person to work with you to accomplish a goal, find out if that goal is important to them. Find out if they are interested in the goal just because it seems like a cool thing be able to say that they did or if it is something they find truly worthwhile. If they are not into what you are doing for the same or very similar reasons as you are the chances are good that you should not have them as part of your mastermind group.
To sum up. Harmony is what makes it possible for a group to handle issues better and more efficiently than the same number of individuals that make up the group could. And with even one person causing discord your group once again simply becomes a series of individuals.When in a group, seek harmony where possible. Where it is not, be okay with the results not being any greater than whatever you could accomplish on your own. Or find another group.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Power up
The world constantly bombards us with data from every possible angle.
First there is all the commercials on TV with all of the latest fashion
trends for make-up and clothing, not to mention the shows
themselves.Then there are infomercials, health alerts as well as local
and world news. Then in our personal lives we have all of the
relationships both ours and the statuses of others. Finally on the
internet there are things like email, Facebook and Twitter. With all of
these things combined, we are always being hit with tons of raw
information. Informative as most if it is, it is also mostly useless
junk, that serves no purpose other then to clog up our minds and keep us
distracted from our goals.
If we are going to focus our minds on any one specific goal, we get to learn how to tune most of the noise out and feed our heads what we want going into it. What you put into your mind determines what you get out of it. So while it may not be possible to shut everything out, you can streamline things. IF, like me, your goal is to constantly improve your life and the lives of those around you, then whenever possible, what goes into your head should be positive and uplifting. You should watch, read and listen to things that support your vision.
Do not watch hours a day of uneducational television. Instead of watching all of the depressing things going on in the news, watch inspirational movies like Pay It Forward, The Freedom Writers, Dead Poet Society, Gran Turino or The Pursuit of Happiness.
Read books by authors that have accomplished things that you want to do. If you are into sports read books that were written by successful professional athletes. If you aspire to be a world renowned chef, read books by people like Gordon Ramsey or Wolfgang Puck. Whether you want to be a motivational speaker or even just to improve conditions in your own life, read books written by people who have accomplished these goals, people like Les Brown, Bob Proctor, Jim Rohn and W D Wattles to name a few.
I personally do not watch much television, but I do love to read. And I have started reading works by authors that have made their life about self improvement and empowerment. The ideas in these books have caused some changes in the way I think about things and have caused me to look for ways that I can make more positive change in my life.
Earlier today I was thinking about the impact that music has on my life and realizing that I should make a list of empowering motivational songs and then put them together into a playlist. It took me about two hours of online searching, through lists of songs that other people had put together, to create a list of around 85 songs that I both like and find motivational and empowering. While doing this I noticed a couple of things that I found amusing. First, many people were suggesting the same songs. Second, due to my eclectic taste in music, many of the songs people were suggesting I already have on my hard drive. And I am sure when I go through my music to build the playlist the size will probably double. This playlist will help me focus on my goals and assist me in creating the future I want for myself and my family.
I challenge you to make these same choices in your life. If you do, I promise you will see a massive shift in your ability to focus on the things that matter to you.
If we are going to focus our minds on any one specific goal, we get to learn how to tune most of the noise out and feed our heads what we want going into it. What you put into your mind determines what you get out of it. So while it may not be possible to shut everything out, you can streamline things. IF, like me, your goal is to constantly improve your life and the lives of those around you, then whenever possible, what goes into your head should be positive and uplifting. You should watch, read and listen to things that support your vision.
Do not watch hours a day of uneducational television. Instead of watching all of the depressing things going on in the news, watch inspirational movies like Pay It Forward, The Freedom Writers, Dead Poet Society, Gran Turino or The Pursuit of Happiness.
Read books by authors that have accomplished things that you want to do. If you are into sports read books that were written by successful professional athletes. If you aspire to be a world renowned chef, read books by people like Gordon Ramsey or Wolfgang Puck. Whether you want to be a motivational speaker or even just to improve conditions in your own life, read books written by people who have accomplished these goals, people like Les Brown, Bob Proctor, Jim Rohn and W D Wattles to name a few.
I personally do not watch much television, but I do love to read. And I have started reading works by authors that have made their life about self improvement and empowerment. The ideas in these books have caused some changes in the way I think about things and have caused me to look for ways that I can make more positive change in my life.
Earlier today I was thinking about the impact that music has on my life and realizing that I should make a list of empowering motivational songs and then put them together into a playlist. It took me about two hours of online searching, through lists of songs that other people had put together, to create a list of around 85 songs that I both like and find motivational and empowering. While doing this I noticed a couple of things that I found amusing. First, many people were suggesting the same songs. Second, due to my eclectic taste in music, many of the songs people were suggesting I already have on my hard drive. And I am sure when I go through my music to build the playlist the size will probably double. This playlist will help me focus on my goals and assist me in creating the future I want for myself and my family.
I challenge you to make these same choices in your life. If you do, I promise you will see a massive shift in your ability to focus on the things that matter to you.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Judgement and value judgement
A conversation about judgement happened, the other day, in our home.
We were discussing whether or not we were still in agreement about the
vision statement that we had formed for our home a few years back. One
person said that they felt that a certain part of the statement should
not be there because it seemed to be there for the express purpose of
using it to judge people.
Our mission statement is as follows:
But as I think about it now, this statement is also a yardstick through which we can measure how we are living our lives, individually and as a group. We can measure our vision against our recent actions and see if we are living up to it. It occurs to me that it IS a tool for judging how well we are doing. And I can see where someone that fears judgement could see it as a potential weapon that could be used against them.
The kind of judgement this person fears is that they will somehow be unworthy of acceptance or labeled a bad person or something along those lines due to not measuring up. The things is that just is not the way the others of us think. We believe that it is not any man's right to judge another person for you never know what is truly in their heart or mind. One can only fairly judge themselves.
Now having said that, it is really not possible to interact with other people on a regular basis and not place value judgements on the things that they say or do. Those value judgements do not say anything about that person as a whole. You are not making them out to be a villain, subhuman or in some way unworthy of being liked or loved. You are just more or less describing whether or not you agree with the choices that other people make.
The intentions of our statement are clear. And from time to time, we will be using our mission statement to determine whether or not we are doing what we say is important to us. If we are not, we will be talking about that and deciding whether or not what we want has changed. If it has, we will get to renegotiate our agreement one way or another. If it has not then we will discuss how our actions get to shift so that they are back in line with our vision.
Value judgement will occur and things that one might not like to hear may need to be said. If this does happen it will be in a spirit of love, with an intent towards constructive criticism in the hopes of either keeping the harmony within our home and vision or restoring it as the case may be. Harsh destructive criticism and judgements intended to tear a person down and make them feel small have no place in our home.
Our mission statement is as follows:
We the people of "Grok the Planet " are committed to changing the world, one soul at a time. Our goals are to constantly continue to grow and improve ourselves emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially as well as physically and to encourage others to do the same. We will achieve these goals by each one of us being a leader, living in excellence, being impeccable with our word, not making assumptions, not taking things personally and striving to do our best in all things.This fear of being judged brings to mind several other fear based issues that this person seems to have, self esteem and possibly acceptance as well, things we can discuss at another time. We quickly assured this person that judgement was not at all the reason for that part of the statement. And it really is not. The whole vision statement is a declaration of intent. It speaks about what we stand for and a little about how we intend to reach our goals.
But as I think about it now, this statement is also a yardstick through which we can measure how we are living our lives, individually and as a group. We can measure our vision against our recent actions and see if we are living up to it. It occurs to me that it IS a tool for judging how well we are doing. And I can see where someone that fears judgement could see it as a potential weapon that could be used against them.
The kind of judgement this person fears is that they will somehow be unworthy of acceptance or labeled a bad person or something along those lines due to not measuring up. The things is that just is not the way the others of us think. We believe that it is not any man's right to judge another person for you never know what is truly in their heart or mind. One can only fairly judge themselves.
Now having said that, it is really not possible to interact with other people on a regular basis and not place value judgements on the things that they say or do. Those value judgements do not say anything about that person as a whole. You are not making them out to be a villain, subhuman or in some way unworthy of being liked or loved. You are just more or less describing whether or not you agree with the choices that other people make.
The intentions of our statement are clear. And from time to time, we will be using our mission statement to determine whether or not we are doing what we say is important to us. If we are not, we will be talking about that and deciding whether or not what we want has changed. If it has, we will get to renegotiate our agreement one way or another. If it has not then we will discuss how our actions get to shift so that they are back in line with our vision.
Value judgement will occur and things that one might not like to hear may need to be said. If this does happen it will be in a spirit of love, with an intent towards constructive criticism in the hopes of either keeping the harmony within our home and vision or restoring it as the case may be. Harsh destructive criticism and judgements intended to tear a person down and make them feel small have no place in our home.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Today's Rambling
Many of us have a clear picture of how our life would be if it were
exactly the way we wanted it to be. We know what car we would drive, how
big our house would be, what we would do for a job, how many children
we would have and dozens of other minute details of the perfect
scenario. Yet our lives fall short of that perfect portrait. Why is
this?
Is it because we lack the hope of things one day being that way? Is it because we do not really wish this image was our reality? Certainly not. But hoping and wishing are not enough to make our dreams come true.
What is it then that is missing? There is a bridge between the life we want and the life we have. And what is missing is the main tool required to build that bridge. Hoping, wishing and dreaming all accept the high probability that what we want will never materialize. Each of these ideas are too weak to make your vision manifest.
You need to close your eyes and imagine that perfect life of yours. Truly walk around inside your vision and revel in it. Exult in the moment of having exactly what it is that you want. Then make a decision. If this vision is what you want decide that you are going to make it real. Discard hoping, wishing and dreaming.
And in their place build a fire, fueled by the burning desire for your success. For desire is the tool that allows you to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. There isn't really anything wrong with where you are right now. In fact it is the perfect place to start out, specifically because it is NOT where you wish to be. With the desire to create and make real your vision for yourself, you can compare what you have with what you want and begin to formulate a plan.
This plan then becomes the blueprint by which you live your life while on the journey to the life that you want. Along the way things will happen which have the potential to pull you away from your goals and to distract you. Friends and family will attempt to pull you into their own dreams for the future. This is where your desire for success becomes most important. You get to use your desire to overcome the distractions, to stay focused on the straight and narrow path. This does not mean that you should avoid interacting with others, just avoid letting their stories become your story. Some people will actually have useful insights, experiences and ideas that you can make your own.
The path to the life of your dreams need not be a lonely one. Just remember to only allow those around you that are supportive of your goals. And once you have built up the fires of that burning desire, take careful steps to always keep the flame going. It may be the plan itself that gets you where you want to be. But if your desire to see it through is not high enough, regardless of how good your plan is, you will never follow it.
Is it because we lack the hope of things one day being that way? Is it because we do not really wish this image was our reality? Certainly not. But hoping and wishing are not enough to make our dreams come true.
What is it then that is missing? There is a bridge between the life we want and the life we have. And what is missing is the main tool required to build that bridge. Hoping, wishing and dreaming all accept the high probability that what we want will never materialize. Each of these ideas are too weak to make your vision manifest.
You need to close your eyes and imagine that perfect life of yours. Truly walk around inside your vision and revel in it. Exult in the moment of having exactly what it is that you want. Then make a decision. If this vision is what you want decide that you are going to make it real. Discard hoping, wishing and dreaming.
And in their place build a fire, fueled by the burning desire for your success. For desire is the tool that allows you to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. There isn't really anything wrong with where you are right now. In fact it is the perfect place to start out, specifically because it is NOT where you wish to be. With the desire to create and make real your vision for yourself, you can compare what you have with what you want and begin to formulate a plan.
This plan then becomes the blueprint by which you live your life while on the journey to the life that you want. Along the way things will happen which have the potential to pull you away from your goals and to distract you. Friends and family will attempt to pull you into their own dreams for the future. This is where your desire for success becomes most important. You get to use your desire to overcome the distractions, to stay focused on the straight and narrow path. This does not mean that you should avoid interacting with others, just avoid letting their stories become your story. Some people will actually have useful insights, experiences and ideas that you can make your own.
The path to the life of your dreams need not be a lonely one. Just remember to only allow those around you that are supportive of your goals. And once you have built up the fires of that burning desire, take careful steps to always keep the flame going. It may be the plan itself that gets you where you want to be. But if your desire to see it through is not high enough, regardless of how good your plan is, you will never follow it.
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