Category: Opportunity

Spread Some Joy Today > Opportunity

Quality Is Contagious

Posted on by Terry Minion

“You’re only as good as the people you hire.”

— Ray Kroc
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-7-11]
 
This quote of Ray Kroc’s has proven itself in every business environment I have ever been in and I see it in full operation in every business I visit or deal with. This aspect, far more than any current business climate, has everything to do with the success of the enterprise. Better people will always make a better enterprise.
 
Any success that I have had in any operation I’ve been involved in was successful as a direct result of the quality of the people that I was working with. And, here’s the interesting part: My own quality improved as the quality of the talent around me improved and vice versa. All the more reason to surround yourself with the most talented and highest quality people you can find.
 
 
Quality Is Contagious.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–When you’re in joy, there are no significant problems.

The Window That Efficiency Flies Out Of

Posted on by Terry Minion
“Work expands so as to fill the time
available for its completion.”
 
— C Northcote Parkinson
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-17-11]
 
When I watch those movies where the world is saved from extinction at the last minute available, I think of all the tasks I have to do and how much time I allow for them and end up right at the last minute trying to get it done. Heck, if I didn't have some kind of deadline, it may never get done!
 
It does seem clear that work actually does expand to fill the available time, and I would like to be more organized and efficient, so I am learning to allow a specific amount of time for some projects and to set deadlines with clients as well my team and myself. I am compartmentalizing tasks in an effort to help them flow more smoothly.
 
Procrastination is always a predator and I am easily swayed by projects that I like better than others, and I am finding that by shortening the available time, I still can get it done and end up being more efficient at the same time.
 
We'll see how this goes and I'll report back on the progress. It looks promising. . .
 
 
I'm So Busy Is Such A Pathetic Excuse…
 
Spread Some Joy Today–Getting it done should help everyone feel better.

Imaginary Blues In The Key Of See

Posted on by Terry Minion
“How much pain they have cost us,
the evils which have never happened.”
 
— Thomas Jefferson
 
 
“Every evening I turn my worries over to God.
He's going to be up all night anyway.”
 
— Mary C Crowley
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-18-11]
 
It's funny now. The real troubles that I have are no match to the power and persistence of my imagination.
 
What's really funny is that today I am absolutely certain that I have a minimum of twice as many problems as I have ever had in my life, and my imagination can still run circles around all of them.
 
What's even funnier still, is that not thinking about my real problems, regardless of how many there are, or who thinks they are so damn important, makes them so much smaller than they have ever been in my entire life.
 
And the last funny thing is that I am in full control of my imagination, although, I think most of my life, I didn't realize that was possible.
 
I am eager and excited in anticipation of the place where there are no problems at all–where life is bliss and joy reigns supreme. As imaginary places go, that is as good a one as I can dream up; however, I am not convinced that it is a real place.
 
But, as my experience is teaching me now, having problems is not a problem unless I choose to make it, or them, one. My view is so different now. So little stress in comparison to how it used to be when I didn't really have hardly any problems.
 
 
Maybe That's What They Mean About Heaven On Earth.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–By seeking joy today. It really is that easy.

Greatest Stress Weapon

Posted on by Terry Minion
 “The greatest weapon against stress
is our ability to choose
one thought over another.”
 
— William James
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-19-11]
 
I was talking with a friend and associate this morning and she mentioned that she teaches and advises people to do something in a certain way, and then sometimes finds herself not following her own advice. I could instantly relate to that because I do it myself from time to time. But, I told her that the difference to me now is that I have awareness, and having awareness serves to have me recognize when I am off the path, so I can get back on quickly, whereas, in the past, I may not have even noticed I was off the path.
 
Now the quote by William James is so powerful and true in my own life. I know this. And yet, I sometimes fail to have it operate on autopilot as I would like, find myself over in the weeds feeling stressed. This is where my learning and study kicks in and makes me aware that I am off in the weeds. This then allows and encourages me to get back on track with the truth in my life and change my thoughts.
 
It is human to run old tapes and get off track. It is the learning that brings me the awareness that helps me grow beyond and overwrite the old tapes. That is how learning empowers me. The path to enlightenment is through awareness.
 
Though what William James says is true for me from my awareness, on a practical side it is a challenge because of past training and interaction with other people and societal norms. Here are some things I've learned to help me overcome those practical obstacles.
 
1. Release all rules. Realize that so many of my thoughts are from past training and other people's rules. Rules are just ideas that someone had and others accepted. Many of those rules were turned into legalisms called laws. To think for oneself, especially if the world, in general, is not in step, requires ignoring a lot of rules; e.g., you should do this, you should do that, everyone does this, everyone does that, and so on.
 
2. Suspend judgment. Right and wrong are judgments. I need to suspend as many judgments as possible–all if I can. Judgments like I should feel this or I should feel that for whatever reason or whoever said it can just as easily be looked at with suspicion. Some of those judgments might say that you should feel sad about this and not feel joy about that. Can if you want, but I am choosing to feel how I want to feel, and I choose joy as often as I find it possible to do so, under a wide variety of circumstances and customs.
 
3. Choose to feel better. I want to choose a better feeling thought in every case and there is no end to feeling better. Feeling bad even slightly will now awaken my awareness and then I can consciously remind myself that I choose to feel better, and then do so by changing my thought. Without the rules and judgment, I have more power to change my thoughts and more power to feel better.
 
Stress is just a view and it is a fearful view. It is 100% thought. Without judgment to encourage the fear or rules to expand it, changing my thoughts to release all stress is practical and effective.
 
 
I Choose To Feel Better By Choosing A Better Feeling Thought Any Time I Want. I Want To Do So Often.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–Joy is alive and full of life and optimism. Joy is real. Joy is contagious.

Choosing Our Fate

Posted on by Terry Minion
Choice Week
 
 
“There is so much about my fate that I cannot control,
but other things do fall under the jurisdiction.
I can decide:
 
How I spend my time,
whom I interact with,
whom I share my body
and life
and money
and energy with,
I can select what I can read
and eat
and study.
I can choose how I'm going to regard
unfortunate circumstances in my life;
whether I will see them as curses
or opportunities.
I can choose my words
and tone of voice
in which I speak to others.
And most of all,
I can choose my thoughts.”
 
— Elizabeth Gilbert
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-5-11]
 
We choose so often each and every day that we don't even realize we are choosing. Life is in our choices and we have multiple ways of seeing anything and anyone. It is not anyone outside of ourselves or circumstances or events outside of ourselves that does the choosing for us, but ourselves alone. We may respond or react. We may choose to be angry or happy. We may choose to justify and judge or allow. We may love with conditions or without. It is all in our choices and our choices then become us.
 
Though we all may realize that we are indeed the choosers, what we may be missing is the deliberate choices that we can make to create a deliberate reality in our lives. What those only means is accepting the responsibility that our power lies in our thinking and therefore all of our choices. In this light, I blame no one and nothing and only realize that I have chosen and each choice creates results. There is infinite freedom in that realization and much joy in the practice of it.
 
 
Rather Than Choose And Then See How I Feel, It Is Much Better To Feel Good And Then Make A Choice. It Always Seems To Turn Out Well That Way.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–Joy begins with appreciation. Find many things and people to appreciate today. What a wonderful day it will be!

Everything Is Relative

Posted on by Terry Minion
 Choice Week
 
 
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives,
as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which
secret garden we will tend. . . when we choose not to focus
on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the
abundance that's present–love, health, family, friends,
work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring
us pleasure–the wasteland of illusion falls away
and we experience Heaven on earth.”
 
— Sarah Ban Breathnach
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-4-11]
 
One of the other very powerful things that I have learned in just the last few years is gently working toward realizing and being grateful for the abundance that I have.
 
Everything is relative. If we in America compare ourselves to some of the poorest people in the world, there is no doubt that we have abundance. Yet, that is not what we in America normally do. We normally compare ourselves to those that are rich in comparison to ourselves, then we focus on the lack that exists between those two current realities.
 
Sometimes that motivates us to get going and get more abundance in our lives, and other times it just bums us out–not in a down-trodden depressed kind of way, but in a resigned sort of way. Not giving up, just not feeling much real hope. We begin seeing this reality–and we notice that we aren't there yet again and again. That's where those phrases come from such as, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and so on.
 
Yet the thing that I find motivating me is focusing on the abundance I have–whatever it is. I am rich in things, talent, energy, focus, friends, learning, expertise. To use an old phrase as I heard as a child, I am counting my blessings one by one. As a side note, it is also interesting how little “things” mean to me anymore and most of my life I couldn't wait to get more things.
 
In my observation of people, it is the choice between focusing on their abundance or their lack that I see affecting people's lives. Most that I see are focusing on what they don't have, what they're lacking, who's done what to whom, and so on. I think changing that focus toward abundance would change a great many things in their lives.
 
We always have the choice of how we want to view a situation; our lives; the world. Abundance and lack are not so much realities as they are attitudes. You don't have to be rich to feel an abundance. In fact, realities don't create attitudes–no, attitudes create reality.
 
 
Heck, You Can Just Make It Up In Your Head. Works For Me!
 
Spread Some Joy Today–See if you can list ten things that you're grateful for. Count those blessings and enjoy your abundance.

No More Victims!

Posted on by Terry Minion
 Choice Week
 
 
“I've made mistakes, and I know why I made them,
but I made that choice. Nobody's ever made a choice for me.”
 
— Sandra Bullock
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-3-11]
 
I used to call it PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), and positive thinking. It's what I was learning in my mid-twenties from motivational speakers and books I was reading, but I wasn't getting it really. Oh, I could repeat it, but I wasn't living it. Know what I mean? It has taken so many more years to come back to it and then to live it and even understand it more.
 
Part of what is so cool about getting to this point is accepting responsibility for my choices. I did my share of blaming the economy, the current administration, the boss, and that list could go on for days. Now that I have accepted this responsibility, I need only look in the mirror if I was seeking excuses or people to blame.
 
It was a hard idea to really grasp for a while because when I was thinking about positive thinking, I was thinking about the inside out and when things would happen that weren't really so much fun, I would think from the outside in–as if something outside was attacking me, wreaking havoc with my life. Then, I would muster all the positive thinking I could to think my way through it.
 
It is a different and so much more effective thing to accept everything that I get and be fully responsible for it with no excuses, and no circumstantial evidence to try to convince others or myself that I am an innocent victim.
 
So, in the end, it isn't about positive thinking at all. It is about realizing that I create my own world. Realizing this fully and accepting the role of creator allows me to do more than positive thinking ever could.
 
 
I Am A Victim No More! And, It's A Sweet Victory!
 
Spread Some Joy Today–There is so much joy in the realization that you have more control than you thought you did. Accept the responsibility that you are in charge!

My Choices Are My Destiny

Posted on by Terry Minion
Choice Week
 
 
“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice.
It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
 
— William Jennings Bryan
 
 
“Our lives are the sum total of the choices we have made.”
 
— Wayne Dyer
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-1-11]
 
As I consider where I am right now today, with the awareness that my thoughts create my life, I find myself curiously accepting responsibility for everything about my life. It is an act that would at any other time in my life be rejected as folly, yet now I find that to attempt to reject it is folly.
 
So, I look at myself in the mirror when I get out of the shower and I was thinking this morning of what a magnificent creator I have become. Just look at that body in all its glory! I created that image, along with the way it looks. If I don't like the look very much, I have only one to blame. It isn't the food, or anything else exterior. It is purely my own thinking that brought me here.
 
It is so empowering and also shocking and it makes me laugh and I celebrate my success as a creator. Maybe I was intending to create something a bit more athletic and lean, and honorable intentions they may have been; however, I have created successfully nonetheless whatever vision I see before me. Indeed, I am always successful at creation, though ofttimes I may be a bit confused as to the clarity of it.
 
 
The Good News Is That I Can Just Create A Better Image Anytime I Choose.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–In any situation, I have a choice on how I will view it, react or respond to it, feel about it. I find more joy in always–always choosing the better feeling thought regardless of what others choose or what they think about my choices.

Choosing Not To Choose Is Still Choice

Posted on by Terry Minion
 “When you have to make a choice and
don't make it, that is in itself a choice.”
 
— William James
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-30-11]
 
 
How many times in my life have I drug my feet, procrastinated, and even flat refused to make a choice, and yet, that strangely enough is a choice. It's not the most effective one perhaps, but it is a choice. Indeed, sometimes it can actually be the 'right' choice, but I think that more often than not, failing to choose turns out poorly.
 
It doesn't seem logical that someone might choose to fail, but often that is actually the case and often within that context, it is the reluctance to choose that ends up the culprit. So failing to choose can certainly lead to choosing to fail.
 
A far better way might be to take control and make decisions, and practice.
 
 
Practice Makes Perfect. Perfect Takes Practice.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–Have some fun today. Smile at everyone with joy in your heart. See what happens.

Transforming The Power Of Thought

Posted on by Terry Minion

All emotion is thought. And, at the same time, a response to thought.

This was the 14th message of the 20-day stream beginning with the concept of everything is thought.

I have studied this stuff for a long time now and the single most powerful source of resonating knowledge for me is from Abraham, Esther Hicks. They make it simple and I love simple.

Numbers 15 and 16 expand on this: “All emotion is internal and external communication.” And, “How we feel explains our thinking. Most of our thoughts are passing and benign. The most powerful thoughts are those filled with emotion. The greater the emotion or feeling, the more powerful the thought or action.”

All emotion is communication from our Source. We could call this our soul or higher power or Source within, etc., but it is communication to our physical brain and body from that which is above and outside of our physical senses. We know it inside by how we feel and in our awareness, this demonstrates to us what we are thinking because so often we are thinking without awareness. It is external communication because how we feel is demonstrated by our physical being. It shows. Others can see it. We can see it in the mirror. It is internal and external communication of the highest order.

Our thought determines how we feel and how we feel is influencing our thoughts. The stronger the feeling, the greater the power of the thought that created the feeling, to begin with. You could see this as power, determination, conviction, unwavering resolve, and more. Emotion is a powerful thought that adds power to thought as it scales upward in strength.

If you really wanted something and felt the strength of your resolve to have it, as the emotion is extended and expanded, that something must come to you. That is how powerful thought can be.

As a young salesman in the early 1970s, I wanted to win trips that were offered and more. I focused on pumping up my emotions and resolve in many ways and these trips came to pass. I didn’t really understand it then, but it is completely clear to me now.

The power of thought laced with the power of emotion is one of the most powerful forces in the Universe.

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