Problems are Opportunities in Disguise

“Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds you down or polishes you up is for you and you alone to decide.”

Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has problems. It is an inescapable part of life. Some people believe that they will be happy once they eliminate their current problems, but the only time you won’t have problems is when you’re dead! Having problems means that you’re alive. In fact, some say that the bigger the problem, the better the person.

Most people view having problems as a negative thing, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We can choose to change our view on the world and see our problems as opportunities. If you have never faced an extremely difficult problem and overcome it, or if you’re in the midst of one, you may have a difficult time believing that problems are opportunities in disguise.

Hitting Bottom

In 1974, Mark Victor Hansen seemed to be on top of the world. He was doing well financially and the world was his oyster. Then the business he was in was adversely affected by economic conditions, and the next thing Mark knew he was checking a book out from the library entitled How to Go Bankrupt by Yourself (he couldn’t afford an attorney).

At his all time lowest moment, he felt like a negative 12 on a scale of 1-10. He was physically ill, tears welled up in his eyes. He climbed into a shell. He felt totally dejected and rejected.

He began unloading toilet paper off railroad cars in New York’s freezing winter, making only $2.14 an hour. He could only afford to put $0.25 into his gas tank at a time. His self esteem was totally trashed. He had hit bottom.

But looking back, he realized that hitting bottom provided his greatest opportunities. It was a turning point in his life. He realized that at that point, the world was totally open to him. He had no job to cling to, no bills, no debts, no obligations. The world was wide open to him. Everything was potential.

Burning Your Bridges

Today Mark Victor Hansen is co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series, the largest all time best-selling books in history, with sells way into the billions of dollars. He owns a lovely estate and several substantial businesses, and influences millions of people. A friend told Mark later, “You burned your bridges, you had to succeed!”

He thought that his financial disaster had been a problem, but in reality, once he hit bottom, in only turned out to be the start of a new and better life. Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, his ruin turned out to be the birth of his new beginnings. His problem was really a life-changing opportunity.

Mark is the first to tell everyone that if he can do it, you can too. You can achieve wealth and financial independence. It’s available to everyone that believes they can achieve it.

Many of us face problems that are even worse than financial difficulties, for example, issues with physical appearance, ‘handicaps’, emotional/mental stress, relationship strains or health matters.

None of the challenges need to equate to living a less than extraordinary life. As an example, we can look at the story of Malcolm from Canada.

Ugly Doesn’t Matter

Malcolm had one of the most mangled faces that you’ve ever seen. He had stitches all across his face, one eyelid was stitched shut, as well as three-quarters of his mouth.

He and his fiancee had been walking in the woods. Somehow they found themselves between a mama bear and her cubs. The bear grabbed hold of his fiancee, and Malcolm tried to stop the bear, whereupon the mama bear crushed every major bone in Malcolm’s body. She then almost literally ripped his face off, back toward the scalp.

It was a miracle that he lived, and he underwent restorative surgery for the next eight years. The doctors did all they could do, but it hadn’t helped much. Malcolm saw himself as an ugly person. He didn’t want to come into contact with society.

He decided to take his own life by throwing himself and his wheelchair off the tenth floor of his rehabilitation center. He was ready to push himself over when his father, who was listening to an intuitive voice, came running up and stopped him just in time. He said, “Malcolm, every human being has scar tissue deep inside him somewhere. Most of us where it under a smile, some cosmetics and nice attire. You get to wear yours on the outside, but we’re all the same.”

Later, Malcolm began reading books and listening to audio tapes. He heard “Setbacks are given to ordinary people to make them extraordinary.” He decided that he was an extraordinary person. He wrote down what he wanted to do, what he dreamed about.

He got a job as an insurance salesman- a job where he had to expose himself to people everyday. A few years later he became the top insurance salesman in Vancouver.

Malcolm realized that it wasn’t his looks that were his challenge. It was how he viewed and felt about himself. His physical challenge was an opportunity to discover who he truly was and what he was capable of doing. Once he began to see what he ‘really’ looked like, his deformed face became irrelevant. He was able to break through his fears and achieve amazing results.

The World is Filled with Opportunity

No matter what challenge or problem you face, there is someone who has faced or experienced similar things. There have been two outcomes, those who were defeated, beaten and destroyed by their problems, and those who chose to not give in and give up, but allowed their problems to be turned into opportunities to grow and become a better person. Every problem contains within it the seed of an opportunity.

“But I’m not like them,” you might be saying to yourself, “I’m not a ’super-achiever’.” To believe that you can’t do what others have done is to sell yourself short. You have more potential within you than you could use in 100 lifetimes. YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

Action Steps

1. Imagine that your biggest challenge or problem has been sent to you as a gift to help you learn something valuable. What might it be?

2. We all make mistakes, in fact it’s estimated that 70% of our decisions will be wrong. Don’t beat yourself up for your mistakes. Instead learn from them and move on.

3. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. We all make mistakes, but we don’t need to make the same ones over and over. Write down the lessons you’ve learned, and then try not to repeat them.

Thoreau said, “Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams, Live the Life You’ve Imagined…”

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“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life

which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.“

Success is Defined as the Progressive Realization of a Worthy Ideal

Maybe that ideal is to be a wonderful mother, father or grandparent, an inspirational teacher, an excellent friend or entrepreneur. Your ideal might be an athletic or physical goal, spiritual enlightenment or financial independence.

Whatever you goal may be, have you wondered what stands between you and the life you’ve imagined? You may have attained success in some areas of your life, but is there more you would like to do or be?

Why are some winners at the game of life, while others never come near their ideals?

It doesn’t have to be that way.

We Can All Be Winners

You can be a winner. You can be successful. Your relationships, health and financial wealth can be all that you want it to be. You can achieve any goal or dream that you have for yourself- if only you know how.

Learning how to achieve your ideal life can be one of the most important things you do. Brian Tracy says that “The only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people know more than unsuccessful people.” They’ve learned the skills that allow them to do and be more in life.

Do You Know that There Are Laws of Success?

If you drop a rock from you hand it will fall to the ground. If water reaches 32 degrees it will freeze. These are indisputable laws of nature, and by knowing them you can work with, instead of against them.

Did you know that there are also laws for success? There are laws that explain why some succeed while others fail. There are Laws of Health, Laws of Spirituality, Laws of Relationships, Laws of Money, Laws of Wealth. By learning these Laws and applying them in your life, you can achieve any goal or desire.

You Are a Potential Genius

Michael Jordan was once asked, “What is it like to be born with so much natural talent?”

He replied, “Everyone is born with talent, but ability takes hard work.”

You’ve probably heard it said that the average person uses less than 10% of their brain (some say it’s more like 2%). It’s estimated that we have over 60,000 thoughts a day. For most people, 90% of those thoughts are the same thoughts that they had yesterday.

You are a potential genius, but you have to unlock it. You don’t believe that you’re a genius? You have already had proof of it throughout your life. Every so often you’ve come up with a great idea, or had a great insight, or made a great decision. That was your inner genius at work.

The only difference between you and a recognized genius, is that recognized geniuses use their inner genius all the time. It’s like knowing how to use a computer or drive a car, it’s a skill that can be acquired. You’re job is to learn how to do it all the time. Just like learning how to ride a bike, it gets easier and easier until it comes naturally.

One Piece of Information Can Transform Your Life

You might have most of the pieces for success in place, but you’re missing one critical piece that holds you back, and maybe you’re not even aware of it. If you continue to read, study, talk to people and take courses, you can pick up, sometimes just one critical piece of information, that will make all the difference. It could give you a special insight that would allow you to make a decision that could change your life.

Brian Tracy says that “Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in the 21st Century.”

Don’t Waste Your Life

You have more potential for greatness in you than you could ever use in 100 years.

Chris Hoy, Olympic Gold Medalist, said after winning in Bejing, “I’ve always had the power and the speed, but it’s all about how you use it.”

You too, have the power, speed, genius, and latent ability to achieve any dream and fulfill every desire. Don’t waste it.

Action Steps

To get what you have never had, you must do what you have never done.

1. Start today to do something you have never done before that will bring you closer to achieving a dream. Begin reading a book, exercise, sign up for a course that will teach you a new skill.

2. Make a commitment to greatness. Decide now that you will make a difference with your life. Go for your dreams.

3. Dedicate yourself to continuous learning. Input determines output- be sure that the input your allowing in your life is of the highest quality.

Rachel Denning

What type of obstacle are you facing?

It’s summertime, and it sure is hot! I’m sooo grateful to have access to a pool. We love to go nearly everyday. It gives the kids a chance to work on their swimming and me a chance to work on my tan!

We were hanging out at the pool the other day, I was soaking up the sun on a green lounge chair. Kyah had hers situated only a few inches from me. Aaliyah came toddling over with her pink swim diaper and overlapping buddah belly and her green floaties (which she swims around the pool with all by herself).

She tried to squeeze in the small space between my chair and Kyah’s. She was managing fine, but then there was an obstacle in her way, that came up past her knees. She tried with all of her might to raise her leg up over it, however, she just couldn’t quite make it.

I looked down to see how I could help and realized that her ‘obstacle’ was a pink floatie- something so light and airy that she could have easily kicked it out of her way with her adorable little foot. Yet here she was straining to go over the top of it.

I easily related this incident to life. We encounter all types of obstacles in our lives. Sometimes we need to go around them, through them or over them.

Yet do we correctly categorize the type of obstacle that we are facing before we begin making herculean efforts to conquer them? Perhaps some problem we’re facing might seem difficult to surmount. It may be possible that if we approach it from a different angle, it could be easily kicked out the way, like a floatie!

Sometimes I think we magnify the size of our problems and make the proverbial “mountains out of mole hills.”

I know I do, when my children are all crying at the same time and all want something from me, and the phone is ringing and I have a million things on my ‘to do’ list, and I’m hungry and tired and feel like I’m about to go ‘crazy’- it’s only because I’ve lost perspective.

I’m trying to climb over this huge floatie, when really I can easily kick it out of the way, as soon as I make the decision to do so.

I’m going to improvise on Mark Twain a little and say, “I’ve had a lot of problems in my life, most of which never happened.” Too often we make up problems for ourselves, simply by having the wrong view of things.

Is the “F Word” Really So Bad?

By Cynthia Morris

Oh, those dreaded ‘F’ words. ‘Finish’, along with ‘focus’ and ‘follow through’ are words that make creative types cringe.

Focus? Why? Living in the land of possibility is so much fun! I have so many great ideas, it’s really impossible to focus on only one.

Follow through? Groan. It’s much easier to entertain new and energizing ideas! I can’t get organized enough to follow through on project ideas.

Finish? Death! If I finish something, then I have to face the reality of whether it’s any good or not – will anyone want my work?

If you’re familiar with these obstacles to completing projects, you’re probably less familiar with the boons on the other side of the finish line. Deep satisfaction, pride, recognition, and yes, possibly cash money await you if you can bring your creative baby to completion.

Quit being a cringer and become a finisher. Here are the five essential steps to carry your brilliant ideas all the way home.

One: Identify Your Motivation

Start becoming a great finisher by doing some soul-searching. In a notebook or computer file, write out an answer to this question:

What is important about becoming someone who finishes?

Understanding your unique motivation for staying through the entire process is an essential piece of the puzzle. Get clear on what’s important about finishing.

You may come back and add more as your motivation becomes more apparent to you. You may craft that motivation into one sentence that you keep nearby when you’re creating. A single affirmation or reminder of your commitment can do a lot toward achieving the finishing line. Develop your own version of the Little Red Engine’s mantra: “I think I can, I think I can!”

Two: Commit to a Project

You most likely have a number of projects in various stages of completion. These ideas marinate in your mind, spoiling as you become overwhelmed and distracted by your creative inspiration. It becomes easier to let them fall to the side rather than make choices to commit to one project after another.

When you decide to be a completer, you need to choose where you will focus your time and energy. You will be tempted to work on several projects at once. This is fine, if you manage to follow through and finish at least some of them.

Three: Build Structure

External structures help you stay organized and focused. You will need to learn what works for you, but you’ll have to commit to structures like deadlines, timelines and accountability. Your inner saboteur will pipe in with notions like “I’m not a deadline person,” or “Lists don’t work for me.”

Take this is normal resistance that surfaces when you try something different. Sometimes creative people think they need to be free and flexible, but the truth is that structure allows creativity to flow. Creative people actually like structure, for it gives them the needed focus to bring their ideas into form.

Four: Stay on Track

Getting clear on your motivation, committing to a project and developing a plan of action are the first three crucial steps. Staying with your project to completion is critical to becoming a completer. As Molly Ivins wrote, you need to “dance with them that brought you.”

Don’t flirt with your other ideas once you’ve committed to go all the way with one. You’ll need to develop your creative stamina, hone your emotional intelligence, and stay connected to all the previous reminders about why you’re doing your project and what’s your payoff for finishing.

Five: Acknowledge and Celebrate Completion

This final step is often overlooked. After all that work, we skip the fun part! But it’s important to put this into the creative cycle. Too often, we rush to the next thing, overriding the need to acknowledge our efforts.

Before you pop the cork on the champagne bottle, take some time to acknowledge what it took to get here. Take the opportunity to learn about your creative style and what it takes to bring your projects to fruition. Acknowledging and celebrating will help you build confidence to complete future projects.

Embracing the ‘F’ Words

Most of us want to finish. The work required to finish is nothing compared to the real cringer when we think about all those once-wonderful projects that are now abandoned on the back burner, hidden in the bottom drawer, or lurking on the garage shelf, gathering dust and silently mocking us and our supposedly brilliant ideas.

Knowing the five steps is one thing. Taking them is another. Do yourself a favor: stop cringing and start finishing.

About the Author: Cynthia Morris helps creative people bring their brilliant ideas into form and has most recently finished her own e-book, Cross the Finish Line! Five Steps to Leaping Over the Hurdles to Completion.

Thanks for Harassing Me

“Exercise is good for your mind, body, and soul.”
Susie Michelle

My husband is what some would consider a health nut. He hasn’t eaten sugar or drank carbonation since he was sixteen. He absolutely loves to exercise- loves triathlons, mountain biking, and running up mountains just for fun.

We spoke on the phone for the first time over seven years ago (I had never seen him, but he spotted me at a young adult event and scouted out my phone number from a friend).

He called me up to ask me out for a date, and I remember one of the first questions he ever asked me was “Do you work out?’

At the time I remember being so flattered- I believed he was asking because he thought I looked so good. Though he did think I looked good, I found out later he asked because he was determined to only marry someone who loved to exercise as much as he did.

That was not me. I never exercised, and never wanted to. I never played any sports in high school, and I always tried to avoid any physical exertion in gym class.

Well he married me anyway. He said he had a ‘list’ of what he wanted in his perfect wife, and I met every standard except for exercise, so he decided to go for it (secretly planning on changing me so I would grow to like exercising).

“No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you absolutely, positively do have the power to change.” ~Bill Phillips~

We’ve been married now for just over seven years, and he’s been trying to convert me from the very beginning.

At first I would make paltry efforts at it, just to impress my new husband. I remember when we went hiking together, and I tried to race him running straight up a hill. I did well until I got to the top, then almost passed out. I think he was kind of embarrassed about it.

Another time we went to a family reunion in Colorado, and went hiking. My husband or course wanted to run up to the highest point. I tried to follow the best I could, running slowly behind. My uncle said of it later, “I think that’s the only time I’ve seen Rachel run, following behind her new husband.”

My husband did every thing he could think of to try and get me to exercise daily. He tried bribery, he tried educating me on the importance of it, he even threatened to tie me behind the bumper of the car (that was a joke).

Sometimes I had a poor attitude and outright rebelled, I thought, “Why does he keep harassing me about it so much? Why doesn’t he just leave me alone?”

Well, four children have come, and the weight has fluctuated a bit (understandably). I’ve never been ‘fat’ by most people’s definition. I’ve never been ‘fit’ either.

“Exercise is done against one’s wishes and maintained only because the alternative is worse”

This last year, I finally decided to try out exercise, and give a real effort to it. I don’t know what finally convinced me, or if Greg has just been slowly brainwashing me all these years and it eventually had it’s effects.

Maybe it was living in Costa Rica that just made me feel alive and want to run through the hills full of energy.

Whatever it was, I started exercising on a more consistent basis. Now, it hasn’t been every day, but I have done some type of exercise a few times every week.

Guess what? The results are amazing! The last couple of months, I’ve really pushed myself in running on my treadmill, and I’ve done things I never thought were possible for me.

I ran 5 miles straight for the first time ever in my life, and I ran three miles in 26:45! I realized the limits were all in my mind- I didn’t think I could do something like that. But it feels so empowering to overcome those limitations.

Besides that, my body has slimmed down even more. I never thought my rear end could be so small! My thighs don’t even touch any more, and I’m actually developing some muscle.

I ran into a friend the other day who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years. I was wearing a sweat outfit, had a hat on and no makeup. “Wow Rachel, you look so good!” was his sincere declaration.

Look so good? How? Why? Then I realized- it was the exercise. After four children and seven years of marriage, I still fit into my pre-marriage clothes. Yes I do look good. And it feels good.

“Fitness – if it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body.”  ~Cher

It has been hard- though some people think ‘You’re so lucky, you’re just naturally skinny’- but ‘fat’ for everyone is different.

Being over your ideal weight is fat. And it takes effort to lose it. And there is a difference between being smaller than someone else, and being fit. I may have been smaller than most people, but I wasn’t fit, by any definition of the word. That is where exercise changed all that.

I didn’t like it at first. I had a hard time getting started, then I had a hard time running more than 10 minutes. I had a hard time pushing myself to a point where I actually started sweating.

The same thing can be said of exercise that is said of reading; The more you do it, the better you become at it; the better you become at it, the more you like it; the more you like it, the healthier you become.

I have become healthier. I noticed the last time I went hiking with my family. I used to get tired and try and shorten the trip (because my husband could hike for hours).

This last time, I felt so energized, alive and more enjoyment than usual of the experience. And the benefits are more than physical. I think clearer, my mind is more active and creative, I have more self-discipline, I feel empowered.

I know I can do things I never thought were possible. My character has actually developed more through exercising.

“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional, and mental states.”
Carol Welch

I never understood before why my husband was so adamant about exercise. I couldn’t comprehend why he was so passionate about it, or why he continued to ‘harass’ me about doing it.

I know now that he only wanted to share with me something that had brought so many benefits to his life, that had helped to develop him into the person that he is today.

But as I woke up this morning in my fit, trim, energized and beautiful body, I just had to say, “Thanks Hon, for harassing me.”

The 7 Laws of Attraction

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The 7 Laws of Attraction explained by Bob Proctor, presenter on The Secret

1. The Law of Perpetual Transmutation

2. The Law of Relativity

3. The Law of Vibration

4. The Law of Polarity

5. The Law of Rhythm

6. The Law of Cause and Effect

7. The Law of Gender

Bob explains these laws in an interview with Vic Johnson. Listen to this interview for free-click here.

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The AMAZING Brain

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We have been born with a magnificent gift. It was something that was given to us free, and because it was free, we usually take it for granted (something we tend to do with things that are ‘free’ but priceless- families, health, mind, body, soul).

Our brains can help us to accomplish anything we desire. It’s capacity is unmeasurable and incomprehensible. Few of us really know how it works, but even if we’re not aware of how, it’s important to know that we can program our brains to produce the results that we really want in our lives.

Up to now, your brain has been operating on autopilot. It was conditioned- by circumstances, parents, teachers, experiences, etc.- to react in certain ways according to the stimuli. One example, is avoiding a hot stove because we know it will burn us.

But our brains also tell us how to act when our child is disrespectful, when someone cuts us off in traffic, or when someone shows us kindness. Each of this situations may cause us to feel good or feel bad, according to how our brain says we should feel. And our brain says we should feel a certain way because it has been unconsciously trained to react that way.

Now it’s time to consciously train our minds, to react in the ways that empower us and improve our lives, relationships, health and wealth. Our brains eagerly await our commands, and will carry out anything that we ask of it.

The Best Computer

As far as intricacy and power, the brain is more powerful than any modern computer that man has created. The brain can process up to 30 billion bits of information per second, and has equal to 6,000 miles of wiring capability.

There are also 28 billion neurons (the nerve cells that conduct impulses to our sense organs). Each neuron is like a self-contained computer that can process one million bits of information per second. Neurons act independently, but also can communicate with other neurons through 100,000 miles of nerve fibers.

Even the fastest computer can only make connections one at a time, but one bit of information in a neuron can spread to hundreds of thousands of others in less than 20 milliseconds!

A neuron actually takes longer to send a signal than a computer, but it can achieve the feat faster because, compared to a computer that does it step by step, the billions of neurons can all work together simultaneously.

So, if our brains are so powerful, why do we have so many problems in our lives? Why can’t we feel happy consistently? Why can’t we change our behavior, or overcome depression and frustration?

The answer is, WE CAN! We have the power already to do this. We have the most powerful computer available to our disposal- but no one gave us an owners manual. We attempt to think our way to change, when in reality our responses are rooted in our nervous systems. It’s called neuro-associations.

Our brain links either pain or pleasure to everything that occurs to us. Whatever causes pain, the brain wants to avoid. Whatever causes pleasure, we’re continually drawn to.

Unfortunately, without conscious ‘training’, the brain will link up pleasure to thinks that are not good for us- like overeating, over-spending, smoking- and link pain to any action that we might take to change those harmful habits. After all, we don’t like change, it’s painful. We enjoy eating our cookies and going on shopping sprees, why stop?

Anthony Robbins in Awaken the Giant Within, tells us the solution to creating lasting change is to:

1. Decide What You Really Want- do you really want those cookies, even if it means being fat? Or is what you really want is to be healthy and fit?

2. Associate Massive Pain to Not Changing Now and Massive Pleasure to the Experience of Changing Now!- This requires some imagination and some serious reflection. Imagine where you will be in 10 years if you do not change. Is that a painful thought? Good. Increase it’s intensity. Then think about how you will feel if you do change now? Do you feel good about yourself? Is your personal integrity in place? Intensify that feeling.

3. Interrupt the Limiting Pattern- If we keep doing the same things, we’ll keep getting the same results. When you start ‘reacting’ in your usual way, do something crazy to interrupt it. Jump up and scream “Hallelujah!” Start singing or doing jumping jacks. Do anything to get your focus off repeating that pattern, the important thing is to do it right when the ‘temptation’ is happening.

4. Create a New, Empowering Alternative-Once you break the pattern, you’ go back to it if you don’t find something to replace it by getting the feelings that your desiring- the ones you used to receive from your negative habit. Maybe it’s reading a book, going for a walk, watching a movie. Whatever you enjoy doing, that is healthy and empowering, use it to replace your old disempowering habit.

5. Condition the New Pattern Until It’s Consistent- You created the old habits by unconscious conditioning. It’s time to replace them with healthy habits by conscious conditioning. You can do this by using your replacement activity or habit, giving yourself special rewards for breaking patterns, and through visualization. The brain can’t tell the difference between something that is imagined and what you actually experienced. So use it to ‘recreate’ your life.

To receive in detail information about these processes, order Anthony Robbins Awaken the Giant Within

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The Excitement Factor

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My husband and I have recently returned from living abroad in Costa Rica for the past year. We’ve been members of mainstream society now for about four weeks, complete with apartment and a full-time job (for my husband).

We’ve gotten into a routine. My husband works, I clean the house, do the laundry, play with the kids, he comes home, we go to bed, and then hit REPEAT the next morning. Groundhog Day.

Now we do try to do find meaning and purpose in what we’re doing- we read and teach the kids, we read inspiring books, we write, we work on our business.

But the biggest noticeable difference between living here and living abroad? Excitement. Tim Ferris says in his book The Four Hour Work Week, “The opposite of happiness is not sadness. It’s boredom. A synonym for happiness should be excitement.”

Before we moved to Costa Rica, I never noticed this aspect was missing from my life. I was too busy- fixing meals, caring for the kids, cleaning up the perpetual messes, running errands, more meals, more clean up, only to get up the next day and do it again- an unending treadmill of sameness.

Of course I didn’t know this then. But having gone abroad and come back, excitement is the most noticeable thing missing. In Costa Rica, you woke up each day excited for the newness of it all. Everything was different, from the stunning sunrises to the lush green scenery, the food (and the maid who prepared it), the neighbors milking their cows, the “pulperias” and Hypermas and iguanas, monkeys, waterfalls, beaches, volcanoes and the breathtaking year-round blooming flowers.

Every weekend you would actually do something. You would get together with your friends and say “Let’s go see a waterfall,” or “Let’s go hike the volcano,” “Let’s go to the beach, the nature reserve, the zoo, Africa Mia” even “How about a BBQ” (oh, did I mention the weather was always perfect?) Life was exciting and fun! Your senses were stimulated and it caused reflection on life.

Don’t get me wrong, there was ’sameness’ in Costa Rica. You still lived- ate, worked, slept, got up and did it again. But even in the ’sameness’ there was some excitement, because, heck, you were doing it in Costa Rica.

Now my purpose in writing is not to offend, only to supply another view point and hopefully provoke thought. Why is it that Utah has the highest ratio of depression per capita, as well as drug abuse, even among mothers with children at home? (But it’s not just Utah- many people suffer from ‘boredom’- even Costa Ricans in Costa Rica).

Could it be a lack of excitement? Could it be the never-ending treadmill of sameness, day after same day, week after same week, year after long-drawn-out year? It may play a part. I can only speak for myself, but if I don’t get some excitement soon, I might just go crazy!

That doesn’t mean that life here sucks and we just all need to move to Costa Rica to find excitement and fulfillment in life. Excitement really comes from within- it is an attitude that can be developed by looking for the beauty, awe and splendor all around us. Fun can be found right here (or wherever we are), the question is, Do we find it?

When was the last time you felt really alive, that you were so filled with the thrill and adventure of life that you threw your arms up into the air and your head back and just took it all in?

If it was recently, kudos to you. You’re better than the majority. I know for me it’s been awhile. For me, that’s what’s missing- The Excitement Factor.

It’s time to get it back.

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Our Greatest Personal Asset

I just finished The Tao of Warren Buffet and I was inspired by what he has to say.

Our mind and body are our greatest assets. They have an unlimited potential. There is no way to measure what a human being is able to accomplish- we continue to break our own records, to exceed our own limits.

We have a responsibility to make the most of ourselves. We need to educate our minds and care for our bodies. We have the potential to reach to untold heights, to create huge amounts of wealth, to accomplish amazing feats.

Sometimes I feel as though I’ll explode! I want to do great things! I want to be a great person. It’s like a fire inside of me trying to get out. It’s exciting and frustrating all at the same time.

The desire for improvement, for excellence, for wealth and abundance- this is what drives me. It gives me motivation everyday. This quote by Thoreau inspires me:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. If you build your castles in the air, your work will not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

Right now that’s what I’m trying to do- to put foundations under my castles in the air.