March 23, 2010 – 12:18 pm
In the current economic and business environment, many people throughout the world are finding their lives making unexpected turns. Some people have been confronted by the need to make so many major changes in their lives that they say they feel like a rudderless boat tossed by high seas.
Sometimes life does present us with challenges that cause us to re-think our basic priorities and values. I don’t want for a moment to undermine the struggles many are experiencing in these days. But there really are silver linings in many dark clouds. The challenge is to rein in the panic, stop to take a deep breath, and take a fresh look at the situation. We often find new directions, revised values and renewed hope if we can center into ourselves long enough to take a fresh look at life.
Here is a way to re-think your situation:
- Stop, sit, breathe, and calm yourself
- Ask yourself what it is that you fear most? What is the worst that could happen?
- Think about how it would change your life it the worst did happen.
- Now spend some time (several days) thinking about how you could turn that bad situation into a source of hope or excitement.
Include some of the above suggestions in your daily plan and let me know how it works for you by sharing in the comment box.
February 24, 2010 – 8:00 am
Believing in your dream has nothing to do with chasing phantoms. Your dream is not YET reality – but it CAN be, and with commitment, it WILL be. Our dreams tend to elicit passionate devotion and commitment in our minds and hearts. For this reason, they tend to take over our lives. At the very least, they become the guiding goal of our actions. Although we choose the dreams we will pursue, at some profound and central level, our dreams are the aspirations of our souls. They are not like other ideas and other goals. They demand our passion and our commitment. When we believe in our dreams, they guide us like no other ideas. This is what enables us to achieve them.
“A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind.”
– Robert Bolton
February 17, 2010 – 8:00 am
A big dream takes you all the way to where you want to go. Sometimes we are afraid to dream BIG and to aspire to accomplish BIG results. And sometimes that fear causes us to settle for taking smaller steps toward smaller goals. This can be a good strategy if there is a clear and obvious next step from the first small goal to the next. Achieving small goals can move us gradually in the direction we want to go.
But sometimes the only way to reach our desired destination is to gather the courage to aim for that BIG dream without intermediate steps. Sometimes we must risk failure in order to achieve the BIG goal. Sometimes we must take the risk of falling and trying again to achieve the goal, even if others think our goals are too optimistic or too great a reach.
“Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” — David Lloyd George
February 10, 2010 – 8:00 am
If you expect to pursue the dream that will guide the next phase of your life, you must take care of yourself. At Valentine’s Day, when you are thinking about the people you love and the people who love you, don’t forget to show yourself a little love. Loving yourself involves caring for your mind, your body and your soul. When your mind is working creatively and is fully engaged; when your body is properly nourished, rested and toned; when your soul is at peace – then you are ready to pursue your dream; then you are ready to give back; then you are ready to change the world, or some part of it.
“Take care of yourself – you never know when the world will need you.”
– Rabbi Hillel
February 3, 2010 – 3:14 pm
Find out just how far you can go – find out what is in you. When you dare to dream BIG and you dare to stretch yourself to fulfill your big dream, you will find out what you are made of. You will discover the amazing depth of your passion for your dream, the breadth of your courage and the extent to which you can go to make your dream into reality. You might need the help and the support of others, but that is a bit part of what makes the journey so much fun! By daring to dream BIG and pursuing your dream with your greatest determination and strength and courage, you will probably test your limits and discover that there is more in you than you ever thought.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
– T.S. Eliot
January 27, 2010 – 6:00 am
There is a danger in the avid pursuit of one’s dreams – selfishness, self-absorption, self-centeredness. The way to avoid this danger is to always stop to live each day and cherish each friend or family member.
When we value each person for their dreams and hopes and struggles and pain, we deny selfishness a point of entry into our hearts and lives. As important as it is to pursue our dreams, we must remember that the dreams of others are equally important.
There is no comparing of dreams. What might seem grand to you might seem a small dream to another, and vice versa. Never compare dreams. Instead seek out ways to help one another in successfully fulfilling their dreams.
“Perfect good breeding is the result of nature and not of education; for it may be found in a cottage, and may be missed in a palace. ‘Tis the genial regard for the feeling of others that spring from an absence of selfishness.” — Disraeli
January 20, 2010 – 6:00 am
You cannot make progress toward your goals until you take the first step.
The New Year brings to each of us the challenge to just BEGIN. No matter how large or how small your goals and plans, you will not achieve them until you BEGIN.
Gather your support group, gather your resources, gather your courage, and BEGIN. Trust your dream, trust your plans, and BEGIN.
Whether your initial steps are large or small, the first steps must be taken. Only you can take the first steps toward fulfillment of your dream. It will be a great and worthy task, but you must BEGIN.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can; begin it;
Boldness has genius, power magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.
— Goethe
January 13, 2010 – 5:30 am
There are always so many things to do. There is work, kids, spouse, grandchildren, friends, housework, and yard work. In January there are winter challenges and tasks – shoveling snow, scraping ice, bringing in firewood, building fires and more.
January is also when we start thinking about taxes and about planning for the New Year and honoring resolutions. If the planning was already done, it is time to begin to put the plans into action.
In January there is so much to do. It is so very easy to become overwhelmed by all the things before us. It is also very easy to become so busy doing things that we forget to simply enjoy living.
Give yourself time to live, time to laugh, time to play and time to work. Try to keep it all in balance. If balance becomes elusive, give me a call – I can help you put it all back into perspective (203-855-9714).
“Prepare to live by all means, but for heaven’s sake do not forget to live. You will never have a better chance than you have at present. You may think you will have, but you are mistaken.” — Arnold Bennett
January 6, 2010 – 5:30 am
“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.”
– Pamela Vaull Starr
Whether you call them dreams, goals, aspirations or something else, make them big; make them profound; make them worth your best effort. Let them draw you out of your past, away from your fears, and beyond any failures of the past.
Allow your dreams to become big enough to define your goals for every year and even for every day of the rest of your life. Establish for your life a roadmap to your dream, mapping daily steps to accomplishment of the whole. Then pursue the goal of each day with all your heart and all your joy.
Moving ever closer to your dream will warm your heart, will embrace the support and the involvement of others, and will light a fire that will inspire those around you to share both the trials of the journey and the celebration of success.
Get your FREE Special Report on the 7 Secrets of Highly Successful Big Dreamers and also receive the bi-weekly Dream Big Booster www.drcynthiabarnett.com
December 30, 2009 – 5:30 am
“First, say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
– Epictetus, Discourses
Who do your dreams call you to become? How will fulfilling your dreams transform you? If fulfilling a dream will not make you better or stronger is it worth pursuing?
I am convinced that as we reach the second phase of our lives and we are given the gift of a chance to pursue our dreams, we owe it to ourselves to pursue only worthy dreams. The others are probably best left in the memory of the years of our immaturity.
The dreams that remain, the dreams that draw us forward, should be worthy of the experience, the wisdom and the skill acquired over half a lifetime. Worthy dreams demand of us new growth and new passion for life. When you have discovered that dream hiding somewhere deep in your soul, it will demand all that you have to give and in return it will give you a more fulfilling and happy life.
Get your FREE Special Report on the 7 Secrets of Highly Successful Big Dreamers and also receive the bi-weekly Dream Big Booster at www.drcynthiabarnett.com
