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My Responseability
Between a stimulus (event) and the response there is response-ability.
As Jennifer Aniston used to say in a shampoo commercial "Pay attention, here comes the science part."
Victor Frankl was a determinist brought up in the tradition of Freudian psychology. They postulate that whatever happens to you as a child shapes your character and personality and basically governs your whole life. The limits and parameters of your life are set and there's not much you can do about it.
Frankl was a psychiatrist and a Jew and was imprisoned in the Nazi death camps of World War II. He lost his parents, wife and brother and saw many atrocities that don't bear repeating.
One day, alone and naked in a cell, he became aware of what he termed "the last of the human freedoms" - a freedom his Nazi captors could not take away. They could control his entire environment, they could do what they wanted to his body, but Victor Frankl was a self-aware being who could look as an observer at his very involvement. He could decide within himself how all of this was going to affect him. Between what happened to him, or the stimulus, and his response to it, was his freedom or power to choose that response. That last sentence warrants reading again, I reckon. While they had more liberty, more options to choose from in their environment, Victor had more freedom, more internal power to exercise his options. He visualised himself lecturing his students after the war, describing himself in the classroom giving them the lessons that he was learning during his very torture. (Reproduced in part from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
So what does this mean for us? It means that between an event that occurs to us and our response to that event, we can choose what our response is. We can slow time right down, take a look at our programming and knee-jerk reactions and see that, by using the 'last of our human freedoms' we can make better decisions. Through our observations of ourselves, we can make better choices. It means we can now take responsibility for our actions and our circumstances. You get fired, the knee jerk reaction could be panic and resentment towards your former employers. Or you could stop and re-direct your thoughts, you now have the free time to finish your online marketing project that has been swilling around in your mind. You no longer have to take instruction from a person that you don't particularly respect and you now have more time with the kids. Perhaps someone is rude and abusive to you, your initial reaction would be to give them a piece of your mind and mirror their abuse. Or perhaps you could stop to listen to why they're adopting that attitude (and probably wonder how unhappy their life must be) instead of preparing your response in your head. (This is one of the key impediments to good listening).
Within us all is this great freedom, a freedom to exercise choice through thought, imagination, creativity, independent will and self awareness.
So I ask you this, how often do you exercise this ability, this freedom, this inalienable right to choose what you think? Because if you're just going along with the herd, are you truly free?
As Jennifer Aniston used to say in a shampoo commercial "Pay attention, here comes the science part."
Victor Frankl was a determinist brought up in the tradition of Freudian psychology. They postulate that whatever happens to you as a child shapes your character and personality and basically governs your whole life. The limits and parameters of your life are set and there's not much you can do about it.
Frankl was a psychiatrist and a Jew and was imprisoned in the Nazi death camps of World War II. He lost his parents, wife and brother and saw many atrocities that don't bear repeating.
One day, alone and naked in a cell, he became aware of what he termed "the last of the human freedoms" - a freedom his Nazi captors could not take away. They could control his entire environment, they could do what they wanted to his body, but Victor Frankl was a self-aware being who could look as an observer at his very involvement. He could decide within himself how all of this was going to affect him. Between what happened to him, or the stimulus, and his response to it, was his freedom or power to choose that response. That last sentence warrants reading again, I reckon. While they had more liberty, more options to choose from in their environment, Victor had more freedom, more internal power to exercise his options. He visualised himself lecturing his students after the war, describing himself in the classroom giving them the lessons that he was learning during his very torture. (Reproduced in part from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
So what does this mean for us? It means that between an event that occurs to us and our response to that event, we can choose what our response is. We can slow time right down, take a look at our programming and knee-jerk reactions and see that, by using the 'last of our human freedoms' we can make better decisions. Through our observations of ourselves, we can make better choices. It means we can now take responsibility for our actions and our circumstances. You get fired, the knee jerk reaction could be panic and resentment towards your former employers. Or you could stop and re-direct your thoughts, you now have the free time to finish your online marketing project that has been swilling around in your mind. You no longer have to take instruction from a person that you don't particularly respect and you now have more time with the kids. Perhaps someone is rude and abusive to you, your initial reaction would be to give them a piece of your mind and mirror their abuse. Or perhaps you could stop to listen to why they're adopting that attitude (and probably wonder how unhappy their life must be) instead of preparing your response in your head. (This is one of the key impediments to good listening).
Within us all is this great freedom, a freedom to exercise choice through thought, imagination, creativity, independent will and self awareness.
So I ask you this, how often do you exercise this ability, this freedom, this inalienable right to choose what you think? Because if you're just going along with the herd, are you truly free?
Tuesday
Guilty!
Isn't it great when you look back and see where you've corrected your attitudes and thought behaviours for the better? Isn't it wonderful to be in a community where you feel 'safe' to say "boy was I wrong.."? Isn't it great to just answer questions? (Ok, so I made that last one up. Or did I?). Through my business and now through the Tribe Syndication, I find myself in the company of great people. People who are raising the bar for themselves. They're tired of a life of mediocrity. It's great to be here.
The reason I say this is because I was reading a friend of mine's blog, Michael Berry, and saw a phrase in there that I related to. It reads: "Network marketing is not the lazy man’s way to the top." Right there is where I threw my hands up and went 'Guilty!'. When I entered the home business arena I really thought I was on the pig's back. In my first couple of ventures I thought I had it made. I thought I could just build a bit of team and then it was 101, Easy Street from there. In my mind, I rubbed my hands together with sympathy for my poor friends who had to work for a living. I was ahead of the pack, had they not heard how the internet had revolutionised business? Suckas! As I explained excitedly how little I had to do, I remember my very wealthy and successful cousin telling me how every business needs work. "Pfffft!" I said, being sooo verrryy wise. "Boy was I wrong..." See? I can say now in front of you guys. All I saw was the "home" in home business.
Having gained expereience now, I am reminded of the a Chinese saying that goes: The diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials. And along this path there have been trials, adversities and obstacles. I'm not the first and I certainly won't be the last. So I leave this piece of 'gaffito' to those coming behind me who may see this. As I say to someone starting with me, the only difference right now between you and me is that I've made more mistakes. But hey, if we stayed down after the first time we fell when we practiced walking, we'd never have learned to walk, right? So, to those more seasoned in the world of online business, you can now go off and tell people how 'perfected' you been down through the years!
Since my initial forray in to this world of home business, I've come a long way and corrected up my thought process. I'm delightfully busy these days as the head of and international, multi-million dollar company. I am taking the appropriate action as the CEO of any large corporation should take. How's my marketing? How are my profits? Where am I losing? Where am I heading? How are my budgets? Are my staff happy? (In a recent survey of all those polled I got a resounding 100% "Yes". Well, there is only me.) The internet has made a HUGE difference to business but not the way I thought initially.
Now, through my association with company that I now represent, I am ahead of the pack through what I'm feeding my brain now and the actions that I'm taking. Enjoy the video and remember, you are a business owner (at home)!
The reason I say this is because I was reading a friend of mine's blog, Michael Berry, and saw a phrase in there that I related to. It reads: "Network marketing is not the lazy man’s way to the top." Right there is where I threw my hands up and went 'Guilty!'. When I entered the home business arena I really thought I was on the pig's back. In my first couple of ventures I thought I had it made. I thought I could just build a bit of team and then it was 101, Easy Street from there. In my mind, I rubbed my hands together with sympathy for my poor friends who had to work for a living. I was ahead of the pack, had they not heard how the internet had revolutionised business? Suckas! As I explained excitedly how little I had to do, I remember my very wealthy and successful cousin telling me how every business needs work. "Pfffft!" I said, being sooo verrryy wise. "Boy was I wrong..." See? I can say now in front of you guys. All I saw was the "home" in home business.
Having gained expereience now, I am reminded of the a Chinese saying that goes: The diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials. And along this path there have been trials, adversities and obstacles. I'm not the first and I certainly won't be the last. So I leave this piece of 'gaffito' to those coming behind me who may see this. As I say to someone starting with me, the only difference right now between you and me is that I've made more mistakes. But hey, if we stayed down after the first time we fell when we practiced walking, we'd never have learned to walk, right? So, to those more seasoned in the world of online business, you can now go off and tell people how 'perfected' you been down through the years!
Since my initial forray in to this world of home business, I've come a long way and corrected up my thought process. I'm delightfully busy these days as the head of and international, multi-million dollar company. I am taking the appropriate action as the CEO of any large corporation should take. How's my marketing? How are my profits? Where am I losing? Where am I heading? How are my budgets? Are my staff happy? (In a recent survey of all those polled I got a resounding 100% "Yes". Well, there is only me.) The internet has made a HUGE difference to business but not the way I thought initially.
Now, through my association with company that I now represent, I am ahead of the pack through what I'm feeding my brain now and the actions that I'm taking. Enjoy the video and remember, you are a business owner (at home)!
Our Kids, The Teachers
I was 42 in June of 2010. I've seen a lot and there is a lot more to see. I'm "middle aged" (provided I die at 84). It's at this age that you start to see certain life cycles repeating themselves. Fashion, for instance, here in Ireland and the UK amongst teenagers, has returned to eighties as has the film industry (see remakes of "The Karate Kid" and "The A-Team"). At this age, it's easy to think we've seen it all, if not most of it, before. We become complacent and we look for the new and the shiny. We also know at this point that all that glitters is not gold (and all that doesn't isn't either). I'm speaking for myself here. Even radom events became routine. So we yearn for 'the miracles'.
That was until recently when my eighteen month old son started his 'investigations'. I see everything now with new eyes. He loves lights and light switches. Have you ever stopped to wonder at the lightening speed at which a light comes on when you turn on a switch? Do you understand the processes of the spark and the energy and how Thomas Edison discovered 10,000 ways how it didn't work? Have you marvelled recently at how self raising flower works when you cook, even if you don't do the cooking yourself? Have you wondered how the grass, abundant in its greeness, keeps coming back every time you cut it? What instruction is kept within its make-up that keeps it photosynthesising? Have you thought about how your skin heals after a cut, how it meshes back together to leave no trace? Where is the instruction in the eight cells that I started out as to grow into this human being with fully functioning organs and the capacity for thought. Eight cells!
Miracles happen on a daily basis to those who see.
Your life and your part in this Universe is a miracle in itself. It is something to be celebrated on a daily basis. Here are a couple of links to mull over as you contemplate the miracles that occur daily in your life. First is the Scale Of The Universe an amazing diagram of scale. It's mind boggling. And secondly, here's a Monty Python song that keeps me calm in so many situations but makes the same point. It's the Universe song, from their Meaning Of Live movie.
Choose success, choose happiness and choose the life you want because the chances of you being here are very slim, so the fact that you are here shows that you can accomplish great things.
Have fun, relish the free gifts created for your enjoyment, and have a wonderful life. :)
Have you read A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume?
That was until recently when my eighteen month old son started his 'investigations'. I see everything now with new eyes. He loves lights and light switches. Have you ever stopped to wonder at the lightening speed at which a light comes on when you turn on a switch? Do you understand the processes of the spark and the energy and how Thomas Edison discovered 10,000 ways how it didn't work? Have you marvelled recently at how self raising flower works when you cook, even if you don't do the cooking yourself? Have you wondered how the grass, abundant in its greeness, keeps coming back every time you cut it? What instruction is kept within its make-up that keeps it photosynthesising? Have you thought about how your skin heals after a cut, how it meshes back together to leave no trace? Where is the instruction in the eight cells that I started out as to grow into this human being with fully functioning organs and the capacity for thought. Eight cells!
Miracles happen on a daily basis to those who see.
Your life and your part in this Universe is a miracle in itself. It is something to be celebrated on a daily basis. Here are a couple of links to mull over as you contemplate the miracles that occur daily in your life. First is the Scale Of The Universe an amazing diagram of scale. It's mind boggling. And secondly, here's a Monty Python song that keeps me calm in so many situations but makes the same point. It's the Universe song, from their Meaning Of Live movie.
Choose success, choose happiness and choose the life you want because the chances of you being here are very slim, so the fact that you are here shows that you can accomplish great things.
Have fun, relish the free gifts created for your enjoyment, and have a wonderful life. :)
Have you read A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume?
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