Category Archives: Attitude

Dare to be Daring

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“I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.” ~ Maya Angelou

Risk-taking is the act of exposing yourself to potential failure, danger, harm, or loss.

While that might not always sound like a great idea and may push you beyond your personal comfort zone, the adage, “No risk, no reward” rings true regardless of how you feel about potential failures. You have to put yourself out there and move beyond your comfort zone in order to get what you want and to succeed.

History is repeat with those individuals who took the biggest risks and fought against the greatest odds and they were the ones that have been remembered. “You can’t outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little sidebets about the outcome of life. Either you wade in and risk everything you have to play the game or you don’t play at all. And if you don’t play you can’t win,” states Judith McNaught.

“It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.” Seneca

Thus, dream boldly and reach for the stars. You, and most people, are more capable and able to live their dreams and achieve the big audacious goals if only they’re willing to believe, focus, work hard, be patient and persist. “It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don’t. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever,” writes Philip Adams

References:

  1. https://www.inhersight.com/blog/career-development/taking-risks-quotes
  2. https://www.maverickmindsets.com/blog-posts/quotes-on-risk-taking/

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, and catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain

Mindset Matters: Aging

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Thinking Positively About Aging Extends Life. Positive self-perceptions about aging can prolong life expectancy.

Thinking positively about aging and getting older extends one’s life by seven-and-one half years. This is more than the longevity gained from low blood pressure or low cholesterol or by maintaining a healthy weight, abstaining from smoking and exercising regularly, a study by Yale University researchers have found.

“We found that those individuals who reported more positive self perceptions of aging demonstrated significantly longer survival than those who reported more negative self perceptions of aging,” said Becca Levy, assistant professor in the Yale University Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

Researchers found that those respondents with more positive views on aging live longer, even after taking into account factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, functional health, self-reported health and loneliness.

“We found that the median survival of those in the more positive self perceptions of aging group was 7.6 years longer than those in the more negative aging self stereotype group,” the authors said.

The effects of positive attitudes about aging had a greater impact on longevity than low blood pressure and cholesterol, each of which is associated with a longer life span of about four years.

Positive attitudes about aging also had a greater impact on longevity than lower body mass index, not smoking and regular exercise – each of which extends life by one to three years.

“Our study carries two messages,” the authors said. “The discouraging one is that negative self perceptions can diminish life expectancy; the encouraging one is that positive self-perceptions can prolong life expectancy.”

References:

  1. https://news.yale.edu/2002/07/29/thinking-positively-about-aging-extends-life-more-exercise-and-not-smoking

Be a Dreamer and Pursue Your Dreams

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If you’re not pursuing and building your dreams, you’ll spend your entire life working to pursue and build someone else’s.

The greatest accomplishments and historic achievements started as dreams and visions that motivated the dreamer or visionary to shape their thoughts, beliefs and actions into a powerful reality.

From the planes we fly, the cars we drive and the sporting events we stream, passionate dreamers and visionaries like Thomas A. Edison and Elon Musk have developed all the things we enjoy and take for granted today.

“All successful people, men and women, are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.”– Brian Tracy

Two Wolves

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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

  • One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued,
  • “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Feeding yourself with or focusing on negative thoughts can bring out the worst in yourself.

Conversely, positive thinking fuels the goodness within us. We exude joy, peace, hope, kindness, and love.

Essentially, what you focus your mind and thoughts on grows.

References:

  1. https://www.virtuesforlife.com/two-wolves/

Mindfulness

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Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

Mindfulness is about fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. It is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

The annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand.

Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we’re engrossed in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or fretting about the future. And that makes us anxious.

The practice of Mindfulness can help you overcome anxiety, worry and many of the stresses of life.

Mindfulness can be cultivated through proven techniques. Here are some examples:

  1. Seated, walking, standing, and moving meditation (it’s also possible lying down but often leads to sleep);
  2. Short pauses we insert into everyday life;
  3. Merging meditation practice with other activities, such as yoga or sports.

When we’re mindful, we reduce stress, enhance performance, gain insight and awareness through observing our own mind, and increase our attention to others’ well-being.

8 Facts About Mindfulness:

  1. Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic. It’s familiar to us because it’s what we already do, how we already are. It takes many shapes and goes by many names.
  2. Mindfulness is a thing we already have. We have the capacity to be present and we can cultivate these innate qualities with simple practices that are scientifically demonstrated to benefit ourselves and our love ones.
  3. You don’t need to change. Mindfulness recognizes and cultivates the best of who we are as human beings.
  4. Mindfulness has the potential to become a transformative social phenomenon. Here’s why:
  5. Anyone can do it. Mindfulness practice cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs. Everyone can benefit and it’s easy to learn.
  6. It’s a way of living.  Mindfulness is more than just a practice. It brings awareness and caring into everything we do—and it cuts down needless stress. Even a little makes our lives better.
  7. It’s evidence-based. We don’t have to take mindfulness on faith. Both science and experience demonstrate its positive benefits for our health, happiness, work, and relationships.
  8. It sparks innovation. As we deal with our world’s increasing complexity and uncertainty, mindfulness can lead us to effective, resilient, low-cost responses to seemingly intransigent problems.

When we practice mindfulness, we’re practicing the art of creating space for ourselves—space to think, space to breathe, space between ourselves and our reactions.

References:

  1. https://www.mindful.org/how-to-practice-mindfulness/
  2. https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/

Simple Smart Wealth Building Moves

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By Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 7, 2015

Smart wealth building moves aren’t complicated or complex. They’re simple.

Cut through all the financial noise, jargon and pontificating and technical stuff, and everything you really need to know about wealth building and personal finance fits into less than 1,000 words—no more than three to four minutes of reading.

Ignore economic and financial forecasts. Their purpose is to keep forecasters employed and enriched. Most professional economists were blindsided in 2008 by the biggest financial collapse in 70 years and by the 2022 market collapse—and by the stock market’s recovered in 2009 and will recover after the 2022 collapse.

Ignore “expert” stock picks. The stocks that Wall Street experts like most generally fare no better than those they like least—or stocks picked at random.

Keep it simple. Complicated financial strategies and investments are mostly designed to enrich managers and salesmen. A simple, diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds, rebalanced yearly, will do just fine—if not better.

Buy individual stocks only as a gamble. Never buy fashionable investments.

Put most of your long-term portfolio into equities. While equities are volatile, they generally produce the best long-term returns—typically about 4% to 5% a year above inflation. But remember to hang on when they plummet.

Invest globally, not just in the U.S. Foreign stock markets, in the aggregate, are no riskier than U.S. markets and offer terrific diversification.

Buy Treasurys, too: In addition to stocks, own some long-term Treasury bonds and some Treasury inflation-protected securities. These are likely to hold their value, or even go up, when stocks crash.

Never buy a lottery ticket. The lottery runs a profit, which means the players run a loss. And a study once found that the people who won ended up no happier than those who lost.

Know thyself. Don’t pursue complex financial or tax strategies if you’re not a details person. Cut up your credit cards if you’re a shopaholic. Invest more conservatively if you’re apt to panic in a crisis.

Buy high-deductible home and car insurance. It’ll save you money. Insurance is necessary, but is generally expensive.

Protect yourself from disaster. Have disability insurance, either through work or directly. Buy term life insurance to cover dependents if you fall under a bus.

Save early, save often. Time and patience are the investor’s best friends. Invest a dollar for 10 years at 4% and you’ll have $1.50. Invest it for 40 years and you’ll have nearly $5.

Use those free tax shelters. Contribute as much as possible to your company’s 401(k) plan or equivalent (such as 403(b) or 457), and at least enough to get the company match. If you can, contribute to individual retirement accounts for yourself, and a nonworking spouse, as well.

Make the most of what you have. Don’t pin too much hope on the next pay raise or stock windfall. The more we have, the more we want. Psychologists call this the “hedonic treadmill.” The only way to have enough is to master the art of being satisfied…to have an attitude of gratitude.

Plan for a long life. A third of your adult life could come after you’re 65. Try to pay off your mortgage, and save at least 10 times your annual salary, by the time you retire. Delay taking Social Security for as long as you can up to the age of 70, to maximize each monthly check.

Don’t carry a balance from month to month unless you are planning to default and file for bankruptcy. Card interest rates are extremely high—partially to account for the borrowers who will default. Make paying off that debt your overriding priority.

Cut the waste. There’s fat in every middle-class budget. Most cellular bills are too high. Most cable bills are too high. Most people waste too much money on their cars. Few habits bust the budget more than eating out regularly.

Beware of buying your employer’s stock. Your job there is probably financial exposure enough.

Tune out advertising and other noise. If you consider it all to be a pack of cynical lies designed to steal your money, that’s about right.

Don’t spend money showing off. Designer brands and “luxury” labels are created to overcharge the desperately insecure. They’ll mark you out as nouveau riche. Old-money families keep it down low.

Protect your nest egg. Don’t drain your retirement savings to pay for your child’s college education. Likewise, don’t empty your 401(k) or IRAs to start a business. You will be taxed and penalized on the withdrawals even if you lose the money. And so long as the money remains in those shelters, it’s protected from creditors.

Teach your children about money. Teach them early and often. No one else will, and they will have to make their own way.

Value your money. Work out how much you take home, after-tax, for each hour you work. And remember that number—especially when you shop.

Share and give a portion of your blessings back. Finally, if you think giving to charities and good causes is the lowest-priority item in your entire budget each year, re-examine the budget.

Source: Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal

Gratitude Research

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Gratitude is “an affirmation of goodness and a recognition that this goodness is sourced outside the self.” This doesn’t mean that life is perfect and peaceful, but when you look at life as a whole, gratitude encourages you to identify some amount of goodness and joy in your life. Dr. Robert Emmons

Research indicates that gratitude can lower blood pressure, improve immune function, reduce cardiac inflammation, increase happiness, improve relationships, and decrease depression. 

Dr. Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, researcher, and author of the book Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, suggests that you “integrate gratitude into your daily life, rather than make it something you need to add to an already busy day”.

He recommends that you simply make it a point to notice opportunities that you can be thankful for and practice gratitude regularly.

Practicing gratitude can also make you better equipped to handle the difficulties of life that inevitably arise. In fact, according to Emmons, it’s an essential part of the process of healing from trauma. Even despair can be mitigated by the experience of appreciation for the good, however slight it might be.

Many survivors of the Holocaust, when asked to tell their stories, remember most strongly the feelings of gratitude for food, shelter, or clothing that was offered to them. This sense of thankfulness for the small blessings helped them maintain their humanity despite experiencing a horrific tragedy.

Additionally, many people with life-threatening illnesses also report decreased distress and increased positive emotions when they practice gratitude.

10 tips to fit gratitude in your life

Here are ten ways to become a more thankful person, according to Dr. Emmons:

  1. Every day, say aloud three good things that happened. It’s also extremely powerful to express gratitude aloud when you’re alone.
  2. Keep a gratitude journal. Jot down the small things from your day that mattered to you. If you’re having a particularly rough day, you can look back through the pages of accumulated blessings in your life.
  3. Say thanks to your partner. Couples who express gratitude toward one another set up a powerful feedback loop of intimacy and trust, where both partners feel as if their needs are being met.
  4. Cool a hot temper with a quick gratitude inventory. One of the quickest ways to dispel the energy of a stormy mood is to focus your attention on what’s good. So when you’re about to lash out at someone, take a moment to do a quick inventory of five things you’re thankful for in the moment. It will help you relax and avoid saying something you’ll later regret.
  5. Thank yourself. Gratitude doesn’t always need to be focused on what other people have done for you! Make sure you give yourself a thank-you for the healthy habits you’ve cultivated in your own life.
  6. Use technology to send three gratitude messages a week. Harness the power of this technology to send out some good vibes, such as a text or Facebook comment, to tell your friends why you appreciate them.
  7. Savor the good moments. If you notice you’re feeling happy, stop what you’re doing and pay attention for a few minutes. Notice exactly how you feel, including the sensations in your body and the thoughts you’re having. Later, when you’re trying to inspire gratitude, you can remember this moment and experience the benefits all over again.
  8. Check for silver linings. Even the most difficult life challenges come with some benefit—you just have to look to find them. Making a mistake teaches you a lesson. When things feel hard, ask yourself: What’s good here?
  9. Look outward, not inward. Robert Emmons says people are more likely to feel grateful when they put their focus on others, rather than getting caught up in their own inner narratives about how things should have gone. Empathy for others can trigger a sense of gratitude, and people who have an outward focus tend to experience stronger benefits.
  10. Change your perspective. If you struggle to come up with something to feel grateful for, put yourself in the shoes of someone who is experiencing misfortunes greater than your own. It will inspire gratitude for your own healthy body and circumstances, which you may have taken for granted otherwise.

It is vitally important to your health and overall emotional well being to cultivate a sense of gratitude in your life. Research confirms that gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression.

References:

  1. https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/making-gratitude-part-everyday-life-tips-dr-robert-emmons
  2. https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/10-ways-be-more-thankful-person

Hope is a Way of Thinking…a Super Power

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Hope is a feeling of expectation, a desire or wish for a certain thing to happen.

According to psychologist and renowned hope researcher Charles R. Snyder et al. (1991) hope is a positive cognitive state based on a sense of successful goal-directed determination and planning to meet these goals.

“Hope is not an emotion; it’s a way of thinking or a cognitive process.” Brené Brown

In other words, hope is like a snap-shot of a person’s current goal-directed thinking, highlighting the motivated pursuit of goals and the expectation that those goals can be achieved.

Hope helps us remain committed to our goals and motivated to take action towards achieving. Hope gives people a reason to continue fighting and believing that their current circumstances will improve, despite the unpredictable nature of human existence.

As psychologist and renowned hope researcher Charles Snyder et al. (2002, p. 269) stated so eloquently:

A rainbow is a prism that sends shards of multicolored light in various directions. It lifts our spirits and makes us think of what is possible. Hope is the same – a personal rainbow of the mind.

While some approaches conceptualize hope in the realm of being, that is acknowledging hope during illness and within palliative care; Snyder et al (1991) emphasized the relevance of hope in the context of doing – that is the capacity to achieve goals.

According to Snyder’s Hope Theory (Snyder, Irving, & Anderson, 1991), hopefulness is a life-sustaining human strength comprised of three distinct but related components:

  1. Goals Thinking – the clear conceptualization of valuable goals.
  2. Pathways Thinking – the capacity to develop specific strategies to reach those goals.
  3. Agency Thinking – the ability to initiate and sustain the motivation for using those strategies.

Hope does not necessarily fade in the face of adversity; in fact hope often endures despite poverty, war and famine. While no one is exempt from experiencing challenging life events, hope fosters an orientation to life that allows a grounded and optimistic outlook even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Practicing optimism has much in common with hope. Both are concerned with a positive future orientation and both assume that good things will generally occur in one’s life.

The difference is that optimism is a positive attitude about a future event that is probable and likely to occur: the optimist expects that life will work out well and as expected (Scheier & Carver, 1993).

On the other hand, being hopeful is regarded as more realistic than optimistism.

The hopeful individual recognizes that life may not always work out as planned, yet maintains positive expectancy directed toward possible outcomes that hold personal significance (Miceli & Castelfranchi, 2002)

Hope is more than just a state of mind; it is an action-oriented strength.

References:

  1. https://positivepsychology.com/hope-therapy/

C.R. Snyder was a fellow of the APA in the divisions of teaching, social and personality, clinical, and health. He worked as the director of the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Kansas and was  the editor of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. Snyder passed away in 2006.

The biblical definition of hope is “confident expectation.” Hope means “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen” and it is a cognitive processes or way of thinking.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NIV)

Your Powerful Thoughts and Mind

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“You will attract to you…the very things, or the very station in life, that you create in your thoughts.” —Napoleon Hill

The most powerful tool available to you is your mind and you can attract the very things you create in your thoughts and mind, writes Napoleon Hill, America’s most followed motivational author about the principles of success. “Your thoughts singularly determine your personal outcomes in life, as well as your ability to enjoy the journey,” he opines.

In order to harness your thoughts to create the life you desire, you simply need to utilize the mental resources already within your possession, Hill concluded. You must cultivate a thorough understanding of the workings of the mind and the manner in which thoughts may be transformed into their physical counterparts.
 
In order to create positive change in your life, you must learn to harness the power of your thoughts. In particular, you must discover how to:

  • Magnetize your thought impulses with desire
  • Refine your thoughts with definiteness of purpose
  • Control and direct your emotions to productive ends
  • Support your goals with a compelling network of motives
  • Create positive thought habits through concentration and repetition
  • Protect your mind from negative external influences

The more you practice, the greater control you will have over your thoughts and emotions, which will enable you to enjoy more success in the pursuit of your definite major purpose.

Essentially, Dr. Hill wrote that there are no limitations to the mind conditioned for success and achievement.

“Try as hard as you wish and you cannot be happy unless you BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

Work with all the strength at your command and you cannot accumulate more than barely enough to live on unless you BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

The one and only person in all this world through whose efforts you can be supremely happy under all circumstances, and, through whose labor you can accumulate all the material wealth that you can use legitimately, is YOURSELF!” —Napoleon Hill

By understanding and embracing the power of thought and your mind, you will be able to operate at a higher plane of thought and action, better recognizing opportunities, gaining influence, and instilling this critical quality in others.

According to Napoleon Hill (Law of Success), self-confidence is…

  • the banishment of fear
  • the acquisition of mental courage
  • a safeguard from failure and defeat
  • the foundation for high achievement
  • the secret to attracting opportunities
  • the impetus for taking action on your dreams
  • the crucial ingredient for healthy relationships
  • the key to personal freedom and joy

When you believe in your ability to succeed…you completely transform your life.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Most people take their joys and blessings for granted. Instead of focusing on their joys and blessings, they rather focus on what they do not have; or, constantly think and complain about their problems and troubles.

But, changing your focus and thoughts from problems to joy, and from what you don’t have to expressing gratitude for your many life blessings will change your life. And, a great way to change your thoughts is to appreciate and enjoy what you already have.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ~ Melody Beattie

Focus on changing your thoughts and focus instead of changing the world and environment around you

It is impossible to change the world or environment around you. The best and wisest course of action is to change yourself or at least change your thoughts and attitude towards the people or situations you do not like.

“Never underestimate your power to change yourself; never overestimate your power to change others.” ~ Wayne Dyer

References:

  1. https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Hills-Language-Thought-Publication/dp/164095242X/ref=nodl_
  2. https://www.brownleeglobal.com/working-on-your-goals-and-expressing-gratitude-everyday/
  3. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1640952349/ref=emc_b_5_mob_i
  4. https://www.purposefairy.com/66095/change-your-thoughts/