The Gift of Giving...

As we get older and mature, we begin to understand that life is truly a gift. A gift that should be treasured and enjoyed to the fullest potential. Can you  honestly say that ‘you are living your life to its optimum capacity’, I am sure the answer is no! Take heed to what Hilary Cooper stated “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Can you name some magical occurrence that you will never forget?

Many of us live and view life, solely as an opportunity to gain, to enjoy, to self indulge yet many rarely see life as dear Mother Teresa quoted “Life is a duty, complete it”. Stop and take a moment to think about this.  The term duty implies that we have a ‘moral obligation’, to ensure that every single human has the accessories and tools available to live a good and decent life. You have a ‘duty’ to ensure that others , your [peers, enemy, family, etc] are also able to live their lives to its fullest capacity. By no stretch of imagination, am I suggesting that you should give all your clothes or give all your money to a lovely charity like “Make A Wish Foundation” [feel free to sign up and donate at www.wish.org], but you have a duty to ensure that you do your part to empower others to live life.

As Christmas looms, take a moment to think about those around you that do not, for whatever reason, have the ability to live and enjoy life as you may be able to.
Those who are less fortunate, those we are homeless, foodless and loveless.

Let us make a agreement today, to do what we can to complete your duty to humanity and empower the less fortunate with the gift of life, with the gift of giving.

Today, find a person or a cause that you can add value to, it doesn’t not necessarily have to be monetary, it could just be the donation of your time to a homeless shelter, giving out Christmas hampers, providing clothing to homeless or just helping an old woman pack her shopping at your local supermarket. The famous Maya Angelou wrote about giving, she stated, “I found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the sole of the giver”.

Be the reason someone can enjoy his or her life to the fullest capacity.  Oprah Winfrey was once quoted as saying “I don't think you ever stop giving. I really don't. I think it's an on-going process. And it's not just about being able to write a check. It's being able to touch somebody's life”.

Enjoy and share
Have a brilliant week

Wise words......

The Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules For Living

At the start of the new millennium the Dalai Lama apparently issued eighteen rules for living. Since word travels slowly in the digital age these have only just reached me. Here they are.

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
   1. Respect for self
   2. Respect for others
   3. Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

via OwenKelly

40 days till 2012….what are you going to do about it? Part 1

Good afternoon fellow champions

Einstien said, “the most fundamental question you will ever ask yourself is do I believe in a friendly or hostile universe”

In some ways he was referring to why we have patterned thinking; it is what denotes our character. Last year we spoke about a very special part of our brain that allows focus in our minds by associations.

The RAS [Reticular Activating System] sits in the base of the brain and connects to various other parts, its key role is in screening incoming information and is responsible for alertness. It helps you interpret the world and your experience of it, by filtering out the things it thinks are not of relevance to you, and drawing your attention to those things in which it thinks will be of interest. The point of goal setting is its ability to program your RAS so that your interpretation, understanding and experience of the world is the one you want it to be. Now let me ask you when was the last time you gave your RAS a real service?

A new year is almost here and you need to evaluate what has happened throughout the year, compare the goals that you set for yourself last year and see what you achieved and didn’t achieve; more importantly why you didn’t. “Winners always look for reason for failure in order to learn” Goodman 1985

To help you on your way lets remember the seven rules of goal setting for this new coming year (2012)

1.     Choose to change – “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results”

2.     Grow into goal – “to make the growth choice instead of the fear choice a dozen times a day is to move a dozen times a towards self-actualisation”

3.     Goals must harmonize – “ definiteness of purpose makes you aware of opportunities related to your major purpose, and it inspires the courage to act on them”

4.     Focus, focus, focus – “here is the key to success and the key to failure: we become what we think about”

5.     Watch your self talk – “ a ship is very big, and it is pushed by strong winds. But a very small rudder controls that big ship, making it go wherever the person want”

6.     Be passionate – “the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing”

7.     Take personal responsibility – “persistence is the true measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to succeed”

The countdown has begun and its time for you to set the foundations to a new year. Whatever has happened this year is important to note but not relevant for movement.

Jim Rohn said beautifully, “either you run the day or the day runs you”……so START RUNNING YOUR LIFE AGAIN, get your RAS in check and move forward.

Like Alfred Montapert believed for 2012 “expect problems and eat them for breakfast”.

Where that ‘Spartan’ spirit, LETS GO!!!!

Have a good week

 

Wake up!

Morning Fellow champs,

As I write this letter today, I wonder whether I will be accused of being the greatest hypocrite alive. I wonder whether I will have the guts to actually practise what I preach weekly. Will I ever develop the courage to pursue greatness. I wonder if I will achieve my greatest desires, because I embrace fear, defeat and refrain from developing the mind-set of a champion and overcomer.

Do you ever find yourself asking yourself these questions? I do...

But today must be different. Today, I intend to make a change, in fact I choose to make a promise to myself that I will endeavour to take the appropriate steps to re-shape the course of my destiny. I will take my destiny, goals, dreams into my own hands and I will ensure that 'I WILL SUCCEED'.

Dale Carnegie once noted "The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." I generally find myself getting into trouble, simply because I can not back down from a dare, in fact if 'Double dared' me and I reckon I would do anything! Double Dare yourself TODAY, dare yourself to put in what is required [time, elbow grease and the ability to rise after a failed attempt] to because a champion. Collins Dictionary defines a champion as "The position or title of a winner" That is you. The winner!

Did you know that winning is a process, no one wins every time, let me explain in fact, Thomas J. Watson explains it better, he quoted "Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success".

I can guarantee you that you will fail, however, you will learn from them and go on to eventually win.

Stop being fearful of failure. According to Eleanor Roosevelt  "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."

Go forth, fail, but arise.
Good luck!

Finish what you started!

Good-day people, its been a while nevertheless lets get down to business,

Don’t you think its time to stop running in circles procrastinating about which life to live and start living them….?

It is said “the wise person knows that no answer is also an answer”.

We all know that time is the one commodity we can never take for granted so if its something you waste away on irrelevant things that don’t move you forward towards your dreams then you are lost. You can take any road you like throughout life, that’s part of the excitement, nevertheless if you have no clue where you are going then that is exactly where you will end up.

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. BE ONE”- Marcus Aurelius

Remember, if you are chasing your dreams then you are not running fast enough….again…IF YOU ARE CHASING YOUR DREAMS THEN YOU ARE NOT RUNNING FAST ENOUGH…there is a simple solution = RUN FASTER!!!

Albert Pike once said “there are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worth of being read; and greater of these is the doing”. I have always been an advocate of “doing”  I think ‘Nike’ have one of the best slogans in the world “Just Do It”.

I will admit sometimes finishing what we set out to achieve is the mother of all tasks, wise men say it’s a time is of the essence, I also say it is a ‘beautiful burden’; it’s a trait of all the greats.

“The great end of life is not knowledge but action” – Thomas Huxley

I suggest NOW is the best time you took the ‘time’ you have into your own hands and finish what you have started. Have you ever seen a great sprinter stop half way through a race, have ever seen a great singer stop half way through a song, have you ever heard of a F1 driver stopping because they couldn’t be bothered to finish….YES, I HAVE, and they win all the time, they win ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Remember getting nothing in life is free, its out there in abundance so if you are happy to receive NOTHING for your valuable time then stop reading now otherwise do like ‘Nike’ do and JUST DO IT!

Lets finish strong