Twisted ideas of succes?

As you meet people in your life, you come to learn that they have different ideas of success.  It's useful to figure out what kind of success you desire for yourself and whether the people you know and hang around are assisting you to get closer to your target.  Statistics show that the five people you spend the most time with are those individuals whose lives you somehow admire and in whose footsteps you're most likely to follow. Consider the life choices of your closest friends. Reflect on where you are and where you aim to be.  Realize all choices have consequences.  Those of your friends may or may not be things you wish for yourself.

Down at the local bar, you may overhear a man bragging how he had evaded police when his blood alcohol level was over the legal limit. He felt he'd succeeded by pulling one over on them.

As you walk downtown with friends, you may hear a homeless man explain to another that he felt he'd succeeded because he refused to accept social or other assistance. After all, he had pride.

While out at a party, you may hear of a friend who is proud of taking illicit drugs and managing to stay perceived by friends and family as being clean. As he managed to hide a dangerous habit, he felt that he succeeded.

After an enjoyable dinner, you discern that a colleague has a serious gambling problem. This person admits playing the machines gives him an incredible high. He tells you his idea of success is having the goal of winning the slots to work toward. He invites you to join him for company.

You're out with your friends at night and they impulsively decide to graffiti the underside of an old bridge. They pull you to run after the stunt.  They laugh and feel they will get away with it.

One of your university alumni has retired and is charged up about his plans to sail across the Atlantic.  His track record as a sailor isn't great, and so he's looking for crew. He asks you to join him on the adventure.  He is convinced he will succeed if he leaves just before hurricane season.

One of your friends has been smoking cigarettes for years.  He learns he has contracted lung cancer. You still accept the second-hand smoke.  Part of his idea of success is not having been intimidated into quitting. He feels the government or anyone else shouldn't control his choices.

It's never too late to review your life choices and change how you spend your time. It's unlikely you'll agree with all of your friends' behavior. Remidn yourself you're not forced to follow anyone's footsteps.  Yet, you can learn much about your principles and values from the choices of people you call your friends.

As you take time to clarify dreams and the kind of life you would like for yourself, do not allow yourself to become discouraged by friends who haven't had courage or self-confidence to change.  If you hope to achieve financial success, then it wouldn't make sense to seek a mentor in someone who has not experienced the journey you aspire to for yourself.  If you're a creative person, pursuing a science degree or joining military may not be for you.  if you have athetic goals, then drinking or disregarding health will not help your body train and achieve.  Life choices offer you opportunities to learn about yourself. Take steps to define your own view of success.  Then, you'll discover how much easier it really is to go after it and live it.

What if?

You may be one of those people who thinks about decisions a lot before you finalize them. That may not always be in your best interest if you talk yourself out of things. You may know people who are quick to doubt their potential rather than imagine and act on endless possibilities. Have you ever wondered what if your negative assumptions were wrong? What if those positive outcomes were within your reach?

What if you turn down the chance to attend an industry convention, where you might've met a business owner who would turn out to jumpstart your career?  What if you chose instead to go to this convention, and your networking landed you the most challenging job or your career?

What if you permit shyness to prevent you from approaching a propsective partner with whom it may turn out you have a lot in common? What if you found the courage to speak with this person, and your continued contact led you to fall and love and marry or spend your lives together?A few seonds of courage changes everything.

What if you didn't take the time to investigate a business opportunity because people you know failed and call it a scam.  What if you take a risk to listen to successful people who offer you the tools to create a more balanced life and also to help others duplicate your new kinds of success?

What if you remain where you are, assume evrything has to be as it always has been? What if you experience struggle and despair simply because you refuse to change your attitude? What if you took steps to boost your self-confidence and morale and you discovered the power you have to shape your attitude and visualize and live better?

Remind yourself what fuels perseverence.To surrender to your dreams and permit them to guide and motivate you may seem a bit quirky.  Does this seem to practical or too simple?  Ignoring your dreams may itself be the craziest thing you've ever done. What if you began to perceive your life as it could be rather than as it is right now? What if you allowed your mind to wander and visualize your life as you think it should be? What would that include?

What if your dreams were not extinguished by self-doubt or lack of belief in what you could do? Trust. Creating wealth is not about money. The principal is grounded in adding value to your life and to the lives of others. Find courage to create the life that resonates with yout soul. T he world is your oyster.  Seize each day. Seize each moment. The choice is yours. Make someone' s day because you can. A smile can itself go a long way. 

Believe what you will

History hasn't been able to disprove Jeanne d’Arc's claim that she was contacted by angels. Did Archangel Michael or the Virgin Mary advise her to command the French army? With no military experience, this peasant girl achieved the unthinkable.  Her guidance enabled French generals to liberate her county and cause English invaders to flee.  This conflict had lasted generations.

At age 13, Joan spposedly heard a voice, as if someone spoke in her ear.  She also described a blaze of light. Joan continued to sew and spin as usual, yet she later claimed to receive regular heavenly messages from angelic counselors St. Michael, St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and others.

By age 16, the voices had begun to urge her to find the French Dauphin, Charles, whose armies were waging a losing war against the English for control of France. She actually tried to meet one of Charles’ generals, but she was rudely sent away.  Angelic voices became even more insistent. 

Joan attempted to consult the general. On her way, she received a vision: The French would suffer a major defeat by the English, in the “Battle of the Herrings,” in the town of Orléans. When her prediction materialized, days later, she was able to speak with Charles himself. Her advising enabled French military strategy to evolve. She also fought fearlessly on front lines.

The Church authorities of her era didn't believe she communicated with God, the Virgin Mary or angels.  She refused to recant and prayed. Joan of Arc was eventually burned at the stake.

Joan of Arc's story reveals guardian angels enter our lives to influence our thoughts to help others. Thay may not always protect us from all danger, but they supposedly reveal the will of God. We can benefit from their companionship and assistance when we seek it.  Believe what you will.

Bloody thistles

Garden enthusiasts will tell you fierce weeds would take over if they could.  Some people spray poison to try to keep them at bay.  Other people put on the leather gloves and try to remove them the traditional way---by the roots!  If you've ever tried to remove wild Australian thistles this way, you'd discover gloves don't prevent you from getting splinters or thorns in your fingers.  Come what may, being in the great outdoors contributes to an unmistakable sparkle in your eye.

Similarly, we all go through periods in our lives which relate to grief.  The pain may puncture our hearts like garden thorns puncture our skin.  What's important is to mourn losses completely.  Allow yourself to feel them. Learn to let go of negative energy and not hold onto memories too tightly.  Transitions are natural. You end one chapter and begin another.  It's all part of clearing out your mind, finding sources of balance in life and tending to your backyard garden.  Temporary suffering need not make you bitter and disillusioned.  Instead, you can choose to learn and grow.

Consider the determined sapling that grows up throw a hole in the fence.  This tree refuses to be held back by surrounding thistles which bloody my fingers as I remove them.  What inner forces make it possible for that sapling to learn from and move forward after suffering the thistle invasion?  How can you learn from this resilent sapling instead of choosing to focus on thorns in your sides anda t your feet?

Choose to move forward with determination and resilience.  Prickles come in many forms. They can appear as difficult people, your own stubborness, or unwillingness to change a point of view.  Negativism and criticism might also jab you from outside or inside yourself.  The thorns in your life are actually friendly reminders. Praise yourself and express gratitude for the thorns which enable you to learn about more about yourself. They certainly get your attention. That's progress! 

What do you desire?

Until you arrive at a stage in life where you desire something, then it's difficult to put a plan into action to make it happen. How often do you reflect on things you would like to do or how you might like to change some aspect of your life?

Of course, it's possible you convince yourself that you're quite happy as you are, where you are, and doing exactly what you're doing. Remind yourself that desires aren't always tangible.  They can also closely linked to your feelings, intuition and emotions. You may know people who could benefit from your experiences and lessons learned.  You may wish to share your stories.

Even if you don't focus on character traits you think you can improve on, you may choose to accept a cut in pay, status and geographic location, in order to experience what you imagine would be a more meaningful life. You may find that if you discipline yourself to overlook temptations in your current life, that you will discover a different kind of existence other than where you are. You may know exactly what you desire, but you may not choose to hear the voice inside yourself.