Your body is talking. Are you listening?

You eat a big meal and you feel stuffed and tired – what does that tell you (me)?

You eat sugar and feel better for a few minutes and then you crash – what does that tell you?

You do something and it hurts – what does that tell you?

Your body has gotten bigger – what does that tell you?

Your body is tired – what does that tell you?

You eat ____ and you feel  _____.  You eat ____ and you feel ____ .

If you pay attention closely enough, you will hear your body saying all kinds of things to you about what is good for it and what is not.

Are you listening to that thing you live in?

Can I get a witness?

“Witness” what is happening in your life.

Rise above yourself and look down and see what is going on.

Where are you?

Who is around you?

Who are you being?

What are your habits?

How do you respond to events and the actions of others?

How are you thinking and what are you doing?

AND…are you ok with all of that?

Reasoning Thought

It has been said so many ways – before action comes thought.

“Everything around us that supports our standard of living and survival is a result of man’s capacity for reasoning thought and subsequent action.” – Ayn Rand

If someone is having trouble, it’s a thinking problem.

Develop your ability to think – clearly, productively, ambitiously, courageously, and without over influence by egoic and social biases.

If you can think well, the actions that produce favorable results will surely follow.

Faith

Many people won’t take a step if they can’t see the whole staircase.  

But the reality is that great destinations don’t lie at the top of short staircases where you can see the whole journey before you start.

You can see the next step – take it.

Event + Response = Outcome

Events happen – to everybody. 

Good events, bad events.

God knows I have had “events” in my life.  Really great ones.  Really bad ones.

When I watched my dream house with 50-foot flames reaching up to the sky – yea that was a good one. 

It’s the response to events that makes the difference in people.

Good event – what is your response?  Do you make the most of it?

Bad event – what is your response? Do you make the best of it?

And what of the bad events do you carry with you far into the future and how does that shape your thinking and contribute to your suffering?

Response = Outcome.

The event may not be a choice.  Response always is.

See how that works?

We are not all the same.

I am a people watcher.  I find it fascinating.

I was on a flight recently (coming back from my Vegas to Reno race)  and a very large man sits next to me.  He turns on football on his phone with headphones then falls asleep.  Then wakes up to have two glasses of wine and eat snacks.  Then plays Candy Crush for a while.  Then more wine.  Then plays solitaire blackjack for a while.  Then more Candy Crush.  Then sleep again.

Meanwhile, I am plugging away with my reading and my journal.  I am not saying I am superior.  That’s not what this post is about. Just making this observation.

People are not equal.  They do not give the same effort or create the same outcomes.  

Any expectation or effort that people should be equal is bucking reality in a big way.  

Some people want to be healthy, want to win, and want to be productive and valuable and are willing to do the work with the self-discipline that it takes.  Some are not.  It’s cause and effect.

 Which are you?

Do your habits support your dreams?

Your habits, repeated over and over, will take you somewhere.  The question is where?

Will your habits take you where you want to go?  

If your habits are not in alignment with your dreams, you can either lower your dreams, or elevate your habits.

Which is it for you?

Tough people are forged from challenge

“An easy life does not make men.  Challenges make men and it is these men who build nations.” – Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, leader of the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and five other city-states).

Hard times make tough people.  Tough people make good times.  Good times make weak people.  Weak people make tough times.

Stay tough.

Education available to all

A few chapters ago, the king knew more than the people and had the power.

In the last chapter, only people who could afford could get a higher education.

In this chapter where everyone has a supercomputer in their pocket connected to all the world information, education is available to all – for free.

This levels the playing field.  This takes away any excuse that “my family was poor”.

This means the “haves and have-nots” are competing in our abundant world with the “wills”, but not the “will-nots”.

Will you?

Everything is hard before it's easy

The first time I had to change a blade on a chain saw it was hard.  

The first time I had to carry a sheet of plywood it was hard.

The first time I had to do sales training it was hard.

The first time I read a Balance Sheet it was hard.

The first time I had to do anything worthwhile, it was hard.

But it is by the doing that you learn to make it easy – physically, mentally and emotionally.

Do the hard stuff and grow.