MEDITATION: How to clean your rose-colored glasses.
Change is inevitable.
And because it is inevitable, some aspects are predictable.
Yes, there will be friction between the old and the new.
But remember: friction creates traction.
And like the car’s tires that use friction to not only steer clear from here, but to also get from here to there, you can leverage changes in your life to better your circumstances, as well as the lives of others.
Along the way, destroying bad habits, bad thoughts, and bad karma is not a bad idea.
Likewise, having rose-colored glasses is actually a good thing.
Just remember: windshields, thoughts, and even rose-colored glasses eventually need cleaning.
These next 10 Dares are essentially a step-by-step guide to proactively clean your rose-colored glasses throughout the day and week.
Start, maintain, and end your day with these 10 practical steps to Clean Your Glasses:
Today we will clean our glasses with daily MEDITATION:
The first 15 minutes of your day could be spent worrying about this, that, and the other. Or you could invest 15 minutes clearing your mind, and preparing to receive and fill-up on positive, optimistic, and confident thoughts.
Meditation is not prayer (though you could actually speak to yourself, your spiritual deity, or whatever best invigorates your spirit). Meditation is a focused effort to clear your mind and facilitate a conscious awareness of the various aspects of your SELF.
Here's a thought: You are NOT your thoughts.
But sometimes we let our thoughts consume us.
Meditation releases your thoughts and, more specifically, releases YOU from your thoughts. This release ultimately facilitates the subsequent illumination of your spirit.
And when consistently practiced, meditation becomes a powerful ritual you can use to proactively launch very successful days.
How?
Using a timer or a watch, begin this deliberate process to clear your mind: simply set an alarm 5, 10, or 15 minutes into the future, and then mentally disappear into the universe behind your eyes, between your ears, and deep within your soul.
And don't worry...
You don't have to sit criss-cross-applesauce to "properly" meditate.
You can also sit, stand, walk, jog, or relax on the carpet. In general, to "properly" meditate, you need to be in a place where you feel safe, and where you can forget about your external environment as you move to heighten your awareness of your internal environment (another vast, under-explored expanse of your universe).
Morning meditation is a particularly powerful and especially effective ritual because it starts your day with YOU deciding which thoughts, decisions, actions, and tasks are most important to you.
By agreeing to start your day with a total focus on you, and purposefully engaging in a deliberate process to clear your mind, you are prioritizing the importance of your time, your energy, and your body (which is pretty much everything that defines YOU). You are telling the world, the calendar, the clock, and the watch, “This is MY day; I will start it how *I* choose. And though every single minute of the remaining day might be interdependent upon others, MY thoughts and MY SELF matter more than anything else.”
Interestingly, the only difference between the word “medication” and the word “meditation” are the letters 'C' and 'T.'
Just for fun, close your eyes for about 8 seconds and think about those little letters 'c' and ‘t.’ Even with your eyes closed, you can see that those little letters can make all the difference in the world.
And by saying, "the world," I am referring to those things internal and external to you. But more importantly, I am stressing your point of view. In other words, even with your eyes closed, you can see that the way you see can make all the difference in the world.
Your internal world is where EVERYTHING happens.
It's where you might choose to use medicine if you don't choose to invest time indulging in a more fulfilled understanding of your truest, highest, most important self.
Your internal world is where EVERYTHING happens.
It's where you can conquer the world's most menacing enemy, and create the greatest hero you will ever know or need to know: your self.
Your internal world is where EVERYTHING happens.
It's quite factually the only place in the world where you can literally and immediately change the world with only your thoughts.
And I'm not just speaking figuratively…
When you change your inner thoughts, you change the blueprints and action plans for your next mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional steps in life (especially the blueprints for your physical world outside of your internal self).
And when you change the blueprints and action plans for your next steps in life, you change your own direction, dynamics, and dreams that MIGHT come true... that CAN come true... that WILL come true.
Ultimately, when you change your old direction, dynamics, and dreams (as the old dreams eventually come true)... you will also undoubtedly change someone, somewhere, somehow... some way.
And when that person changes, he or she will soon effect changes upon someone else.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is how we change the world. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how we change the world. (Yes: I said it twice; it's worth re-reading).
Interestingly enough, this process goes on with or without your knowledge.
You affect other people. I affect other people.
Individually and together, we affect the world.
Stated differently:
WE CHANGE THE WORLD EVERY SINGLE DAY (!)
And if we would all make a concerted effort to start our day with a simple, 15-minute meditative focus on the universe within, imagine how positively productive we would be in the Grand Scheme of things.
Beginning your day with a renewed focus on your foundational connections increases the likelihood that you will remain grounded throughout the day.
And like the fuel required by the vehicles we drive, meditation also refuels, revitalizes, and reenergizes the supernatural soul that is within your bodily vehicle.
Day in and day out, you, she, he, and we are constantly changing... converting energy to mass, and mass back into energy. You are an alchemist of the highest order, constantly changing yourself, and constantly influencing others within your realm of responsibility.
Throughout the day, as we pay our attention to other people’s priorities, contribute our strengths to organizational goals, and skillfully negotiate a veritable highway of divergent points of view, we are constantly faced with a steady purge of our most precious personal resources.
Our physical, mental, and emotional energies soon become depleted.
Our tank is left far from full.
When this happens, don’t pull over and medicate.
Pull over and fill up. Meditate.
Remember: We are changing the world every single day.
The question is: To what state of mind, ability, and action are we changing?
Are you acting on purpose? Because if you DO act on purpose, you will get there, wherever “there” might be.
Come to think of it… what is your purpose?
Meditate on this Dare… (here's a link to a good rationale for this).
Until then…
Happy New Year (today is the beginning of a new 365-day set of days)!
**********
Indeed…
It’s all about YOU.
But tell me:
What’s your role in your soul, …your goal, and for whom the bell tolls?
Principal consultant at The PIE Group, John believes better development of leaders is what we (all) need. And to be better organizations, we need more good leaders, not followers. To build better leaders, we must start with the individual (you, she, he, and me).
Described as “an innovative leader,” John teaches leaders, organizations, and individuals how to inspire each other. With a bold goal to inspire a worldwide community of optimistic realists who continuously accept, adapt to, and achieve the bold and beautiful concept of The Ideal Life, John is leading a movement to inspire people to apply his trademarked mantra {Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®}.
An innovative business manager and retired naval officer, John is fascinated by leaders and organizations that make the greatest impact within their organizational culture and within the “real” world — people who “get it.” Over the course of his life as a military leader, corporate mentor, and innovative content creator, John has discovered a wealth of insight about how we think, act and communicate within our respective work/life environments. As a career naval officer, mentor, educator, and optimistic realist, he has devoted his life to sharing insights to assist in our quests to become better at what we all do – live @ work!
He delivers a unique and refreshing point of view to life's seemingly overwhelming situations.
Through books, blogs, and everyday conversation, John's message resonates with an empowering blend of ideals that enrich, uplift, and “authorize” people to set and achieve goals far beyond current mindsets. His trademarked phrase is a winner: