Do you remember when you came home from school one day and you told your mom "nobody likes me!" and she replied "everyone loves you!" Or when you told her "I can't do this!" and she said "of course you can; you can do anything you put your mind too!" I’m sure some of you totally relate to these questions.
My oldest son is 6 years old and he is extremely anxious about being late to school. Our mornings are spent trying to prevent the anxiety attack from coming. This morning on our way to school he starts freaking out declaring that we’re going to be late so I of course started explaining the concepts of quantum physics to him. I told him we just needed to warp time to get there when we wanted to. I continued to say to him that life is about faith; it's about believing that you can accomplish what you want and you will. I got our youngest son involved too and we all started saying the phrase "we are going to get to school on time" over and over until we moved to the phrase "we are on time" which is a declaration of the accomplishment. I explained to my son that if you truly believe that you will get there on time then the light will change to green as you're approaching it and traffic will magically move faster allowing you to reach your destination on time. Of course, my son was skeptical about the whole theory as he was chanting "I think I can" of course I corrected that to become "I know I can". I bet you're wondering if we got there on time.
I thought when does this idea of being able to accomplish anything we set our mind to start changing? Is it when we're teenagers and our mom's are giving us the same pep talk but we're too "smart" to listen to "her". Really what does she know anyway? When did we move from "the world is my oyster" to "I have to be reasonable, accept the situation I'm in AND be thankful for it"?
My brother and his wife had a beautiful baby girl a couple of months ago so we went to meet her in Arizona recently. As a side note, she is too cute and the whole family is in love with her. Her toothless smile makes you realize that joy is truly in the simplest things. My brother and I decided to work out so we go to his neighborhood facility. He was shocked to see that every machine was occupied until he realized that the date was January 2 which is when he declared nonchalantly "New Year's resolutions". I'll have you know that I went back on January 3rd to see only half the machines occupied and I'll bet today less than a quarter will be occupied.
Do we really need a calendar to get us motivated for our goals? That’s going to be tough if we have to wait for that one day a year to really put our mind to accomplishing what we want only to have that declaration fizzle before the month is done.
In his book Resurrection Neville says “the essence of prayer is faith; but faith must be permeated with understanding to be given that quality which it does not possess when standing alone”. In the book Your Faith is Your Fortune he says “we can be to others only that which we are to ourselves”. I would love for you to combine that 2 thoughts and have that be your New Year’s resolution for every day of 2010.
Ask yourself “what is it that I’d like to accomplish and what needs to change for me to do so EVERY single day for the rest of my life?”
It’s January 6, 2010 and I’d like to declare that I’m going to love, adore and play with my children, love and adore my husband, nurture my business, hang out with my friends, eat sensibly, workout, find the joy in life … EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this post so please leave a comment below, email me to mary@marysalfi.com or comment on my Facebook account by becoming a fan of marysalfi.com
The world is my oyster!
Mary
I have often wondered also when we lose the "knowing". I have thought it was even earlier - the world tends to start pretty early telling us how we should do things, how we should act, what we should and shouldn't do. With all that control it seems we start to lose the ability to know we are in control.
ReplyDeleteI also asked the same question about why Jan 1st, why not some other day. I would imagine it could be any day - however I definitely did get into the spirit myself.
For me, I intend on loving life, my daughter and husband always being number one to "things", moving into a new career, working on improving my self and working on leading an authentic life.
Hi Mary, I totally agree with what you are saying. When you make those positive changes in your daily life it is also very contageous! I noticed that when I would try something new and talked about it at work or home it would rub off on those around me. We are definitely influenced by who we are with on a daily basis. So basically if everyone made little changes on a daily basis it would have a ripple effect. I'm going to find a new workout partner tomorrow, call a few old friends and play with my children more! XXXX, Tiff
ReplyDeleteAndrea - I know what you mean about losing the ability to know that we are in control. I find it amazing that feeling we get when we get something that was rightfully ours back. I love your "resolutions" and I know you will stick with them!
ReplyDeleteTiff - You reminded me of the teachings of Abraham when they say that no matter where you are you can always reach for that better feeling. It's really about holding yourself in that positive space and therefore allowing those around you to also rise to that vibration. So how did it go with the workout partner, the phone calls and your kids?