Change Your Brain Now

2012 is almost over and what a crazy year it has been! At the end of the year comes the beginning of a new year, and with the beginning of a new year comes the beginning of a new set of goals. At the beginning of a new set of goals comes the opportunity to live a more satisfying, successful and happy life, and it’s how you treat this process that will influence your success in the coming year.

Steve Jobs was not just a visionary genius, but a man with an incredible passion for innovation, and a man who changed the world as we knew it. His lust for life was so huge that he used to look at his reflection in the mirror each morning and say to himself: “If today was the last day of my life would I want to do what I’m about to do today?”

Now I thought I would share with you 13 of my favorite quotes about change. For me, each of these quotes manages to succinctly capture a powerful insight into change. Enjoy!

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” – Mahatma Ghandi

Any successful person you meet will have a story of failure to tell you, and actually probably more than one. What separates the truly successful from those who skate by in life is not just what they learn from those failures well after they happen, but also how they handle those failures as they happen. These are delicate situations that can literally make or break a person’s life for a long time to come.

Consider these scenarios and the similarities in them: You keep eating healthy food during the week but when the weekend comes, you diet mainly consists of junk food You wake up early during the weekdays, but on weekends you tend to wake up late, thus losing your productivity You have implemented a healthy habit of drinking water while you work, but you “forget” this habit when it’s the weekend

As a recovering type A personality, I wish control worked. And it does, sometimes. But there’s always at least one area of life that cannot be tamed. You’re happily married but have health issues. Or you’re financially stable but struggling with fertility. You have fulfilling work but no life partner. Nothing ever goes our way entirely, and that can become a great doorway for transformation.

Not many people like to compromise, and why should they? A compromise means two people need to exchange something, but one or both can’t easily come to an agreement. Whether it’s negotiating a work-related partnership or negotiating who will do the dishes at home, we want things to work out in our favor.

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw Some people would rather hack off a limb than change their mind.

Life is grand, full of magic, hope and possibility. However, sometimes it’s hard to see how lucky and fortunate we are to be here. We get so caught up in our daily stresses that we completely forget how awe-inspiring and miraculous living really is. We go through the motions, get in a rut and are busy putting out one fire after the next in an attempt to keep our lives in balance.

I’ve been a Dad now for 18 years! Yippee! Yeah, 42 year old men can, and do, say yippee. I have 2 beautiful and smart daughters that are full of good moral and quality character. I couldn’t be more proud. Fatherhood is an awesome journey for me. As the journey continues with my “girls” entering adulthood, I sometimes sit and think about how I’ve raised them and if I did a good enough job.

Monique sent us a kaleidoscope. But it wasn’t the beautiful, smoothly-sanded wood or the delicate glass end piece that moved us. It was the note in the box.

I struggled with low self-esteem for most of my life. When I was young, most of the feedback I got from my mother was “You could do better”. If I got a ‘B’ on my report card I was told “You could do better”. It didn’t matter what household chore: dusting, washing dishes, cleaning my room. It was always “You could do better” followed by a series of corrections. Sometimes her reaction was “Can’t you do anything right?”

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Jesus Christ Do you often find yourself worrying a lot? If so, you are not alone. I used to be a big time worrier. I would worry constantly about things that would usually never happen. Time and time again it has happened to me.

During my childhood, I always kept a few albums and a record player in my bedroom. I even sang in choir during grade school and junior high. Still, music never really played a fundamental role in my life. In fact, it took decades before music changed my mind.

I have an admission to make: I am a man. The reason this will matter is I am about to talk about the pain of childbirth. What could a man possibly know about it, right? So I have a request: give me the benefit of the doubt for now.

Has your jealousy ever turned you into someone you barely recognize in the mirror? Whether it was towards a co-worker who got the promotion didn’t get, the jealousy between siblings or the jealousy brewing within a relationship, jealousy is something everyone has experienced in their life. I thought my jealousy was going to completely ruin my relationship. However, I never thought I’d be grateful for my jealousy in the long run.

Organize your desk? Be a better listener at work? Find someone to help you  find your passion in life ? Every month or so I wake up and remember that my life can use more improvement. I don’t want you to think that I’m unhappy. Far from it. My life is better than I ever expected. But I don’t want to stand still. I want to move forward, challenge myself, and improve my life. If I don’t, what kind of example do I set for my clients?

“Every choice before you represents the universe inviting you to remember who you are and what you want.” ~ Alan Cohen I used to have a list. He had to be tall. He definitely had to be smart. He had to have brown hair and blue eyes, hmmm.. I guess dark eyes are also OK. The list went on and on. I had many relationships where I tried to stick as close as possible to this list, most of which didn’t last for more than a few months. But then, I seemed to hit the jackpot.

I have a confession to make. I haven’t always been a big picture thinker. I wasn’t always proactive. I haven’t always had aspirations to change the world. Rewind 7 years, and I was just another dumb kid coasting along in life. I had no long-term plan in mind, no money, and all I thought about was how long I was going to be able to play video games that day.