abundance and lack, moves toward a simpler life, “I am enough”
Another IPS (Inner Peace Symptom): an understanding that generosity is not a down-payment on love. [Generosity is spill-over when you’re feeling full.] I am reading a book, LOVE LET GO: Radical Generosity for the Real World, by Laura Sumner Truax and Amalya Campbell. It is a story about an amazing church congregation in Chicago, the LaSalle Street Church, who received a totally unexpected windfall: a check for $1,530,116.78.
Gratitude is a choice, but why would you choose it? In recent years there have been systematic scientific studies of gratitude and its positive effects. These studies show that grateful people are happier, more open and sociable, less depressed and neurotic and express higher levels of satisfaction with their lives and relationships.
It has been said that fear is a sign that something is important to you. FEAR AS A SIGNPOST Ted Gonder, director of MoneyThink, a Chicago-based non-profit that teaches financial skills and entrepreneurial thinking to urban high school students, assures us, “If we think of fear as an accomplice rather than an enemy, then we can be free to lean into it, and pursue our dreams, ideas and projects freely.“
It occurs to me that it is probably not possible to convince humans to take a long-term view using argument or persuasion or logical thinking. It seems to me that people focus on long-term because they want to or because they’re tired of hitting themselves upside the head all the time and really tired of having to climb out of potholes that turn out to be really deep and gnarly lava tubes.
One day I stood up bravely and told a bunch of my friends that I was resigning as General Manager of the Universe. They laughed so hard they were crying. (Sigh!) Nobody believed me. I didn’t believe me.
It’s the new “thing” — Letting Go. Everybody who’s anybody keeps telling you that the only way to move forward is to let go of all that baggage you’re lugging around. “The Simple Life,” hey, ho! Minimalism rules. They tell you, “Gee whiz, guys and girls…you’ve got a wagon train following along behind you with all the accumulated baggage of a lifetime and you’re pulling that thing around with you. No wonder you’re so tired all the time.”
High-performance coach and personal growth trainer Brendon Burchard does not believe in S.M.A.R.T. goals. You know the ones: Specific… Measurable…. Actionable…. Relevant…. Time-Bound. Burchard admits that S.M.A.R.T. goals work just fine, but he thinks they’re lame. He says they keep us playing small. He may be right. Instead of S.M.A.R.T. goals, the best-selling author, whose books include THE CHARGE, THE MILLIONAIRE MESSENGER, LIFE’S GOLDEN TICKET and THE MOTIVATION MANIFESTO, says he wants you to formulate and get behind D.U.M.B. goals…
Apparently there is a fairly new form of social angst going ’round, a mind-set gone viral in the past decade or so. The people- in-the-know call it “FOMO.” The acronym stands for the “Fear Of Missing Out,” it says here.
“Choose things in your life that will endure, that are a pleasure to use. Classic clothes never go out of style. Furniture should get better with age. Choose things because they delight you, not because they impress others. And never let things be more important than your family, friends and your own spirit.“ That’s Marney Morris, quoted by Daniel Pink, in his book A WHOLE NEW MIND: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. It is a worthy bit of advice.
ART = PROCESS….ART = EXPLORATION….ART = DISCOVERY. Playing with your materials, learning a new technique for making a something, honing your craftsmanship and your ability to go further and further into your medium….that’s the glory part. That’s the part that makes your heart fly.
