Reach out for your dreams, and bring them closer to your heart.

You're good, but you're going to be great.

You're the best, but you're going to get better.

Sometimes the paths we take are long and hard, but remember: those are always the ones that lead to the most beautiful views.

Challenges come along inevitably: how you respond to them determines who you are - deep down inside - and everything you're going to be.

Increase the chances of reaching your goals by working at them gradually. The very best you can do is all that is asked of you.

Realize that you are capable of working miracles of your own making. Remember that opportunities have a reason for knocking on your door, and the right ones are there for the taking.

You don't always have to win, but you do need to know what it takes to be a winner.

It's up to you to find the key that unlocks the door to a more fulfilling life.

Understand that increased difficulty brings you nearer to the truth of how to survive it - and get beyond it.

Cross your bridges.

Meet your challenges.

Reach out for your dreams, and bring them closer and closer to your heart.

Get rid of the "if only's" and get on with whatever you need to do to get things right.

Go after what you want in life, with all the blessings of all the people who care about you. And find out what making your wishes come true really feels like.

~ Collin McCarty ~

What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!

- Victor Hugo

"Habits grow with practice, from cobwebs into cables." -- Denis Waitley

"In relation to others, gratitude is good manners; in relation to ourselves, it is a habit of the heart and a spiritual discipline."
-- Daphne Rose Kingma

You can change your attitude and change your life.

It is the energy you bring into the room.You can have a positive attitude about the events in your life , or you can come from a place of complaint and misery.You decide.You can consciously choose to respond in a positive way to almost any event or circumstance-a positive attitude is simple a choice you make.

Now we all know people with negative attitudes .They are the ones who constantly complain , whine , and moan. Nothing seems to go right for them. They are the perpetual victims in life. This is because they are operating at a lower frequency , and through the Law of Attraction they are attracting even more to complain about. The reason they tend to stay ''stuck''in their negative lifestyles is because they are constantly focusing their thoughts and energy on their negative present and negative past. By doing so , they are creating the same future over and over.

On the other hand , we also know people with positive attitudes-the ones who always seemto be happy , the ones who really seem to have a handle on things in their life. They are more fun , their energy feels great to be around , and they are operating at a higher frequency.

Surround yourself with these positive , nourishing , uplifting people whenever you can. Spend your time with spiritually evolved people who encourage your growth and applaud your successes. Wrap yourself in a support network of inspirational people with positive attitudes and energy.

You can change your attitude and change your life.

Namaste.

Jack Canfield.

Open Your Heart to Goodness

Open your heart to goodness.
The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person.

When we blame another, we give our power away because we’re placing the responsibility for our feelings on someone else. People in our lives may behave in ways that trigger uncomfortable responses in us. However, they didn’t get into our minds and create the buttons that have been pushed. Taking responsibility for our own feelings and reactions is mastering our “ability to respond.” In other words, we learn to consciously choose rather than simply react.

We can’t talk about resentment without also talking about forgiveness. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that we condone their behavior. The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person. The reality of true forgiveness lies in setting ourselves free from holding on to the pain. It’s simply an act of releasing ourselves from the negative energy.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean allowing the painful behaviors or actions of another to continue in your life. Sometimes, forgiveness means letting go. You forgive them and release them. Taking a stand and setting healthy boundaries are often the most loving things you can do—not only for yourself, but for the other person as well.

No matter how much chaos may be going on around us, no matter how many things may be going wrong or not the way we want them to, no matter what our bodies may be doing at the moment—we can love and accept ourselves. For the truth of us—the very truth of our being—is that we’re eternal. We have always been and we always will be. And that part of ourselves goes on forever. Rejoice that this is so. As we love and accept ourselves exactly as we are, it makes it easier to go through the so-called difficult times. We’re no longer fighting ourselves. We’re accepting. We’re becoming tender. We’re cherishing ourselves. We’re comforting ourselves and making it easier for ourselves.

Louise Hay

"It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson." -- Emmet Fox

10 virtually instant ways to improve your life.

[Via Positive Thoughts]

Many of our problems come from within our own minds.

Stop jumping to conclusions. There are two common ways this habit increases people’s difficulties. First, they assume that they know what is going to happen, so they stop paying attention and act on their assumption instead. Most of what they assume is wrong. The second aspect of this habit is playing the mind-reader and assuming you know why people do what they do or what they’re thinking. Wrong again, big time. More relationships are destroyed by this particular kind of stupidity than by any other.

Don’t dramatize. Lots of people inflate small setbacks into life-threatening catastrophes and react accordingly. This habit makes mountains out of molehills and gives people anxieties that either don’t exist or are so insignificant they aren’t worth worrying about anyway.

Don’t invent rules. A huge proportion of those “oughts” and “shoulds” that you carry around are most likely needless. All that they do for you is make you feel nervous or guilty. What’s the point? When you use these imaginary rules on yourself, you clog your mind with petty restrictions and childish orders. And when you try to impose them on others, you make yourself into a bully, a boring nag, or a self-righteous bigot.

Avoid stereotyping or labeling people or situations. The words you use can trip you up. Negative and critical language produces the same flavor of thinking. Forcing things into pre-set categories hides their real meaning and limits your thinking to no purpose. See what’s there. Don’t label. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

Quit being a perfectionist. Life isn’t all or nothing, black or white. Many times, good enough means exactly what it says. Try for the perfect relationship and you’ll probably spend your life alone. Perfectionism is a mental sickness that will destroy all your pleasure and send you in search of what can never be attained.

Don’t over-generalize. One or two setbacks are not a sign of permanent failure. The odd triumph doesn’t turn you into a genius. A single event—good or bad—or even two or three don’t always point to a lasting trend. Usually things are just what they are, nothing more.

Don’t take things so personally. Most people, even your friends and colleagues, aren’t talking about you, thinking about you, or concerned with you at all for 99% of the time. The majority of folk in your organization or neighborhood have probably never heard of you and don’t especially want to. The ups and downs of life, the warmth and coldness of others, aren’t personal at all. Pretending that they are will only make you more miserable than is needed.
Don’t assume your emotions are trustworthy. How you feel isn’t always a good indicator of how things are. Just because you feel it, that doesn’t make it true. Sometimes that emotion comes from nothing more profound than being tired, hungry, annoyed, or about to get a head-cold. The future won’t change because you feel bad—nor because you feel great. Feelings may be true, but they aren’t the truth.

Don’t let life get you down. Keep practicing being optimistic. If you expect bad things in your life and work, you’ll always find them. A negative mind-set is like looking at the world through distorting, grimy lenses. You spot every blemish and overlook or discount everything else. It’s amazing what isn’t there until you start to look for it. Of course, if you decide to look for signs of positive things, you’ll find those too.

Don’t hang on to the past. This is my most important suggestion of all: let go and move on. Most of the anger, frustration, misery, and despair in this world come from people clinging to past hurts and problems. The more you turn them over in your mind, the worse you’ll feel and the bigger they’ll look. Don’t try to fight misery. Let go and move on. Do that and you’ve removed just about all its power to hurt you.

By Adrian Savage.

"The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for."

-- Zig Ziglar

The Power of Thought

The power of our thoughts allows us to manifest our desires. The challenge is in harnessing our ever shifting perspectives so that we can focus upon the thoughts that can make a positive difference. In this excerpt from the book by Harold W. Becker, Internal Power, Seven Doorways to Self Discovery, he shares that learning to recognize and work with our thoughts consciously allows our awareness and experience of life to unfold its potential. The key is to be open to change and express ourselves from a higher perspective on life. Our past is but a memory and the future is in our imagination, right now in the present moment is our true point of power. For more, go to www.thelovefoundation.com

"The trouble with many plans is that they are based on the way things are now. To be successful, your personal plan must focus on what you want, not what you have."

Nido Qubein

Our ideas, like orange-plants, spread out in proportion to the size of the box which imprisons the roots.
Edward Bulwer Lytton

“The Power of Perspective” – a true story

This true story below will also be printed in an upcoming 2011 issue of Reader’s Digest! You want to read 'til the end.

“The Power of Perspective”
It was a cold, February morning and I was running late to catch a flight. My destination was Louisiana where I was giving my largest-ever keynote speech for a dynamic student leadership conference. I was so excited about presenting my signature program, “Passion, Persistence and The Price is Right!” that I decided to take my winning, infamous ‘Price is Right’ prizes along with me to display as humorous props during the program. I always left these prizes at home when flying because I was convinced they would either get damaged or lost during their dark, chilling Delta Airlines journey.

However, this conference audience of 2,500 students was the largest I had ever spoken for, and I wanted those prizes to make a great, entertaining impression. At the airport check-in, I was told my bag was too large for carry-on. So despite the known risk, I checked my prop prize bag knowing there was a slight chance it might be lost or destroyed. Before sending my bag off with untrusting strangers, I prayed and crossed my fingers that I would see my bag once again 1,700 miles away.

When I arrived to baggage claim in Louisiana, I waited for my bag … and waited.

After twenty minutes and only one remaining individual standing next to me in baggage claim, my bag was nowhere to be found. My back started to sweat and I could feel my temper and blood pressure beginning to boil.

“How could they lose my bag?”, I kept asking myself. “There wasn’t even a connection flight!”

As I stormed into the ‘Lost Luggage” office, I stood behind the other individual whose luggage was also lost. She appeared so angry that tears were streaming down her face. In fact, it only took me 10 seconds to realize that indeed she was crying. What I initially thought was her anger was actually sadness.

The airline did acknowledge losing her luggage. However, her luggage wasn’t toiletries, shoes or clothes. Her luggage was her DOG!

I then came to terms with my own situation. It simply could have been much worse. My prizes were replaceable at Walmart. Her dog wasn’t.

Moral of the story – life is all about PERSPECTIVE. Many times in our lives, we experience unfortunate and frustrating circumstances. At times, we convince ourselves that someone is “out to get us” or that no one cares. Sometimes we ask ourselves negative questions like “Why does this have to happen to me?” or “Why didn’t I …?”

But, as you’ve heard me say numerous times before, we attract exactly what we focus on. When we focus on the negative, we will truly find it. When we focus on what can be positive about a situation, well, we will find that too. So what matters most is our perspective dealing with experiences in our life, the paradigm or lens through which we see our life. Frustrating things happen to everyone. Good, amazing things happen to everyone too. As Charles Swindoll states, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.

“Everyone gets knocked down. What’s important is simply getting back up.”
“You can change absolutely anything you want about your life. But you have to change the way you see it first!”

** Oh, and by the way, the airline ended up finding my bag of props within one hour. Unfortunately, they never found her dog.

Check out my website at http://www.facebook.com/l/9ce35yRcjeCinC5MjqfQgtPK9CA;www.kevincsnyder.com