Do Your Best

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Doing things excellently means doing things to the best of your ability – that’s not someone else’s ability, but your ability. Being excellent means that you’ve put everything you have into a certain task, that you’ve tried your very best, that you’ve taken all the knowledge you have , the skills and talents that you have, put in your experience and personality and you have done the very best that you are capable of doing. Anyone can and should be proud of that.

The beauty of the situation is that each one of us is capable of doing something that no-one else is capable of doing! We are capable of producing results that nobody else on the planet can produce. So when we give our best and try our best and put our ‘all’ into it, we produce something that is completely unique and will not only bless us in the doing but bless others in the giving.

The Sky is the Limit

The possibilities are endless…

There is no apparent limit…

Let me tell you a fascinating story about a flea in a jam jar.

Fleas can jump up to 13 inches, which is approximately 200 times the length of their own bodies.  This is the equivalent of a six-foot man jumping 900ft! One day, a flea was captured and put in a jam  jar onto which the lid was firmly screwed on. Holes were pierced so that the flea could breathe, but he could not escape.

The flea, who can jump 200 times the length of his own body, jumped and jumped and jumped, but kept on meeting the lid of the jam jar, which was very much closer than 200 times his body length. After a couple of hours of this, it was observed that the flea was still jumping, but a funny thing had happened – he was jumping to just below the height of the lid of the jar.

The lid was taken off the jar and the fleas behaviour continued to be monitored and an even funnier thing happened. Even though the lid had been removed from the jar, the flea (who could now very easily have jumped right out), continued to only jump to the height of the lid that had previously been there!

A limit had been imposed and he had learned, by meeting resistance, that trying to jump any higher than the lid was futile. He had adjusted his behaviour to the new jumping height, even though the limit had been removed.

Isn’t that fascinating?

Now, look at your own life and determine what your limiting behaviours are. Where have you tried to ‘jump’ and met resistance, pain and failure no matter how hard you’ve tried? In which areas do you know that you’re talented, but you just haven’t seemed to be able to get anywhere?

Sit down and make a list of your dreams. If there were no financial, social or familial restrictions – what would you LOVE to spend every day doing? What contribution could you make to society that would add value to the lives of those you come in contact with?

Then, write out what you think is stopping you from living this life.  List all the reasons why you are not currently doing what you dream of. There, now you have clarity about the situation.

You now have a list of your dreams and a list of your dream limiters.  Here’s a fundamental Truth that can not only take the lid off your life, but can encourage you to leap straight out of the jam jar -

There are no limits but the ones that you impose on yourself!

Isn’t that the most wonderful truth?!

I’m not going to lie to you – it’s one of life’s journeys actually learning to live that Truth, but just knowing it and the reality of your situation, is an excellent place to start.

So, next time you ‘hit the lid’, remember that the Sky is the Limit – the possibilities are endless! Then you’ll know that you’re on your way to living the life of your dreams!

How do I become who I want to be? – Part 3

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It’s funny that we then reflect on the situation once we’ve climbed down off the emotional high and sometimes have to laugh at ourselves and our OTT (over the top) reactions. It’s not so funny when you’re in the middle of the reaction though, is it!

But, it is precisely this process of reflection, as well as the willingness to learn, that will help us to grow and develop healthy new character traits. After all, we can’t keep going round and round the same bush and expect to ever get anywhere useful. So, let’s take a look at the situation when the emotional heat has cooled down and learn the lessons that need to be learned.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Why did I get angry?
• What am I afraid of?
• No really, what am I afraid of? (What’s at the root?)
• That fear is the ‘fact’ of the situation, but what is the ‘Truth’ (what does God have to say about it?)
• Replace the ‘fact’ with the ‘Truth’

Determine to recognize when that fear rears its ugly head again and try to remember the lesson learned. Slowly but surely, your reactions to that stimuli will change and soon you will not react from that fear ever again!

Now you will be mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

 

How do I become who I want to be? – Part 2

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Say someone cuts me off in traffic and I get so angry that I want to get out and beat them up. They’re making me late and I’ll miss my important meeting, they almost scratched my car and I can’t afford the insurance, it’s hot and I’m already agitated!!!

We have:

• The issue, which triggers…
• The fear of consequence, which causes…
• The emotional reaction 

When the issue is looked at through the lens of emotion and fear of consequence, it appears to be a mountain, when in fact it is but a molehill. So, look at the issue…getting cut off in traffic. When looked at without fear of consequence and emotion, it is merely that the driver of one car maneuvered their vehicle into the path of another car causing the driver of the second car to take a forced action. Plain and simple.

Put the fear of consequence in the mix (late for meeting, increased insurance) then add an emotional reaction which fuels the fire… and soon you have a blazing inferno.

Part 3…

How do I become who I want to be? – Part 1

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“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” (Napoleon Hill). http://www.naphill.org/

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (James 1:2-4 – The Message Bible)

Whenever you are faced with a situation which looks like adversity, take a minute to stop and look at it free from emotional turmoil.

Put the issue ‘on the table’. Detach emotion. Detach fear of consequence. Just look at it for what it really is.

Get a clear understanding of the issue and some thoughts on why this looks like adversity for you (after all, a spider is fearful to one and beautiful to another).

Think about what character trait/s you would need to have in order to become mature, well developed and not deficient in any way. Ask for wisdom and receive it.

Part 2 to follow…

The Basics

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I’ve recently been reminiscing and thought again about a couple of times in my life where I felt seriously let down by God.

I cried again as I thought of the tremendous pain I went through at those times and felt the despair, disappointment and anger like it was still fresh. Without exception, we have all experienced times like these and we may still not understand ‘why’, but, at least for me, I can see ‘what for’.

I have learned things from the experiences that stand me in good stead:

1. God loves us too much to allow us to ‘succeed’ at something when it is driven by fear and done by leaning on our own understanding. Wrong motives and modus operandi.
2.  As we come to rely on Him more and more, we will find that He is more interested in healing and thus eradicating the fear, than engineering the circumstances in such a way that they will soothe the fear. He wants it gone, not pampered.
3. He doesn’t give up when we whine or cry about how difficult it is.
4. He doesn’t deliver us from the consequences until we learn the lesson – so that it can NEVER hurt us again.
5. He doesn’t give in to our fleshly desires until we can handle the spiritual equivalent. We will NOT be financially wealthy until we can treat money as our servant going out to do God’s will instead of allowing the love of it to be our master. 
6. He truly does use all the events of our lives and weaves them together into His perfect plan.

Thank You precious Lord

Trouble? – No problem

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I’ve recently come to understand that, as Jesus says in John 16:33, there can be perfect handling of every situation but not perfect avoidance of every situation.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]” John 16:33 (Amp) www.biblegateway.com

I’ve come to terms with the fact that everything ‘bad’ that happens isn’t necessarily going to make us fall into a hole from which we can’t escape, but that, if we’re holding onto God, He will truly work it all together into the wonderful, loving plan He has for each of our lives.

Thus, the object of life is not to get ourselves to a place where we are immune to trouble, but rather to a place where we so trust the goodness and sovereignty of God that we can hold His hand THROUGH the trouble and come out the other side, well.

Are you on the right track?

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A wise friend and I were sitting in my car having a discussion the other day. We were just talking and as we started down a particular ‘track’ we got more and more excited about the analogy God was revealing to us. Here it is…

 We were talking about allowing the UNIQUE gift and calling that God has placed within each of us, to be fully utilised.

When you’re in the ‘groove’ of your call then you know that you’re in the right place, doing the right thing and on schedule. It’s like being a train on the tracks. You need to be on the train line that will take you to YOUR correct destination – not someone else’s! When you’ve settled onto the right track you can use all of your energy towards fulfilling and completing the journey towards that destination.

There will be times of smooth sailing when you can let it all out and accelerate to full throttle – life seems easy and requires little effort to stay on track. There will also be times when the path goes uphill and more effort will need to be exerted with seemingly little progress. Then there will be times when it’s best to amble along and enjoy the scenery, cherishing the view. And there will be times when you need to stop because you’ve run out of fuel.

There will be times on your journey where you pick up some passengers along the way. Those passengers need to travel with you for a while so that they can experience life with you. They may need a helping hand while they’re too weak to go it alone or they may need to travel with you to remind you of your sense of purpose. People will continually get on and off your train – it’s the nature of the ride.

All we are called to do is to listen to the One who planned our route…and then get with the programme! Constantly listen for His guidance, His direction and His instruction and you will not only find your track, but reach your destination too; living an amazing life along the way.

Powerful creation from Faith – Part 3

Action Points cont’d…

Decide

So now you get to decide which of the beliefs you woudl like to keep and which you would like to change. As far as I’m concerned the only way to get rid of the darkness is to shine light on it, which leaves it no place to go but out. In my case, the Truth I know is the Truth of the Bible.

So I take the belief that I no longer want to manifest in my life and find the real Truth about it. I then merely substitute the lie for the Truth – it’s that simple. So where you may have previously believed that your worth comes only from the amount and quality of work you do, you can now substitute it with the Truth that says you are of tremendous worth just because God loves you. Whereas you may previously have believed that you could live life as you pleased, you can now understand that what you sow you WILL reap and therefore it would be wise to concentrate on what you sow.

Visualise

The next step is to visualise yourself living according to your new beliefs. See yourself truly happy, with a deeply contented smile on your face and peace in your heart. See yourself deal with problems in a calm and rational way and coming up with the best solution for all involved. Picture your relationships flourishing – with your spouse, your family, friends, work colleagues and strangers.

Voila!

This is the most freeing technique I know. It makes you consciously aware of what belief mechanisms are operating in your life and gives you the means to be able to eradicate those you no longer wish to live by and substitute them for the Truth you do wish to see manifest in your life. Imagine living the kind of life you truly desire and as you replace the old erroneous beliefs and substitute them for the Truth, you will see this life become your reality.

Powerful creation from Faith – Part 2

Action Points

Now that you’re aware of this equation you can begin to look out for the signs that indicate which route your life is taking.

Observe

Start to observe your behaviour in a variety of situations throughout the day. When do you get angry? What happens that makes you sad? What triggers self pity? When do you feel ‘down’ and when do you feel ‘up’?  When you notice your response to a certain stimulus, make a note of it on a piece of paper. On the left hand side make a note of all the feelings and reactions you no longer want to experience and on the right hand side make a note of those feelings or situations that are pleasant and that you’d like to continue to experience. Do this for about a week.

At the end of that week you will have a comprehenisve list of what your daily highs and lows are and will be able to see the general direction in which your life is travelling.

List

Next, look at what is in the left hand column and think about why you react that way when a particular stimulus is applied. So for instance – why are you so hurt when no-one compliments you on that new dress? What triggers you getting so angry when you’re cut off in traffic? How come you’re afraid when you think of the ‘past due’ elecrticity bill? Similarly, why does watching the sunrise fill you with peace? What is it that makes your heart swell with pride when you’re complimented? What is it that enables you and your spouse to never go to bed angry with each other?

When you’ve looked deep enough and found the root of each of these reactions to stimuli, you will have found the REAL belief behind the manifested reality. This where you will be able to see that your deep seated belief that you don’t have what it takes to be successful, keeps you poor; that your innate belief in the goodness of love, keeps your relationships strong and that your utter conviction that people who are taken advantage of will never succeed keeps you fighting.

…See you tomorrow for Part 3