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By Casey Grey
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2020 will be a year of focus. 20/20 vision so to speak.
Focus is a powerful skill although it needs to be directed properly. If you are focused on the wrong things, the outcome may not be what you were hoping for. "What's the one thing I can do that will make everything else obsolete or easier?" is a good question I learned from The One Thing. It gets your brain thinking about what's most important as oppose to what's easiest. Another way of thinking of this is in terms of energy. Here's the analogy of the field mice and the antelope by Newt Gingrich from Tools of Titans: "A lion is fully capable of capturing, killing, and eating a field mouse. But it turns out that the energy required to do so exceeds the caloric content of the mouse itself. So a lion that spent its day hunting and eating field mice would slowly starve to death. A lion can’t live on field mice. A lion needs antelope. Antelope are big animals. They take more speed and strength to capture and kill, and once killed, they provide a feast for the lion and her pride. A lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope. The distinction is important. Are you spending all your time and exhausting all your energy catching field mice? In the short term it might give you a nice, rewarding feeling. But in the long run you’re going to die. So ask yourself at the end of the day, “Did I spend today chasing mice or hunting antelope?" What are you going to focus on today? "If you keep doing what you have always been doing, you will continue to get what you have always gotten."
A lot of people have been quoted as saying this (or a version of this) such as Henry Ford and Albert Einstein. I've been thinking about this a lot recently. Although I believe in this wisdom, there is also importance in having patience. Giving things the time they deserve. People pivot too quickly these days. That being said, we all have habits that are not serving us. Habits that continue to give us the results we have always gotten that we are not satisfied with. If you continue to have health problems but continue to eat junk food, don't expect something different. If you continue to have problems with your relationships but don't work on yourself, don't expect your relationships to improve. If you continue to have money problems but don't track your money, don't expect your finances to get better. Remember though, improvements are sometimes small and hard to see. Perhaps all of those things above ARE getting better but they just aren't where you want them to be. In that case, you may need to continue what you are already doing. Be patient and persistent. Today, I'm trying something new. Energy Healing with Jasmine at Younion. But it's only part of the improvements I have been implementing into my life. I'm looking forward to seeing all the good that comes from this. This holiday try something new that will serve you and those around you.
Imagine a world that worked for you.
Imagine a place where your wildest dreams came to reality. Imagine a universe that plotted to do good for you. You are in that place. You just have to work that imagination muscle. You get what you think about most. "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Today we helped Natasha's grandma move. Change is not easy for the average person. Change when you are 84 years old is a whole different level of change.
Change is inevitable though. At some point it has to happen. Your school is going to change. Your responsibilities will change. Your friends may change. Your hair is going to change colour. Your body is going to change. And the list goes on... Usually change comes at the most inconvenient time as well. But as Confucius said: "An inconvenience is an unrecognized opportunity." Get comfortable with change and seize the opportunities! When things are simple, the mind says "that can't be right." It has trouble trusting things that are simple. It wants an explanation.
A tree, for example, needs good soil, water and sun to grow. Simple on the surface but complex when you dig into how it does this. Do I need to know the complex workings of a tree to understand and trust the process? No, but the mind wants it. When I think of my life, simplicity comes from my intuition. Deep down I always know what I need to do and what is right for me in that moment. But then my mind gets in the way and tries to rationalize everything and turns it into a complex mess that takes me off track. My heart and gut have never steered me in the wrong direction. My mind on the other hand... Well... Let's say I'm still working on fixing those complex workings. Where are you adding complexity to your life that, if you listened to your soul, would be simple? We all have a vision for our lives. There are things we want to buy, places we want to visit, relationships we want to create, experiences we want to have and a person we want to become.
But most of us keep this vision bottled up. We keep it to ourselves because we think people will think it's dumb and impossible to achieve or, even worse, we think it's dumb and impossible. But look around. People all around us are making their dreams happen. There are amazing people doing phenomenal things from all walks of life. So it's definitely possible... Below is my vision for my life. I'm putting it out there. I'm surrendering to the universe and will act on what the universe puts in front of me to make this happen. I will no longer slow it down.
This WILL happen. Do I know how or when? No. But it does not matter. It's already in the works. The universe is lining everything up perfectly and all I need to do is say YES! What's your vision? When are you going to be courageous enough to share it? The universe is waiting for you. Unless I have an early morning meeting, I always put time aside to read. I start the day off by putting some positive thoughts into my mind. I usually have a few books on the go and open up whichever one I feel most pulled to.
This morning I picked up The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. One of the things I love about Jack's writing is how he works humour into it. If you have not read the book, success principle number one is take 100% responsibility for your life. The comic strip below is a great example of what NOT to do but something we all come across (or potentially still do). If you complain or make excuses for ANYTHING, you are not following this principle. "I'm too busy" is something I often say. This is an excuse. It's a choice I have made. It's something I need to eliminate from my vocabulary. This truth is, if I'm too busy for something then it's not important enough to me or there is something more important in that moment. Choose your responses wisely. They will lead to actions and ultimately to your results.
"There is a principle of Mathematics, but none of error; there is a principle of health, but none of disease; there is a principle of truth, but none of dishonesty; there is a principle of light, but none of darkness, and there is a principle of abundance, but none of poverty."
-- from "The Master Key System" by Charles F. Haanel Principles work. If something is not working for you, perhaps you are not following the principles. When you lose a sense, your other senses become heightened.
Why is this? Could it be because you put more energy and focus into the other senses because you have to depend on them more? If this is the case, can we tap into these heightened senses whenever we want? Close your eyes and do a test. Actually, close your eyes, sit still and focus on your breath for 10 minutes. Or, if you think this is too hard... Turn your phone off for a day. Is there something you have become too dependant upon? Remember, you have other senses (and other ways of communicating). The world is full of labels.
Passive House, Energy Star, R-2000, LEED Certified, FSC Certified, CSA Approved and HVI Certified are ones that come up often for me in the construction world. Vegan, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Paleo, Raw and Flexitarian are all labels for different types of diets (and I know there's more). Mental disorders are a whole other game. There's a 3" thick book called the DSM-5 that explains all the shit that's "wrong" with us. I'm not a fan of labels but I understand and appreciate the importance they play in our society. As somebody who primarily eats a vegan and gluten-free diet, I appreciate seeing those labels. As somebody who builds healthy and sustainable homes, I see the value in having a third party certify a home and prove that it was built to a certain standard. When labeled with a mental disorder, it can be beneficial in the sense that the person may gain access to additional resources and realize that they are not alone. The issue is that most of us have no idea what the labels mean. If I were to show the general population the Passive House label, chances are they would not know what it meant. If I were to show people at a Green Building Show that same label, most people would likely recognise it but I guarantee you a lot of them would have no idea what was required to get that label. People who do not put a lot of attention into the food they put into their bodies won't necessarily know what vegan is or where gluten comes from or what foods contain what. Personally, I'm still not sure what a paleo diet is... Since I have no education in the mental disorder world, when I hear somebody is labeled with something specific I have to do research if I want to understand what that means (a.k.a. I ask my wife because she does have formal education here). The other important factor to understand is that labels often only account for one aspect. A Passive House does not mean it was built with healthy products (it puts the attention on performance). A LEED Certified house does not mean it is energy efficient (it puts a lot of attention on materials). A Vegan diet does not mean it's healthy (refined sugar and vegetable oil is vegan). A diagnosis of ADHD does not mean the person is not smart or can not focus (most entrepreneurs I know would fall under this category). Don't get caught up in the labels. Although they tell us important information, it's not the whole story. |
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