The Key Element to Changing Your Life

I don’t know a single person that doesn’t want to change their life. At the very least, we all want to improve. Why not? I want to grow as a person as time goes on, and so does everyone.

The unfortunate truth is that a lot of the time, the changes we want to make on ourselves never become a reality. Changes always occur, whether we like them to or not, but those changes aren’t necessarily what we wish them to be. It’s not that it’s not possible for one to change their life, rather it’s usually because one hasn’t figured out how to. Or they aren’t driven enough…. I haven’t rid myself of my ego nearly as much as I would like to… yet. I haven’t made it happen, but I haven’t given up.

Change happens whether we like it or not. (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Changing your life doesn’t always entail changing yourself (although that is a big part). It could be spending time with new people, people that care more about you, or that you feel like you can trust. It could be living in a new environment, which is partly people, but also location, atmosphere. Most of all, it could be how you spend your time. Do you follow your passion? Do you do what feeds your soul? Start doing that, and you’ll see a major change in your life.

There is a lot to manifesting change in your life. You need the right attitude, the right drive to make it happen. You’ve got to be determined, sometimes downright perseverant. But it all comes down to one little element that makes all the difference:

“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

–Thomas Jefferson

This quote sums it up for me. It’s more than just true. I think what Thomas Jefferson said should be a mantra for any that wish to change their lives. You have to be willing to do something you’ve never done. If you aren’t willing and you keep trying the same things, it’s ridiculous to expect to see things transform before your eyes.

This is true not only in discovering parts of ourselves, but also in incurring all kinds of things into our lives. If you continuously fail at something, you’ve got to revise your plan, right? As the old saying goes: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try something new. Er… okay that’s my spin-off version. You get what I mean.

In the eye-opening book The Alchemist, there is the perfect example of what I’m talking

The Alchemist book cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

about. The young protagonist takes up work at a merchants crystal shop. The merchant is a middle-aged man losing hope in life, and inspiration and enthusiasm are hard for him to come by. As a result, business weakens with every passing day, and all the customers start shopping in different parts of town.

The young protagonist is an enthusiastic young man and soon after getting hired, asks for permission to try new things. With reluctance, that merchant grants him that access. So the protagonist sets up a stand outside to showcase the crystals, and serves tea to all travelers that can climb up the hill where the shop stands. Within a few weeks, business traffic changes, improves. They improved because new things were attempted. Things that the merchant was unwilling to do on his own, and thus, wasn’t seeing the change, or improvement, that he wanted.

This is the way it is for everything in our lives. If you want to change your life, if you want something you don’t have, never had, you have to, have to be willing to explore and experiment with what you haven’t yet explored and experimented with. You have to be willing to do things you’ve never done.

–mrprose

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Don’t Take Life Too Seriously

Hello again,

I realized something profound today. Something that will shift my view on life as I move forward. Something I thought I knew, but didn’t actually completely understand.

We really don’t have to take life so seriously.

Now, of course, there are many moody, or serious subjects and events in life that are unavoidable. Darker emotions need to be faced at some point, and one would be in denial if they were always running from this aspect of life. They are a part of living as a human being, and thus should be confronted like anything and everything else.

But at the same time, I am one of many guilty of taking things on with a grave intensity that isn’t always necessary, and that often sucks the humor and fun out of life.

Hey, you can laugh a little if you want! (Photo credit: Matthew Grapengieser)

While having that attitude absolutely has it’s benefits (there are many things that are not laughing matters, and you can’t be productive if you aren’t focused and serious), it also has it’s drawbacks – often I don’t take out as much from a situation/experience when I’m so solemn. Sometimes life seems too thick, to dense. Unenjoyable, unhappy. This is how I view things when I deny myself the pleasures of lightheartedness – goofiness, laughing, horseplay, etc.

What direction do you want to take? (Photo credit: thewhitestdogalive)

We attract certain things into our lives through the energy we have about ourselves. We shape our worlds through our thoughts and actions, which means you get to decide whether you want to live a serious or cheerful life… or a balance of both.

But I say this because often the beauty in life is particularly gripping when I am happy. When you are joyful, you see things differently. The world becomes a joyful place. And I want to have room for that joy in my world by not taking things so seriously all the time.

Just because life is difficult sometimes doesn’t mean it can’t ever be enjoyable. Keep that in mind next time you feel yourself sinking into your somber energy. You might find that relaxing and letting loose just a little goes quite a long way.

–mrprose

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It’s a Simple Thing to Appreciate

Hello, hope your week has begun well,

I’ve written before about how learning how to truly appreciate the things that one has and the sees around them, changes the way they will view the world. It’s hard to make that shift, because it requires lots of patience and acceptance. I’m still struggling plenty with it myself. The reward, though, is more than worth it, and that’s why I’m re-looking at the things in my life in new ways.

I’ve naturally take things for granted. All but forget about them. In this fashion, I’ll lose many of these things before I truly appreciate them, and I don’t want to live that way.

Today I look at a major part of my life, a part that I forget I may lose at any moment. A part that I don’t believe I properly appreciate.

That thing, is owning a dog.

It’s difficult to explain exactly how owning and caring for an animal affects you. Particularly Man’s Best Friend. I suppose that it has to do, in part, with the fact that everyone has a different perspective and experience to take away. It’s such a complicated bond, yet so simple, if you look at the core of it.

I believe that it impacts a part of us as human beings that words can’t do any justice describing. You forge a relationship with a creature that knows no conceit, no lying, no backstabbing or greed. Dogs live simple, honest lives. That’s why it’s so easy to create a relationship, a bond of respect, love and most of all trust.

Humans, are after all, a social race, and we crave interactions with others. Even more so, we crave worthy connections of love and friendship. That fact goes down to the core of our being, of who we are, and it’s not just a want, it’s a need. We need such things to survive, to thrive, and these phenomenal creatures are sometimes exactly what we need.

They are our companions. They support us with their company and comfort. I know that when I’m distressed, my own dog, Peanut, will come over and playfully try to raise my spirits. It’s something they instinctually do – I believe that they feel empathy and compassion for others.

So with their joyful existence and happy energy, along with their large hearts, I often can’t help but enjoy their presence, their being there. They naturally carry an air of positivity.

Possibly the most amazing part of that species of animal as a whole (as I see it), is their incredibly strong integrity. They live honestly in almost every sense of the word. They know when they’ve done something wrong. Maybe it’s me personifying them too much, but they don’t ever seem to have malicious intent.

How can one not spot the love in those eyes? I feel blessed to know her.

That’s why I chose to write about this today. The more I watch my own, or any dog for that matter, what they are/what they do, the more I realize how inspiring they are to me. They’re full of plenty of things we as humans have plenty to learn about. They represent so much to me because I get so lost within the intricacies of my own complications that I forget how important these attributes are. Their simplicity exemplifies what simple living can be. And how much more I still have to learn about the “simple” things I thought I had moved past.

So for today, and this week, the remainder of this month, and for the rest of my existence, I want to pay more attention, give more gratitude to this extremely important and positive part of my life. I think dogs are great examples of virtues that we must not forget.

Plus, they’re a part of our lives, and deserve our love and attention. They need it, and it’s the least we can give back.

–mprose

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