Some powerlessness comes from external factors that are beyond our control (the holocaust is an extreme example of this) people stripped of dignity and all rights and treated in ways inconceivable to the human mind.

Some powerlessness, however, is learned behavior. For example, a child who grew up in an abusive family, might grow up, leave home, get married and successfully run their own business, yet still feel powerless. This learned thinking (i.e. everyone but ME is in control of me), although no longer true, feels very true to the person living it.

Breaking out of this cycle isn’t easy, but it’s possible. And it begins by learning that you count. You have the right to be in charge of your own life. You have the power to make decisions that are best for you. You have the right to ask for what you need, and to express how you feel.

You do matter. And you can make a difference in your life. It’s possible to take the reins back and steer your life in the direction you want it to go.

When a person, who once felt like the world ran them, begins to experience the feelings of power, whole new horizons open up before them. They realize they don’t have to be a victim anymore! What they think and feel does matter. They have the opportunity to change course and change their minds. They aren’t just a tiny boat being thrashed to and fro on a big scary ocean, no! They’re the captain of a big luxury cruise liner and have their destination in sights and are steering the boat exactly where they want to go.

We might not be able to control every aspect of our lives, and I’m not suggesting that we try. But, we can influence the circumstances in our lives, plot our course and make decisions that are best for us. We don’t have to give our power to someone else. It’s ours! So don’t feel guilty for taking some power back and learning how to steer your life in the direction of your dreams.

“How you perceive yourself determines what you think you are able to do and that determines in turn what you will try. So the self-concept has a tremendous effect upon the intelligence of the individual.”
–Arthur W. Combs

With those pre-computer-day skills, I’ve lived an organized life.  Now that I’m blogging, I’ve found the words already printed out on Mind Tools a free resource for organization skills.  It’s not surprising that 30 years later, the information is the same. 

Its important to start our goal creation by envisioning where we’d like to be in 10 years and you’ve probably already done that with a dream board.
Then to put our dreams on paper in general terms. Now it’s time to break it down, scrutinize our general goals. 

Using the general goals you’ve already written, set a 1-year plan, 6-month plan, and a 1-month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Each of these should be based on the previous plan.

Back in my Franklin/ college days I planned life-time goals (you know, the ones that cover 10 years of your life.) Now, 30 years later, I’m writing new goals for this chapter of my life, marketing online.

Goal setting is a life long project that needs daily attention. 

Goal Setting Tips

The following general guidelines from Mind Tools help to set effective goals:
• State each goal as a positive statement: Get in the habit of expressing your goals positively – “implement this technique well’ is a much better goal than ‘Don’t make this stupid mistake.’

• Be specific: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.

• Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by having too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

• Write goals down: This helps you focus.

• Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward.

• Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. It can be quite disappointing to fail to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control! If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.

• Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. As you learn and grow, you’ll recognize how much to expect of your time, adjust your goals accordingly.
Mindtools. Has a clever mnemoic-

SMART Goals:
A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants, SMART usually stands for:

• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Attainable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound

For example, instead of having “to sail around the world” as a goal, it is more powerful to say “To have completed my trip around the world by December 31, 2015.” Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand!

Goal setting works!  Tomorrow we’ll put it all together and talk about our daily To-Do list.

Have you mastered the skill of setting goals?  I’m curious if you used the Franklin Planner when it was first introduced in the early ‘80s?

 ”People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It’s as simple as that.” Earl Nightingale

By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You’ll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course.

Properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you’ll find that your self-confidence builds quickly.

Positive self-esteem is formed as we experience success.

My good friend, Brent Huntington, talks about two types of Goals: Give up and Get up

Give Up Goals are the goals to stop doing something, stop overeating, quit smoking, stop yelling at the kids, quit using the credit card, and the list goes on.

Get Up Goals are the goals we want to add to our lives, start valuing self, begin treating our spouse the way they deserve, start a business, or begin earning more money.

Today we’re going to talk about Get Up Goals -

Get Up Goals Are a Driving Force

Goal setting techniques are used by successful people everywhere. Goals give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. With your goals, you will acquire the knowledge and help you need to organize your time and resources in order to get the most out of life.

By setting clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievements. When documenting, you’ll see progress in short order. These accomplishments might have previously seemed impossible.

Starting to Set Up ‘Get Up’ Goals

Step One: Dream – dream-  Now that you have identified your dreams, and they are set and captured in picture form in general terms, on your dream board, the next step is to indentify, categorize, write.
Step Two:  Categorize – identify and write down your Dream Goals. Make a list that gives an overall picture of where you want to be in this life.

Step Three: Baby Steps – break these down into the smaller and smaller goals that you must hit so that you reach your lifetime goals. Broken down into baby steps, for each goal makes it doable -

Step Four: Action – start working to achieve your goals.

To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, write a list of areas that are important to you.  Here are the general areas that are important to me, choose areas that are important to you. Set goals in some of these categories or in categories of your own, things that are important to you, we’ll go in greater detail a little later.  I like to use my PC because as I add to my list, I don’t have to re-write.

Spirituality/ Attitude – Take some time and for serious introspection. What do you want to be like? Discover what is important to you.

Relationships – Do you want a spouse?  What do you want your marriage to look like? Do you want children? What kind of parent do you want to be?

Career – What do you want to do to support yourself financially?  It’s true~ do what you love and the money will follow!  What do you love?

Financial- What is a comfortable amount of money to live on? Not how much do you think you could make, but how much do you want – remember these are your Dream Goals.

Physical – What state of health and fitness do you want to achieve? Are you hoping to stay fit as you age?  What goals do you have to set to achieve that state of health?

Recreation – What do you like to do for fun?  Make sure you set goals that are for yourself, for your enjoyment.

Service – You have so much to give to others, how do you dream of helping others?

As you complete your Broad Range of Dream Goals written on paper, you can start to break them down into a do-able form. 
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about ways to do just that, break down our goals into smaller ones.  I store my GOALS on my Desk Top so I have easy access to them.  You’ll see the importance of this when we discuss the Baby Steps tomorrow!

Get your paper and pencils out (or your typing fingers in action) and Have a Grand and Productive Day!

I’m having a blast online! I am still learning so much!! I have found many new friends! I am so blessed!

As far as my health goes, everyday I run the gamut, I feel weak, strong, clear-headed, foggy, spacey, coordinated, walking (without a cane, very slowly), walking needing a walker. Honestly, my ‘up-date movie’ shows it like it is much of the time.

Usually in the evening I walk the best. Everyday I walk at least 2 times (not every hour like I said I would) around the house. I sometimes get a good night sleep and try to drink at least 1½ courts of water.

I eat a very good diet, mostly vegetables, nuts and cheese.

To be honest, I haven’t been doing my physical therapy like I promised my self. For exercise, all I do is ride my stationary bike 20 minutes 6 days a week and do 30 modified push ups.

I’m still watching myself use MS as an excuse. I work with the youth at church and I’m not able to help out at camp next week (a walker just won’t get me around. I was talking to one of the young woman tonight, admiring her art work as we waited for the other girls to complete their “pack checks”. Holly isn’t planning on going to camp, even though her dad wants her to. I asked her why she wasn’t going and she said she isn’t into camping. She doesn’t like the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, no plumbing, and mostly that she can’t work, can’t draw. Her dad joined in with, “You can draw while you’re camping.” “No dad,” she said. “drawing and camping, don’t get along.  I learned that last year.”  I told her I can relate. For me, it’s being online.

I thought I already got it. But I know a situation will keep presenting itself until the lesson is learned. I don’t have to stay sick. I can choose to “just say no.”

To Do List:
Walk every two hours using a cane
1 hour physical therapy 5 days/week
Sleep 7 hours each night (that’s what I need)

I can do it~ I know I can! Next month it will be fun to see my progress!

This is an evolution! Anthony Robbins said “To me, success is the ongoing process of striving to become more. It is the opportunity to continually grow emotionally, socially, spiritually, physiology, intellectually, and financially, while contributing in some positive way to others. The road to success is always under construction. It is a progressive course, not an end to be reached.”

This is the process of life, take the steps! Practice and dream dreams! Write affirmations, ponder and pray. As you do, you will notice new people and opportunities flowing into your life. The key is being aware so you don’t miss these powerful chances to create and experience the prosperity, joy and wealth you deserve!

When the word prosperity is spoken, many people think of money. There are many aspects of prosperity: love, time, success, beauty, health, knowledge, comfort and of course, money. When we lack an abundance of any of these commodities, we feel deprived. We can hear ourselves saying things like, I don’t have this, or I don’t have that. It is amazing to see that we really don’t!

Now it’s time to start accepting the good that is yours! It is your birthright!

Picture yourself receiving! Open your arms wide to the Lord, to the universe, knowing that you will receive.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer says, “You’ll see it when you believe it.”  We must expect good in order to get good.

There are many reasons people don’t accept abundance:

Guilt about having more than others.

Belief that poverty is their purpose.

Fear that others will be jealous.

Belief that they don’t deserve it.

Not wanting to stand out and be noticed.

Belief that there isn’t enough resources for everyone.

Abundance and prosperity are about allowing yourself to accept. When you’re not getting what you want, then you’re not allowing yourself to accept.

Visualize:  Imagine how free you will feel when you have all that you dream of.

Honesty is an act of love for ourselves. The main value of honesty is that whatever we give out in life we will get back. If we take, we lose. If we give, we get. It cannot be otherwise. The law of cause and effect is always operating on every level.

When you begin to realize your life’s purpose and to honor yourself as well as those around you, abundance will naturally and easily flow into your life. When you cooperate instead of compete and allow every exchange be a positive win-win situation for everyone involved, you will increase the flow of joy in your life knowing that everything is happening for your highest good.

When we clearly understand that our thoughts create our reality, then we can use our reality as a feedback mechanism to let us know what we need to change next.

Everything is a reflection of what we believe we deserve. When we look around our home, our office, our car, are they really places that we love to be in? Do they reflect the love we feel for ourselves?

Remember, our thoughts about ourselves can be changed.

There is so much abundance in this world just waiting for you to experience. There is more money than you could ever spend, more people than you could ever meet, more joy than you could imagine, you would have everything you need and more.

Our job is to believe!

Step through the doubt. Make a commitment to dream! Affirm to yourself! As you choose what you want your life to look like, start to pray and meditate about it. In this way, your life will be created as you wish.

I want to inspire you to tap into the unlimited abundance that is all around you! I’ll say it again~ abundance is your birthright.

Make the most of your life! Accept all the good! Help others along the way and more good will be given to you.

Embrace it, accept it, and enjoy to the end!

When I embarked on this journey of life with multiple sclerosis, I didn’t know where I was going. All I knew is what I had learned throughout my life and what I believed. I first started blogging as a way to get the information out; the knowledge and experience of my 45 years.

It wasn’t long before I found an entire community of happy, giving people doing the same thing; sharing what they know! I’ve developed great friendships from all over the world right in the comfort of my family room!

Soon I realized people were blogging for profit! I had no idea how to do it until I got a hold of this free ebook written by Yaro Starak. Yaro is willing to give his knowledge and skills for free! Write your name and email address to the right of us, and you’ll get a copy right away! It’s exciting!

Leave a comment below and tell me how you’re allowing prosperity in your life!

Basketball players were tested for their ability to make baskets from the free-throw line. The team was divided in half.

Half spent the time visualizing, seeing themselves at the free-throw line successfully sinking the ball in the basket every time.

The other ½, worked on the court for the same amount of time taking shot after shot from the free-throw line.

When the players were tested, those who simply thought about making the basket did better than the players who actually practiced.

Therefore, put yourself in a relaxed state, imagine yourself sinking the ball! Visualize an optimistic outcome for each of your life experiences, your goals, your dreams. Always focus on the positive. When you can imagine it, you can achieve it!

Magically, he was awakened to a steam engine parked in his front yard. He climbed on the train, the Polar Express, heading all the way to the North Pole.

As you remember in the story, the children saw the factory where all the Christmas toys were made. The conductor told them Santa will choose one of the children to receive the first gift of Christmas. Looking at all the children, he wondered who it would be. He recognized that they all had great hopes. They all wanted to be the first one to choose from of the huge pile of presents in front of them. Then, Santa’s decision was made.

The lad was chosen! The boy knew that he could have anything he wanted from the whole factory where every Christmas toy was made! But what he wanted most for Christmas was not inside Santa’s giant bag. What he wanted most was one silver bell, from Sant’s sleigh. If he had the bell, then he would be able to prove to his doubting friend, that Santa exists! Amazingly, Santa nodded to the lad, then held up the bell high in the air and called out, “The first gift of Christmas!”

Later that month, when we went to our church Christmas party, my first grader sat on Santa’s lap, asking for what he wanted most of all. I couldn’t hear what he asked for. A friend of mine caught up with me later in the evening and said that she thought I better hear what my son asked Santa for.

When he woke up on Christmas morning, he was practically peaceful as he opened his present from Santa. One silver bell from Santa’s sleigh.

Action: Read, Ask, Listen, Practice

Read: Read to your kids, they love the time you spend with them. Go to the library together to pick out books. Let them choose the ones they treasure. For yourself, read about the power of thought, especially Wayne Dyers Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

Ask: Ask your child what is important to him, what she believes, and ask yourself and your child about the hopes for the future.

Listen: Listen to what she says, how he feels, what’s going on in your mind, and what all the hopes and dreams are. It’s never the wrong time to identify dreams and beliefs. These thoughts and dreams are the beginning of the future.

Practice: Practice remembering and reminding of the dreams and goals. Write down affirmations, say them out-loud daily, and teach your children to do the same.

Louise Hay teaches in her book, ‘Heal Your Body’, No matter how dire (your) predicament seems to be, I KNOW if (you) are WILLING to do the mental work of releasing and forgiving, almost anything can be healed.”

I believed it then, when I was healthy, but when my health failed, and I worked hard, I began to doubt. I had an attitude that impressed people, but in my heart, I doubted the ability to ever live a healthy life again.

After 45 years of learning, including 13 years with Multiple Sclerosis, I’m finally getting over it! God has the power to miraculously heal me, but He has allowed me to have this adversity to learn. I couldn’t understand why I was having such difficulty learning! Now I can see! I never thought I’d say this, I appreciate the experience!

We need to recognize the power is within! We have been blessed with a body and mind created to be healthy and well. With the help of God, we can create whatever we want. We can have complete health, rewarding relationships, perfect careers, abundance in everything. This is the truth! We can have it all!

We need to take some steps to make it happen!

Step 1. Believe that it is possible. When we are experiencing uncomfortable lives, we sometimes feel there is no hope. We can’t see any way out. It doesn’t seem possible to have peace. For starters we must believe that it is possible! God wants us to have all the good that we want. I believe that we are all connected to God and with God, all things are possible.

Step 2. Let go! Let go of our habits that are creating the poor conditions of our lives. We must be honest with ourselves and understand what we are thinking and feeling. These thoughts create our circumstances. My journey has led me to the understanding that we really do have power over our physical circumstances.
When I was going through the ups and downs of relapsing-remitting MS, I found that I wasn’t able to do many of the things that I was used to doing, the things that I gained my self-esteem from. I felt useless. It was then that I realized I am a “diamond in the rough”. Now I understand my divine worth, and I realize everyone has the same worth, the same value. We are all fabulous creations. With this understanding, we will feel the same love for everyone!

Step 3. Trust our God-given inner power to create the life that we dream of. We must choose to use this power to control our minds to tell ourselves what we want to be. This power is the power to acknowledge the good that is in us, the power to live in the now~ letting the past go. The power to create affirmations that will lead us into the area we want to be. As we realize that our thoughts and our words are our power.

BELIEVE, LET GO, TRUST AND DO! We’ll Get Over It! And We’ll Have All We Want! I will walk again!

One day, my almost 3yr old son made a mess while eating breakfast. I told him he could go outside and play as soon as his mess was cleaned up. He rolled around on the floor, avoiding the clean-up. When I was done with my work in the kitchen, and ready to leave the room, I minded him, “you can go outside and play as soon as you’re done cleaning up your mess.” His reply, “Don’t worry mom, you’ll forget!”

What I learned from toddlers: The need for consistency.

Action: Read, Ask, Listen, Practice

Read: There are many fabulous parenting books available to help us.
My favorite is Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster W. Cline, M.D. and Jim Fay. With love and logic parenting, we’re able to help kids grow to adulthood, to become contributing members of society. If reading isn’t your thing, Love and Logic has CD sets available to buy and Podcasts to download.
I’ve learned that we are really not doing the kids any favors by doing work for them. It would have been much easier to just pick up the cereal for my son, but what would have happened in the future? I’m sure I’d still be picking up his messes! They would just be bigger and more painful!
 

Ask: Ask specific questions to the right person! Find a mentor. Stay close to someone who has succeeded in raising positive children.

Listen: to yourself. We have a natural instinct of how to help our children learn and progress. When we’re given advice, we can discern it’s value. As we study from the best teachers, we can decide if our children will progress doing what is taught.

Practice: Consistency will be one of our goals. We will be learning and growing with our children. We’ll be overcoming habits that were created as far back as our early childhood. As we are working on reaching the goals that we have set, we need to celebrate our accomplishments as we do our children.