8/11/11
8/10/11
The Power Within You
What is your perception of who is in control?...
We live in an era of change of great magnitude. On Monday the stock market tumbled and the world as the financial people viewed it was coming to an end. Like lemmings to the sea the next day stocks went slightly "back in the green" clinging to a thread of hope that the Federal Reserve meeting yesterday holding interest rates until mid-2013 will bring restoration. Never mind that the underlying fundamental financial problems of nations are unlikely to be solved by any intervention. The bottom line is the world is overleveraged, unemployment is high and demand for goods is down and these elemental circumstances are unlikely to be changed in the short term. It is going to require a long term effort of hard work to restore the world's economies and reshape our society. How we cope as individuals to global events determines how we maintain or physical and mental well being.
A lot of people in the US have been financially hurt and will continue to be by the rocking of the markets since they believed in them and invested their savings and retirement funds in stock market vehicles. How people react and cope with financial losses as well as changes in style of living, breaks in personal relationships and upheaval in daily life will be built on how they perceive life. Who is in control, themselves or external forces?
This concept in psychology is called locus of control. It is based on the degree an individual considers they control the events of life that effect them and their reaction to them. If you believe that what the government, your employer, the financial markets, events external to you determine the direction of your life, then they will. The path your life takes and your outlook towards it will determine the direction it goes in. If you are expecting the government, your employer or the amount in your bank account to fix what is wrong with you, our economy, society or politics then you are likely to be hanging out a long time and unhappy while you wait.
On the other hand if you decide that the losses you may have taken financially, your lack of employment or income, what is going on in world events is not going to determine how you react, you stand a much better chance of living through them in a healthy manner. If your approach is proactive and positive, keeping your mind healthy and determined to ride out any storm, then you will. This is not to say it will be easy. Those of us who have weathered a few tough storms in life have at times felt we weren't so sure we had the self control or willpower to overcome but still persevered. In the end I've been glad I did. There are proven scientific models that indicate how we think and view events in our life does determine the manner in which our brain waves react. In turn this affects the outcome of how we perceive our lives and resolve problems.
Whatever it takes that suits you to direct your brain matter in a positive direction is what is important and not what other people may think about it. You have control over your mind and attitude, no one else does. The power of positive thinking, belief in a higher power, meditation and prayer, hypnotherapy, self-talk and other methods have helped millions of people overcome when they think things couldn't be any worse. It is crucial to keep in mind that just when you think nothing is happening, suddenly a simple thing occurs that creates a wind of change in direction, causing you to catch the crest of a wave in thinking differently. An opening of the mind and insight usually happens when you're not looking for it. Prior to it happening your brain must be prepared for it by working toward and maintaining a confident outlook.
We can't change the monumental events of our times and sometimes we can't change the things that have happened to us that cause our losses. What we can change is the way we view them and redirect our energies into something better, one step at a time. We can work to restore our lives, help others do so and reshape the society around us. It is hard work well worth the rewards.
A lot of people in the US have been financially hurt and will continue to be by the rocking of the markets since they believed in them and invested their savings and retirement funds in stock market vehicles. How people react and cope with financial losses as well as changes in style of living, breaks in personal relationships and upheaval in daily life will be built on how they perceive life. Who is in control, themselves or external forces?
This concept in psychology is called locus of control. It is based on the degree an individual considers they control the events of life that effect them and their reaction to them. If you believe that what the government, your employer, the financial markets, events external to you determine the direction of your life, then they will. The path your life takes and your outlook towards it will determine the direction it goes in. If you are expecting the government, your employer or the amount in your bank account to fix what is wrong with you, our economy, society or politics then you are likely to be hanging out a long time and unhappy while you wait.On the other hand if you decide that the losses you may have taken financially, your lack of employment or income, what is going on in world events is not going to determine how you react, you stand a much better chance of living through them in a healthy manner. If your approach is proactive and positive, keeping your mind healthy and determined to ride out any storm, then you will. This is not to say it will be easy. Those of us who have weathered a few tough storms in life have at times felt we weren't so sure we had the self control or willpower to overcome but still persevered. In the end I've been glad I did. There are proven scientific models that indicate how we think and view events in our life does determine the manner in which our brain waves react. In turn this affects the outcome of how we perceive our lives and resolve problems.
We can't change the monumental events of our times and sometimes we can't change the things that have happened to us that cause our losses. What we can change is the way we view them and redirect our energies into something better, one step at a time. We can work to restore our lives, help others do so and reshape the society around us. It is hard work well worth the rewards.
8/9/11
8/8/11
8/7/11
8/5/11
8/4/11
8/3/11
8/2/11
Living Life Creatively
The upside of a downturn...
Point of view is essential in thriving during difficult circumstances. In his book Man's Searching For Meaning Viktor Frankl made a crucial observation about the psychology of those who survived the Holocaust and those who didn't. It was in the art of living. While in concentration camp he was determining that if there was meaning in life, then suffering had some meaning and mental attitude towards it determined the outcome of having suffered. This lead him to the conclusion that inner strength and refusal to surrender to the horrors of the concentration camp and instead looking to the future made the difference in who made it and who didn't.
While we live in an economic downturn that means a long term recovery period is ahead it cannot be compared to the horrors of a concentration camp. It means difficult times and the need to readjust standards of living but it is not the tragedy some people will take it as. Those are the people who will not do well because they are not looking toward the future down the road to better times but are living in the past and not accepting the present. Those of us who look across a barren empty lot and see the one flower blooming will flourish and see the future as blossoming into something better.
Yesterday I was driving through the high desert of dry grassland and off in the distance I could see the one large hardy tree that had drilled a taproot deep into the earth and was drawing water to live. I saw beauty in that landscape and that tree. It was a marvelous thing and had nothing to do with economic indicators being all down, whether the debt ceiling was raised by Congress, whether Obama settled for "The Deal." There was only one person who had any beauty in the questionable politics of the vote in Congress, although she may not match the political beliefs of some of us, in the ceremony of mockery our politicians made of our country she stood out.
It was Gabrielle Giffords who exemplified someone who tragically suffered at the hands of someone else and saw the future and fought not only to survive but thrive and come back from the calamity that struck her.
If we are to not only live and survive through the next decade in rebuilding our lives and our country we must adopt a vantage point of survival that is conducive to thriving and conquering arduous times. My suggestion is not only to live creatively, but devise ways to make what appears at first to be ugly, turning them beautiful. You do not need to be an artist to do this. You don't have to be able to paint, draw, take photographs or create videos, do crafts, lathe fine furniture, grow a beautiful garden. You simply have to find the aesthetic out of even the bleakest of scenes.
When I was growing up my father did work that took him to third and fourth world countries, some are now emerging economies but at the time they were not. Although we had to be mindful of our safety it was not as dangerous as today and we went to far flung places. The education I received was more than I could learn in any school. I will share one story that has stuck with me my entire life. It was in a place quite close to the US and under the most deplorable conditions we went to visit a family that he had come to know. They treasured knowledge and were especially grateful to him because he would bring them books. All over the walls of the shack they lived in a shantytown were cutouts from magazines or any source they could find of pictures of things of beauty. They might have come from advertisements that depicted something unique or a work of fine art. Outside the home was ugly, inside they were surrounded by pictorial items to inspire and comfort them.
There is a lot we can learn from that.
Point of view is essential in thriving during difficult circumstances. In his book Man's Searching For Meaning Viktor Frankl made a crucial observation about the psychology of those who survived the Holocaust and those who didn't. It was in the art of living. While in concentration camp he was determining that if there was meaning in life, then suffering had some meaning and mental attitude towards it determined the outcome of having suffered. This lead him to the conclusion that inner strength and refusal to surrender to the horrors of the concentration camp and instead looking to the future made the difference in who made it and who didn't.While we live in an economic downturn that means a long term recovery period is ahead it cannot be compared to the horrors of a concentration camp. It means difficult times and the need to readjust standards of living but it is not the tragedy some people will take it as. Those are the people who will not do well because they are not looking toward the future down the road to better times but are living in the past and not accepting the present. Those of us who look across a barren empty lot and see the one flower blooming will flourish and see the future as blossoming into something better.
Yesterday I was driving through the high desert of dry grassland and off in the distance I could see the one large hardy tree that had drilled a taproot deep into the earth and was drawing water to live. I saw beauty in that landscape and that tree. It was a marvelous thing and had nothing to do with economic indicators being all down, whether the debt ceiling was raised by Congress, whether Obama settled for "The Deal." There was only one person who had any beauty in the questionable politics of the vote in Congress, although she may not match the political beliefs of some of us, in the ceremony of mockery our politicians made of our country she stood out.It was Gabrielle Giffords who exemplified someone who tragically suffered at the hands of someone else and saw the future and fought not only to survive but thrive and come back from the calamity that struck her.
If we are to not only live and survive through the next decade in rebuilding our lives and our country we must adopt a vantage point of survival that is conducive to thriving and conquering arduous times. My suggestion is not only to live creatively, but devise ways to make what appears at first to be ugly, turning them beautiful. You do not need to be an artist to do this. You don't have to be able to paint, draw, take photographs or create videos, do crafts, lathe fine furniture, grow a beautiful garden. You simply have to find the aesthetic out of even the bleakest of scenes.
When I was growing up my father did work that took him to third and fourth world countries, some are now emerging economies but at the time they were not. Although we had to be mindful of our safety it was not as dangerous as today and we went to far flung places. The education I received was more than I could learn in any school. I will share one story that has stuck with me my entire life. It was in a place quite close to the US and under the most deplorable conditions we went to visit a family that he had come to know. They treasured knowledge and were especially grateful to him because he would bring them books. All over the walls of the shack they lived in a shantytown were cutouts from magazines or any source they could find of pictures of things of beauty. They might have come from advertisements that depicted something unique or a work of fine art. Outside the home was ugly, inside they were surrounded by pictorial items to inspire and comfort them.There is a lot we can learn from that.
8/1/11
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