“Go Big,” my brother suggested when I told him about my project idea, the book I started to write. These simple words moved me. The idea of being big was simmering in my mind just in the morning. And there were those words again, “Go Big.”
This got me thinking. How many of us play a small game? How many of us play big? How do we regard ourselves? If we think we are small and insignificant, that’s what we give and therefore that’s what we receive in the world. We play a small me part, what we think of is mostly about ourselves. Sure, our dreams might be big, but as long as we concentrate only about ourselves, we will not going to go far.
So, how can we shift our perspective? How can we live a bigger than ourselves life, play a bigger game?
First, let’s start from foundation that we built for ourselves. All our life up till now made who we are today: our lessons, our tribulations, our victories, our difficulties, our winnings. Whatever it was, we got to make a peace with our past: forgive, get rid of the stuff we no longer need. Recently, I got rid of my journal writings that do not serve me anymore. I think I kept them, so I would prove something to somebody. I do not need to prove anything. As I tore those pages, my heart became 100% lighter. We do not need our past weighing on our shoulders and definitely we do not need to carry them someplace in the drawer tucked in. We got to make a peace with our past and with ourselves. If not, this stuff will haunt us in our future decisions and might stop us in the tracks. We do not need that to go forward. (To help deal with it, you can read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and look into Landmark Education. These are incredible resources.)
Next is to go for the dreams – no matter what. Dream as big as we can dream of. What’s the point of dreaming if you cannot dream big, right? Dreaming alone will not get us anywhere, though. We got to ACT on them. Little by little, day by day, step by step – Act on the dreams. Do not be afraid of failure. Failure is just a stepping stone for something coming up great. Need inspiration for action? Read Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell. This will help you to be brave all the step of the way.
These two steps mentioned above are just a prep for a third and the most important step of going Big, Huge, Gigantic: We got to INVOLVE as many people as we can – small people, big people and everything in between. We cannot accomplish anything just by thinking small (all about ourselves). As soon as we open the doors to others, help others, give others – we will start playing a bigger game – a world game. Do we want to make a world a better place? Let’s share our passions with it. Can you imagine a world full of passionate people? We have so much to give. Why are we keeping all to ourselves? We owe the world to show who we are, to help as many people as we can. By helping others, we’ll help ourselves. Let’s think for a moment in simple ways: when we smile, others can’t help but smile back. We water our flowers, and they smile back by giving us the most gorgeous blossoms. We give a kind word to a stranger, their smile makes us feel good, too. Universe works in mysterious ways. The key to giving is not expect anything in return, but universe also gives it back as long as we are open in receiving. Without expectation, we may be rewarded in other ways least expected.
So, let’s sum it all up. Let’s get rid of the last pains, make a peace with our past. Let’s build a new foundation of now and future by dreaming and DOING BIG! Let’s involve and help as many people as we can. Let’s think on worldly terms. (Advanced Course of Landmark is a great resource of that).
Deepak Chopra, Tim Ferris, John Assaraf and other great authors are HUGE because they help tons of people. Why am I any different? It is a time to play a BIG GAME.
Tags: act on dreams, actions, Advanced Course of Landmark Education, big dreams, book authors, books, change, communication, dreams, Eckhart Tolle, education, Failing Forward, how to start over, how to write a book, inspiration, involving, John C. Maxwell, Landmark education, life, mind, new opportunities, past, personal, photos, pictures, post and photos by Ineta McParland, reflections, self-confidence, self-improvement, starting over, The Power of Now, thinking, thoughts, wisdom, wonderocity, world, world a better place, worldly terms, writing, writings
Posted by ineta on Nov 8, 2010 in
change The only constant is change. Yet we resist change with all our might. We afraid of it like a bad case of flu. We fight it, we deny the reality, we put the blinds on the change.
What if instead of resisting, we embrace change. What if we would accept what is happening with us? What is resistance anyway?
Resistance is a being afraid. It is filled with darkness, fears, anger, victim-hood and unhappiness. Resistance is looking back to the past, to the familiar and known. It locks us up in the box within our past experiences. There is no freedom in it. It only allows us to see what we already know, a known comfort. It prevents our growth and learning.
Acceptance, on other hand, is a first step towards the change. It is intermediary. Acceptance lets us to go on, gives us an opportunity to glimpse in our future, the first steps to take. It opens us to the whole new world of possibilities. Acceptance comes from the place of love, lightness and courage. It is feeling of the present. It is like an open canvas. It is up to us to fill it with colors we want.
What if we’d go about the day or week accepting everything in our life? It might be a struggle at first. If resistance creeps in, lets accept it, too. Let’s acknowledge it, and be present to it. Let’s see how it feels. It might be a knot in a stomach, a headache, sleeplessness. Now, let’s feel it, accept it and let it go. Letting go is like taking that huge stone out of our chest. We’ll feel so much lighter. Now, let’s see what is opening up to us? What colors we will use in our present and future? We are masters of our life.
Tags: acceptance, change, courage, embracing change, fear of change, fears, future, growth and learning, health, inspiration, life, masters of life, now, open canvas, opinion, past, personal, philosophy, photo, picture, present, random thoughts, reflections, resistance, thoughts, wonderocity
Posted by ineta on Jul 9, 2010 in
being positive,
starting over 
Everyday we are governed by our thoughts. Our thoughts project our reality. The thoughts transfer then into actions, whether we are aware of it or not.
First, where does our thinking come from? What it is based on? Why we think the way we think? Most of it consist of what we read, what we heard, what we learned. Most of our thoughts are based on our past, that is familiar to us. That’s why it is so hard to break away from mistakes we keep making. We fall into the same trap, being aware of it or not.
For example, why some women or men fall repeatedly into abusive relationships? Unconsciously, that’s familiar to them. They do not know any better. Why it is so hard to break bad habits? We think, we always done it that way – our mind keeps us hostage. Why we keep our job even though we hate it? – it is familiar. We justify that we got good insurance, great benefits, but each morning comes and we dread to go to work. Days become years, and we are stuck being unhappy. Some days are better than others, but deep inside we know we deserve better – yet we do not do anything about it.
We want to change so badly. We promise ourselves “some day,” yet we keep going like the mouse in the wheel, and we get nowhere.
So, how to get unstuck? How to re-condition our minds to go where we want to go, to achieve what we want to achieve? How to get away from the past?
How about if we keep our past just for a reference to keep the lessons we learned? That’s it. As for present and future, let’s step into unfamiliar zone as often as possible. What we think is what our reality is.
Another example: If we think we cannot find our eyeglasses, we will search everywhere, even though they’re in our hand. Now, if we concentrate in finding them, then we’ll find them instantly. The same is with life. If we think, we cannot do something, we’ll not even going to try it. Now, if we think we can do it, we might end up doing it better than we previously thought. We might surprise ourselves. We got to step into unfamiliar, do new things, think in different ways – to recondition our minds that we can do anything we desire.
If we are stuck in abusive relationship, first, we got to change our mentality that we are worth only the best, and either stand up for ourselves or leave, or both. In some instances, we might need help in that. No person should be ever abused.
If we want to break free from a bad habit, we got to imagine us to be healthy, successful, honest, etc., whatever it might be, opposite from a bad habit – and condition our minds to take action toward it.
If we hate our jobs, think of this, “Life is too short to be unhappy, ” and take actions to change it. We may need to save up for our new venture, or still work there until our hobby will take off to full time venture. However, with our goal in mind we can now tolerate our jobs because we know it is only temporary. Or, if we’re prepared, we can quit now, and go after our dreams now without waiting.
The key is to shift our minds and think positive. We got to keep our minds on the target goal and go for it even it is not familiar or we’re afraid. That’s where thinking positive comes in. When we think positive, we are not easily let down and we see end results and go for them no matter what. Sure, there might be things in the way, but with our shifted positive thinking, we can think outside the box and find solutions. It’s all in our minds whether we can or cannot do. Let’s choose, we can do it and act on it now.
Tags: abusive relationships, actions, bad habits, change, changing jobs, getting unstuck, How our minds create our reality, how to break bad habits, inspiration, life, past, personal, philosophy, photo, random thoughts, re-conditioning our minds, reflections, reletionships, thinking, thinking positive, thoughts, trap, wonderocity
Posted by ineta on May 27, 2010 in
being different,
self-confidence 
Think about it… How easily you’re influenced by others? Do you have your own say? Or you let others say things for you? Do you stand your ground? Or you think others know better?
Of course, some influence is great. We become better people because of it; we learn something from our heroes or people we admire. We become who we want to become.
There is also another type of influence that works quite opposite. If we do not have our say in anything, do not stand for our own beliefs, others will influence us any way they want to. They can shape us in any way and form if we allow them. We become who we really not.
How to tell a difference? How to resist unhealthy influence? How to stay who we truly are despite constant influence from others?
Here are the answers:
1) Follow your instincts;
2) Do not do anything that feels not right for you;
3) Have your own opinion;
4) Stand your ground;
5) Do not let others change who you are or your work that you stand for.
You are unique, and nobody is like you. Why change yourself or your work according other person’s expectations? If it is no longer you, do not do it, do not let others to influence you.
Tags: admired, being influenced, beliefs, change, constant influence, family, friends, heroes, influence, inspiration, instincts, life, opinion, people, personal, photo, picture, random thoughts, reflections, relationships, standing ground, thoughts, unhealthy influence, wonderocity
“The only regret we have is chances we did not take,” as saying goes.
This is so true. We go day by day routinely, doing things we usually do, and we feel so comfortable because it is so familiar. Sometimes, new opportunities present themselves, but we’re either blind to them, or we are afraid to take chances. So, we ignore them, and again we go day by day. Yet, we dream for more. Dreaming alone is not enough. Why is it so hard to take chances? The reasons probably are:
1) We think of everybody else first;
2) We think we are not worth it;
3) We think we are not good enough;
4) We are too shy;
5) We are too comfortable;
6) We are afraid of change.
What if we would be brave to take those chances, regardless? How we would feel? Most likely, powerful. We would make our dreams come true.
But, what if we took some chances and it did not work? Did we think it was a failure and we stopped trying? If it did not work at first time, we got to think of it as first step. First, we got to learn how to crawl before we can learn how to walk. Also, we should stop “trying.” We got to be “doing.” Trying will never work.
To be braver each day to take actions, I suggest to start “Taking Chances” journal. List each day how brave you were by taking new chances. It will take you out of comfort zone, but it will be worth it.
The keys are:
1) Who cares what others think
2) Always trust your instincts – your inner guide
3) You are good enough and so much worth it.
We are the ones who build our lives for ourselves. So, what are you going to take a chance on today?
For more inspiration, you can read about famous book rejections that with persistence turned out a HUGE success later:
Famous Book Rejections
Tags: being brave, being powerful, books, building life, change, doing, dream, familiar, inner guide, inspiration, instincts, journal, life, links, literature, new opportunities, opinion, out of comfort zone, people, personal, photo, post and photo by Ineta Mcparland, random thoughts, reflections, routine, self-confidence, self-esteem, taking chances, thoughts, wonderocity, writing, writings
