Want It Done Right Journal 2Q 2009

Feature Article • Delegation Dr Daily Dose • Corner Crack-up • Want It Done Right Products & Services

Each Journal I have invited readers to share a story, ask questions, write an article or provide an idea for an article. Thank you to Mary J. Lore who seized the opportunity to write an article for this edition!

How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World?

"We are what we think. All that we are arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world."

These are the first words of the Dhammapada, the sayings of the Buddha. For centuries, people from many different faiths, traditions and philosophies have devoted their lives to achieving the potential of the Buddha's words. It is as if, collectively, humanity for all these centuries has been saying, "Wouldn't it be great if I could empower my thoughts to create the reality I want?" It's almost too much to hope for, as though we could somehow, suddenly, attain magical powers, thereby bestowing upon ourselves and our loved ones, complete peace and happiness and accomplish whatever we choose.

Perhaps the idea is not at all that farfetched. We can become aware of our thoughts. We can master our thoughts. And we can empower our thoughts to be on purpose, to achieve what is significant and of value for each of us.

Everything we say, do, and create first begins in thought. We first have ideas, then desires, intentions, goals, plans and strategies—all thoughts—until finally we take action and say, do, or physically manifest something. How do your thoughts rule your world? How do your thoughts rule your life, relationships, career, organization and family?

Are your thoughts producing positive results, or are they preventing you from growing fully into your potential? Do your thoughts inspire you, or are they plagued with self-doubt, fear, and worry? Are your thoughts causing you to feel happy and peaceful, or are they causing you to feel stressed and victimized? Do your thoughts result in a life of joy and perfect health, or do they result in a life of pain and suffering? Do your thoughts cause you to live your life the way you want to live it, or do your thoughts paralyze you, undermine your intentions, or sabotage your efforts? Do your thoughts serve you? Or are you helplessly at their mercy?

Most of us would not imagine that in one moment, we can actually change the course of our lives, our families, and our organizations through our thoughts. When we practice being aware of our thoughts, without blame or judgment, we have the ability to discover what we truly want and how to achieve it. We have the ability to choose thoughts that move us in the direction of our purpose—working for us and not against us, releasing our destructive thoughts that waste time, energy and money, to reshape our circumstances, achieve significant results and create the life we intend.

We achieve significant results when we focus on the moment. There is no such thing as the future. The future is an illusion. What we do have is a NOW followed by a NOW followed by a series of NOW moments.

We do not suddenly become bankrupt. We have a series of bankrupt NOW moments. We do not suddenly become a great leader, a great parent, or healthy. We have a series of great leader, great parent or healthy NOW moments. It’s the same with accomplishing a goal or fulfilling a resolution. This remains true with achieving a great attitude, being thankful, changing our beliefs, and creating powerful intentions. Being at peace, happy, or true to our selves doesn’t suddenly happen. It happens when we have achieved a critical mass of these NOW moments. It is when we have experienced enough of these moments that goals are accomplished, bad habits are broken, and resolutions are fulfilled.

So at the end of the week when we take stock of how we did, it doesn’t matter that we didn’t exercise five times. It does matter that we exercised once. That is a NOW moment to be recognized and celebrated. It doesn’t matter that we smoked or ate bad foods; however, it does matter that we had moments of awareness of our choices and that we had moments of making one or more healthy choices. It’s the slow gradual changes that are lasting. What if we made just one small change each week? It is these very small NOW changes that add up to big changes over the year. It is these NOW changes that lead to significant transformation.

We achieve results by focusing on the moment. The results we achieve—bad, good, or significant—depend on what we choose to focus on in each moment. We choose to be aware of our thoughts--our feelings, attitudes, emotions, beliefs, passion and purpose—because these are what drive our actions and behavior. When we do so in a wondrous way, without blame or judgment, we develop our ability to get in touch with our higher awareness and devise creative ways to fulfill our goals, intentions, and resolutions—and ultimately actions—that serve our purpose and, in so doing, bring us peace and inspire us.

We become inspired when we are in a state of joy and gratitude and in a state of vision and possibility. In these states, we are in tune with our higher awareness and in touch with our creativity. It is when we are inspired that we achieve significant results. It is when we are inspired that we transform and live the life we imagine.

About Mary J. Lore: Mary is the author of the award-winning book and audio book, Managing Thought: How do Your Thoughts Rule Your World? She is also the founder and CEO of Managing Thought LLC, which helps individuals and organizations develop self-awareness and change the way they think and conduct business to attain long-lasting success. Mary has devoted thirty years to serving as a CPA, senior executive, entrepreneur, and mentor to corporate leaders. Mary is certified in Gardening Fine Arts, as well as the practice of Dao-In, an ancient Chinese yoga practice. She enjoys camping, hiking, cooking, singing, traveling, and enjoying the company of family and friends. She currently resides in Michigan. You can visit Mary at http://www.managingthought.com

Corner Crack-up

Physics Teacher: "Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. Isn't that wonderful?"

Student: "Yes sir, if he had been sitting in class looking at books like us, he wouldn't have discovered anything."

Delegation Doctor’s Daily Dose

The “power of positive thinking” has not been thought of very positively in recent years. It seems to have somehow morphed into a Pollyanna perspective which has given it a bad rap. Positive thinking is often construed of as pretending nothing bad ever happens or as turning the other cheek on our pains, frustrations and fears. But positive thinking wasn’t meant to connote denial. It’s not the denial of bad things happening to us or a denial of our feelings about these things; it’s the reframing of these events that highlights positive thinking.

Thomas Edison is a great example of this kind of thinking. His son, Charles Edison, tells us in his article, “The Electric Thomas Edison,” Great Lives, Great Deeds, New York: Readers Digest Association, 1964, pp. 200-05*, how his father refused to be discouraged. By December, 1914, Thomas Edison had spent ten years on unfruitful experiments on the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery and was heading toward financial destitution. One freezing night in December, 1914, a cry of “Fire!” echoed through his plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film and other goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived but the heat was so intense and the water pressure was so low that any attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. All of his assets went up in smoke. He was 67. How do you think Thomas Edison reacted? How would you react?

As the story goes, young Edison couldn’t find his father for awhile and was concerned for his safety and well-being. After all, 67 was no age to start over. Then he saw his father running toward the plant yelling, “Go and get your mother and her friends. They won’t see anything like this again!” After the fire was finally extinguished his father called all the employees together and gave orders for the complete rebuilding of the plant. Within months an even larger and more efficient facility than the original was completed.

Thomas Edison invented the Telescribe (a combination of the telephone and dictating phonograph that allowed simultaneous recordings of both sides of a telephone conversation) within three weeks of his plant burning down. In total he had 1093 patents including the microphone, telephone, telegraph, x-rays and so on. His contagious optimism affected everyone around him. He saw the opportunity in the disastrous fire of 1914 to “burn up” mistakes and start afresh. Thomas Edison could be the poster child for the power of positive thinking.

Perhaps positive thinking should be renamed “power thinking” since this is what it captures: our power. It helps us reclaim our power instead of allowing ourselves to be victims of what goes on in our lives. Instead of bemoaning our fate, we could do what Thomas Edison did: look at what opportunity the event presents to us. It was his ability to see potential through the flames; to not be deterred, that gave him the power to be so creative and productive. How many of us could honestly say we would react the way he did?

The old saying may hold here: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Isn’t it true that we learn a great deal more from the painful and disruptive events in our lives? We don’t learn when everything’s hunky dory. It’s when we’re in the pits that we learn the stuff we’re made of. These are the times that test our mettle; that give us a chance to be more than we are the rest of the time. We have the chance to step up, to be the ready student —or not. If we’re focused on the bad things happening to us, we’re not giving ourselves a chance to be all that we can be in that moment. We miss the opportunity to grow, to stretch a bit further than we’ve stretched before. This stretching builds our characters and makes us better human beings. But how do we do all that noble stuff if we’re too busy complaining and feeling victimized?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there aren’t tragic occurrences in our lives. We’ve all had them. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be human or vulnerable. What I am saying is that our response to what goes on in our lives is the only area where we truly have control and therein lies our power. Epictetus said, “Men are disturbed not by things but by the view which they take of them.” It’s our judgments about ourselves, others and events that labels them good or bad. Ripping our old labels off our traumas, tragedies and trials (and the people involved with them) and applying new labels is what can turn these events from bad to good. Only we have the power to create this transformation, just as Thomas Edison did when everything he owned and worked for went up in a puff of smoke.

So if the notion of positive thinking leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, chew on “power thinking” for awhile. You may enjoy the new flavor as well as the spice it adds to your life.

If you have read the book or attended a presentation or training and would like to comment,

please share your delegation story.

*Special thanks to Tim Rolen, New Hope Church, Clovis, CA for his contributions to this edition of the Want It Done Right Journal.