by Elisabet | Jul 20, 2010 | English Blog
You have a choice. Now, today, tomorrow and all the days to follow.
A choice of
- how to spend the day
- how to feel
- how to think
- how to approach and treat other people
- how your day will be
- how you will act
- how you will react
- how you will do generally
- how others will percieve you
- AND PRETTY MUCH EVERYHING ELSE
Your’re not a victim.
Not of the weather.
Not of other people.
Not of circumstances around you.
You choose. Take that control over your life. And then you can choose the quality of life that you desire. As a result your situation is not in the hands of other people or circumstances.
Don’t give your power away. Lead yourself. Live without regrets or accusations. Take responsibility for your situation. Choose joy and gratitude.
All we have is here and now after all. And it’s only really the here and now that we can take control over.
As Viktor Frankl (Austrian psychiatrist, concentration camp survivor and author of “Man’s search for meaning”) so wisely said:
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.”
So make your choice. Are you ready? Will you choose a good or a bad day?
It’s your choice, nobody else’s. You choose the quality of all aspects of your life. Pretty cool, hey!
by Elisabet | May 3, 2010 | English Blog
Oh, I know, it’s the classic question! A little tired and a bit of a cliché, you may think. But oh, so relevant.
One of the greatest traits of a good leader is being optimistic, which in my view is even better than being positive, because OPTIMISTIC contains the ingredient of HOPE. With optimism you see possibilities, you recognise what you have, you find solutions. And when you see the glass as half full, you are encouraged to go on, you feel stronger, you know that nothing is impossible (it might just take longer!).
So let that glass be at least half full. Or make a real statement – make it full!
by Elisabet | Apr 29, 2010 | English Blog
What is your definition of success?
There are probably as many definitions as there are people on this earth. Success is often expressed as material things, possessions, promotions, appointments, money etc. But it can also be something completely different…
How about peace of mind, sleeping well at night, having good relationships with other people, having a purpose, achieving something, being appreciated?
Whatever your definition is…..make sure you have one!
How could you be successful otherwise? You may actually cheat yourself out of a lot of success, because if you have never defined what success meant to you – you didn’t see it, even though it was staring you straight in the face!
So go on, choose success by making up your mind about what SUCCESS MEANS TO YOU. Only you can decide, you have that power.
And instantly you increase your chances of success. Because now you all of a sudden have something to work with, towards. Define some goals, decide on actions that will take you to your goals.
And be happy about your success – because it is there if you just choose to see it.
by Elisabet | Apr 27, 2010 | English Blog
My adventure in South East Europe is over. There was a solution – of course.
After five days in Istanbul, we travelled by coach to Vienna, staying in Sofia on the way. And I was lucky to spend time with a great group of people who kept spirits high and made the most of the situation – most inspiring.
And then finally, from Vienna I was able to fly home. I don’t think it’s ever felt so good to get home!
I don’t take things for granted, or at least I try not to. Because “normality” (everything that you have and that happens on a regular basis) we tend to take for granted. It’s human nature, we all do it.
And when you don’t have it for a while, when you don’t know when or how you will get home, you appreciate it all the more.
So I’m making a note of what I am thankful for – my husband, my children, my family and friends, my health, my home, my garden (even though it needs a lot of work!) – yes, all the obvious things. But also little things like my bed, making my Nespresso in the morning, my Birkenstock, my walk to the station to get to work, cooking dinner, reading the morning paper, and much more.
And I am reminded of how much I have to be thankful and happy for. And how it SO outweighs any problems, concerns and worries.
What are you thankful for? And how can reminding yourself of this make you create the kind of day and future you want to have?
We create what we focus on – where are you putting your focus today?
by Elisabet | Mar 1, 2010 | English Blog
Every single person on this earth has their unique lens that they see the world through. It’s like we have our very own glasses that create our reality. And that reality can’t really be fully understood by anyone else. Just like we can’t understand anybody else’s.
Sure, we may think that we are empathetic and able to put ourselves in others’ shoes. But to be honest, we can never really understand – because our glasses are always there in the way.
What creates our lens, our glasses? Well, our upbringing, our culture, our beliefs, our parents and so on. Not even siblings (who may have had a lot in common) see the world the same way as each other. Even they have different glasses.
We are exposed to several million pieces of sensory data per second but only register about 7 of them! How can I know if I’ve registered the “right” 7 – well, I can’t of course. And consider how unlikely it is that someone else has registered the same 7 pieces of data.
Imagine how different everything must look to people based on what sensory input they’ve registered. It’s an absolute miracle that we can communicate with each other at all.
If we are truly going to be able to communicate and lead a relatively harmonious life on this earth – across cultural, national, religious and idealogical boundaries – then we need to realise that there are very few things are “right or wrong”.
If I can keep a flexible mindset, be open to the possibility of being wrong, not having all the answers, that everything changes at such a speed that we can’t take anything for granted…..
Then I think we can be humble enough to say – “you know what, I don’t fully understand your situation, but I accept you just the same, it’s OK, it’s OK to be different”.
