Now You Can Find Peace Of Mind And Meaning

There is my inside me and my outside me. Sometimes they seem to conflict horribly. It’s such a pain. My inside me is striving for a life of meaning and purpose, contentment and existential challenges. My outside me is paying bills, buying a new car and renovating the house. It seems lately that my outside me is controlling my inside me. I’m talking about being on a stress and consumer treadmill.

Sometimes I would love to give this all up and live simply in some country, pondering life, meditating, setting up a small foundation, walking the beach and discovering more wisdom and raison d’être.

What is stopping me? There will be no perfect time. I will just have to walk off the cliff one day and take a leap of faith.

An excellent start would be to start meditating again. Meditating helped me clear my mind, find my breath and increase a wonderful sense of inner peace. I was becoming good at living in the moment and appreciating the little things in life.

It’s a small step that has huge benefits. So the inside me is hopping off the stress and consumer treadmill I’ve found lately.

The other day I went for a mid afternoon stroll with one of the dogs in the small forest nearby. It was absolutely beautiful. The smell of earth and trees assailed my senses and it reminded me of those wonderful carefree summers as a kid. The sunlight splashed against vibrant and luminous green leaves. Small forest creatures darted amongst the plants and trees. I was perfectly in the moment throughout the entire walk. My inside me and outside me were in unspoiled harmony.

It’s too easy to fall out of good habits.

I want more of peace of mind and Mother Nature. Screw the treadmill.

Don’t you?

How An Index Card Can Change Your Life

I’ve carried around a 4 x 2 inch index card with the words “Are you being more loving today”, for a few months. By doing so and looking at it many times during the day, I’m creating a constant awareness of this new habit. Most goals or new habits fail because we start off incredibly enthusiastic at first but then fall back into the safety and security of old habits.

My values of peace, joy and even love are being reinforced by this index card. I’m less judgmental, feel more empathy and smile in public more often. When I am waiting in line I do not curse under my breath or demand my change back from a cashier with an outstretched hand and a frown on my face. I approach with a smile, a joke and open heart, and in turn I usually receive a smile back.

By having the words “Are you being more loving today”, carried in my wallet I am becoming more loving in all aspects of my life. I’m calmer and more peaceful in public, at work and with family. I am becoming more of an extrovert and feeling greater compassion.

This technique of writing down a goal or habit on an index card works for anything. Whether you wish to exercise, make new friends, lose weight, stop smoking or feel more joy. It keeps a strong awareness of what you truly wish to change at all times. If you want to exercise more it isn’t always about going to a fancy gym, it may be taking stairs or riding your bike to pick up a DVD. Reading the card reinforces the habit!

I hope you can use My Life Changes as a way to discover your purpose, values and goals in life. Now pick a goal and keep it on you at all times. Look at it many times daily. After a while it will become a part of you and the card can be tossed away. Get rid of those old habits. I dare you to try it, I’m sure you will be amazed.

Reference: The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die

If We Are Only Willing To Take A Few Risks

I left an aerospace company after being there 21 years. It would have been easy to stay and play it safe. But I had made a promise to myself that I would not retire from this company. I could not bear picturing myself receiving a gold watch, a few pats on the back and a polite shove out the door.

I had been part of a major SAP IT project for 18 months at this company during my final days. Prior to this I had been a buyer/planner for quite a few years. As the project wound down I asked if a promotion was in the works upon my return to the business. Meanwhile I also had a job interview at IBM ; however a co-worker (who treated people like crap and I despised) got that job.

After hearing, “no” about any sort of promotion - I quit.

Being no dummy, I also received a substantial severance package and a few weeks later I was at another company honing my IT skills. After a couple of more years there I landed a job at a pharmaceutical company and began yet another career change.

I’m not sure what prompted me to take these risks. Maybe it was my job interview at IBM. Perhaps it was because I had always embraced technology. Almost certainly my willingness to learn and a gutsy attitude had a part in it. I also desired to be part of a dynamic and growing business.

Are you playing it safe? Do you embrace change? Do you embrace technology?

Let me know, I’m curious.

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My Life Changes Update!

Dear Readers

Just wanted to let you all know that we have made a few changes to make life easier for you.

• At the bottom of each post is a section called related posts. These related blog posts contain great additional information related to the subject matter and I’m sure you’ll find them very interesting.

• We have made it easier to tweet posts at the bottom of each article. Just click on the Tweet box! It would be greatly appreciated!

• We have numbered the Topics to make it easier for you  to find articles of interest on a given subject.

• I’ll be giving away a fantastic free E-book on motivational tips soon!  Stay tuned!

I hope you have found My Life Changes a useful and inspirational site to make lasting changes to your life. At the very least I hope it has made you think and reflect on the path you wish to follow towards more meaning and purpose in your life.

Please send me any questions, suggestions or comments, I’ll be very happy to answer them.

Best Always

Terry

terry@mylifechanges.com

Founder

www.mylifechanges.com

Do You Know Your Deeply Held Values?

One of the best tools in My Life Changes is the ability to define your core personal values. Across the world, people share universal values such as honesty, compassion, loyalty, love, passion, courage and peace. Your personal values reveal what matters most to you in life. They are qualities that you admire in others and hope you live life by. As you define your core personal values you find personal motivation in them. Your values are a foundation to your life’s meaning and purpose.

Most value driven companies are the most successful in the world. Apple values innovation above almost all else, and this has led them to be the number one IT company in the world. So why aren’t you defining your own values? With clear values we make choices that lead us to behave from personal integrity and strength rather than blind emotion or societies shallow influences. If you truly seek meaning and purpose in life begin to define your personal values. My Life Changes provides the best tool on the web for this.

Please take some time to read this post by Donald Miller a terrific author who talks about defining values.

How to Discover Your Core Values and Why it Matters

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How My iPhone Makes Me Very Happy

I grew up playing pong as a kid. For those of you have no clue what pong is, it is electronic ping pong. It was two paddles and a ball bouncing off the sides of the screen. It was a life changing event. As the electronic blip of a ball would come close to my paddle, my heart would pound and with a deft flick of my wrist I would send it shooting back toward my opponent. Sometimes I would even scream or curse and my friends would cheer wildly. If I won 5 games in a row they would carry me around the house on their shoulders. Ok, that part is not true. Unfortunately, the real ping pong table grew sad and lonely downstairs. Mom would fold her clothes on it.

That was one of my first introductions into the exciting life changing world of technology. Now I have an iPhone attached to my hip and I can re-enact WWII in its entirety during my lunch hour. I also have a ping pong game on it. It looks exactly like a real ping pong table and paddles (the paddles float eerily in the air). It is creepy. But a fun creepy.

Never mind about games. Let me tell how my iPhone really makes me happy.

I listen to self development Audiobooks every morning during my drive to work. I use an accessory to plug my iPhone into the cassette deck and charge it through my lighter. The sound quality is much better than using one of those FM transmitters. Now I avoid the infuriating babble of morning radio Disc Jockeys and listen to something life changing like Pema Chodron –Don’t Bite The Hook.

Listening to audio books makes commercials on the radio disappear. No more nasty loud mouth commercials trying to convince me to buy lottery tickets, MacDonald’s or Britney Spears tickets.

Listening to a good Audiobook like- The Five Secrets Before You Die makes me calm and peaceful in traffic. When a gargantuan SUV blindly cuts me off I concentrate on the words gently flowing out of my speakers instead of tailgating the SUV across town and punching the driver in the head.

Listening to audio books makes a rainy day sunny. Ok that is complete bullshit but I thought it sounded neat when I wrote it.

There are many great uses for an iPhone but this one is my favourite. It helps me stay calm, learn and begin the day on a positive footing.

How do you love your iPhone?

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An Amazing Yet SImple Life Changing Method.