Lebron James And Our Consumer Society

Ok. I have to write about this Lebron James fiasco. As the world goes to complete shit, approximately 20 million human lemmings tuned in to see what his relocation decision was. Even people in my home town of Montreal who probably have never watched a full basketball game were blabbering about it, like they knew the guy personally and he was over for a drink and cigar the other night. Maybe we need an escape from out dreary fucked up lives, I dunno.

Lebron has already began to sell his new personal brand  with companies like Microsoft pushing Bing on the public and people dying to buy his sweater. What pure materialism idiocy.

In the end we will turn on the television and bask in Lebron James stupefying play and 30 gazillion dollar contract.   Then we will go back to beating the shit out of our kids and kicking the dog until Lebron comes back to pacify us.   All hail the American culture!

Have You Been Creating Memorable Stories With Your Life?

Lately I love writing about creating memories.  The quality of your life is dependent on how you remember it. The quality of your life is a collection of stories interwoven together from a lifetime of memories. When you talk about the stories of your life are you feeling happy or content? Do your stories create sparks of joy? How about when you talk to yourself about your stories? Are you proud about your stories?

Sure you can stand around the water cooler on a Monday morning and talk about the BBQ or recommend what novel you are reading. But what about the stories that make your heart skip? What about the stories that tested your courage?

A friend of mine once gave me a plane ticket to fly to three cities in Europe. I landed in Zurich and was also allowed to fly to Sweden and Finland as well. It was a fabulous gift. I decided to include side trips to Italy and Estonia. A week before leaving, I took out my Let’s Go Europe book, highlighted a few choice youth hostels and took off. When I think back to that experience I’m amazed that in three weeks time I walked, took trains, ferries and flew to some incredible places.

I got lost in Italy at 1: AM searching for my youth hostel, shared my cigarettes with a Russian bus driver (I was the only customer) in Finland, and shared tea in Helsinki with a British art critique and an American improving lives of orphans in Russia. In Sweden I stayed on a 200 foot sailboat and went to a lingerie fashion show (poor me). My courage was tested a few times during that trip, but the memories will last a lifetime.

Staying in and experiencing the present moment is an amazing habit to find peace and even joy, but ultimately the overall quality of our life is governed by our memories and stories . This is your remembered self.

How do you remember yourself? Are you making life changes so that you think back upon your life with happiness and pleasure? What stores stand out in your memory? Are your glued to the Internet and television while the world passes you by?

Maybe it’s time to make new memories, and create a few new stories. There is a whole wide world to explore.

Reference:  Daniel Kahneman - TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

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

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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A Simple Life Change That Will Help You Live Longer And Happier

Do you feel tired and cranky in the morning? Are you easily irritated? Did you get enough sleep?

The other day I was driving along the bridge and a car changed lanes, unexpectedly cutting me off. No signal and they looked like they OWNED the road. Then it happened again. I cursed out loud and felt my teeth mashing together. I pulled up alongside the driver and had thoughts of stopping, pulling down the window and punching the person in the face. As I pulled up alongside I caught the person happily singing to herself completely oblivious to the traffic and her dangerous driving. I then calmed down, laughed to myself and shrugged my shoulders. Talk about clueless.

Normally I’m a very calm driver, I listen to audio books on my iPhone and watch the world pleasantly roll by. So why did I become enraged? Lack of sleep. When you don’t sleep well it’s easy to get irritated. Your mind feels heavy and your body sluggish. It becomes harder to concentrate and the world just doesn’t seem as calm as when you sleep well. It doesn’t take much to send your brain into a sudden rant and rave.

One of the biggest life changes you can make is to get a decent night’s sleep. Sleep rejuvenates the immune, skeletal, nervous and muscular systems. You wake up refreshed and ready to get on with the day. Decisions are made easier with a calmer and rejuvenated mind. According to Wikipedia and a large scale study on sleep, people who live the longest reported on 6 -7 hours of sleep a night. A pretty simple life change and one you can begin to make today!

Are you getting enough sleep? Let’s make that life change today!

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Here Is A Quick Way To Let Go of Stress

With today’s technological advances that keep information flying at us and a constant barrage of advertising, it’s no wonder we have total information over load. The much hyped iPad came out this weekend and I wonder how many people truly need one - probably not that many.

We also tend to get easily lost in the details of life, from what clothes to wear, traffic, dealing with dozens of issues at work and what to make for dinner. So what can we do to bring us back down to earth?

Personally, I like the idea that we live on blue planet (or a ball of dirt if you like), twirling around in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trillions of stars. And we get to be a part of that! So look up at the sky once in a while and think about it. It makes everything seem trivial or at least easier to deal with. Does it really matter if that person honked at you, or what type of car you are driving? Not really.

You get to be a part of this amazing experience of, spinning around on a planet in space. Everything else compared to that falls short. I dare you to tell me otherwise. I dare you.

Life can be truly amazing.

Related Posts:

3 Proven Ways You Can Radically Change Your Life

Meditation

Happiness and Awareness

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An Amazing Yet Simple Life Changing Lesson

I’ve taken a bit of a break from writing (for health reasons) but am back in the saddle (but writing from bed, so no real saddle), and would love to share a major life changing method. This method will now be the cornerstone for me (hopefully for you) and a perfect addition to the website tools. Ready?

Use a 6 x 4 Note card to break or create a new habit or goal

Once you have defined your goals using the tracker, choose one goal and write it down on an index card.

Writing your goal down on an index card and carrying it with you at all times creates a solid awareness of the change you want to make. This awareness of your goal will be strongly reinforced if you pull out the card many times during the day. Make yourself pay attention to your goal. It will remind you of how important the goal is to you. The statement on the card may be as simple as these examples.

• Get more exercise and be physically fit.
• Stop smoking, feel better and save money
• Be more loving

Getting more exercise doesn’t just mean just joining a gym. It means taking a walk. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Walking the dog. Riding the bike. The note card should be pulled out whenever you have the urge to fall back into a bad habit or routine.

Being more loving can apply to family members or the cashier at grocery store. Pull that note out and you are suddenly aware that you can be a more loving person. Who knows, it may even help you find love!

Once the behavior is now a habit, you just throw the note card away (or keep it for sentimental reasons).

So you don’t need an iPhone to make a major change. All you need is to take your time defining your goals and then a simple index card to create a steady awareness of that goal or habit.

I can’t think of a better method and it works great for me!

Related Posts:

How To Quit A Bad Habit Using An Index Card

How To Overcome Addiction

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Get Rid Of Passive Barriers To Live Your Dream Life

I opened up my credit card bill recently and grimly realized that a payment to a caterer was on it. My original intention was to pay this portion cash a few months ago. But passive barriers crept into my mind and hijacked my common sense and discipline. What are passive barriers? They are those self destructive thoughts that make us delay both minor and important decisions. I’ll get to it later. It won’t make a big difference in my life. I’m too tired to do this. It’s too complicated. I’ll get rejected. The sad part is that some people let passive barrier thinking affect their whole life.

What are some important decisions that people put off? I should get a health check up. I really should invest in the company savings plan. I will pay off my credit cards this year. I’ll phone that family member tomorrow. I’ll lose ten pounds by the end of next month.

So why do we put these things off? In most cases we try to change too many bad habits at once, which will usually lead to nothing changed. It’s much easier to focus on one area of our life instead of five. This way we create a constant awareness of a life change instead of just giving it a second thought. The other is the classic instant gratification feeling as opposed to a long term investment. We may have fun spending on our credit cards or eating those French fries right now. But in the future we may find ourselves with no savings and horribly overweight with a heart condition.

The choice is yours. Be honest with your passive barriers and address them one by one towards a future of contentment and joy. Or have fun now and pay dearly later. I have to go pay my credit card bill now. Sheesh.

Related Posts

How To Overcome Addiction

How To Break A Bad Habit

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How To Quit A Habit Using An Index Card

I quit smoking by writing all the negative things that smoking brought to my life on a 5 x 3 index card. I then carried that card with me for many months. I took it out many times to remind me of all the terrible things that smoking brought to me and the people that I love. It was not a negative card towards me, it just simply stated the facts of how smoking was affecting my life.

I remember being in the washroom at work once and pulling out the card to again remind myself of why I had stopped smoking. Some days I pulled that card out 20 times. The interesting thing about carrying a card is that it made me pay attention to what was important to me. Whenever I felt tempted to smoke I felt the card in my pocket and was reminded of its presence.

A 5 x 3 index card can help us make many important decisions when making life changes. When I found myself having a beer and craving a cigarette, without the card I could have easily succumbed to smoking again. With the card I made a conscious decision to distract myself with a stir stick, chewing gum, or even munching on a toothpick. Again, the card made me pay attention. So whether you want to lose weight, save  money, make new friends or even find love, write it down on a card and look at that card frequently throughout the day. It will make you pay attention. Don’t beat yourself up on that card. Focus on one aspect of your life at a time. This technique has helped many people, I hope it is a life changer for you.

Related posts

How To Overcome Addiction

How To Break a Bad Habit

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