Smile More

Smiles are contagious. They can help you maintain a sunny disposition and also have the effect of making people respond to you in a positive rather than negative way.

We may forget to smile when we are in a hurry or at the end of the day when we are tired. It is hard to smile when we are sad, but when dealing with strangers and other people, a smile may help brighten the day and provide us a friendlier environment in which to communicate or work in. 

This is a best of post.

Time to Listen

This is a Best of Post - but well worth repeating!

Change is hard, listening may be even harder. When we are changing we may find ourselves having to find more time to listen. Listening takes energy.

Finding the right people to listen to is not easy. Missteps are usually found along this path. The best method for selecting good "listening" is to go with your intuition. Listening to a person who is soothing might be good, yet they can lull us into a stasis, state of complacency or even a paralysis of indecision. Listening to someone who causes us major anxiety may not be a good choice either. However, sometimes the individual's who causes us minor anxiety and inner turmoil are helping us develop new thoughts, thinking patterns and helping us change.

Listen to learn, listen to grow. Change will come.

Who do you plan on listening to?

Starting Something New

It is not always easy starting something new. This comes about as I am actively telling myself that phrase, "it's not always easy to start something new". I am doing this about three times an hour, while I work at understanding a new email marketing newsletter program. I know I need to make some positive self talk phrases instead. So that would be the fifth strategy when working on something new.

1. Work in scheduled bursts
2. Take planned breaks 
3. Incorporate more humor into your schedule
4. Make sure you get some regular physical exercise
5. Use positive self talk - Avoid negative self talk

Do you have some strategies to make starting something new easier?

Beneath the Surface - Growing Ideas

There are times when we may think nothing is happening. We are living a fallow life - in our rut, a big one. Yet, beneath the surface, we are germinating new thoughts, coming up with ideas, learning helpful skills and processes that will soon raise up and come forth in a new concept.

Here are some visual concepts to get you thinking:

• A coffee maker percolating, after a short while it will be ready.
• A bud unfurling on a tree in springtime.
• Underneath the ground a seed is breaking out of it's coat ready to grow.
• The dying embers of something else that will soon become a new steady flame.

What's happening beneath your surface?

Being Positive in a Negative World

It is hard to stay positive when we are filled with negativity. Recently I've noticed more negative conversations around the world's water coolers. How can we remain or become positive?

Choose Positive Media and Messages
Avoid watching too much daily television news. Look instead at situational comedies. Seek out positive television shows or series. Stop watching so much television and read an uplifting book instead.

Smile more
Individuals who smile are more likely to be received in a positive light. In others words, we get what we give.

Be Positive where you can
Say thank you, your welcome and really mean it . Work on your inflections.

Appreciate and Play with your Pets
Pet's are great stress relievers. Spend some time watching or hanging out with them.


Realize you can't necessarily change the world but you can change yourself and your attitude.

Revisiting The Challenge of Change

Change is hard, change is never easy. The only thing constant of course is CHANGE.

Charles Kettering who was an American electrical engineer and manufacturer in the late 1900's said "The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress".

Goethe, the German poet and dramatist said "Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for change".

Given the insight of the ages, it is helpful to understand the steps involved in change. First step is problem recognition. Sometimes problems just arrive and hit us on the head. Other times, a nagging feeling gives us a sense of things to come.

The second thing to do when examining change is to identify the causes. What exactly caused this? Sometimes the cause is simple, other times a complex series of events created the change. The third step is going through the change. Change, when possible, is most often most comfortable when we implement it ourselves. Often case this is not what happens. Change happens then we change. Finally we need to evaluate the changes we have undertaken.

Change is a laboratory for self and organizational growth. Although we may fear it, it is best to embrace it and learn from it. Change is hard, change takes work but in the end we grow.

I originally wrote this article in the late 1990's and then posted this article on my Transition Your Life blog in October of 2007. Somethings are worth revisiting and contemplating for new lessons, insights and thoughts.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Sometimes we need a mantra to get us through the day. The slogan Keep Calm and Carry On was developed at the start of World War II.

You can find out more about the poster and it's history from the British bookstore that found it in a dusty box of books purchased at an auction.