Consistent Trust

The center of our solar system, what our earth orbits, and the driving force of our climate, the sun has played a role in every life that has lived since the dawn of time. Every morning you can expect the sun to be there, it’s reliable. The sun has a similar attribute to relational communication; connections are gained by trust and trust is gained and maintained through reliability.

It’s very easy to understand what trust is. It’s easy because we can refer to those with whom we’ve trusted and those we haven’t. We’re able to understand trust because we know the feeling trust brings. Trust within a relationship is easily obtained when consistency is part of the affiliation. For the mother or father, the preparation of dinner instills a trust that food will be provided every night to the children. For the employee, the consistent, daily arrival provides a level of trust to the employer. For the friend, a deep, lasting relationship is formed when they’re there every time things get tough.

Consistency is an integral part in building trust within a social setting. Those with whom you’re unable to be consistent around will be less likely to follow or engage because of their lack of trust in you. They will have every right to doubt further actions from you. Consistency fosters reliability. As with the sun’s consistency, your reliability will forge stronger associations and build greater communication portals.

Your body reacts to consistency too; the effects of changing sleep patterns or altering your diet will drastically change your body’s composition and ability. The sun, your body, and every interpersonal relationship must be reliable to function within its atmosphere properly. These systems may only be reliable if founded on consistency.

To gain trust and increase your communication collateral you must be reliable, in part by being consistent.

The Seed

A small seed can one day grow into something larger, something that can sustain life and provide nourishment. A collection of seeds can end poverty and unleash nutrients to starving nations. All of this from small, seemingly inconsequential little specks.

When a seed is planted in the ground it takes on attributes of its environment. Natural law allows the seed to gather needed nutrients from soil, water and the sun. This magnificent miracle is obtained by a collection of elements working together naturally to produce their greatest purpose. The seed’s purpose is to reproduce itself by growth. The little seed, if given opportunity can produce as intended. Some factors are paramount in the seed’s performance. We’re going to call our little seed Mr. McGillicuddy.

First, Mr. McGillicuddy must fall on fertile ground. He must have a home where he’ll be protected from predatory elements. The ground has much to do with Mr. McGillicuddy’s future. If he were to fall onto poor soil it would be difficult for him to live up to his little seed potential, difficult but not impossible. The better the soil, or environment, the better the probability for his growth.

Second, our tiny little Mr. McGillicuddy must receive water and sunlight. Little man-seed McGillicuddy needs to have outward influence that encourages growth. Dark places not receiving sunlight will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for our little seed-friend to grow. The area where McGillicuddy takes up residence must have a source of water. The water gives him the power to grow; it encourages him by pumping him with the soil’s valuable nutrients and provides him with much of his composition. Without the steady nourishment the water brings, Mr. Migillicuddy would never stand a chance to plump up and support the growth.

These simple factors produce monumental results. When our shy, reserved, little Mr. McGillicuddy received a good home, and nutrient rich influences, he was able to live up to his purpose and potential. Mr. McGillicuddy, our small seemingly insignificant speck was able to take on his natural course in producing nutrient rich, life sustaining purpose. Through his growth he was also able to produce as he was intended to.

Apply the lesson of this small seed to yourself and live up to your purpose and potential. Each of us will take on attributes of our environment; unlike the seed we can choose our environment. Seek out elements and an environment that will help you produce your greatest purpose. Every outward influence, whether good or bad, will impact your growth and ability in reaching your ultimate potential.

Vision

Things get tough at times. We sometimes feel like tossing in the towel, just giving up. We may feel that everything is working against us. Either way we slice it, we just don’t want to deal with it anymore.

Some of these feelings of discouragement are rooted in selfishness. Not all of our discouraging feelings are calculated from a selfish act or desire. However, when we analyze troubled times going back in our history we will find that many of our feelings of discouragement were because we were thinking selfishly. When we had our own interests above that of another or when our plans were more important than those involved, our minds and hearts would not allow us to see clearly the feelings of those around us. We begin to react negatively and this further narrows our vision of assistance to those we care about. This is an act of selfishness.

To overcome troubling times there’s a phenomenal concept to increase joy, its service. Do something to lift the burden of someone near you. When you move toward helping another, your vision for those around you broadens and you begin to lift personal heartaches and depression. It has everything to do with your vision.

If the room you’re walking through is dark you could stub your toe if you’re not careful. You take extra precaution in movement and your focus is on obstacles that could be in your way. You have one objective: get to where you’re trying to go without bumping into anything and getting hurt. Think of service as turning the light on. Your senses will be better able to clearly see all obstacles around you. When you clearly see obstacles, navigation becomes easier. Learning to navigate toward happiness can be achieved when vision is increased, when you see more of the picture. When your vision increases you begin to see there maybe more than just you in the room.

You Are What You Eat

Computer voice: “To get a different output, change the input.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression: “you are what you eat.” That’s just weird on so many levels, given that this expression has some merit we’ll use it anyway. If you eat junk food, you’re not going to be healthy and if you eat a well balanced diet, you’re more likely to be healthy. We’ll use the if/then theory: If you eat healthy food you will then feel healthy. This concept of what you put in, you get out, will only help you better understand why you are the way you are.

If you’re angry most of the time it may be because of the music you listen to or television you watch. If you’re life is consumed by what others think of you, you may have been or are involved with a verbally abusive friend or family member. The truth is, just like with our diet, we must control what our senses take in. We need to be cautious of what enters our eyes and ears. Every single thing we see and hear has some type of impact in how we register our thoughts. Every positive and uplifting word we hear and image we see will help to build a healthier and more productive individual. Negative influence whether in print, in person, on screen, or through sound will cause a negative reaction and slowly breakdown your ability to remain mentally healthy.

Think about it, to me it puts all whole new meaning on the old expression: “You’re known by the company you keep!” It becomes imperative for everyone trying to be a little bit better to recognize their faults and their talents then try to link them back to the outward influence that helped create those attributes. I bet you’ll find it has much more influence than you’d thought. Now, the trick is to root out all those bad influences. It won’t be easy but you have a new advantage: you know exactly why you are the way you are.

Failure

As things change in this dynamic world we’re forced to adapt. Well, what I really mean is that we’re all failures, right? At least some of the time, we’re failing. This is actually good, be happy about it. Give yourself a pat on the back after you just blew it.

Failure: A Step Toward Success (slogan)

We need to understand that there's an important underlying feature to our slogan, and that is, drum roll please… you must learn from the failure. That failure or many like it will build in your pursuit of exactly where you needed to be. Think of one of our examples in modern history, that of Thomas Edison. He's known for the creation of the light bulb, a masterpiece of success. You know that thing that blinds you when you flip the switch in the bathroom at midnight and it gives you the universal “lemon in my mouth before getting punched” response. He’s quoted as saying: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." You've simply got to keep prospective about you. It's imperative that you keep your enthusiasm after a failure; your enthusiasm will propel you. Winston Churchill said: "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." Well put Winston.

Recognize that tomorrow will come whether you get out of bed or not. You have to keep your enthusiasm at the highest level you can, dust off, analyze, and go, go, go! Get up out of bed, rekindle what made you attempt a go in the beginning and then fail again if you have to. It's those who have failed and gotten back on the horse that have built empires and led revolutions. Are you a Revolutionary? When failure hits, and it will, remember that it's exactly what you needed to find success. Attempt, then learn and apply, repeat until you find exactly what you were looking for.

Change the Rules

If you're having trouble finding a solution you need to change the rules. Remember to go for the win; you need to adjust, refocus and move forward accomplishing. If you don't know what to do next, start doing until you figure it out. Move, be active. Doing nothing won't accomplish a move toward a solution.Get up, dust off and change the rules to work toward your solution.

Know When to Teach

My daughter recently received a toy, one which her brother also found very interesting. Her first reaction was excitement and she couldn’t help but have the desire to play with it immediately; all this while her younger, baby brother became restless also wanting to play with the toy. This was a good opportunity to teach sharing. Now, as you may already know this is a task that takes patience and skill. More importantly, the lesson to be conveyed has a deeper lesson, one for the teacher.

In trying to teach Leah about sharing with her brother I had to first get her attention off the toy. She was so wrapped up in her new discovery she was struggling to hear a word I was saying. At this point I could take several methods and put them to practice. Methods like explaining that her brother would lose interest very quickly and then she could get the toy back and feel good about sharing. Okay, that’s not working. I could bribe her with some kind of a treat. Nope. Maybe if I were to just take the toy away out of punishment. That would teach a lesson but would be far from effective, in fact that would damage the concept of why sharing is good. I’m sure there are many possibilities here but would any of them be right?

To answer the question on what would be the right attempt we would need to reflect back on Leah’s focus, it was on the toy and not me. I couldn’t get her attention; if I did it was brief and wouldn’t last. A powerful lesson can be taken from this example: knowing WHEN to teach. Leah had just received a toy that was hers and to force her to learn a lesson was simply not fair.

When someone isn’t fully involved in your lesson you must withdraw and revisit when they’re prepared. A successful tactic would have possibly been to take the attention off of the toy and onto something else. The timing wasn’t right to teach her the lesson of sharing and it was in everyone’s interest to move on.

Know when to teach and when to support. If you feel offended or angry you will inevitably fail in promoting your belief. I could have easily gotten angry at Leah’s desire to not share but it wouldn’t have done any good to anyone involved. Discern the situation and insure you are lending counsel at a time when counsel will be accepted as helpful and not harmful. Showing respect and affection will promote your cause; know when to teach and when to support.