Inspiraelevation

formula: Action

July 20th, 2015
True failure is impossible.

Everyone will experience something that looks like a failure at some time in their life.

If not watched those failures can gradually become associated with feelings of fear.

Having an emotional experience following failure is inevitable.

” Everything that happens in your life affects you emotionally in some way. Everything that affects you makes you happy or sad, motivated or unmotivated, loving or angry, fearful or confident. Nothing is neutral” (Tracy)

However, It becomes essential that the emotional response is temporary and does not develop into full-fledged fear.

Fear of failure impedes desire and thus, slows progress

One of the primary ways to ensure that fear grows is to constantly dwell on that failure. Constant processing or replaying of these events send cues to the brain reminding one of the pain and hurt. Those connected memories trigger one to shield against the reoccurrence of the same injury. Essentially, the mind works to protect the person from possibly failing again. In actuality, the mind is producing a state of stasis.

This is antithetical to what one needs to succeed

Don’t be discouraged about feeling some type of way about a failure. It is not abnormal for one to desire to protect oneself from pain, as it is a natural inclination.

However, this is an inclination one must try to fight when dealing with trying something new and challenging, especially when the feelings of fear are attached to past failures. In one’s caution, paranoia can set in and thus increase the likelihood of repeating past mistakes.

That is the power of the mind

The truth is that there is no way outcome, in lieu of past events, be predicted with 100% accuracy. For this to happen, that would require an environmental reference point that is exact in all factors both externally and internally. But, the world is always evolving as are you. No two situations are ever the same, and there will never be an outcome that can be precisely replicated.

There will always be changes that can be made to effect a different outcome

Even the smallest change can change the outcome.

How to take Action?
1. Avoid Negative thoughts
Negative thoughts that feed feelings of failure further work to impede one’s progress

One must be in a position to separate him or herself from the thoughts of past mistakes to gain a more objective outlook.

2. Develop possibility-thinking.

Adopt an I can attitude to look beyond the pain that connects with past failure.

View the pain as a necessary part of growth.

3. It takes work

We are programmed to believe that an individual should avoid pain at all cost.

We are taught to think that pain is negative.

However, the athlete knows that he or she must tear down muscles before it can be strengthened.

The athlete learns this through practice, as practice and repetitive results bring about learned behavior.

No pain no gain.

Once one can disconnect the experience from pain, one can look at the past failure to learn from mistakes.

A victory energizes and stimulates action. Victories awaken warm and positive feelings that bring about euphoria through the release of endorphins, and this moves people to want to feel more of the same.

Positivism is a catalyst.

Formula Action:

Recreate the energy cycle that fed past success or that is sure is to fuel new successes.

Invest in positivity, motivational videos, webinars on success, books on succeeding.

Positivity increases energy stores empowers one to work toward committed changed

Get motivated and work!

It is the motivated person who gets back up goes back out there and becomes successful.
The most fertile soil

July 18th, 2015

The mind is the most fertile soil.

One seed yields an abundant crop of some ten, twenty, thirty percent, or more.

You must take extra care of your garden.

Every day, every hour, every minute, and every second we are planting and watering.

Roots take hold quickly.

Before you know it you have a field

Errant thoughts give yield to a field of weeds; stifling, strong, and wild.

Rich, directed thoughts yield to fields of flowers; aromatic, pleasant, vibrant, and pleasing.

“An action is the perfection and publication of thought.”(Emerson P. 34)

Repeated action becomes habit until soldered in iron, difficult to break.

“Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts. Habits are also weakened or broken, and contrary habits are formed by the repetition of contrary acts.”

― Mortimer J. Adler

Ingrained habits signify the presence of roots that dig deep with little release.

“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
― Samuel Johnson

Many of the things we learned, were developed without our permission.

“Learning means that you take inputs from your environment and encode them into your long-term memory.” (University of Michigan)

Behavioral patterns are the result of mere observances; materials taken in through our five senses.

“Because your brain uses information about sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, and movement in an organized way, you assign meaning to your sensory experiences, and you know how to respond and behave accordingly. For most of us, sensory integration occurs without conscious thought or effort.” – Family Education

Every time you sit down to watch a movie, listen to a song, partake in a conversation, or read a book you are planting seeds.

What goes in will come out.

You cannot unsee what you have seen.

You cannot un-hear what you have heard

Once thought is planted expect a harvest of some kind

The thing is,

We never quite know when it will come time to reap the harvest.

Vigilance is crucial.

“An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.”
― Criss Jami

Your input has to have an outlet

“Reality is a projection of your thoughts or the things you habitually think about. Your entire life and everything in it is a result of your belief system coupled with your thoughts. The feelings and emotions you have, cement this in your mind, and the illusion of all of this combined is what you see as your reality on a moment-to-moment and day-to-day basis.”
― Stephen Richards, Your Wishes Fulfilled: Volume 1: Theory

You can replace negative thoughts or projections with positive ones.

“A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.”
― Desiderius Erasmus

For the one who has not learned to master self completely, or has become overrun by an errant thought, the tongue will always be his or her downfall.

An individual will never be able to control output in the event of system overload when human tolerance has reached its boiling point.

Before one ever reaches the point of no return one can work diligently to prevent such responses.

He or she must commit to weeding the garden on a daily basis.

Work diligently to pull the seed up by the root.

Weeding the garden is no easy task.

It takes a lot of time.

One thing is sure, soil cannot prune itself

You must handle the upkeep

Emerson, Ralph. Nature. Boston: Archive Classics,1986. Print.

Adler, Mortimer. Habits are formed by repetition of particular acts. (n.d). Retrieved from

http://izquotes.com/quote/323106

Desiderius Erasmus quote. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iwise.com/ykS3t

What is Sensory Integration. Family education.com (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://school.familyeducation.com/sensory-integration/parenting/56288.html

Quotes about manifesting our deepest desires. (n.d). Retrieved from

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/manifesting-our-deepest-desires.

University of Michigan. (2014). How do you Learn? Web. https://www.lsa.umich.edu/advising/academicsupport/strategiesforsuccess/howdoyoulearn
Uncovering the secrets of luck

July 16th, 2015

Four leaf clovers, horseshoes, rabbit’s foot, and charms are objects that people attach significance to as dispensers of good.

Good that happens by happenstance with no contributing force other than the possession of said item.

They are what most define as lucky or determinants of luck.

Here’s the real deal

98% of achievement is due to dedicated focus and 2% to a contribution of other factors such as place, position, promotion, and connects.

Place, position, promotion, and connects give rise to opportunities.

Dedicated focus and hard work prepare you.

The difference

Chance is merely an opportunity.

Chance is usually the result of favor or effort.

One either finds him or herself in an opportunistic position or a non-opportunistic position.

You must recognize an opportunity when you see it.

One can either create his or her opportunities (chances) or deal with whatever befalls his or her lot.

You hold the cards it is up to you how you play them or if you choose to keep them.

Luck is the cloak of preparation.

It may appear random, but it is the result of prior efforts.
Thus, luck is, being given the chance (opportunity), because of place, position, promotion, and connects to use your hard work.

Achievement ultimately results when preparation, driven by perspiration, meets opportunity

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Chance is not the same as luck.

It may seem as if certain people have all the opportunities.

The fact that only certain people have all the possibilities is only partially correct.

They have found favor because they are in the right place at the right time, they know someone, or they know how to promote themselves positively.

Thus, they are given chance after chance or have created a string of chances to prove themselves.

It may seem as if certain people have all the success

There are underlying factors which many never see.

That is the result of preparation.

The opportunity may arise for you to become great.

It will be your groundwork that will propel success after success.

None of this results from the possession of a rabbit’s foot, four-leaf clover, horseshoe, or charm.

If you have not managed to find favor or seem unlucky in your pursuits, it may be due to lack of opportunity.

Perhaps, you have not been given a chance, you are not in the right place, you don’t know the right people, or you don’t know how to promote yourself.

You can change that.

Maybe, you lack preparation.

Maybe, you are not prepared to take the chance when it comes knocking at your door.

Thus, you are unlucky or rather time is unfavorable to you.

You can change also change this.

You can increase your favor (luck)

Increase your preparation.

increase your opportunities, (go to the right places, learn to promote yourself, meet new people)

If you are not in a place where you shine or have others to help you shine, you must create opportunities for you to shine.

It may not come immediately.

Given enough time it will.

Once given the opportunity to shine; shine.

If you fail to shine, and you are sure you have adequately prepared, now that you got your foot in the door don’t give up.

Create more and more opportunities and take the one’s you are given.

If you are prepared, increase your favor, and increase your opportunities ultimately you will be successful or as many may coin it (lucky)
Temptation

July 14th, 2015
Temptation, as defined by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, is a “strong desire”

It is inescapable to all.

Temptation is what is commonly referred to as the beckoning of forbidden fruit.

It is a siren whose gentle song invites one to yield.

The call of such speedily hastens many to their demise.

” He never more returns, that his wife and little children may stand at his side rejoicing, but the sirens beguile him with their clear-toned song, as they sit in a meadow, and about them is a great heap of bones of moldering men…” – Colavito

Vice’s grip is firm.

It is only the wise and the awakened that can withstand.

Withstanding Temptation
1. One must first have the desire to withstand
“No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in and make no effort to escape from. ”
― George Eliot,

2. Secondarily, one must be knowledgeable of his or her vices, and how to best avoid them.

It is knowledge, which cements our resolve and determination.

Knowing how to do something makes it is that much easier to act.

Temptation is not an external force but an internal one.

“if you are tempted, then, know that you tempted yourself.” (Allen p. 100)

“The things that tempt us do not come from external persuasions…they originate from our very own hearts. They’re conceived there, entertained by our thoughts and then acted upon. Our hearts need daily scrubbings and consistent discipline to battle against its baleful wishes. Knowing and shedding light upon our heart’s darkness with honest accountability is a good first step towards an untainted ticker!” ~Jason Versey.

It is a root growing in an untended garden. Without proper attention, those roots strangle the good produce.

If it is internal how does it get there?

Temptation springs from an unfiltered flow of information, unchecked patterns of thinking, and errant behaviors, which gives way to unrestrained lust and desires.

Lao-Tze said it best.

Our minds are the resting place for our thoughts.

We become our best selves when we guard our minds.

In the mind lies the fertile soil where ideas are given root. Certain ideas, derived from unprincipled sources, that burrow into our subconscious mind, can eventually poison action.

Letting just any old idea (seedlings) rest in one’s minds without properly checking it, or filtering it, can eventually lend to its growth a full-blown ideology. That ideology in turns become a measure by which action is taken. Thus, the field of the mind which was once a beautiful garden becomes full of full-grown weeds

These weeds choke out the rational mind once fed. This is what leads to vulnerability to temptation.

In a state of starvation and neglect is when cravings reach their apex. These ideas induce cravings that are profound and powerful, urging us to satisfy the cravings. The idea that particular stimuli, product, person, or thing will satisfy or meet a need has a way of burrowing itself deep within the subconscious of our minds.

“…. What you don’t know about won’t tempt you.” ― Margaret Atwood

Example

You hear an ad stating a particular product will make you beautiful. The media enhances this by showing you that other beautiful and desirable people (celebrities) use this product.

The seed of beauty by enhancement has been placed into your mind. Your mind has received the message that beautification comes as a result of external enhancement. Your mind begins to make connections. You begin to ponder whether beauty and higher self-esteem are indeed predicated on external enhancement.

Continuing to permit the influx of such stimuli unfiltered and unchecked results in a strengthening of this idea. This is creating a desire in you. The desire to try products to enhance your beauty grows. The more you become bombarded by these stimuli the greater the cravings grow and the deeper the idea becomes rooted.

Remember, most are tempted at their weakest point.

It is likely on the day that you don’t feel your prettiest that your mind will attempt to conjure up a solution to your current malady in order to return your body to a normal healthy state (homeostasis).

Thus the axiom, what is in you will come out.

All of those seedlings which have taken root, been watered, and grown will bring forth their fruit.

It is very likely that you will feel compelled to invest in an external agent for beauty enhancement, especially when you are in reach of it.

At this point, the only way to combat the temptation is to flee until you can restore rationality. If you are too weak, you will succumb because there is nothing within to resist the craving (weakness).

Okay so how do I overcome this?

In overcoming temptation, You can only act on what you know.\

The strength of the roots will determine the strength of one’s resolve.

“We can become victorious over all temptation by releasing those ideas from our hearts and minds, for as we purify our heart, temptation ceases. When an idea has been released from the heart, the object that formerly appealed to it can no longer do so but instead lies there powerless with nothing left in us that responds to it.” (Allen, p.100)

The yielding to temptation is a symptom of an uncontrolled mental state.

Through separation from your source.

Through lack of due diligence of your heart and mind.

Through lack of self-care and attentiveness to those things that defile consciousness and goodness.

It is the result of planting seeds of avarice, lust, hatred, or malice, and indulgence and giving these seeds nourishment that they may take root.

“These ideas may lie dormant for a long time, and we may think we’ve gotten rid of them, when suddenly, in the presence of a person or object, the craving wakes up and demands immediate gratification. This is the mental state we call temptation.” (Allen p.99)

IT profit none to remove the rosebud once it is in full bloom, one must rather extract the root.

“A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; while the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of lust, but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps un-searched out, they make but little or no progress in this work of mortification.”
― John Owen,

Once the Root is Removed then what?

Guard your mind

Guard your heart

Be careful little ear what you hear

Be careful little eyes what you see

It is what goes in a man, that fills him up until it overflows

“Like a drop of ink in water, the urge rushed to the surface and then slowly spread out and thinned until I was made slightly darker by it.”
― Brielle A. Marino, THE LAST EVE

It is what comes out that defiles.

“Temptation, with all its dark torments, can be overcome here and now. But finding oneself in the dark can only be remedied by turning on the light of wisdom and fully understanding the source, nature, and meaning of temptation. Only then can it finally be dissolved and our souls rest from their long travail. For the truly enlightened soul is proof against all temptation; as long as ignorance remains, no amount of praying, candle lighting, or other kinds of spiritual observances will bring peace. “- James Allen

Allen, James. As We Think So We Are. New York. Atria Books.

Colavito, Jason. 2014. The Sirens. http://www.argonauts-book.com/the-sirens.html
Don’t forget the corners

July 13th, 2015

Maintenance is important

All things require maintenance and upkeep.

Such improves health and longevity.

The car owner knows that a car has to go through periodic maintenance to ensure that it stays in pristine condition.

The homeowner knows that upkeep is important to maintaining a beautiful residence and getting the greatest value out of their investment.

Yearly, people set aside a time for periods of intensive cleaning to ensure that the unreachable places as well as those hidden from plain sight; the corners, nooks, ceilings, windows, and gutters are free of dirt and grime.

People are urged to be just as vigilant about the upkeep of their bodies.

It is recommended that individuals take yearly trips to the physician to ensure that the body is operating at peak performance

Every structure must be cleansed within and without in order that it continues to run and operate optimally.

There is typically, a great deal of focus on the external as it what is seen.

First impressions leave lasting impressions.

Not only must the external be properly maintained but also the internal (the unseen)

If grime is permitted to accumulate in the corners

rot and ruin will begin to spread

It is easy to take care of the surface as it is what we see.

One easily notices when there are mars, disorder, or cracks.

However, all the attentiveness to the surface and none to the internal, often permits cobwebs to accumulate in the corners.

Dust collects on the windows.

Gutters become clogged.

We cannot allow the cobwebs to stay, dust to accumulate .

The longer such things stay, the greater the buildup

the harder it is to clean

We must focus on keeping the windows (eyes) of the soul clear.

We must focus on clearing our minds, reaching into the very corners.

We must cleanse our hearts

We must make sure each corner and crevice is clean,and free of debris

Even the smallest speck can make the whole unclean.