A way of Life
This morning I came across a quick design I did for fun last year. Thought I would share for fun being I have yet to give my definition of Live Life :: Love Life as I promised last month.
This morning I came across a quick design I did for fun last year. Thought I would share for fun being I have yet to give my definition of Live Life :: Love Life as I promised last month.
Two simple statements… Live Life.. and Love Life.
I will be divulging my passion for these words in an upcoming post. But first I want to hear what power and emotion you may put behind these words.
Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts however brief or in depth they may be. Im curious and excited to hear what you have to say!! 🙂
Be!
What an amazing word! At a glance this small word may appear to be an insignificant combination of the second and fifth letter in our english alphabet, but combined these letters bare a world of meaningfulness, an intense source of significance even. Believe it or not, but this word has kept me up at night. This word excites me and gives me strength moving forward. Imagine that… out of all the letter combinations running through my mind throughout the day, these two simple letters can at times hold more weight then any other word in my mind. Coupled with other words, these two letters can move mountains.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” ~Mahatma Gandhi
According to thefreedictionary.com the dominant definition of the word be is:
Put simply to be is to live! This is how writers like William Shakespeare are able to put such weight on this simple word, like in the famous line from his playHamlet:
“To be, or not to be” ~William Shakespeare’s Hamlet Act3 Scene1
So why am I putting so much emphasis on this one word you may ask. Well to know me, you must know that I choose the words that I focus on very carefully. I choose words and thoughts that will move me forward to my current goals and ultimately towards the best version of myself, and this word in my mind give me ownership over my abilities, actions and my direction. The constant use of this word means to set the solid foundation and expectations of what my life consists of, and to settle for anything less would be unacceptable. To be is to not just be alive; but to live life to its fullest, and to love the life we’ve been blessed with. To accept anything less than this best version of myself, is to fall short of Being me!
I always get so excited around this time of year. I am filled with such gratitude as I reflect on the year that has just passed! Its like looking at a beautiful painting with such awe inspiring contrast. Every year has its deep deep shadows and its nearly exploding highlights. Each year has its own blistering vibrance and tack sharp detail that can evoke such a wide gammit of emotions! With running a business of my own its almost like being able to observe the beauty of two perfectly imperfect masterpieces that I have created in the most recent of 365 days.
With that being said, this time of year is also the time to reflect and take note of the years “failures” and successes. And over the last few months I have been doing just that, addressing the highs and lows of my personal business and life, and tweeking my plans and strategies going into 2012. With my planning I have come across 10 keys that I will be using to ensure the New Year will be raising the bar in a big way, not only in my business but in the businesses in which I assist as well.
If your an Entreprenuer or Business owner of sorts I think these tips and strategies will help you make a big bang in 2012 as well.
Alright I know this one is a bit obvious, but you would be suprised at how many people fail to set Real Measurable Goals that actually have a chance at being obtained. Most everyone sets goals going into the New Year, but most are so vague that they are often lost by the end of January.
2. Socialize
3. Network
4. Plan Ahead
5. Bring value to those around you
6. Embrace New Ideas and Trends
7. Stay on top of your Health
8. Create your success
9. Challenge yourself
10. Live Life and Love Life
I hope this helps as you move into the New Year.
Happy New Year
~Nick Mayo
Isn’t it funny how some of the best inspiration can come from the most peculiar places. You could be in the drive through or waiting in line at the market and all of a sudden that award winning “ah-ha” moment hits you like a 17′ U-Haul truck. You pick your self up off the ground and check the seat of your pants making sure they weren’t soiled in the act of this spontaneous moment of genius. When Inspiration hits, it hits hard and its a beautiful thing.
As human beings we love meaningful conversation! This is a truth I think we can all agree upon. I, personally, strive to surround myself with a peer group that will indulge this sweet tooth, and when this occurs I light up like a Christmas tree! One of my favorite topics to discuss is, the way we perceive the world and the occurrences that we come upon each and every day. Life is full of ups and downs, but its how we choose to respond thats the key to our happiness and fulfillment.
Im known for being an extremely positive individual. Its who I am, and I’ve often told people I can find the gift in just about any situation that is presented. With this being said, I must explain that I don’t just ignore the negatives that we all encounter through this journey we know as life. To dismiss these encounters is to only experience a portion of life, because it is only when we embrace negativity and adversity and overcome it that we can move forward towards our goals, dreams and ultimately the best-version-of-ourselves. The keyword however is embrace, not empower or dwell upon.
“Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power” ~Shirley MacLaine
This has been a reoccurring subject lately, specifically in two very powerful conversations with two very good friends of mine. The first was with a friend and client of mine Kris Mathis (KrisMathis.com) an outstanding speaker and author out of my hometown of Grand Rapids Michigan. The other was with my pastor, mentor and dear friend Trent Booth (LifeWalk Church). This topic of conversation is a common occurrence throughout my circle of friends and influence, but what I found to be interesting was the subject of the book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne that was brought up in both conversations. If your unfamiliar with the book its discusses the idea of the “Law of Attraction”, being if you think about anything hard enough and picture it happening it will happen to you.
Before I dive into the thoughts of my recent discussions, realize I do believe this book brings up some valid points, however I also feel it is one sided. And although I don’t entirely agree with all the view points stated throughout the book I do believe in the idea of your thoughts largely impacting your life, and the idea of choosing what you think about wisely, which I’ve discussed in recent blog posts.
Going back to my conversations this last week, the topic that was brought up was the idea of adversity and negativity and how we react to it. This is one of the issues we had with the book, is the fact that its focused on nothing but the positive, and if we just think positive thoughts we can have anything we want as if we found some genii to grant our every wish. The positives are great, and you should absolutely put emphasis on them, but as I stated above, to dismiss any negativity or adversity would be ignorance. Any goal or dream worth having is going to have adversity along the way. The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacle! To just sit in front of such adversity and pretend it doesn’t exist would never get you towards your goal. And this is one of the main reasons why people fail to hit their dreams, is because of resources like “The Secret” sugar coating the truth and not allowing people to realize that there are going to be obstacles along the way. In fact we are shaped with this sort of thought process from the time we were young kids. Its true you can be anything you want to be, but what we leave out is that it takes perseverance to accomplish their dreams. Its as if we feel we will scare kids out of their dreams, so rather than empowering them with the tools they need to encounter these hurtles we provide the “yellow brick road” version.
“Adversity tests us from time to time and it is inevitable that this testing continues during life” ~Walter Annenberg
I agree that we should focus on the positives, but thats not to say we refuse to shine light on the negatives as well. We need resources that will send the message that adversity will show up at different levels along our journey. And even more important than that is when it does show up that we don’t try to ignore it or sweep it under the rug, but instead we embrace it with open arms, knowing that its all part of the process. The reality is we need the adversity, it makes the dream worth having. It molds us into the persons we need to be to accomplish the goals we set out to hit. It allows us to stand at the finish line and look back knowing it wasn’t easy, and thats what made it worth it.
“A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity until he has tasted adversity” ~Rosalind Russell
Live Life :: Love Life
~Nick
So I admit I’ve been slacking severely in my blogging lately. I could try and blame it on being busy in other areas of my life, and that “I just haven’t had the time to write”. But the truth of the matter is I’ve been lazy… not much more I can say than that. Its as my pastor often says “You have time for what you make time for”. This is very true in all areas of our life, think about how often we try and sell our friends, family, colleagues and even ourselves at times, that we are to busy to do this or that. Many times we push tasks or events to the side that are an integral part of our life, tasks that if done would help us feel more fulfilled and lead us to the Best-version-of-ourselves, but instead we fill this time with useless wastes of time and “filth” like Facebook and tv.