167 – June 16
“A three-year-old is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.”—Bill Vaughn
Children always seem to be excited about something. They have an abundance of energy and enthusiasm, looking forward to the opportunity for fun. Their lives are filled with what I heard speaker Dave Grant thirty years ago call “I can hardly waits!” “I can hardly wait until Saturday and the baseball game,” “I can hardly wait until my birthday party next week,” “I can hardly wait until school’s out,” “I can hardly wait until Christmas.” Their eyes sparkle, they grin, they vibrate with the vision of the fun they’re going to have.
Adults, meanwhile, have “I can hardly stand its.” “I can hardly stand how commercial Christmas has gotten,” “I can hardly stand the traffic on the freeway,” “I can hardly stand the taxes I have to pay,” “I can hardly stand my boss, mother-in-law, co-worker, spouse….” Some people can be relied upon to complain the moment you see them. I call them the “Ain’t It Awful People.” You don’t dare ask how they’re doing—they’ll tell you. “Oh, I’m so tired, I’m working so hard…,” “I just lost a lot of money in the stock market…,” “My doctor says I have to have tests for this chronic pain….” They immediately put a damper on every conversation. It takes a lot of energy to remain centered in a positive, happy frame of mind when you’re with them.
Stop that! No complaints! Find something to look forward to with joy and focus on that. Schedule a day off, a vacation, or a party to put fun in your life. Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Make up your mind to be happy. Plan events to look forward to. My friend Barbara, who “can hardly wait” until her vacation each year said the worst thing about it is coming back because then she doesn’t have it to look forward to anymore. Excited anticipation is a blissful state of being, and she loves imagining the fun she’s going to have. So the first thing she does when she gets home is call her travel agent and get more brochures so she can pick out her next vacation!
What are the “I can hardly waits” you’re looking forward to? Make a list, then pick one to be especially excited about today. Say, “I can hardly wait until ____” three times, jumping up and down and laughing! (If this feels silly to you, watch out! You’re in danger of getting old. Not mature. Not grown-up. Old.)
Today’s Affirmation:
“I can hardly wait until _____________!”
Poker cruise – Allure of the Seas at dock
A wonderful coach and Facebook friend, Therese Skelly, once posed this question:
“How do you know what you know? Is it easy for you to claim expert status and what have you done to really anchor in your knowledge?”
Paul Zelizer responded: “One of the ways I tap into the full power of my knowledge is through relationship. For instance, social media allows me to be in touch with some of the smartest conscious business people o the planet. Listening and participating to these kinds of conversations on a daily basis has rocketed my confidence in terms of being an ‘expert’.”
Mary Cravets said “I usually stumble upon what I know by accident! I’ll be sharing with clients, and when they say ‘How do you DO that?’ and I I can think is that it’s easy…that’s how I get the ‘a-ha’ realization moment!”
I answered that I have started calling myself a “financial intuitive”. I don’t even know where my expertise comes from anymore, I just trust that it does. So much of what I do is beyond just adding dollars and sense (pun intended) but accessing intuitively where people are blocked in relationship to prosperity in all things, not just financially. Yes, I owned a bookkeeping service with 13 employees for 12 years, and yes, I’ve taught my Financial Stress Reduction Workshops for over 20 years, and that time invested in working with my subject matter is invaluable. But more than that, putting in all that time means that I’ve had many opportunities to listen, learn, and trust myself to help people, and collect evidence that I have. That experience has helped me to reach a deeper level of my ability to serve, and I revel in it.
