Are you building something new?

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Dan Millman

I might change the wording of this slightly. “The secret of “LIFE” is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

All too often, we get bogged down by the old ways or, even worse, complacency takes hold, and we forget how exciting it is to learn and grow.  

I prefer to think of life as being similar to compound interest. Every experience, every learning, every mistake, it all contributes to becoming a more robust and fulfilled version of yourself. If we miss an opportunity, we miss it forever, as well as the compounded growth that could have stacked on top.

Every day is an opportunity to build something new. Even if it is only a slight improvement over yesterday, it is still an improvement. Creating a life focused on building the new you choose to create a life of exponential compound growth.    

What are you going to build on tomorrow?

The monkey mind…

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”

Dan Millman

The “monkey mind” can be an insidious being living inside of our brains. The real question becomes how much time and attention we give to that portion of our selves, versus a more rational and reasonable self.

How exactly do you take control of your mind when the monkey inside your head is running away with it? You can pause, breathe and think and simply take stock of what is actually going on, not what is going on in your mind. I have found this practice, when I do my part, to be incredibly powerful in shutting down the monkey mind.

So the next time you are overwhelmed by the narrative that you have created in your head, simply ask yourself you have taken the necessary time to pause and evaluate the circumstances. Have you given yourself time to breathe and allow yourself to have the space to think? If no, then do so and shut that darn monkey up forever!

Change is an investment opportunity…

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Dan Millman

Change can be tough.  There will be uncertainty and the unknown lurking just over the horizon. Staying the same is always the easier choice, though it is only very rarely more beneficial.  Every great discovery and adventure story starts with, as it’s basic premise, uncertainty, the unknown, great risk and only the potential for reward.  Frodo Baggins certainly defied all Hobbit traits by setting out on his great adventure.  It would have been much easier for him to stay home, bury his head in the sand like an ostrich and ignore the burning world around him.  But that isn’t the choice that he made, and if you are as much of a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic as I am you know how that turned out…  

Building something new takes energy, but it is an investment in new experiences that creates the person you were born to become.  We all have a FINITE amount of energy to spend.  Do you invest it in the future or spend it trying to hang on to the past?  For example, think of how much money has been spent by people trying to look younger than they are.  Money well spent fighting the perception of the aged or would it be money better spent embracing new life experiences or helping others? That’s a very personal choice, but it represents the choices we make when we are fighting to stay the same instead of investing in becoming a new and better self.  

What investments are you going to make today?

 

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dusty

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