Finishing Well

Hello World Changers,

After watching the tennis last night, Federer vs. Nadal and then watching the American Super Bowl 43 today I am reminded about how important it is to finish well.  We are not remembered for how we start things but how we finish them.  Growing up, one of the lessons that I had to keep learning was to become a good finisher.  I remember one of my former employers once telling me that how I finish one thing will determine how I start the next and that will carry on.  That really hit me hard because at times I had not been a very good finisher.  The implications of not finishing something and that affecting how I started the next really impacted me and I could look back and see how that was very true.  Because of my personality I love to start things and hate to finish them, I know this about myself and try my hardest each time no matter how much I want to quit to finish well.  How are you at finishing?

Louis L'Amour
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.

David Lloyd George
There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks.

Richard Bach
Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isn't.

Joseph Joubert
Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.

John Wooden
It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

Everything is Spiritual

Hello World Changers,

It’s Friday in the great nation of Australia! I was struck with a thought last night in a meeting with some close friends of mine. The idea that everything is spiritual. In our western thought process we tend to break things up into spiritual and not spiritual. For instance going to church or going on a bush walk could be considered spiritual, on the other hand some of our daily task like working, driving, or doing the dishes are not usually classified as spiritual. As humans we all have a sense that there is more going on than what we see with our natural eyes. Everything is spiritual.

Albert Einstein:
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

David Steindl-Rast:
Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being.

Denis Waitley:
Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.

Ralph Waldo Emerson:
We as for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.

Change Perceptions

Hello World Changers,

Many a times in our lives, we are limiting our experience with others or limiting their experience with us. We must remember that we create the reality of our interactions according to the perception we have about others. Perceptions are necessary in order to define those that we know in relation to us. But when they have changed or we have changed but our perception of them or the relationship doesn’t change, then we are limiting things between us to be the way they are. We must refresh perceptions.

Allow yourself to change your perception of others as they change. Expect them to change or have changed instead of expecting them to be the same as they were before. This frees up the relationship for growth and transformation rather than causing the same old problems to keep reoccurring. When others change and we still see them the way they were before, we prevent ourselves from perceiving the changes and therefore do not experience them. We wonder why they never change when they actually did.

Have a blessed day!

Anne Frank:
In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.

John Ruskin:
All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the pathetic fallacy.

Demosthenes:
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

Things Change

Hello World Changers,

Sorry it’s been awhile since my last email. We were on holiday last week and had a fabulous time in the little hotspot of Yarrawonga. Two weeks ago I sent an email talking about how we were expecting our second child. Well last week Tara went to the doctor and took some blood test, there were some complications and we lost the baby. Tara is doing much better now and the Doctor said that 1 in 5 pregnancies end in a miscarriage. So we will wait a month and then ‘give it another go’, as they say here in the land down under. Thanks for all the calls and emails, keep us in your prayers as we try for another one next month.

Thomas a Kempis:
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

Pearl S. Buck:
Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.

Control Your Emotions

Good Morning World Changers!

How many of us let our emotions get the better of us? Below are some great steps in taking control of your emotions.

1. Recognize that you have the right to have whatever feelings—and any emotion—you want to have. But you also have the right (and responsibility) to select and use thoughts that benefit and enrich your life, and those around you.

2. Re-think your attitudes about your circumstances—change your thoughts—and you will significantly change your feelings and emotions (at least enough to positively affect your daily life).

3. Increase your awareness of and look out for moments when you feel an irrational thought or attitude coming on. Recognize and identify that emotion, then ask yourself, “Where’s the proof in that?" or “What evidence do I have that validates this feeling?" Then use all of the knowledge, tools, and evidence at your disposal, and your best judgment to behave appropriately – to do otherwise cheats you.

4. Choose the right time and the right place to express your emotion. Controlling your emotions doesn't mean ignoring them. It means you recognize them and act on them when you deem it appropriate, not randomly and uncontrollably.

5. Cultivate mindfulness

Have a blessed weekend!

Helpful Tips

Good Morning World Changers!

I hope everyone’s year is off to a good start. I have read several books and heard several people talk about this idea so I wanted to lay it before you and get your thoughts on it. It’s simple, it’s about controlling your time instead of others controlling it for you. As you organize your day and make your priorities look at what needs to be done, set aside a time to check emails and phone messages. I am so guilty of this, I have my outlook set to show when a new email comes in and I jump to check it. And what is it about our culture that expects that we must answer our mobile phone when someone calls? Try implementing this for a week and see how you go.

Another helpful thing to try as well is to not check personal emails until you have your first break at work. I can’t tell you how many times my day has been thrown off because I received emails and read them before I was even awake.

Stephen Covey:
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Peter Drucker:
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.