Archive
What Is An Inner Circle?
Hear the teaching and see the presentation here: https://stme.in/KyEoGmrUS.
An inner circle is a group of very close friends that you look to for support. They come from all walks of life, and each has a specific skill set or set of talents that they bring to the table within your friendship. You, too, have this specific set of strengths that others admire. Within your inner circle of friends, you want to have a wide variety of personalities that will not accept mediocrity but will challenge you to be more than you are today. This is truly what an inner circle is all about.
You naturally gravitate towards those people you admire. It could be that someone has accomplished something you’d like to accomplish. Maybe you admire the level of success they’ve achieved within their personal, social, or business life. You may feel as if they are “higher up” than you, so you look up to them.
These are the people you want to make up your inner circle. Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” So you want those five people (five being a somewhat arbitrary number) to be people who are in a position in life that you’d like to be in as well.
People who have achieved a measure of success in life have learned myriad lessons from their experiences along the way. They have earned wisdom through those experiences. These lessons and wisdom are passed on in inner circles to those who are up-and-coming and need the support, direction, and guidance of someone who has already traveled the road.
If personal growth, ministry or business success is something you desire, surround yourself with people in your inner circle who are emotionally and spiritually at a level that you’d like to achieve. This may mean learning new and different spiritual teachings, or finally dealing with emotional baggage that’s been holding you back. While uncomfortable to deal with, imagine life without that baggage!
If business growth is your goal, search out mentors in the business world who are enjoying a level of success that you think is impossible for you to find. Then let the lessons from these people stretch your limits and help you grow to achieve your own business success. Keep an open mind, and tell your ego to take a vacation while you’re working to learn new lessons and open your mind to new possibilities.
Challenge Assignment:
How do you define Inner Circle? Why?
Forgiveness, Why Is It So Difficult? Part 2
Think of a time when you needed forgiveness for something you thoughtlessly did that hurt another person. How did you feel about how the other person reacted to the transgression? What would have made you understand the action you perpetrated better and help you see how hurtful it was?
Chances are, you reacted to the anger of the other person by making up excuses that it wasn’t really your fault. But, if that same person forgave you in a calm manner, it’s more likely you were better to see the error of your ways and sincerely apologize to the other person.
Resentment and anger can imprison you for the rest of your life and impede your ability to form other relationships. When you forgive (without condoning) you’ll be able to walk away from the prison and let go of the pain that had you locked in to negative feelings and thoughts.
Forgiveness isn’t something that suddenly washes over you when you least expect it. Instead, forgiveness is a process that must be worked through, beginning with a commitment to let nothing stand in your way.
Learn to forgive – be free!
15 More Power of Positive Thinking Quotes
- “Positive thinking” unaccompanied by action and effort is another term for “escapism”.
- “Don’t get upset with people or situations. Both are powerless without your reaction” – Unknown
- “The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” – Thomas Edison. (All great people have said this.)
- By all means use visualization to positively achieve goals – but be aware that fantasies can also “dull the will to succeed”.
- Those who truly know the meaning of positive thinking embrace failures as learning opportunities or challenges.
- Positive thinkers don’t criticize or look down on others. Nor do they waste time blaming others for their disappointments.
- Don’t just change your own way of thinking: Encourage others in your family to think positive thoughts and talk success too.
- Life doesn’t always allow us to be positive. But true positive thinkers return to that choice and practice as soon as they can.
- Insisting you practice positive thinking 100% of the time is to deny your feelings – and often deny the feelings of others.
- If you want to practice positive thinking, learn to embrace and think change.
- When you need to raise your energy to positive, meditate on a moment, image, song or person who fills you with joy.
- Keep a “Smile File” – photos of family, friends and even strangers whose smiles lift your spirits. Use it to stay positive.
- Pin positive affirmations, quotes and reminders in your work station – but do choose ones that really resonate with you.
- If you want to develop a positive attitude, stop complaining whenever you catch yourself doing so.
- If you truly want to embrace positive thinking, practice praising yourself for even small things you do right.
How To Develop A Motivated Mindset
From time to time, each of us will find ourselves in a rut of boredom and disinterest. We seem to lose our zest for life and feel tired, irritable and unmotivated. We want to hide under the covers rather than face the day. Perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed by work, or sad about the pain and suffering in the world, or just bored with the routine of your daily life.
You are not alone. We all go through periods like this at some point. The good news is that we can do something about it. Here are some tips to help break out of the rut and feel excited about life again:
1) Take a “Time Out” – Prolonged stress can wear us down and zap any enthusiasm we once had. Before doing anything else, take a few minutes to breathe and just BE. Empty your mind of all stress and worry. This takes practice, but don’t give up! As thoughts come into your mind, gently push them back out and continue to keep your mind empty and calm. Take slow, deep breaths and let all of your muscles relax. Sit quietly and recharge your batteries. Try to do this daily, or even twice daily (morning and night). We need quiet time as much as we need anything else in life. Give yourself the gift of inner peace.
2) Get Inspired – Read something motivational, inspirational or uplifting. Look at some beautiful nature photos, or read something humorous. Consciously move your thoughts to a more positive place. Focusing on nothing but work and our daily tasks in life can leave us feeling pretty uninspired. It’s easy to turn it around if we want to. We just have to seek out things that will lift our spirits and our moods. Make it a point to laugh, be happy, joyful and lighthearted each day. Don’t wait for inspiration to come knocking on your door, go out and find it, or create it. Conjure up some funny or touching memories. Write them in a journal so you can go back and read them when you’re feeling down.
3) Get Excited – Think about the things you have planned for the day, and rekindle the enthusiasm you once felt for them. When we first begin a new project, or start a new job, we are excited about the possibilities and eager to get moving! Over time, we can lose that enthusiasm for a variety of reasons. Travel back in time for a 
moment, and think about what got you so excited at the beginning. What made your heart beat a little faster? Recapture that feeling and hang onto it! Even if your tasks aren’t anything to be really excited about, at least think of some positive benefits to doing them. For example, list the ways they will benefit your children, your spouse, yourself, your job or your home. Identify the payoff, and focus on that. Even mundane tasks have some benefits. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of switching our mindset to see the positive side.
4) Baby Steps – Sometimes the hardest part is actually getting started. A project seems so monstrous that we cringe at the thought of all that time and energy we’ll have to expend. Instead of overwhelming yourself, start small. Set a timer for 15 minutes and just start working on it. Allow yourself to stop after 15 minutes if you really want to. But most often, once we actually start working on something, we won’t want to stop. Don’t focus on the big picture, look at the smaller details and take them on one at a time. Any large task seems manageable once we break it down into smaller steps.
5) Care of the Body – Sometimes our feelings of fatigue are caused by physical deficiencies, not mental. Be sure you are getting enough rest, eating food that nourishes your body, drinking enough water, getting enough exercise, etc. Especially when we’re very busy, we tend to grab the quickest, easiest meals, which aren’t always the best choice for our bodies. Eating a lot of highly processed foods and sugar is like putting watered-down gasoline into our cars. In order for our cars to run smoothly, we need to maintain them properly, and so it is with our bodies also. Remember, the body is the vehicle for the mind and soul!
Finally, remember to reward yourself from time to time, and be gentle with yourself! There will always be things that “need” to be done. But some of us take on way more than we can handle, and our lives turn into a pit of drudgery because of it. Try to eliminate the things that truly don’t bring you joy, or at least minimize the time you spend on them. Do what you can, and let the rest go. Or ask for help. Don’t feel you have to do everything yourself.
Remember that motivation, just like happiness, is something we CHOOSE. We may need to give ourselves a little push at the beginning, but once we get into the right mindset, it’s simple to stay there if we choose to.
Change Your Thinking!
Change Your Thinking and Start Thinking Big
In many ways, big thinking is all about changing the way that you currently think. Often, you need to look deep inside yourself in order to see deeply entrenched patterns of behavior that you may not have previously been aware of. This, while difficult, is a necessary process. You see, we often operate on automatic pilot. Our brains are programmed this way on order to save on caloric energy. Have you ever driven home and realized once you’ve arrived that you have absolutely no memory of the drive itself? That’s your brain on automatic pilot. When we are in this mental mode, our brains rely on old behaviors, ones that have been laid down over long periods of time, to keep us moving and reacting appropriately.
Unfortunately, some of these patterns of behavior are not always optimal. If you have a tendency to be negative, then it is virtually guaranteed that some of your patterns of behavior exhibit these tendencies, as well. When you go into autopilot mode this negativity is manifested in a knee-jerk reflexive action because the pattern of behavior is so ingrained. So, while the pattern is saving the caloric energy that is required of creative and reflective thought, it may also be causing you to experience negative outcomes over and over again without you even consciously realizing what it is that you are doing.
The answer to this situation is to assess all of your behaviors and reactions and identify the ones that are the most problematic. Are there patterns to your current way of approaching the world that you can see? Are any of these patterns mostly negative or producing negative outcomes? Are you able to see connections and patterns that you weren’t even aware of?
The key to successfully changing the way that you think is to root out these “automatic” ingrained behaviors. Sometimes, these behaviors can be so deeply ingrained that you may simply be incapable of recognizing them. If you look at your behavior and find nothing wrong, yet you still seem to be unable to reach your goals, this may be what’s going on. In this case, you might need to have your behavior assessed by a third party. A second set of eyes, especially when they aren’t yours, may be able to point out some troublesome areas. Pick someone you trust, someone who’s close to you and knows you well, and ask them about your potentially negative behaviors. You might be surprised to find out what someone else sees.
Big Thinking vs Small Thinking
Big Thinking vs Small Thinking
What exactly is big thinking? Well, that’s a simple question that requires a complex answer. You see, thinking big encompasses a lot of territory. It takes in self-worth and strengths. It involves attitude and belief. It requires courage and the ability to see the world in a different way. Above all, it requires a real desire to effectuate change in your life. It requires that you get rid of misconceptions and that you break damaging and ingrained old habits. In short, thinking big requires work. It is definitely not a shortcut or a hack. Instead, it is a slow and steady movement in a positive direction. Because of this, thinking big is not for everyone.
The opposite of thinking big, obviously, is thinking small. One of the best ways to understand big thought is to take a look at small thinking. Small thinking is everything big thinking is not. People who are in the habit of thinking small have an inability to take a long view. They value more immediate, and more transitory, gratifications. They tend to be unable to defer smaller, easily obtainable, rewards in favor of larger, more difficult rewards. Because of these habits, small thinkers often settle for less. They actually do believe that less is more, mainly because they can’t imagine themselves obtaining more than they already have.
This doesn’t mean that small thinkers don’t have dreams, they do. They just don’t see how any of their dreams could ever become real. This results in some interesting actions. A small thinker may dream about and talk about goal X. However, because they don’t think big enough, they actually take steps towards result Y. X and Y are the exact opposite of each other. Yet, the small thinker doesn’t see the contradiction in wanting one thing and then actively moving to achieve that thing’s opposite. That strange result is objectively obvious, but subjectively, to the small thinker it’s simply business as usual.
So, how do you stop thinking small and start thinking big? By changing the way you think and act. Your thoughts influence you actions. Your actions influence your thoughts. This means that big thoughts have an incredible amount of power to influence your actions. If you’re a small thinker, this means no more contradictory behavior. You can start aligning your actions with your thoughts and your thoughts with your actions and start seeing some solid positive gains in your life.
