Want More Happiness? The choice is yours!

Want More Happiness? The choice is yours!

(Check out Liz Nead's video at the bottom talking about your choice for happiess!)

Do you remember your parents lecturing you, telling you to eat your broccoli, that there were children that would beg for broccoli? Have you ever told yourself to be grateful, to stop complaining, that your life as bad as others, that you have no right to complain?

Does it work? Does it make you feel thankful for what you have right now? Of course not!

Sure, you might be grateful for a few moments, as you notice your blessings, your fortunate circumstances. Most of the time, though, it doesn’t take long before something else grabs your attention. Your eyes and mind turn to what you want, what you don’t have, what you wish for.

If you are not this person, you have known something like this. Someone who just can’t focus on what they have. It is always about what could be better. There is always a wrong to glimpse. A spoiler to ruin what could be a positive existence.

You will face both pleasant circumstances and challenging situations. Sometimes life will seem easy and in other moments life will be hard for you. No matter what you think about the greener grass on the other side of the fence surrounding your world, it is the same for everyone. You only have to dig to find the sameness of conditions.

The only difference between you and the rest of the world is your perspective. Yes, there are places that are not fun because of war, poverty, lack of education and oppressive leadership. Of course if you live in a cute little house in the suburbs, it would be a preferable situation to the woman who lives in a mud hut in Tanzania without running water or state of the art medical care. You would be surprised at what your Tanzanian friend might say about your food, your home, your world. You prefer it because you know it.

Your happiness will not come from looking at someone else and telling yourself you have it good. You cannot sooth your soul by reminding yourself of the people in another country who don’t have what you have. You won’t appreciate your healthy children more by seeing unhealthy children. You won’t love your home more if you go to a smaller home. Those perspectives are temporary. The antidote to “comparative happiness” is to go to a bigger house, better kids, a nice place to live and suddenly you will feel irritated and underserved.

No, the best way to grab the happiness that is yours is to choose happiness. To choose to look at your husband and see what you love. To allow yourself to enjoy your friends instead of wishing for something better. To touch the softness of your well-worn couch and choose to remember good memories. To make a point of remember good times not bad times.

I promise if you choose to see and give credit to the good in any situation, you will find your heart full of gratitude for what you have. And you will ask yourself, grass? What grass? I love my life. It is mine.

If you enjoyed this blog, please enjoy the other resources at www.neadinspiration.com and listen to Liz's radio show at www.desmoineslocallive.com called "Skywalk Talk," from 11:00 to 12:30 cst, M-F. Liz wants to help you succeed!

Jealousy...it's not such a bad thing!

Jealousy...it's not such a bad thing!

I felt a pang of jealously recently. I got my shot of jealousy from a usual source. Facebook is a place for people to show the shiny success of their life without betraying themselves with eye contact. Even though I understand the easy falsehood of social networking, I still felt it. That person was going to do something I have always wanted to do. I’m known for wanting it. If she reads this, she’ll know what I’m talking about. And it was not going to be me that did it first. It would be her. Jealousy. Gross.

The stomach turning feeling of wanting something that someone has is not due to any sort of systemic distaste for my own life. My existence is a wild ride, taking me from a career that used 25% of my talents and required 75% of my energy pretending to be something I’m not. Each day, I leap out of bed and I wonder, what will happen next? What serendipity is going to deliver me another phase of my dream? It’s like being passed a really great note from God in class.

All this sounds good, right? How could I be jealous when I am so excited about what is going to happen next?

The initial knee-jerk reaction to the adult on-set of jealousy is to take two pills. One is a pill of gratitude (get it together and start being thankful for what you have). The other is a little shot of denial. You can’t be jealous, that would be make you downright pathetic.

Jealousy, that thing that makes you want what something else has, isn’t to be exorcised. It should be examined because it is a sign. A sign that what you have is not enough. It could be that you are insecure about something. Or perhaps the jealousy is showcasing a need for you to DO something. In my case, I had not done the work to accomplish what this other person had done. So whose fault was it that she had reached the finish line first? It could be telling you that the life that you have is not enough and you need to expand your perspective and your reach to more fully challenge your talents, your tolerance for risk, your experience.

Don’t push off jealousy as a phase or a sign of weakness. Figure out what is it telling you and do what you need to do. That other person may have something you want. Go and get it for yourself. Change what you need to change, move where you need to move and face the fears in front of you.

Maybe then you can focus on what YOU are doing, instead of what someone else is experiencing. I guarantee it will be more fun.

For more helpful resources, go to www.neadinspiration.com or e-mail Liz’s team at neadinspiration@aol.com. Change Your Vision, Change Your Life!

Does what you think really matter?

Does what you think really matter?

I am married to the diametric opposite of me. He would term his orientation as realistic but I am not so sure. He seems genuinely suprised and delighted each time something wonderful happens to him. And, he is also grimly accepting and unsurprised when the events of the day went south.

In many ways, he has been more successful than me. Financially responsible, world traveller, speaker of more than one language, seemingly able to do anything he puts his mind to, it doesn't seem he should have such a darkened perspective. I have not been so careful skipping along the path of my life. While I have the abilities to make anything happen, I have not. I have not travelled the world over. I never put my mind to learning another language and I would never, under any circumstances classify my past behavior as fiscally responsible.

It makes me sad when he sees life as half of what it should be. I work on him, day after day, in the last ten years of our relationship. I curl up in hurt as he views ten days of bad behavior as more powerful than the remaining loving ones we have shared. He looks at me with disbelieving eyes. Why should I, he asks, change the way I think. I hear his unspoken words. You have been so optimistic and yet I have accomplished more than you.

Yes, I will give you that my husband and best friend. You have done more, but there is a reason to think wonderful, imaginative, deliriously spinning thoughts.

It increases the pleasure you experience on a daily basis. You were made to enjoy life! Your senses were not created for the average experience. Your taste buds can taste the difference between a bland piece of toast and a colorful meal with filet mignon, sauces, mushrooms, onions and garlic. Your ears can hear the sweet singing on a bird and the rumble of the car next to you. Your fingers can enjoy the softness of someone's skin or the roughness of pavement.

It is your choice whether you choose to enjoy these sensations. And the choosing will change your life. Decide to taste amazing food. Make a point of looking to the left of the highway and seeing the fiery colors of the fall trees. Fill your lungs to bursting and then let it out with relief. Look at your old pictures and remember the joy of a life you have lived.

And enjoy every bit of success and love that comes your way. I promise, what you think does matter. It will be the difference between a life enjoyed and an existence tolerated.

I hope you choose the first!

For more encouragement go to http://www.neadinspiration.com/ or call Liz at 515-664-6881.

Power Comes From Within

Power Comes From Within

Birds of a Feather, fly together. I'm sure you have heard this one. You are who you are with. Yes, those people you spend the most time with influence. It might be true that your income is the average of the seven people with you spend the most time. But your power comes from within.

Your power: Your Game. It's the something that makes you, well, YOU. It's the power to solve problems, remove barriers, make big things happen, make little things happen. It's the manipulation and desire and effort that you exert to change something to get a little better or a little worse.

You might be looking for a job. You might be building your business. You are looking for a healthy mate. You are looking for a healthy you. Your power does not come from your prospective employer, from your prospective clients, your future lover or the scale. It comes from your ability to bring YOU to the table. The best, most productive, creative, healthy YOU to the job interview, to your client, on your date, to your workout.

Outside of you there is guidance. Support. Mentorship. Discouragement. Barriers. Happenstances. But the power of what you will do, well, that will come from the inside. Today, look around. And instead of wondering who is going to make your day, decide how you will make this day the best possible day for yourself. Using your personal power.

Imagine If!

Imagine If!

Before I embarked on this journey, my mind produced a million reasons why "it" wasn't happening for me. I didn't have enough money. I didn't enjoy the support at home. I had made too many mistakes. I didn't possess the experience necessary for that kind of success. My picture of success was drawn by someone else's experience, which was whatever they had that I didn't have helped me understand what I would want.

Today I am heading towards everything I have ever wanted. I am no longer at the starting gate, wondering when the gun will go off. I am not on the track, running a race that I don't want to run. I am in this experience and it is the experience that I want to have. I wouldn't trade it for anything else. I didn't win the lottery. I have no more or less support than I ever did. In fact, I think that I misread the level of support that I did have. I have a bit more experience due to my efforts, but no degree or brilliant moment that I thought I would need to before beginning the journey. My mistakes continue to pile up as that is the state of the human condition.

Nothing is really different except for one thing. I am using my imagination. Human beings are the only beings that have this ability, this gift of imagination. We can utilize other people's experiences, our own experiences, the images gifted us in books and movies and television shows and we can conjure up the possibilities as if they are happening right now.

What do you imagine? Is it a life that has a very small possibility of the success that you want? Is your imagination hamstrung with a bevy or rules of can nots and will nots and mayby nots? Or do you imagine the life that you want. Do you utilize your mind's eye to bring forward the colors and feelings and even smells of what it will be when you reach the reality of the vision that you desire?

Take some time to imagine what you want. If you don't have the experiences to draw on to support your vision, then ask others who stand in the place you desire. Read and watch and ask for any information that can support your imagination and use that ability to create a scene for the future to bring the future closer to today.

Once I stepped out in faith and began to do what I was meant to do, the future transformed from a distant mirage into moments that I can see and feel and touch. What was once just in my head, I wanted to be a speaker, I wanted to be an influencer, I wanted to be an inspirer, is now my daily existence. Instead of wishing that I could have something that doesn't feel attainable, I am now charged with figuring out how to keep the momentum going.

So today I want you to imagine. Imagine it all in vivid color. Keep imagining and keep asking. You might be suprised and what leaps to life.

Let Liz Nead inspire you further. Purchase her CD's- the 1440 Principle, Finding Your Game, Creating Your Vision and Building a Rockstar Network on http://www.neadinspiration.com/.

Vision Board #3: My Best Work Yet!

Vision Board #3: My Best Work Yet!

I created my third vision board today. I can't wait to see what happens next.

The first one was created to disprove the process of creating vision on a silly posterboard with ridiculous pictures. I slapped up pictures of things I never thought would happen. Then I was knocked off the throne of skeptism as each picture miraculously came to life.

The second time, I created a vision board based on what I thought I should want. Things that would look good for a speaker who preaches about vision.

The third one is the best. It has my heart. Everything I could ever want or need from the deepest part of who I am. This time it's different. Although my experience with vision boards Disparate from anything I have ever experienced.

• The Truth: As I said, Vision Board #3 is my heart. It is coming from a place of yearning and wanting. I know that I will be heartbroken if some of these things don't come to pass. Yet, as I thought about the pictures and what I wanted, how to write it out and let the images speak for my heart, I asked my self one thing. Why would I want to depict anything else? If ever there was a place to inject my heart, this would be it.


• No Spectators Allowed: I'm a speaker, so I tend to view life from a stage. What do I look like? Who will see me? How will this be perceived? These are all very insightful questions in developing a career, but this insight is the great ravager of vision. Vision Board #3 is just for me. In fact, I might be a bit embarrased for you to have such a clear view into me. As I placed phrases and images on my board, I put aside the thoughts of you. If it is to work the way I want it, it had to be for me.


• Feelings First, Logic Second: It felt a bit ridiculous, cutting out pictures and using tape and glue to arrange them around the board. My husband came up to visit me during the process and did his best to be encouraging. Imagine the thoughts that flooded my mind as I created. Why you? What makes you think that is going to happen? Who are you kidding? My answer to my brain: This is what I want. I can't help it if it doesn't make sense. I can't help it if I don't deserve it. I can't stop wanting this. So it is going on the board. Vision Board #3.

I went there this time. A picture of Oprah reading my book. My face smiling from a television screen. A key unlocking the best part of my brain. Out of the box. Renew your spirit. Everything that I really want. I can see it from where I type. And I am smiling.

Five minutes after I placed Vision Board #3 on the wall, at the foot of my bed where I will see it many times in the day, my phone buzzes. More e-mails. I check the messages and find a request. I was chosen to be in a commercial. I look up at my vision board and smile.

My face on a television screen. It's already started.

Drama Free- Living! Get off the stage!

Drama Free Living! Get Off the Stage!


Drama!

I've been talking about drama lately. Have you heard this one? "Drama follows me! I don't want this! It seems to find me!"

I've got something to say about this. NO IT DOESN'T. It can't find you. But you, quite consistently and clearly, can create the same kind of drama, over and over.

Lest you think I am being judgmental, (this is one of the "dramatic" accusations I receive on a regular basis), I want you to know that I too, have this drama problem. I find myself in the darndest situations. This person is mad at me, that person doesn't understand me, I don't feel like I can tell someone else the truth. I find myself rescuing this type of person, my bank account never seems to be the right "amount," relationships that always go behind my back. The list goes on and on.

It was not about me. I was sure of it. No matter how nice I was, people were mad. No matter how hard I tried to listen, they didn't feel heard. No matter how much I divulged, they couldn't see me for who I was. No matter how hard I tried to rescue, they accused me of drowning them. I spent on what I thought was right but couldn't get it right. I protected secrets and felt exposed. How could this be? How could I give such lovely gifts to the universe and be returned such an out of balance response?

I finally had to look the mirror and admit, I invited the reponse. Drama was what I asked for and drama is what I got. I didn't wan to be normal. I didn't want every day to be the same. I liked the feeling of pent of adrenaline that comes with a problem which requires solving and I liked the moment of relive that comes with a solution even more. I felt loved when someone came to my rescue. I felt smart when I "MacGyver'ed" my way out of the situation, and I felt sane when I was around insanity.

Better than Shakespeare, is the real-life drama. It has all the makings of Academy Award, situations that MAKE you feel a certain way. The problem is, the drama will eventually get the best of you and you will become tired of it. Then, as with any good addiction, you forget about he consequences and begin to think about the chemicals that accompany drama. It's tiring, it's confusing and it's pointless.

If you don't like the drama, GET OUT OF THE PLAY! Resign as the lead! Let someone else take the stage! You don't need the drama. You need real life.

Relationships: Your core relationships, personal or professional, should be based on one primary element, Respect. If you can't be yourself, if you can't say what you need to say, if you don't remember why you are friends, then you are inviting drama. Remember the ultimate anti-drama antidote for relationships, respect.

Resources: Your resources, whether it is professional or personal capital or the money in the bank, it is only replenished by you. It can be developed only by your nurturing care. Yes, you may win the "lottery" in some way, but waiting for the lottery will only create more drama.

YOU: The most amazing component of who you are is not your hair, your athletic ability, even your intelligence. It's your SOUL. Your instincts tell you what is wrong or right, and only then can your intellect ferret out the inconsistencies. Your heart will tell you to speak and your mind will come up with some words to explain what is in the depths of who you are. Don't expect your soul to change for your circumstances or you will again create more drama.

My question to you: What kind of life do you want to live? A life that looks great on the stage, but a bit sad without the lighting and scripting of a drama? Or an existence that is marked by integrity, honesty and the joy of another day on the planet? I choose the latter. I hope you do too.