Strength

True strength is when you have a lot to cry about, but you choose to smile and take another step forward instead.

Our mind

Our mind is the most valuable possession that we have. The quality of our lives is, and will be, a reflection of how well we develop, train, and utilize this precious gift. - Brian Tracy

3 Ways to Find The Right Employees for Your Small Business http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/09/find-the-right-employees-business.html

Believing

Believe in a hope that a new hope is dawning.. .believe that your dreams will come true.. .believe in the promise of brighter tomorrows.. .begin by believing in you.

Attitude

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference.  The little difference is attitude.  The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.―W. Clement Stone

Show up

80% of success is showing up.  - Woody Allen

Quote

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.

Douglas MacArthur

Quote

“We can not solve our problems with thesame level of thinking that created them”―Albert Einstein

Motivational Quote

Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.
- Dr. Samuel Johnson

Success Quote

The past is over.. .forget it. The future holds hope.. .reach for it.  - Charles R. Swindoll

Success Quote

Time, patience, and perseverance will accomplish all things.

Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

Rules for happy living

Success Quote

There is no shortcut. Victory lies in overcoming obstacles everyday.

Success Quote

I am not just here to make a living; I am here to make a life. - Helice Bridges

Do More

“Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.” - William Arthur Ward

Success

Goals

People with goals succeed because they know where they are going.  - Earl Nightingale

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. -Oprah

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. -Oprah

Finding Peace

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass,
it’s about learning to dance in the rain.
―Vivian Greene

Over the past decade Marc and I have dealt with several personal hardships of varying degrees, including the sudden death of a sibling, the loss of a best friend to illness, and an unexpected, bread winning employment layoff.

These experiences were brutal.  Each of them, unsurprisingly, knocked us down and off course for a period of time.  But when our time of mourning was over in each individual circumstance, we pressed forward, stronger, and with a greater understanding and respect for life.

Here are some vital lessons we learned – ways to maintain peace of mind in tough times:

1.  Learn to trust yourself.

“It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is.  As you heal and grow, it will all work out.  Relax and trust yourself.”

Repeat that in your mind every morning.  Because the truth is, it all works out in the end.  Put your full trust in yourself by following your intuition and doing your best, and then move forward one step at a time with faith and confidence in the future.  Life will not forsake you.  Love, persistence and hard work combined rarely lead a person astray in the long run.

If you have faith in your abilities, if you stay true to the path that feels right, if you channel your passion into action, you will ultimately achieve a breakthrough.  In other words, as soon as you trust yourself you will know how to heal and grow.

2.  Focus on what you’re learning.

Mistakes and setbacks are simply a form of practice.

If the road is easy and free of bumps, you’re likely going the wrong way.  The bumps in the road teach you what you need to know to progress down a path that is all your own.  Sometimes things have to go wrong in order to go right.  Sometimes you need to change a flat tire or two before you can move on.

Bottom line:  Your journey isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be worth it.  To never struggle is to never grow.  There is no perfectly smooth road to anyplace worth going.

3.  Ease your expectations.

Life is under no obligation to give you exactly what you expect.  Whatever it is you’re seeking will rarely ever come in the form you’re expecting.  Don’t miss the silver lining because you were expecting gold.

You must see and accept things as they are instead of as you hoped, wished, or expected them to be.  Just because it didn’t turn out like you had envisioned, doesn’t mean it isn’t exactly what you need to get to where you ultimately want to go.

4.  Open up to someone you trust.

You aren’t alone; let someone special in when you’re in a dark place.  You know who this person is.  Don’t expect them to solve your problems; just allow them to face your problems with you.  Give them permission to stand beside you.  They won’t necessarily be able to pull you out of the dark place you’re in, but the light that spills in when they enter will at least show you which way the door is.

Above all, the important thing to remember is that you are not alone.  No matter how bizarre or embarrassed or pathetic you feel about our own situation, there is someone in your life who has dealt with similar emotions and who wants to help you.  When you hear yourself say, “I am alone,” it’s just your insecurities trying to sell you a lie. 

5.  Use hope to drive positive action.

Only in the dark can you see the stars.  The stars are hope.  Look for them.

The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for.  And the most you can do is live inside that hope as you work for what you want.  Do not admire what you hope for from a distance, but live right in it.  Get deeply involved with the thoughts and activities that keep your hope alive and your intention possible.

No, hope alone will not save you from despair.  Hope empowers you to strive and grow even when your circumstances are in shambles.  The road that is built with hope is more pleasant than the road built in despair, even though they both may seem to lead you to the same place in the short-term.  But it is the positive growth you attain on your way to this temporary place that will benefit your final destination.

It’s all about balance – accepting reality without giving up on what needs to be done to reach your desired destination in the long run.

6.  Move TOWARDS something instead of AWAY.

“Don’t think about eating that chocolate cookie!”  What are you thinking about now?  Eating that chocolate cookie, right?  When you concentrate on not thinking about something, you end up thinking about it.

The same philosophy holds true when it comes to freeing your mind from a negative past.  By persistently trying to move away from what you don’t want, you are forced to think about it so much that you end up carrying it’s weight along with you.  But if you instead choose to focus your energy on moving toward something you do want, you naturally leave the negative weight behind as you progress forward.

Bottom line:  Instead of concentrating on eliminating the negative, concentrate on creating something positive (that just happens to replace the negative). 

7.  Take a few steps back.

Everything seems simpler from a distance.  Sometimes you simply need to distance yourself to see things more clearly.

You are more than whatever is troubling you.  A very real part of you exists beyond your worries, beyond your doubts, independent from the troubles and frustrations of the present moment.  Step back and observe yourself as you experience each moment.  Be present.  Watch yourself as you think, as you take action, as you experience emotions.  Your body may experience pain, and yet that pain is not you.  Your mind may encounter troubles, and yet you are not those troubles.

Think of the most difficult challenge you face right now.  Imagine that it’s not you, but a close friend who is facing this challenge.  What advice would you give her?  If you could step back and, instead of being the subject, look at your situation as an objective observer, would you look at it any differently?  Think of the advice you would give your friend if your friend were in your shoes.  Are you following your own best advice right now?

Don’t allow your current troubles to cloud your thinking.  Take a few steps back and give yourself the benefit of this distance, and then give yourself some great advice.

8.  Give yourself time.

Take all the time you need.  Emotional healing is a process; don’t rush yourself through it.  Don’t let others force you through it either.  Moving on doesn’t take a day; it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of your broken past and your wounded self.

Take today breath by breath, one step at a time.  Never let trouble from the past make you feel like you have a bad life now.  Just because yesterday was painful doesn’t mean today will be too.  Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.  Today you have a choice to explore these parts of yourself.  Give yourself the needed time and permission to explore and heal. 

9.  Look for the beginning in every ending.

A wise man once said, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”  Today is a new beginning; treat it that way.  Stop thinking about what might have been and starting looking at what can be.

Say to yourself: “Dear Past, thank you for all the life lessons you have taught me.  Dear Future, I am ready now!”  Because a great beginning always occurs at the exact moment you thought would be the end of everything.

Scource: marcandangel.com

Success Quote

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

Mark Caine

Things to do to stress less

Scource: marcandangel.com

People’s lives become chaotic the minute they decide to be.

People’s lives become happier the minute they decide to be.

1.  Know what you’re trying to achieve and why.

Lack of direction creates stress.  And it’s lack of direction, not lack of time, that’s the problem when it comes to personal achievement.  Everyone has the same 24-hour days and 7-day weeks.

Whenever you want to achieve something keep your conscious clear.  Focus and make sure you know exactly what it is you want and why.  No one can hit their target if they don’t know what their target is.

2.  Do less by focusing exclusively on what’s important.

The essence of personal productivity is to do the important things rather than the urgent things.

In other words, put first things first.  Focus on the essential and eliminate the rest. 

3.  Think progress, not perfection.

Don’t worry about perfection; you’ll never achieve it.  Instead, focus on the progress you’ve made and the progress you intend to make today.

Progression is not automatic or inevitable.  Every step of personal growth requires sacrifice and work.  Every step is part of an ever-improving, ever-ascending life path.  Every step is an accomplishment that should be celebrated.  You know you will never get to the absolute peak (perfection), but when you celebrate the journey this truth only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

4.  Cleanse your heart every night.

Just as your body needs regular washing because it gets dirty every day, so does your heart.

Because every day, people hurt you, offend you, forget you, snub you, step on you, or reject you.  But if you choose to forgive these people and let these things go at the end of each day, you cleanse your heart.  You wake up the next morning refreshed and free of negativity.  Refuse to carry old regrets, mindsets, and distractions into each new day.  

5.  Purge untrue thoughts.

You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.

Behind every stressful feeling is an untrue thought.  Before the thought you weren’t suffering, but after the thought you began to suffer.  When you recognize that the thought isn’t true, once again there is no suffering.  When you change your thoughts, you change your life.

6.  Expect some stress, accept it, and let go of it.

The most important journeys that lead to the most wonderful places are usually the challenging ones you must endure the hard way.

Stress is but a wall between two peaceful gardens – the garden where you are and garden where you want to be.  You must scale the wall that’s in your way, gathering lessons as you climb, before letting go as you descend to the other side.  You will only lose if you never climb or you never let go.

7.  Be kind to your body.

A good workout is the best stress reducer, and a fit, healthy body is the best fashion statement.

The pursuit of optimal fitness is a journey, a constant struggle, a lifestyle.  It’s a gradual process where intensity during each exercise session, what you eat every single day, and patience over years is what’s required.

But as you know, the longest journey always begins with a single step.  It’s all about taking that step and then stepping one day at a time, committing yourself to a daily intake of 30 to 60 minutes of uninterrupted exercise and a reasonably healthy diet.  

8.  Do one nice thing for yourself every day.

Put yourself at the top of your priority list.  There is no person on Earth who deserves your kindness and attention more than you.  When you love yourself first, everything else falls into place.

So treat yourself every day.  Give yourself something special – like laughter, good conversation, meditation, quiet reading, an hour to work on a passion, a long walk, etc.

You are worth it.

9.  Simplify.

Organize, don’t agonize.  Keep your space ordered and your schedule under-booked.  Create a foundation with a soft place to land, a wide margin of error, and room to think and breathe…

So you have the flexibility to explore the possibilities for happiness in each and every day.

Success Quote

Life is only what we choose to make it.

Success Quote

Winners are ordinary people with extraordinary heart.

Career success

7 Steps To Developing Career Capital -- And Achieving Success http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2013/05/22/7-steps-to-developing-career-capital-and-achieving-success/

Keep going

"Failure is normal, and the most important thing is to learn from it and keep on pushing through, despite what others might say. This can be one of the hardest things to do, but pick yourself back up and keep going."

Success Quote

To be a champion, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will. - Sugar Ray Robinson

Success Quote

Life is short. Focus from this day forward on making a difference.

Life

Success Quote

When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.

www.andrewreiffenbergeronline.com

Mom's

ecoMOMics: The Financial Power and Value of Moms http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlaura/2013/05/10/ecomomics-the-financial-power-and-value-of-moms/

It shall pass

Daily Quote

Good things come to those who hustle while they wait.

The 5 W's of Life

8 Ways Happy People Start Their Mornings

The morning is extremely important.  It is the foundation from which the rest of the day is built.  How you choose to spend your morning can often be used to accurately predict what kind of day you’re going to have.
Source-marcandangel.com

1.  A calm awakening.

In the space between the edge of the night and the chaos of the day, you have a chance to make a special space for yourself.  In this space, thoughts and contentment neatly overlap, where past and future issues cease to exist, and time touches eternity.  Hovering about your mind, as you gently begin to stir, there are beautiful visions no one has ever seen and soothing harmonies no one has ever heard.These first few moments of the day are sacred.  Savor them.  Protect them.  Awaken yourself peacefully, stretch fully and breathe deeply in them without rushing forward.  Give yourself this time as a gift, to simply be and feel alive, to conquer the anxiety of life, and live in the moment breath by breath.

2.  Meditate on the goodness.

Begin each day with love, grace, and gratitude.When you arise in the morning, think of what a great privilege it is to be alive – to be, to see, to hear, to think, to love, to have something to look forward to.  Happiness is a big part of these little parts of your life; joy is simply the feeling of appreciating it.Realize that it’s not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.  Make a habit of noticing the goodness that’s already yours and you will see more of it every time you look for it.

3.  Let go to begin anew.

Each new morning greets you with no restrictions except for the restrictions you place on it.Don’t hold yourself hostage for the things that didn’t work out yesterday.  Don’t let your history interfere with your purpose today.  Let yesterday go.  Every morning is the start of a new day with no mistakes, just possibilities.Release and renew.  Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.

4.  Be right where you are.

Live now.  Not before.  Not later.  Just NOW – in the moment you’re in.  Inhabit your morning completely.  Don’t rent it out to the past or the future.Do you know what you’re doing to yourself when you wake up and start worrying about every other time and place?You’re cheating yourself out of the moments we call “life.”  Your real life – the here and now – is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but you’re stuck on another time and place, and so your life keeps dripping away moment by moment like fresh water down a dirty drain.  You wake up the next morning and all those priceless moments of your life are wasted and gone forever.  Some of those moments may have had magnificent experiences in store for you, but now you’ll never know…Bottom line:  Don’t be so worried about what’s ahead of you and behind you that you never enjoy where you are.  Start your morning off right by paying full attention to it.

5.  Find a little inspiration

Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration in the morning.Read a motivational quote.  Listen to a song that moves you.  Watch a short video clip that inspires you.  This can provide a framework for the day, a sort of positive pep-talk that keeps you motivated and heading in the right direction, as opposed to succumbing to the negativity spewing out of morning newscasters and radio talk show hosts.Another option:  Use a motivational mantra or affirmation that provides a meditation-like burst, or read or recite some prose that helps you focus.

6.  Exercise your love.

Love is the foundation.  Love is the board under the chalk, the ground from which giant trees and buildings arise, and the oxygen in the air.  It’s the place you come back to, no matter where you’ve been or where you’re headed.  Love is where life’s goodness begins.Every morning, kiss all the people you love in your house (including your pets).  And once you’ve done that, set ten minutes aside to do something you love – perhaps a hobby or a quiet morning walk.  Doing something positive will help you set the mood you need to create a great day.  When you smile, your body relaxes.  When you experience a loving human interaction, or a deep connection to a passion, it eases tension in your body.  Connecting with the right people and activities soothes stress and provides you with a positive foundation for your day, as well as keeping you focused on what’s truly important.

7.  Follow a relaxing morning routine.

Morning routines are critically important.  They help you focus and build momentum for your day, and they give you the freedom to be present and relaxed – to enjoy just being right where you are each moment, rather than rushing from somewhere to somewhere.  Once you get your routine in order, for the first time in a long time, you will be able to, quite literally, smell the coffee.For truly relaxing mornings, reduce the number of decisions you must make.  There are two simple ways to do this:  First, make your big morning decisions the night before: what to eat for breakfast, what clothes to wear, what you need to take to work, etc.  Second, build a simple routine for as much of your daily morning tasks as possible.Really, there’s no need to drastically alter the simple things like how much time you give yourself to get ready for work, how complex of a meal you make for breakfast, or bathroom and shower rituals from one morning to the next.

8.  Move on to what’s most important.

Today is a golden opportunity to do something that matters to you.When was the last time you woke up and said, “Today could be the best day of my life”?  Participate in your dreams today.  Your potential is limitless.  Put first things first and take action on an important task that’s been lingering.Success is not something you have; it’s something you DO.  It’s something you experience when you wake up and act accordingly.  Be a self-starter.  Let your first hour set the theme of proactivity and success that is certain to echo through your entire day.  Today will never happen again.  Don’t waste it with a false start or no real start at all.

Quote

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I thinkI have ended up where I needed to be.―Douglas Adams

Opportunity

Every difficult moment in our lives is accompanied by an opportunity for personal growth and creativity.

Trust

Proverbs 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Strength

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”―Ann Landers


www.andrewreiffenbergeronline.com

Quote of the day

People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves, they have the first secret of success. - Norman Vincent Peale

7 Positive things to say to yourself

Dwell on the beauty of life.  Watch the stars,and see yourself running with them.―Marcus Aurelius

Your life story is an expression of who you are; the words you choose to use shape this story.  Your words create the essence of your inner culture and the core of your identity and destiny.How have you written your story so far?  Have you put your words to positive use?  Your ability to write a happy life story hinges on your language.  It is your inner and outer verbal expression that makes your joy possible and that infuses your life with purpose, meaning and vitality.

1.  “I have a choice.”

It is not your talents or abilities, but your choices that ultimately decide your fate.You ARE your choices.Until you can look at yourself in the mirror and honestly say, “I have a choice.  I am here now because of the choices I’ve made in the past,” you will never be able to say, “I choose differently.”

2.  “Let’s get started!”

You can’t build anything wonderful with ideas of what you are going to do someday.  If you want something, you have to make a little noise, declare it and then get started.A goal is far more than a mental exercise.  In fact, without the intent of action a goal is nothing more than a lie.  Make your decisions real and present in your life; give them the time and attention they deserve.In the end it doesn’t matter what you’re thinking, it matters what you’re doing.  Whatever you want to accomplish, it’s time to get started.

3.  “I have what it takes.”

The worst enemy of today is your self-doubt.  The moment you doubt whether you can do something is the moment it becomes impossible for you.You have to believe in yourself.  You have to trust yourself.  You might be nervous, but don’t you ever let any source of negativity in the world convince you that you don’t have what it takes.Give yourself a pep talk if you need one.  State some facts, some evidence of your greatness.  Recall your past victories.  Speak them out loud – “I aced that test.”  “I earned that big raise.”  “I ran that 5K without stopping.”  “My best friend loved my wedding speech.”  And so on and so forth…  Give a positive voice to your past victories and you will find the strength to repeat history.

4.  “Hello, how can I help you?”

In life, you get what you put in.Generally speaking, the unhappiest people you will ever meet will be those who are utterly self-absorbed; the happiest people you will ever meet will be those who lose themselves in the joy and challenge of helping others.Happiness is always attained by giving it away without expectation.  Those who help others are eventually helped.  You have two hands, one to help yourself and the other to help those around you.  If you can lie down at night knowing in your heart that you made someone’s day just a little brighter, you have something to smile about. Successful People Do Differently.

5.  “Look how far I’ve come.”

The way you move a mountain is by moving one stone at a time.  Every stone you move, no matter how small, is progress.Sometimes it may be hard to see your progress.  Sometimes it will be frustrating when the results you seek don’t appear as quickly as you had hoped.  Still, you are advancing.  You may be moving along slowly, but you are still moving a mountain.Achievement, after all, is an enduring process, not a single event.  To achieve any worthwhile goal you must cover a lot of ground.  You need to learn what works by trial and error.  You must explore possibilities, many of which will only show you what doesn’t work.  Just keep in mind that the mistakes and setbacks are a vital part of the process.Take a break every now and then and pat yourself on the back.  Applaud yourself for doing what needs to be done.  And be careful not to spend so much time looking at how far you still have to go, that you forget to appreciate how far you’ve already come.

6.  “I have more than enough to be happy.”

The happiest of people aren’t the luckiest, and they usually don’t have the best of everything either.  They simply make the most of everything they do have.  The reason so many people are unhappy is because they tend to look at what’s missing in their life, instead of what’s present.Take a stand and flip the switch.  Stop wishing you had more.  Stop wishing you were somewhere else.  Stop wishing you looked like someone else.  Love your quirks enough to let them shine.  Appreciate your body and use it to it’s full potential.  Appreciate the things you have that so many others dream about.  Scream it out loud if you must:  “I am lucky to be alive!  I am happy to be me right now!  I have way more than I need and so much to be grateful for!  My life isn’t perfect, it’s just pretty darn good!”

7.  “ … ”

That blank space denoted by “ … ” is no mistake.  That space represents silence.Silence is soothing.  Silence is peace.  Silence is divine.The more silent you are, the more you can hear yourself think.Have you ever heard the silence just before the sun peaks over the horizon?  Or the hush of a country road at midnight?  Or the peaceful calm just after a thunderstorm ends?  Or perhaps you know the silence in the back of your city library, or the eager pause of an auditorium full of people when the lights dim for the main event, or, best of all, the moment just after the front door shuts and you suddenly have the whole house to yourself?Each silent moment is different, yet all are beautiful if you listen carefully.  Leave enough space in your day to enjoy the space between the commotions.  Say nothing, think quietly, just be and breathe.

source: marcandangel.com

Role Models

How Parents Can Be Financial Role Models
April 22, 2013 | By Janet Bodnar
Forget the cherry blossoms. If its April, it must be financial literacy month, the time of year when we're bombarded with studies that chronicle the sorry state of our kids financial knowledge. But the studies also show some interesting -- and often positive -- results. This years theme is the important role that parents play in teaching kids about money.
SEE ALSO: Help Your Kids Establish Financial Independence
For instance, a Genworth survey found that adults ages 25 and over whose parents had set a good financial example were more likely to have a financial plan and feel confident about their financial future than respondents whose parents did not set a good example.
In fact, a report from Fidelity Investments found that adult children often put their parents on a pedestal. In Fidelitys Intra-Family Generational Finance Study, nearly half of children over 30 said their parents hadn't made any financial mistakes. Parents, however, were quick to point to three key money flubs made by their adult children: racking up credit card debt, not saving for retirement early enough and not building up a large enough emergency fund.
I'll wager that most of those parents dont feel comfortable up on that pedestal because they know they've occasionally fallen off. And in criticizing their kids, parents were speaking from personal experience, trying to warn their offspring not to make the same mistakes that they had.
Seize the opportunity. If you haven't always done a good job of managing your own money, look at this as an opportunity. Sign up for your retirement plan at work if you haven't already done so, or set up an automatic deposit from your paycheck to your vacation fund. Knowledge empowers you, so learn as much as you can about personal finance, starting with Kiplinger.com and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.
Remember: No matter how little you think you know about money, you always know more than your kids. And as I wrote recently (see 4 Ways to Make Financial Literacy Work, a little knowledge goes a long way. You don't have to take time out of your busy day to explain the Fed's policy of quantitative easing. Instead, use everyday experiences to talk with your kids about how you make financial decisions -- which brand to buy at the grocery store, whether to purchase a new car or fix the old one, how you're saving for a family trip to Disney World (and how they can pitch in), or how you're setting money aside for your own retirement. Help them set up their own bank savings accounts (today's low interest rates will be an instant lesson in quantitative easing).
Talk the talk. In the latest survey of parents and their kids ages 8 to 14 from T. Rowe Price, 73% of parents reported that they talk regularly with their children about money. But the conversations generally revolve around short-term financial topics, such as back-to-school shopping (62%), rather than long-term planning, such as family savings goals (39%). And 14% of parents discourage kids from talking about money altogether.
Don't be shy. More than one-third of teens ages 14 to 18 think their parents don't talk to them enough about money and budgeting, according to a poll by Junior Achievement USA and the Allstate Foundation. And it's in your self-interest to start the conversation. Junior Achievement reports that one-fourth of teens think they won't become financially independent until ages 25 to 27. And in the T. Rowe Price survey, more kids believe they'll make a million bucks by becoming famous (24%) than by investing in stocks and bonds (21%). With those attitudes, they could be living in their old rooms for a long time.

Be Free

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:32, NIV)

within us

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.andrewreiffenberger.com

A work in progress

You are a work in progress; which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once.  Today is a brand new day – a fresh start.  Replace negativity with positivity.  Think happy thoughts.  Exercise.  Drink lots of water.  Fill your body with fuel.  Healthy is happy.  Inspire yourself.  Create.  Laugh.  Play.  Love.  Learn.  Give someone a compliment.  Perform a random act of kindness.  Take a chance on an idea you believe in.  You have the opportunity to do these things every single day – to make the necessary changes and slowly become the person you want to be.  You just have to decide to do it.  Decide that today is the day.  Say it: “This is going to be my day!”

Thought-Provoking Quotes

We are our thoughts. We cannot change anything
if we cannot change our thinking.

 

You have a train of thought on which you ride when you are alone and quietly thinking. The self-worth you feel, as well as the happiness your life brings, depends upon the direction in which this train is moving, the baggage it carries and the emotional space through which it travels. Between life’s stimulus and your reaction is where this space exists; within it is your power to choose how you react, and in your reaction lies your growth, freedom and happiness.
If you truly want to change your life, you must first change your mind. You must free it from the restrictive thinking that holds you back.

Here are 50 thought-provoking quotes.

1. You are only destined to become one person – the person you decide to be.
2. Do good and feel good. Do bad and feel bad. It’s that simple.
3. You are what you do today, not what you say you’ll do tomorrow.
4. We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.
5. Ultimately, it’s not what you do every once in a while; it’s what you dedicate yourself to on a regular basis that makes the difference.
6. Stay true to yourself. Never be ashamed of doing what feels right. Decide what you think is right and stick to it.
7. If you don’t stand for anything, you will remain forever on your knees.
8. No amount of money will make you happy if you aren’t happy with yourself.
9. You know you’ve made the right decision when there is peace in your heart.
10. Don’t worry if your goals seem crazy to other people; oftentimes the crazy ideas are the ones that have the greatest impact.
11. If you’re thinking like everyone else, then you aren’t thinking.
12. Control your own destiny or someone else will try for you.
13. Sometimes standing up to your friends can be just as difficult as standing up to your enemies.
14. The unhappiest people in this world are the people who care the most about what everyone else thinks.
15. When people undermine your dreams, predict your doom, or criticize you, remember, they’re telling you their story, not yours.
16. There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.
17. No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities.
18. Your greatest task isn’t to find love, but to discover and destroy all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
19. A loving, happy person lives in a loving, happy world. A hateful, miserable person lives in a hateful, miserable world. The world around you reflects YOU.
20. Worry gives small things a big shadow.
21. Focus your conscious mind on things you desire not things you fear. Doing so brings dreams to life.
22. It’s not the mistakes and failures you have to worry about, it’s the opportunities you miss when you don’t even try that hurt the most.
23. It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one over and over again.
24. To get something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.
25. The harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing.
26. Our problems are really our blessings if we use them to grow stronger.
27. Anyone can run away; it’s super easy. Facing problems and working through them, that’s what makes you strong.
28. When you have two good options, always go with the one that scares you the most, because that’s the one that’s going to help you grow.
29. Courage is being scared to death, and then taking the next step anyway.
30. Sometimes our greatest insight comes from our failure, not from our accomplishments.
31. You need to screw up to learn. You need to experience it all to create greatness.
32. Just because you don’t understand something now doesn’t mean the explanation doesn’t exist.
33. Not knowing everything about your future is a good thing.
34. Don’t worry about what you can’t control and you may liberate yourself.
35. People of average ability often achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most people succeed simply because they are determined to.
36. Temporary happiness isn’t worth long-term pain.
37. Patience can be bitter, but the seeds you plant now will bear sweet fruit.
38. The less you expect, the more pleasant life gets.
39. The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.
40. The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for.
41. It usually isn’t what you have or where you are or what you’re doing that makes you happy. It’s how you think about it all.
42. Do not dwell so much on creating your perfect life that you forget to live.
43. You are not in competition with anybody except yourself; plan to outdo your past not other people.
44. To admit that you were wrong is to declare that you are wiser now than you were before.
45. Humans see what they want to see.
46. If you spend too much time judging yourself, you won’t have any time to love yourself or anyone else.
47. At the end of the day, you can either focus on what’s tearing you apart or what’s holding you together.
48. Look through the front windshield and not the rearview mirror.
49. You don’t get to choose how you are going to die, or when. But you can choose how you are going to live, right now.
50. Be done with regrets; they are an excuse for people who have failed. You still have a chance.

Scource: marcandangel.com


Thank you,

Andrew Reiffenberger

Beliefs

Tip of the Day from Tony Robbins: Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Because of their amazing influence on our lives, we must understand these three challenges:

1. Most of us do not consciously decide what we're going to believe.
2. Often our beliefs are based on a misinterpretation of the past.
3. Once we adopt a belief, we tend to consider it gospel and forget that it's only one perspective.

www.andrewreiffenberger.com

Dreams

All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
-Walt Disney

8 Things You Can't Learn in a Classroom

1.  Unimagined, real world life experiences.

The most prolific experience is not in achieving something, but in seeking it.  It is the journey towards an endless horizon that matters – goals that move forward with you as you chase them.  It’s all about the pursuit and what you learn along the way – the ‘moving.’The most important reason for moving from one place to another is to see what’s in between.  In between is where passions are realized, love is found, strength is gained, and memories are made.  You can’t get any of that without firsthand living.

2.  True love and vulnerability.

You are subconsciously hardwired to connect with others – friendship, love, intimacy, etc. – and your willingness to be vulnerable is the gateway to the affection you crave from them.  But it takes serious courage to push the limits of your vulnerability, to dig deeper and deeper into the core of who you are as a unique individual and not only love and accept the imperfect parts of yourself but also expose them to someone else, trusting that this person will hold them considerately.Ultimately, to love is to be vulnerable, and to be willingly vulnerable is to show your greatest strength and your truest self.  Finding and nurturing the right relationships that make this kind of love possible is a beautiful, lifelong process.  Read 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.

3.  Actually staying positive when times get tough.

You are allowed to have bad days.  Even the happiest people in the world have bad days.  The reason they are able to maintain their happiness is that they know bad times are short-lived.  The weight of mistakes, the pain of rejection, the frustration of failure, and the aches of injuries fuel the happy instead of dragging them down.  They know these events are making them wiser and stronger.  Happiness isn’t a temporary state of mind.  Happiness is an enduring faith that what goes around comes around.  It’s a lifestyle that requires acknowledging that you are willing to do the work to make tomorrow a better day.In any situation, it’s not your specific circumstances that shape you, it’s how you react to your circumstances.  You can’t direct the wind, but you can always adjust your sails.  When it rains look for rainbows, when it’s dark out, look for stars.  Making a habit of this takes time and practice, but the positive effects will change the trajectory of your life.

4.  Coping with betrayal.

As William Blake so eloquently said, “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”Betrayal is a double-edged sword.  Not only do you feel betrayed by someone you trusted, you feel like you betrayed yourself for trusting this person in the first place.  You blame them and then you blame yourself. Learning to cope and let go enough to think clearly is something that can’t be fully understood in a conceptual setting; it must be realized and enforced as it happens.If you feel betrayed, it’s important to release any feelings of hate at once.  By doing so the bitterness has no time to take root.  Only then can you begin the process of evaluating the real situation – perhaps a frightening possibility such as:  “My beloved doesn’t love me,” or perhaps a more innocuous realization:  “This was an honest mistake that deserves to be forgiven.”

5.  The reality of death and the beauty of life.

There is only one thing in this world more disheartening than dying before you think it’s time, and that’s having a loved one who is dying before you think it’s time.  Depression is a primary side effect of dying, especially when the fatally ill is someone dear to your heart, or you yourself.  It’s a kind of aching pain and confusion that can’t be adequately portrayed in words.  Dealing with it is something all together different than an abstract discussion about it.You honestly never fully grasp how much someone means to you until the reality of their existence becomes an uncertain, immanent matter of life and death.  You never truly appreciate what you have in every little moment until you are faced with the possibility of not having another. Read The Last Lecture.

6.  Adjusting to life’s ever-changing obstacles.

What is true today may not be tomorrow.  Life is a series of natural and continuous changes – everything is a moving target.  What’s truly important is to embrace these changes as they happen.  To let the reality be the reality.  To let life’s happenings flow naturally forward, and to swim proficiently with the current.Your body, after all, is over 60% water.  You must learn to flow like the water that’s already a major part of who you are.  Water never resists.  Water’s strength is in its patience, persistence and adaptability.  It can’t stop everything that’s thrown at it, but it always goes around obstacles and through them.  Very few things in the end can reliably stand against it.  In time, even a small, slow, steady drip can wear away the face of a massive bolder.So keep this in mind always as you deal with life’s ever-changing obstacles.  Practice your patience and persistence and remember what you’re made of.  Like water, if you can’t go through an obstacle, flow around it.

7.  Self-forgiveness after a big mistake.

There’s a significant difference between knowing that you should forgive yourself and actually doing it.  Conceptually, it’s easy to say, “I forgive you.”  Sincerely believing it after you make a mistake, on the other hand, is a totally different practice – it takes discipline, strength and lots of self-love.  But that’s exactly what you must learn to do.When you initially forgive yourself, it’s hard.  It’s like pouring alcohol on an infected wound.  There’s a sharp initial pain and your scar becomes inflamed, but then it begins to heal so you can start living a healthy life again.  It’s all about getting used to dealing with pain upfront – getting it over with before it festers.Because the truth is, unless you let go, unless you pardon yourself, you can’t move forward.  You must love yourself enough to accept your humanness.  You have to sincerely forgive yourself, everyday, whenever you remember a shortcoming, or realize you’ve made another mistake.  You have to tell yourself, “It’s OK.  You’re doing OK.”  Take it as a lesson learned and forge toward the future without looking back.

8.  Maintaining a healthy balance.

Life is an endless balancing act.  There will always be more than one option and more than one obligation competing for your time.  Your power ultimately lies in your small daily choices, one after another, that you use to balance these demands, which gradually create eternal ripples of a life well lived.You must find the happy medium that works best for you in your unique situation – the right balance between activity and rest, work and family, passion and money, short-term and long-term goals, getting things done and leaving them undone, etc.  Without balance everything falls out of whack.  For instance, when you let your work life, or social life, or family life consume you, and 100% of your energy is focused in that one area 100% of the time, every other area of your life suffers.If you’re going to get things done right, be successful with your endeavors, and find lasting happiness, you need to balance the various dimensions of your life in a way that makes sense to you and your priorities.  Over time, and with enough experience, you will be able to evaluate any situation and find a happy, healthy equilibrium
from marcandangel.com


http://andrewreiffenbergeronline.com

Excellence

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

- Will Durant

Love

1 Corinthians 13: 4-6 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Win and learn

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn.

Get back up

Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting back up a nd moving foward i s a choice. -Zig Ziglar


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Quote of the day

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

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Accomplish

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.

Be you

Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.

Uncomplicate your life

- Leonardo Da Vinci- Life is actually pretty simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

Here are a few easy ways to uncomplicate it:
Learn from the past, and then get the heck out of there! – Past mistakes should teach you to create a wonderful future; not cause you to be afraid of it.  Don’t carry your mistakes around with you.  Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones.  Never regret.  If it’s good, it’s wonderful.  If it’s bad, it’s experience.  Success is not about where you are standing at any given point in time; it’s about how much you’ve learned and how far you’ve come to get there.
Focus on what’s truly important.  – Identify what’s most important to you.  Eliminate as much as you possibly can of everything else.  No wasted time, no fluff, no regrets.
Focus on being productive, not being busy. – Don’t just get things done; get the right things done.  Results are always more important than the time it takes to achieve them.  Stop and ask yourself if what you’re working on is worth the effort.  Is it bringing you in the same direction as your goals?  Don’t get caught up in odd jobs, even those that seem urgent, unless they are also important.
Give what you want to receive. – You get the best out of others, and every situation, when you give the best of yourself.  Start practicing the golden rule.  If you want love, give love.  If you want friends, be friendly.  If you want money, provide value.  It works.  It really is this simple.
Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Don’t try to be friends with everyone.  Cultivate closer relationships with fewer people.  Start focusing on being everything to someone.  Helping or pleasing everyone is impossible.  But making one person smile can change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.  So narrow your focus and be yourself.
Do what you know in your heart is right. – Stop doing immoral things simply because you can.  Start being honest with yourself and everyone else.  Don’t cheat.  Be faithful.  Be kind.  Do the right thing!  It is a less complicated way to live.  Integrity is the essence of everything successful.  When you break the rules of integrity you invite serious complications into your life.  Keep life simple and enjoyable by doing what you know in your heart is right.
Organize your space. – Start clearing clutter.  Get rid of stuff you don’t use and then organize what’s left.  Keeping both your living and working areas organized is crucial.  If you have a cluttered space, it can be distracting and stressful.  A clear space is like a blank canvas, available to be used to create something great.Be efficient. – Stop being inefficient simply because you’ve always done it that way.  If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.  Many times we live with unplanned, complex systems in our lives simply because we haven’t given them much thought.  Instead, streamline your life by finding better ways of handling common tasks.  Focus on one system at a time (your cleaning system, your errands system, your paperwork system, your email system, etc.) and try to make it simplified, efficient, and logical.  Then, once you have it perfected, stick to it.
Let things be less than perfect. – Smile every chance you get; not because life has been easy, perfect, or exactly as you had anticipated, but because you choose to be happy and grateful for all the good things you do have, and all the problems I know you don’t have.  You must accept the fact that life is not perfect, that people are not perfect, and that you are not perfect.  And that’s okay, because the real world doesn’t reward perfection.  It rewards people who get GOOD things done.  And the only way to get GOOD things done is to be imperfect 99% of the time.
Let go of needless drama and those who create it. – Never create unnecessary drama, and don’t surround yourself with those who do.  Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you – people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it.  Don’t walk away from negative people, RUN!  Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.
Forget what everyone else thinks and wants for you. – One of the greatest freedoms is simply not caring what everyone else thinks of you.  Sometimes you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and what you want to be.  The best thing you can do is follow your heart.  Take risks.  Don’t just accept the safe and easy choices because you’re afraid of what others will think, or afraid of what might happen.  If you do, nothing will ever happen.  Don’t let small minds convince you that your dreams are too big.  They aren’t.
Souce:marcandangel.com

Opportunity

“What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity?  Our attitude toward it.  Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.” 
―J. Sidlow Baxter

Andrew Reiffenberger

Happiness

“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”
―Walt Whitman

8 wake up calls you need

Here are eight wake-up calls for you – a few important lessons worth learning before it’s too late:

1.  You might not have tomorrow to say, “I love you.”

About a decade ago a coworker of mine died in a car accident.  During his funeral several people from the office were in tears, saying kind things like: “I loved him.  We all loved him so much.  He was such a wonderful person.”  I started crying too, and I wondered if these people had told him that they loved him while he was alive, or whether it was only with death that this powerful word, love, had been used without question or hesitation.I vowed to myself then and there that I would never again hesitate to speak up to the people I love and remind them of how much I appreciate them.  They deserve to know they give meaning to my life.  They deserve to know I think the world of them.Bottom line:  If you love someone today, tell them.  If you appreciate someone today, tell them.  There might not be a tomorrow.  Today is the day to express your love and admiration.  Read 1,000 Little Things.

2.  Your judgments of others are inaccurate.

You will never know exactly what another person is going through or what their whole story is.  When you believe you do, realize that your assumptions about their life are in direct relation to your limited perspective.Many people you believe to be successful are extremely unhappy.  Many people you think have it easy worked their tail off achieve what they have.  Many people who appear to be wealthy are in debt because of their extravagant tastes for material possessions.  Many people who appear to you to be old and uncool were once every bit as young and hip and inexperienced as you.

3.  Not trying is why most people fail.

It’s not the mistakes and failures you have to worry about, it’s the opportunities you miss when you don’t even try that hurt you the most.  Trying always leads to success regardless of the outcome.  Even mistakes and failures teach you what not to do next time.  Thus, every outcome is a lesson that makes you stronger and wiser.In the end, there’s only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the failure to try.  The results you achieve are not based on what you plan to do or what you say you’ll do.  Your results come from what you actually TRY and DO.

4.  Patience does not mean waiting and doing nothing.

Patience involves productive activity.  It means doing your very best with the resources available to you, while understanding that the results you seek are worth the required time and effort, and not available elsewhere for any less time and effort.Patience is the realization that the quality of your life is much more significant than the quantity of things you fill it with.  Patience is your willingness to accept and appreciate what you have right now, while you put forth a steady, focused effort into growing toward your dreams and goals.  Read The Power of Habit.

5.  You don’t need anything more to be happy.

Intuitively, you already know that the best stuff in life isn’t stuff at all, and that relationships, experiences and meaningful work are the staples of a happy, fulfilling life.  Yet you live in a consumer driven society where your mind is incessantly subjected to clever advertising ploys that drive you, against your better judgment, to buy material goods you don’t need or even want.At a certain point, the needless material objects you buy crowd out the emotional needs advertisers would like you to believe they are meant to support.  So next time you’re getting ready to make an impulsive purchase, ask yourself if this thing is really better than the things you already have.  Or have you been momentarily tricked into believing that you’re dissatisfied with what you already have?

6.  You aren’t perfect, and neither is anyone else.

All humans are imperfect.  At times, the confident lose confidence, the patient misplace their patience, the generous act selfish, and the knowledgeable second guess what they know.And guess what?  You’re human and so am I – we all are.  We make mistakes, we lose our tempers, and we get caught off guard.  We stumble, we slip, and we spin out of control sometimes.But that’s the worst of it; we all have our moments.  Most of the time we’re remarkable.  So stand beside the people you love through their trying times of imperfection, and offer yourself the same courtesy; if you aren’t willing to, you don’t deserve to be around for the perfect moments either.

7.  All the small things make a big difference.

Life isn’t about a single moment of great triumph and attainment.  It’s about the trials and errors that get you there – the blood, sweat, and tears – the small, inconsequential things you do every day.  It all matters in the end – every step, every regret, every decision, and every affliction.The seemingly useless happenings add up to something.  The minimum wage job you had in high school.  The evenings you spent socializing with coworkers you never see anymore.  The hours you spent writing thoughts on a personal blog that no one reads.  Contemplations about elaborate future plans that never came to be.  All those lonely nights spent reading novels and news columns and comics strips and fashion magazines and questioning your own principles on life and sex and religion and whether or not you’re good enough just the way you are.All of this has strengthened you.  All of this has led you to every success you’ve ever had.   All of this has made you who you are today.  Read The Last Lecture.

8.  Excuses are lies.

Make no mistake, there is always a lie lingering in between a dream and too many excuses.  And the lie is you lying to yourself.The excuses and explanations won’t do you any good.  They won’t add any value to your life or improve the quality of it by even the slightest margin.  To fulfill your calling and get where you wish to go in life requires more than just thinking and talking.  These feats require focused and sustained action.  And the good news is, you’re perfectly capable of taking whatever actions are necessary.  You just have to choose to actually do it.No one else can succeed for you on your behalf.  The life you live is the life you build for yourself.  There are so many possibilities to choose from, and so many opportunities for you to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.  Now is the moment to actually step forward.
From marcandangel.com

http://andrewreiffenbergeronline.com

Andrew Reiffenberger

Happy Easter!

Andrew Reiffenberger

up to no good

Happiness

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say,and what you do are in harmony.”―Mahatma Gandhi

Andrew Reiffenberger Blog

Personal Brand
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Personal Website
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Passion

 

Passion is a powerful force; if properly channeled, it is unstoppable. -Robert Kiyosaki

Life