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Two simple steps are needed to reach your goal: First, keep your attention on the goal. Second, make efforts towards that goal. Then, repeat!
Author and teacher Dale Carnegie dedicated his life to helping people realize their goals.
Starting and ending each day with expressions of thankfulness and gratitude increases happiness and positive results!
Part II of a series begun December 8, 2016.
So, you have a big, bold goal in mind - or maybe several! Now that you know you want it, how do you get going?
As Les Brown says, ”Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner."
Before you sleep, picture yourself living your goal. Think about how it feels; see it as your reality. This is charging after them. Your life design is working!
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward."
~ Amelia Earhart
And, as my son Trey says, “Never give up.”
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
~ Thomas A. Edison
Today is glorious for me; going to treat my patients at the dental office, or to teach orthodontics, or to cook dinner, or sit on the couch and talk to my husband Claude.
When I realize I am not enjoying the moment, as soon as I can realize it, I begin to re-focus my attention on gratitude and on my goals.
My goals keep changing. We meet some goals just as we had planned. Other goals change form or meaning.
Some of these "changing" goals are stepping stones to more important and wonderful parts of life. They are part of the journey -- even though they are not met in the form we imagined. Yet they are all very important.
Every night Claude and I say together,
“I know, within me now, is the Divine ability to manifest or attract everything I need or desire. All I desire is on its way. It will arrive on time, and in even greater amounts than I have imagined.”
And every morning we say,
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for the miracles and magnificent outcomes of today.”
Then we review what they are for that day.
"Today is life--the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto."
~ Dale Carnegie
So, you have a big, bold goal in mind - or maybe several! Now that you know you want it, how do you get going?
- Place your attention on your goal. Write it down. Carry the paper in your pocket. Look at it whenever you put your hand into your pocket. Some have said you can put a small shell or rock or item in your pocket and feel it. ANYTHING that helps you keep your attention on the goal is great.
- Begin moving toward the goal. For me, though I didn’t know it at the time, wanting to be in medicine, I moved toward my goal by working in the hospital environment. Fortunately helping with bedpans did not dissuade me from my goal ? . Rather, the environment propelled me.
As Les Brown says, ”Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner."
Before you sleep, picture yourself living your goal. Think about how it feels; see it as your reality. This is charging after them. Your life design is working!
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward."
~ Amelia Earhart
And, as my son Trey says, “Never give up.”
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
~ Thomas A. Edison
Today is glorious for me; going to treat my patients at the dental office, or to teach orthodontics, or to cook dinner, or sit on the couch and talk to my husband Claude.
When I realize I am not enjoying the moment, as soon as I can realize it, I begin to re-focus my attention on gratitude and on my goals.
My goals keep changing. We meet some goals just as we had planned. Other goals change form or meaning.
Some of these "changing" goals are stepping stones to more important and wonderful parts of life. They are part of the journey -- even though they are not met in the form we imagined. Yet they are all very important.
Every night Claude and I say together,
“I know, within me now, is the Divine ability to manifest or attract everything I need or desire. All I desire is on its way. It will arrive on time, and in even greater amounts than I have imagined.”
And every morning we say,
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for the miracles and magnificent outcomes of today.”
Then we review what they are for that day.
"Today is life--the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto."
~ Dale Carnegie
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Being "bored" helps children develop their imagination and develop problem-solving skills.
Healthy play away from screens is essential for children's development.
“Mom, I’m bo - o - red!”
Many parents jump into action, feeling it’s important to entertain and play with their children so they won’t be bored. And, the children are often entertained with screens, TV, movies, videos, pads, phones, games and computers.
Screen use is damaging to brains (children AND adults) and prevents imagination and pondering. Imagining and pondering are kinds of thinking that have quite the opposite effect to screen use.
These healthful "problem-solving" thinking patterns help the brain develop in ways that teach your child to prioritize, organize, cope and feel empathy and compassion for others. They also help your child learn, perform better, reduce risk of addictions, and have better relationships throughout life.
Studies show screen use is associated with structural and functional damage to brain regions involving emotions, attention, decision-making and thought control. (Lin & Zhou et al, 2012.)
Psychologists and physicians explain sensory overload, lack of restorative sleep and a hyper-aroused nervous system are symptoms of brain damage from electronic screens.
Dr. Victoria Dunckley’s book, Reset Your Child’s Brain, explains the child’s brain damage, symptoms and dysfunction caused by screen use. She explains the children are more impulsive, moody, and can’t pay attention. Dr. Dunckley reports on studies that explain the brain damage includes atrophy (loss) of both the brain's gray matter and white matter.
Screen use thus damages both brain function and brain structure (anatomy).
We used to think of computers as educational for our children, so it became important for children to have computer access at home and at school. Now we are realizing we were wrong about computer access.
Limit screen time. Watching TV, playing video games and spending time on the computer diminishes your child’s imagination by not letting them imagine worlds and outcomes of their own. Screen time also encourages children to be passive and uninvolved, which is unhealthy for mind and body. Better to be outside climbing trees, finding cloud shapes, running about…
Remember, it’s important for your mind to wander, to ponder. The wandering mind comes up with imaginative ideas and solutions.
Through boredom you find your curiosity, persistence, playfulness, and you develop hobbies that you like. Your brain needs you to spend time watching the world go by - people, cars, animals, and clouds.
Can you imagine sitting at the soccer game without looking at your phone? Or waiting in the pick-up line for your children at school? Or at work without looking at your phone all day?
Point is, if you go through your day and don’t look at your phone when you are waiting - for anything or anyone - you will be creating a more resilient, healthy, thicker brain, and enjoying your pondering.
Let your children be bored! Enjoy them developing in broader, amazing ways! Can you imagine? They will be smarter, more creative, more buoyant, happier, more quick to recover, stronger than ever, more interested in their world, nicer, more compassionate, more aware, more athletic, more fun to be around.
Let’s be bored
Many parents jump into action, feeling it’s important to entertain and play with their children so they won’t be bored. And, the children are often entertained with screens, TV, movies, videos, pads, phones, games and computers.
Screen use is damaging to brains (children AND adults) and prevents imagination and pondering. Imagining and pondering are kinds of thinking that have quite the opposite effect to screen use.
These healthful "problem-solving" thinking patterns help the brain develop in ways that teach your child to prioritize, organize, cope and feel empathy and compassion for others. They also help your child learn, perform better, reduce risk of addictions, and have better relationships throughout life.
Studies show screen use is associated with structural and functional damage to brain regions involving emotions, attention, decision-making and thought control. (Lin & Zhou et al, 2012.)
Psychologists and physicians explain sensory overload, lack of restorative sleep and a hyper-aroused nervous system are symptoms of brain damage from electronic screens.
Dr. Victoria Dunckley’s book, Reset Your Child’s Brain, explains the child’s brain damage, symptoms and dysfunction caused by screen use. She explains the children are more impulsive, moody, and can’t pay attention. Dr. Dunckley reports on studies that explain the brain damage includes atrophy (loss) of both the brain's gray matter and white matter.
Screen use thus damages both brain function and brain structure (anatomy).
We used to think of computers as educational for our children, so it became important for children to have computer access at home and at school. Now we are realizing we were wrong about computer access.
Limit screen time. Watching TV, playing video games and spending time on the computer diminishes your child’s imagination by not letting them imagine worlds and outcomes of their own. Screen time also encourages children to be passive and uninvolved, which is unhealthy for mind and body. Better to be outside climbing trees, finding cloud shapes, running about…
Remember, it’s important for your mind to wander, to ponder. The wandering mind comes up with imaginative ideas and solutions.
Through boredom you find your curiosity, persistence, playfulness, and you develop hobbies that you like. Your brain needs you to spend time watching the world go by - people, cars, animals, and clouds.
Can you imagine sitting at the soccer game without looking at your phone? Or waiting in the pick-up line for your children at school? Or at work without looking at your phone all day?
Point is, if you go through your day and don’t look at your phone when you are waiting - for anything or anyone - you will be creating a more resilient, healthy, thicker brain, and enjoying your pondering.
Let your children be bored! Enjoy them developing in broader, amazing ways! Can you imagine? They will be smarter, more creative, more buoyant, happier, more quick to recover, stronger than ever, more interested in their world, nicer, more compassionate, more aware, more athletic, more fun to be around.
Let’s be bored
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At Heritage Village in Abu Dhabi, craftsmen create beautiful handmade Arab coffee pots.
The gahwa pot is a symbol of hospitality. It's even depicted on the UAE's 1-dirham coin.
A traditional Arab pot for gahwa displayed in an Abu Dhabi home. In the old days, gahwa pots were placed on hot coals to brew this coffee.
By Claude E. Hammond
(guest blogger, Dr Chris' husband)
This morning it was time to get a new ibrik, or Turkish coffee pot — one of those handled small pots used to create fiercely strong little cups of exquisite coffee. Here in Abu Dhabi, there are plenty of stores where you can buy a factory-made ibrik. But this is the Middle East. Coffee — gahwa in Arabic — was discovered here.
This calls for buying an authentic, hand-made ibrik. We already have a pot for gahwa.
We get our traditional Arab coffee pots made for us by Mohammed, the coppersmith who works at Heritage Village, a cultural attraction found just across the bay from downtown Abu Dhabi, near the National Theatre.
If you should ever be privileged to attend a function at one of the sheikhs’ palaces in Abu Dhabi, there’s a strong possibility Mohammed the coppersmith made the gahwa pots used there. His handiwork is well-known. It was a short drive from Abu Dhabi’s Khalidiyah area, so I went there before work. He made the perfect ibrik and I bought it. Muhammed made both our traditional coffee vessels.
To Arabs, gahwa represents hospitality and Emiratis are famous for being hospitable. This is a very nice thing for us gahwa-lovers. Gahwa pots are even shown on the front of the United Arab Emirates’ one-dirham coin.
Traditional gahwa consists of ground coffee from lightly-roasted beans, mixed with ground cardamom and cloves. The old-fashioned way of brewing gahwa was to sit a large brass or copper gahwa pot on hot coals brewing a mixture of grounds and water to make this delicious beverage. When you visit a traditional Gulf Arab home, business, or hotel, you are often greeted with a small cup of gahwa and a plate of dates.
Gahwa’s northern cousin is Turkish coffee. Turkish coffee is finely-ground dark-roasted beans with no spices mixed in. It’s a different beverage altogether.
Coffee is addictive. The dates you are served in the UAE can be just as addictive. They come in a wide variety of sizes, tastes and colors. Some dates are stuffed with pistachios or candied orange peel. Some have an explosion of flavor that closely resembles caramel while other dates can taste like honey. Dates are usually not pitted, so expect to find a hard seed within when biting one.
In the Middle East, there are two rules of etiquette to follow when you are offered gahwa and dates. Your host will likely assume you want a refill of gahwa. When you’re finished drinking gahwa, hold out your cup and shake it a little. It’s a gracious way of saying “I’ve had enough.”
Secondly, when you eat dates, only take an odd number of them… one, three, five, and so on. It’s bad manners to eat an even number of dates.
Modern science shows that dates are a rich source of potassium. Their natural sugars give energy and are healthier than processed factory-made sweeteners. An old Bedu once told me that all he needed in order to work all day was nine dates for breakfast with gahwa.
I can’t argue with that. We enjoy our new coffee pots.
(guest blogger, Dr Chris' husband)
This morning it was time to get a new ibrik, or Turkish coffee pot — one of those handled small pots used to create fiercely strong little cups of exquisite coffee. Here in Abu Dhabi, there are plenty of stores where you can buy a factory-made ibrik. But this is the Middle East. Coffee — gahwa in Arabic — was discovered here.
This calls for buying an authentic, hand-made ibrik. We already have a pot for gahwa.
We get our traditional Arab coffee pots made for us by Mohammed, the coppersmith who works at Heritage Village, a cultural attraction found just across the bay from downtown Abu Dhabi, near the National Theatre.
If you should ever be privileged to attend a function at one of the sheikhs’ palaces in Abu Dhabi, there’s a strong possibility Mohammed the coppersmith made the gahwa pots used there. His handiwork is well-known. It was a short drive from Abu Dhabi’s Khalidiyah area, so I went there before work. He made the perfect ibrik and I bought it. Muhammed made both our traditional coffee vessels.
To Arabs, gahwa represents hospitality and Emiratis are famous for being hospitable. This is a very nice thing for us gahwa-lovers. Gahwa pots are even shown on the front of the United Arab Emirates’ one-dirham coin.
Traditional gahwa consists of ground coffee from lightly-roasted beans, mixed with ground cardamom and cloves. The old-fashioned way of brewing gahwa was to sit a large brass or copper gahwa pot on hot coals brewing a mixture of grounds and water to make this delicious beverage. When you visit a traditional Gulf Arab home, business, or hotel, you are often greeted with a small cup of gahwa and a plate of dates.
Gahwa’s northern cousin is Turkish coffee. Turkish coffee is finely-ground dark-roasted beans with no spices mixed in. It’s a different beverage altogether.
Coffee is addictive. The dates you are served in the UAE can be just as addictive. They come in a wide variety of sizes, tastes and colors. Some dates are stuffed with pistachios or candied orange peel. Some have an explosion of flavor that closely resembles caramel while other dates can taste like honey. Dates are usually not pitted, so expect to find a hard seed within when biting one.
In the Middle East, there are two rules of etiquette to follow when you are offered gahwa and dates. Your host will likely assume you want a refill of gahwa. When you’re finished drinking gahwa, hold out your cup and shake it a little. It’s a gracious way of saying “I’ve had enough.”
Secondly, when you eat dates, only take an odd number of them… one, three, five, and so on. It’s bad manners to eat an even number of dates.
Modern science shows that dates are a rich source of potassium. Their natural sugars give energy and are healthier than processed factory-made sweeteners. An old Bedu once told me that all he needed in order to work all day was nine dates for breakfast with gahwa.
I can’t argue with that. We enjoy our new coffee pots.
