LIVING AN AMAZING LIFE

You've heard it all before,..."you only have one life", "only one time around the track"' etc. But how many of you can honestly say you are living an amazing life?   I wish the consensus would be that everyone is.  But the reality is that most do not.  Most are quite frankly going through the motions of life, settling for what is and how things are and have always been, etc.  In many instances people knowingly go just through the motions.  The motions they learned by the display and example of their parents, friends, associates, and the like. 


If you are not living the most amazing life you can live, then maybe this entry can help in some small way. 

I could say that I can't imagine what it is like "not" to be living an amazing life but that would be untrue.  It is only recently that I have finally discovered what it is like to live an amazing life.  What is an "amazing" life anyway? Is it living a financially independent life? Is it just being happy? Is it sharing your life with loved ones? Is it doing what you love? Is it feeling great every day? Is it giving of yourself in every way possible?  Is it feeling a sense of confidence that makes you believe you can conquer anything?  Is it the pride you feel when you know you gave your very best? Is it the happiness you feel when you know you helped someone else? Is it accomplishing something you set out to do?  Is it the self-esteem you enjoy when you make yourself do things you hold yourself accountable to?  The answer is a resounding YES!!!!  It is all of these and way more.  Essentially it is a "feeling" you have while you walk the earth. It is the "being" part of the human experience. 

You are going to live and die. Period. How you choose to experience your life is obviously your choice. Why do so many of us choose mediocrity and a life without most of the aforementioned amazing life qualities and features? Why do we get caught up in the rut where we are awakened alarmed by an alarm clock, rushed off to work, dragged through the day, scurried home to an electronic lollipop (TV) and then slide off to bed, only to start it all over again tomorrow?  Why? Is this what life is all about? 

I contend that there are a bunch of psychological issues that would allow one to remain in a state less than amazing.  For me it came from "events" in my life that for some reason didn't turn out how I anticipated, or hoped for or desired. Unfortunately, during those low moments of my life I focused on something "in" my life and not "on" my life. There is a huge difference.  I have and many others define ourselves by our outcomes instead of who we are. We fail to take stock in what we have become and how we have improved the world by being the best we can be at everything we do. It's easier said than done. In the end it is how we process our life in our head that dictates how we feel each and every moment of each and every day. 

The fastest and easiest way to kick start living an amazing life is to introduce discipline in your life.  Strict, unwavering and relentless discipline is what is necessary in order to get the “feeling”.  The feeling you get when you exercise discipline is one of the most empowering feelings you can experience.  It is one of power, upright posture and un-limitedness.  The first time you do something you promised you would do for yourself certainly spurs a major powerful feeling, but the subsequent delivering of promises to yourself will give you wings. 

I think most would agree that it feels better to think of yourself as an unlimited being. It feels better after we make ourselves do something we told ourselves we must do than it does to slack.  It feels better when we do our very best at whatever the task is at hand that it does when we half ass something.  It feels better to help someone else out than to walk on by.  It feels better when we eat a healthy meal than opting for the greasy, carcinogen laden dead food. It feels better when we have the money that supports our design on our own mobility in life than it does to scrape by. 

So how do we affect how we feel? How do we manage our thoughts and our internal conversations?  Only you can manage your thoughts. In your head you are master and commander. You are given choices on how you process everything in your life. Choosing the path that promotes a good feeling versus a bad feeling is what is necessary to feel great. Habit will get in the way and habit is to be tamed like a subservient. You command habit by forging new healthy habits in place of old habits that were not allowing you to feel great.  Habits of how we think can be the most difficult. Here you must control your own thoughts.  This control will not happen overnight. It will take many events where you think the way you used to think, and then catch yourself so you can replace it with the new and improved thinking habit.  Each time you do this; you will be strengthening your new habits and weakening the old. Over time the new habits will reign dominant and your life will have changed.  You must be patient through this process but consistent.  Life will NOT change overnight.  Change, real consistent change is a process of small steps stung together to become an amazing result.

Choice.  As the great teacher and philosopher Jim Rohn once said, "human beings have been granted a unique ability which no other member of the animal kingdom possesses - the ability to choose.  It is by exercising the gift of choice that we can alter what was and what is.  You see, life doesn't get better by chance - it gets better by choice." We are all equalized with 24 hours in a day and the power of choice.  The choices we make and execute on today in our "given 24 hours", will affect our tomorrows and years to come.  It will also affect everyone who knows you and experiences you in their daily life. 

 I recently golfed with a man named Dennis, a former Chief of Police in Canada in which he shared an experience he had back in 1965. One day he showed up at a golf course to play and was paired with another two golfers to make a threesome. The man, Ralph Boston, quickly took control and got the three of them to start playing without paying the fees, stating they could do it after they play. They all agreed and off they went. Ralph then proceeded to make a wager with Dennis.  After they both inflated their golf handicaps, they agreed on a pitcher of beer as the wager. They had a great day of golf and laughter.  When they got in, Dennis went to pay the fees and the attendant at the course told him that Ralph had already paid the fees before they even went out.  Dennis, while extremely grateful, could not accept such a generous offer and told Ralph he simply couldn't accept it. Ralph told him that he had a really great time and it was worth it to him; and that if he didn't have such a great time, he told Dennis he surely would be paying. As they made their way to the bar inside the clubhouse, they were presented with a pitcher of beer and they had not even ordered yet. Dennis now anxious to pay for something asks the waiter how much it was and the waiter advised them that is was already paid for by Ralph and that he ordered it before they went to play.  What a guy! What a unique way to affect someone else's life by demonstrating there are people out there like that.  And he did indeed change his life by inspiring Dennis to pay it forward.  Some 47 years later this man's deeds were retold to me and probably countless others before me, living on as a story that brings a sense of "I can do more to make the world a better and a more interesting place". 

Ralph could not have ever known that his actions, as simple as they were, would live on and inspire others for years. 

So here I share it with you.  Wouldn't it be nice if someone were to tell a story of you and your good deeds well after you die?  A story told about how you profoundly affected someone’s life in a positive way is the best testament of your life.  Start small with paying for the person behind you at the toll booth and work your way up to making profound contributions to the lives of others.  Start small by being consistent with your actions.  Start by maintaining an amazing attitude that serves to be inspiring to others.  Start by asking how you can serve instead of how you can be served.  Start, today.  Start now.  Start really “being”. 

Co-Written by Frank Clark