To Create Your New World, Start with the Basics

Abilities, Breaks, and Courage are the ABC's that I have lived by since my teens. Each letter requires constant work to properly position oneself to be receptive to emerging newness. You'll grasp my ideology as you continue to read this article.

I'm going to share with you what I consider to be one of the easiest ways I know of to live a better life. A way that will not only improve your lot but that of everyone you care about--even people that you have met or will never meet! This is another one of those things that is so simple that it still amazes me that people need to be reminded of it. Here it is:

You need to take care of the basics.

By basics, I mean those little things that are so easy to let slide while you are pursuing things that are supposedly more important. Here are a few examples:

• Getting enough exercise and eating the right foods so that your body stays healthy and your mind functions properly.
• Showing people you love how much you care by giving them a passionate hug and kiss every day.
• Helping out in your own neighborhood, church, and community so that you can make it a better environment for everyone to thrive in.
• Taking on new challenges or learning new skills which will give you a feeling of accomplishment so that you'll be able to contribute or accomplish even more. Have you done that lately?
• Spending a little time alone with yourself to examine your own thoughts and beliefs. Now, don't over-examine your thoughts and beliefs to the point of stagnation or procrastination.

If you are ever going to truly live a happy and complete life, these "basics" must be part of your daily activities. Now you may think there are a lot of them, but they don't take much effort or thought once you get started.

Now at this point, you may be asking "How do I get started?"

Well, you can begin by hugging your spouse, kids, and friends when you see them. Tell them that you love them.

Volunteer on community and church projects. If we all just donated a couple of hours a month, we would all be living in a better world.

Spend some quiet time praying or meditating and see if your mental stress isn't lowered.

Get up and move. Your body is like an engine and it needs to be run often to keep all the parts working properly.

Give that engine good fuel to burn. To steal two old sayings, "You are what you eat" and "Junk in, junk out." No matter what is going on around me, I refuse to compromise on employing good eating habits, and doing my daily workout.

When you take care of the little things, you'll be amazed at how few of the big things there really are. If and when the big shockers do strike, you'll be in a much better state to deal with them and have a much healthier support system in place to help you through.

Let's always place every experience within the context of: "What am I supposed to learn and use for my growth and advancement of life?"

My challenge for you this week:

Employ this life analysis approach to handle every experience encountered and let a fulfilling sense of newness emerge.

1. What life experiences are you continuously struggling with?
2. Make a prioritized list of those experiences.
3. Assess each experience by determining whether you see it as positive or negative; helping you or hindering you; and, as making you confident or making you lack confidence.
4. For any of your experiences deemed to be negative, hindering, or make you lack confidence spend some time identifying what you are supposed to learn?
5. Take your lessons learned and make a pledge to, now, move on to your next stage of living without them.
6. Lastly, write down what thoughts and behaviors you will let emerge as the new you?

You deserve to upgrade yourself and allow the world to experience it!