Reading

How did we as a nation develop the concept that schooling ends with school? Yet, for most people that is how learning through books is viewed. 

I did some research into adult reading and like all statistics numbers can reflect positively or negatively for whichever point you’re attempting to make. I’ll argue most adults, following their High School or College education, do not crack a book again for the sole intent of “learning.” Multiple studies show we are at our lowest casual reading levels in decades and that trend is continuing.

You are either growing or decaying - right? How often I write on this. Unless required for work, many of us would rather not have to read to learn again. I definitely fell into that category until about 20 years ago when I was introduced to the world of self-help books. And what did I learn? Just how much wisdom and knowledge available to all of us I didn’t know existed! These books changed my life. 

Self-Improvement books, leadership books and worthy biographies are filled with wisdom, years of travelled experience, captured forever in the written word. An ongoing conversation for the reader to learn the shortcuts to success or simply a more fulfilling and happier life, written by an author who poured his or her learned knowledge and wisdom into their book for us forever - if we choose to read them. 

Without such reading you are left with only one other choice - figure it out on your own. And how much sadness do we see in the world today? It’s everywhere. We often feel we know best until we find ourselves learning yet another hard lesson in life. 

It is impossible to learn everything in one’s lifetime by experience alone. Reading classics such as “As A Man Thinketh,” “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” “Think and Grow Rich,” “The Power of Positive Thinking,” “The Laws of Success,” are a few quick examples of gaining such insights, allowing you greater access to a happier life with the least hardships along the way.

I believe you’ll find most successful entrepreneurs have read each of these or at least employ their concepts. They don’t look towards others to fix their problems. They create a way where there is no way and learn success principles allowing them to create the life they dream of. 

That’s what books of this nature do - they provide a broader horizon in which to tackle our daily lives. With so much suffering going on in today’s world, how different would life be experienced if everyone was filled with such wisdom? 

Here’s a truth I believe fully - an uneducated America will be a rewritten America. I wrote that in response to some of the ignorant statements thrown around last week in regards to our Nation’s Independence Day. Never before in the history of mankind is reading so available to the masses - yet what is the quality of what is being read? You don’t have to look far to find the answer to that.

Burning Desire

It begins with a burning desire of a greater future that no one suggested but came from within. Your vision, your passion sets the stage for your determination to make things happen in your life. We are the masters of our destiny in a world of infinite possibilities - it’s not about wh ,at’s out there but what’s inside of you.

Get out of the “blame game” and take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Bad things occur we have no control over - how we deal with these establishes our character. If the vision is grand enough, and we do not allow ourselves to be attached to the outcome, setbacks teach us wisdom and bring us steps closer to the dream.

Too often people get too discouraged when things go “wrong” because they are attached. But when you let go of that attachment, and see setbacks as learnings, tools added to your toolbox of knowledge and wisdom, it’s because your vision is greater than disappointments and success is nearing.

Change Cannot Be Stopped

Change

Being alive by definition means Change. Nothing living is stagnant. We may or may not experience a major metamorphosis in our lives but gradually, or slowly, change is happening to each of us. Each day, every day we are choosing who we will become. So a great question to ask yourself consistently is - am I “evolving” or “devolving?”

While on my way to Dallas, a 13 year old girl sitting next to me during the flight was reading the classic (>15 million copies sold), “How to win friends and influence people.”

Aghast!!!

I asked her how she heard of the book and she said her older brother. I asked what she has enjoyed most thus far - “That it was written so long ago and still applies to today” was her response. Wise girl!

I watched her engulfed in the book’s timeless message and life changing approach to living amongst others. She’d read a little, then sit there and contemplate. Fascinating to observe this young girl as she went through about 40 pages in all.

What are you doing right now to evolve? What choices are you making daily to become a better version of you? Powerful questions to ask yourself throughout your day.

Whether involved with a task or improving a relationship, approach it as the most important priority in your life and do your very best to ensure you are evolving, becoming your very best. And then spend a moment in reflection asking yourself what went supreme and what can I improve upon. Evolve 💝

~Namaste

Visions vs Goals

One of my favorite things to ask is what’s your dream? Your vision for your future?

Some may have one but it is more a wish than a desire for they’ve not a clue of how to make it happen.

But I’d say most do not even have one. Ask those around you! You might be surprised.

Not everyone can see beyond tomorrow or even this day - they’re just getting by. But what happens tomorrow if you don’t have a dream for yourself; not others or family per say, but yourself, your growth, your evolution?

For if you don’t evolve how can you possibly accomplish greatness in others? It has to begin within yourself first.

Spend time on where you want to go - a great place to begin your focus is on 5 years from now, and then work backwards.

Take the time now so you don’t have to take the time later. Sit down with pen and paper and develop a plan. People plan vacations, their TV schedule, their party adventures, but rarely spend time planning their future.

Start with that dream of where you desire to be in 5 years and work backwards all the way to today. When you do so, you begin to create discipline, work ethic, achievable goals, and most importantly the emotion of deserving of success. Because without that “deserving of success” it will remain a wish.

The Paper Cup

The Paper Cup - Are you living AT CAUSE or IN EFFECT?

You're walking in your favorite park - your sanctuary. when you see this paper cup someone dropped on the ground right next to a trash can.

You have three choices:

1) Walk past unaffected

2) Get upset that someone wouldn't make the effort to throw it away properly

3) Greet the cup as an opportunity to make God's world a bit more beautiful, pick it up with loving grace and place it in the trash knowing someone else will now enjoy a cleaner park.

Additionally, you've done so with the compassion of those whose job it is to keep the park clean knowing they have one less cup to pick up.

One of the themes within my book is choosing to live in effect (option 2) or at cause (option 3). This applies to most every aspect of your life, especially in your language. Be aware of the words you use to describe your life- daily and overall. They create your reality!!!

Life is a series of choices. You can drop your trash on your self and others, or be considerate, even uplifting. The choice is yours alone to make throughout your journey each day. ❤

~Namaste~

3 Ways to Reconnect and Strengthen Your Relationships

Yes!! This just happened!! Podcast discussing my NEW book: Discovering Your Authentic Truth

http://askjeremyjones.com/64-reconnect-and-strengthen-your-relationships/