Thanksgiving

An Attitude of Thanksgiving

By Mike Thompson

Thanksgiving is an awesome time of year. What other day do families come together on to reflect on what we are grateful for and then devour it until we fall asleep? Of course we come together other times of the year such as Christmas to feast and exchange gifts but no other day do we come together and reflect on what we are grateful for. 

Much of this is due to our busy lifestyles. When we juggle work, family, shopping, chores, and the rest of everyday life, it seems we have little time to relax let alone ponder the seemingly meaningless details of our day. This is unfortunate, especially considering the benefits of thanksgiving. Being thankful goes beyond simply seeing the glass half full, it actually propels us into a mindset that not only changes our attitudes and the way other people treat us but also changes us.

Last fall, my wife and I had the opportunity to go Zimbabwe. During the trip we got to visit an orphanage. While there, the lady who ran the orphanage told us that someone had stolen some diapers they desperately needed. Keep in mind, these weren’t Huggies, they were cotton diapers that they have to wash and reuse.

As a response, many present from our group agreed that stealing diapers from an orphanage could potentially get you to the lowest part of hell. When the orphanage mom heard it, she quickly corrected us. She said think about how desperate and in need they are if they have to steal from us. It’s not their fault, she convinced us; they are just doing what they have to do as well. 

Needless to say, this blew our minds. Coming from the abundance of the west, it was hard for us to even comprehend this kind of idea but she, the victim, was filled with more peace and contentment than we were. Her peace and contentment not only spread to us but so did the understanding of the situation which I believe planted a seed that has sprouted at other times in my life, one time even recently.

Just this fall, I found myself getting frustrated at a close relative that I work with weekly. As I was driving, I began expressing my frustration to my wife when a good memory of him came to mind. I noticed my attitude and frustration towards him completely changed when this memory of him encouraging some homeless people replayed in my mind. Instead of remaining offended, I quickly became thankful for having him as a part of my life. My entire countenance changed as this ah-ha moment unfolded. 

At that moment, I started realizing to a greater degree the transforming power and freedom that an attitude of thanksgiving brings. Not only did it deliver me from my frustration at that moment, it changed my attitude toward him which changed the way I treated him, thus, making me a different person. 

I encourage you all to take a different look at the frustrating people and circumstances in your life. Not only during this holiday season but every day for the rest of your life, try to look for something good in every person and circumstance with an attitude of thanksgiving. You never know who you might change, even yourself.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Life Deposits

Life Deposits: Discovering Treasure in Meaningless Experiences

 
Ever wonder if there’s any value to those seemingly meaningless experiences you find yourself occupied with throughout your life? I do and I’ve discovered that though they seem meaningless, they are anything but.

I find myself intrigued many times after looking back at youthful experiences and discovering how valuable they were to my development. Experiences like high school football that taught me why teamwork was so important, how effectiveness in individual roles can determine a win or loss, and how to push beyond what I perceived as my physical limitations to finish the game, became a strong foundation that help set the course of the rest of my life. A job at a local McDonald’s as a teenager not only taught me practical things like how to cook & clean but also taught me key career skills like how to manage money, inventory, and most importantly, people. What experiences like these have you had?

Take a piece of paper and write down 10-20 seemingly meaningless experiences you’ve had in your life. Next to each experience, write down what you learned from that experience. Take a few more seconds and try to remember times when what you learned from that past experience has been used more recently. 

After you do this simple exercise, you may be surprised to find that what seemed like a meaningless experience was actually a life deposit that helped shape who you are today! Every learning experience, even those that seem the most irrelevant, not only changes our behavior but also changes our brain. A 2000 study by Brown University scientifically proves this.

“In the study, published in the Oct. 20 issue of Science, Brown University researchers taught rats to reach into a hole in a box to grasp food pellets, a new motor skill for the animals. After five days, the rats were tested (Science Daily, 2000).”

“The researchers found that not only had the animals’ behavior changed, through the learning of a new skill, but that their brains had also changed. Associated with that learning, the strength of synaptic connections between neurons in the motor cortex had increased through a process consistent with the use of LTP (Science Daily, 2000).”

Wow! This is an amazing find! When you learn a new skill not only does you behavior change but your brain changes as well! Understanding this may change the way you look at mundane tasks such as housekeeping, home repair, or helping your kids with their homework! I encouraged you to start making some more life deposits today! Subscribe to a magazine about a topic you know nothing about, take a night class at a local vocational school, or help a neighbor fix his garage. Just do it and watch yourself grow!

Reference:                                                                                          

Brown University (2000, October 20). Study Describes Brain Changes During Learning. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2000/10/001020092659.htm

Getting Started!

Welcome to Live Strategic.com!  

We would like to take a few minutes to introduce ourselves so you can know a little more about us and our purpose. Live Strategic.com was created to be a personal strategic management portal, a virtual connecting place bringing people and life-changing information together. 

Today, ironically enough, with all the “time saving” devices we use, one thing most of don’t have is time! Most of us are trying our best to balance work, school, family time, and entertainment with all the other necessities of life. Most of us also realize that if we were a little more organized and managed our time a little better, it could go a long way in making our lives simpler, less stressful, more balanced, and more effective in regards to achieving daily and life-long goals & objectives. At the same time, however, most of us are so overwhelmed with life that we’re not even sure where to start.

With so much information available from so many different sources on so many different platforms just trying to get started can be overwhelming and potentially discourage us from moving on. This is where Live Strategic.com comes in! We find, create, link, and repackage relative, practical, and to-the-point information and put it on one convenient location. 

We take business tools that corporations have used for decades and show you simple ways you can use them to strategically manage every aspect of your life. We link to relevant information such as health, science, or technological articles that may provide key insight and understanding. We repackage time-proven principles and show you how implementing them in your life can bring peace and make you unshakable even in the toughest circumstances. This is the Live Strategic difference. 

This is who we are: connecters making relevant, life-changing information convenient and accessible. We hope you make us a regular part of your life!