We begin to learn how to react emotionally to situations starting early in life at home and in school.
Our homes are safe refuges from which we can slow down to honestly observe how we often create our own problems.
I love the story of an old Cherokee Indian chief who was teaching his grand daughter about the best way to live her life.
“A fight is going on inside me,” he told his grand daughter, ” a fight between two wolves.
The unhappy wolf gets thoughts and feelings of fear, anxiety, self-pity, laziness, anger and false pride.
The happy wolf reacts with joy, peace, kindness, gratitude, a desire to help others, and the desire to simply do ‘one’s best’ in all areas of life …every day.
The same fight is going on inside of every person on the face of this earth…and is also going on inside of you grand daughter.
She ponders this for a moment and then asks, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?
The old man smiled and simply said, “The one you feed.”
In today’s fast paced world we often feel that we don’t have control over our own thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. But we do, it simply depends upon how we react: to feed the happy wolf, or the unhappy wolf.
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Reactions become lifelong habits. What kinds of seeds are you sowing now as the foundation for how you react to life challenges?
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In order to feed the good wolf in the 21st century, we need to expand our perspective as we gravitate towards a more global community. Therefore, to wisely react in sync with the cycles of change in the world:
- Teach yourself to think globally to expand your frame of reference
- Study subjects like world history, international affairs, world economics, the psychology of different cultures
- Read books and articles and watch foreign films to learn about: how other people live, how their beliefs differ from yours, how delicious their foods are, and how you could add value to their lives some day based upon the expertise you have developed through school, work, and experiences
- Do a service project in another country like teaching young girls how to read. When we experience the difficulties of other people, we tend to want to work harder to take advantage of all the opportunities we take for granted in this country… and most importantly, develop more empathy towards others
- Travel abroad…not to a 5 Star hotel, but try a Home Stay to experience the real feng shui of a village family home. For sure, they will not be concerned about home decorating…instead their eyes will radiate pure joy as they give you the last piece of bread in their home
- Take the time to learn a language well so you can communicate on a deeper level…not just go through the superficial motions
Is change necessary in the way you ‘react’ to
constructive criticism for success?
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Until recently, employees/students could be evaluated on specific skills and competencies to predict outstanding performance for the roles for which they were being hired or fields of study they were pursuing.
Now, with technologies becoming outdated in such a short time, there is a constant demand for new skills. Therefore, instead of relying on past performance, the selection process is now focusing on potential : the ability to adapt to ever changing learning and global business environments. One must demonstrate their ‘ability to grow’ into challenging new roles.
5 Key Indicators of Potential
- Motivation as a fierce commitment to excel in the pursuit of unselfish goals. There must be a balance of personal ambition, but also of wanting to help others.Underlying this is the desire to continually want to challenge oneself and get better at everything one does
- Curiosity in the form of always wanting to seek out new adventurous experiences, new knowledge, and being open to change
- Insight as the ability to gather & make sense of information that suggests new possibilities -new alternatives
- Engagement using a balance of emotion and logic to connect people & communicate a persuasive vision for something new
- Determination to fight for difficult goals despite challenges and to bounce back from adversity
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SELF-AWARENESS IS the KEY to SUCCESS
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Yes, we all have wonderful strengths to enable us to succeed. However, we must also understand our weaknesses which could sabotage our best efforts at work or school.
Why wait until you fail at something that could have been a true success?
Choose if you want to be self-responsible as the
happy wolf, or the unhappy wolf.
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Contact Nadine today to realistically assess
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- your work/study habits
- your work/study feng shui environments
- your individual strengths and weaknesses to enhance your future ‘potential’
‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’
Lao Tzu
Call Nadine at 510-525-1116 to start your journey.