Replace Everything BUT Yourself
Everything Is Replaceable Except You
The World of Things
Everything we have right now can be replaced within a year. If we break a phone or have our contract up, we get a new one. If a car breaks down, we buy another or find another means of transportation. We dislike our job and we go and find another. If you lose a friendship, you gain another. You (hopefully) change clothes each day. Almost EVERYTHING can be replaced these days. But, the ONE thing you can’t replace is yourself.
Why EVERYONE is Unique
In the history of this world, you have had an experience UNLIKE anyone else. Every moment of your life, even as you read this, is unique. No one will read this at the exact time, place, location, age, gender, race, etc. as you. YOU made that moment happen. Your whole life experience in relationships, jobs, talent, etc. are entirely different from anyone else. Even twins are different since birth. If you think about it, it’s because of our ability to think. We create a world of possibilities within our minds. Each mind creates many different thoughts and opinions that even AI can’t reach.
One can argue that history repeats itself, that patterns happen throughout time. That may be true, but everyone’s overall experience are different. We may experience SIMILAR situations, but never the SAME EXACT moment.
Think of all the conversations you ever had. They are irreplaceable. A conversation between you and another person happened at a unique moment. We’ll never get back each passing second. Stare for a second, you’ll see one go. Then another. Then another.
We will never get the moment of the NOW back. NOW is important to living. If you’re living in the past or future, you’re wasting time not being present to the moments that happen at this very moment. Take a second to not think and look around you. Take a breathe and feel how the breathe goes in, then out. You’ll notice how important the NOW is.
If You Don’t Like Yourself, CHANGE YOURSELF
Stop rejecting who you truly are. Personally, disliking yourself leads down a road of more darkness and negativity unlike any other. If you stop thinking so negatively and begin to be positive towards yourself and those around you, a change happens.
For example, I used to HATE working at Dunkin Donuts in High School. Everything about it sucked. I worked after school and on the weekends along with helping my mom deliver newspapers at 2AM then heading to work right after. Every time I came in, I did my job and waited to leave. I left when my shift was over without a care in the world.
At one point, I hated this way of thinking. I decided to change it up. For one week, I’ll be nice to everyone and go above and beyond to see if there’s a difference in my job. Within a week, the customers seemed happier, the job went faster, and regulars even requested I make their coffee/sandwich sometimes. Overtime I came to consistently give my all in the work I did and with a smile. Changing to a positive outlook will open up a a new world where even the worst people have a hard time getting mad at you. It gave me the social skills to even write these blog posts I do today.
If you really don’t like who you are, you’re missing out on a great person. You can replace everything in your world as much as you want. At the end of the day, you’ll still find an emptiness inside. You’ll only begin to be fulfilled once you look to better yourself and those around you. Some days will be tough, but the more you give, the happier you’ll be at the end of your life.
Don’t hate who you are. YOU are unique with a world no one other than you has ever experienced. Love who you are, change the parts you don’t like, and keep moving forward. You deserve to be the best version YOU want to be. Keep moving forward.
via Replacement
You Are Cordially Invited to Attend Your Life!
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”
— Lao Tzu
Dear Reader,
You are cordially invited to attend the ceremony of living YOUR life!
You have the opportunity to live the life you desire; yet, you choose to live a life of mindlessness instead of mindfulness. Take a moment to be in the now. I encourage you to take a couple of minutes to close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths. Sit with your back straight and relaxed. Chest out like a gorilla (not too much here). Breathe in for 5, hold for 5, and breathe out for 10.
Taking the time in your day to breathe mindfully invokes a change within you. You begin to feel happier, more at peace with yourself. Life situations begin to slow down. Remember, you live this life through your decisions and actions. No one else controls your body and mind. The main factor stopping you is the excuses. Keep in mind that how you react to anything matters most. You can either yell or stay calm.
I don’t know everything, I just know that you have the choice to live a life you desire through all the situations life throws at you. I’m just here to give you a push in the right direction. Work hard in silence and let your success make the noise. Know that there is more to your life. You can do it, I believe in you. I hope to see you in the life you’re meant for.
The Now.
Your Now.
Your Life.
via Invitation
Floating Thoughts
The Clouds
A cloud consists of tiny water droplets that become visible in the air. When drawing, a cloud is used as a thought bubble in one’s mind. Combined, we can say that our thoughts make up what we visualize.
“Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking & pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness. “
~ Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking
Before taking action, a thought must come to invoke it. The mind never stops moving. In sleeping, our brain is doing work processing the world when you were awake. We dream of our world. The thoughts we create shapes our lives. We hear stories of how our bodies can become ill and miraculously recover through hard work and determination. There’s an organization called Children’s Miracle Network. They work with Children’s Specialized Hospitals with children who have been thrown physical/mental obstacles, affecting their lives. Upon meeting them, we would find a flame of determination behind their eyes. They know the struggles of life; yet, they manage to smile and continue to improve through obstacles life has given them. Their thoughts are nothing but positive.
Why is it, then, that we continue to let our thoughts control us? Mindlessly living life to other’s wishes. We are raised to live our dreams but not get ahead of ourselves. The story of Icarus tells this well. Icarus and his father, Daedalus, are trapped in a Labyrinth on an island. To escape, they created wings to fly themselves away. Before taking off, his father tells him not to fly too high or low, but to follow his path. Engulfed with the adrenaline of flying, Icarus flies too high. His wings melt and he falls. The main interpretation others take from this story is that it’s due to the structure and consequence of personal over-ambition. Where was the over-ambition? He was given orders and he disobeyed. Rather than ordering someone, it would have been wiser to play to his thoughts. Kids are usually rebellious. If he changed the way he spoke and involved a thought of importance and positive rather than demand and rules, Icarus would have lived.
There are various techniques in creating a positive mindset. We can use a meditation technique of mindfulness to apply in everyday life. Imagine sitting in an open field. It’s a cloudy day with puffy, white clouds passing by gently. Each cloud is a thought. It can be positive or negative; however, all of them pass by. The saying, “this too shall pass” provides a simple reminder that life comes and goes. The moments we remember are mostly the ones that created happiness. Spend little time letting negative thoughts in. No matter the situation, staying positive or neutral helps more than negativity.
Let the clouds in our minds pass. Acknowledge that our thoughts are controllable. If we allow them to take over, our mind becomes a hurricane. We begin to react before thinking. Visualize a better you. Create a sunny day with clear skies. The only clouds that pass remain positive. Let the dark, negative clouds pass. Let them float by.
via Float
January 2017 —Positives Gone, Happiness Stays
Have you ever woken up to something, somewhere calling out to you?
I’ve always associated myself with the past. Justified it in many ways of using it as a tool to grow, a place to learn, and to cope with myself. I told myself that all I can do now is be positive! I realized that was wrong. The past is just what it is, past. We will never get our time back. As I write this—as you read this—each millisecond passes, we lose time. My positive attitude is personal. It helps in working hard and staying focused. It is not how I should face my past.
I decided that 2017 is the year of change. I have grown in 2016 not through reflection, but by action. My growth was due to changing my outlook. I stopped looking behind me and worrying about what’s in front of me. I started taking more risks, reading more books, and creating more opportunities.
The new year has begun. Each day has been energizing. It won’t last forever but I plan to hold the energy in front of me as I begin this new marathon of life. I’m directing this energy positively.
- Launched http://www.motivatingmango.com/
- Scheduled to learn from a knowledgeable trainer on Friday
- Learned the basics of JetPack
- Set a mastermind for Sunday
- Scheduled specific days for posts (Monday/Wednesday/Friday for this blog)
I also set an impossible list for the first quarter of 2017.
- Experience Automattic
- Improve in WordPress
- Meet an inspiration
- Book a trip to another country
- Budget more
- Begin working in Open Source
- Enhance my blogs and websites
- Improve in a new language
It’s a step in the right direction. I used to set small of goals. It’s time for a change. There is a change calling for evolution. An evolution of self. A new self that looks forward always, helping those along the way that need it. I may not be ready for this new chapter; however, this story book has many chapters. This one is trimmed with gold. I can’t let it go to waste.
Daily Prompt: Renew You BEFORE 2017
It begins now.
I wrote in a previous post about my enthusiam for 2017. While it is exciting to have a New Year, it’s also funny. People dictate themselves based on time more than they should. That a New Year will be the cause of change. The effect of this New Year will bring a renewed you.
It won’t. It never does.
A New Year creates a new 365 days. It doesn’t create a renewed you. The only method to change is by acting now. You can’t wish for change. You need to BE the change. You know the saying.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world”
~ Gandhi
But I won’t use this quote. From this report, Gandhi’s words were reshaped for today’s minds. Brian Morton explains the following:
Sure enough, it turns out there is no reliable documentary evidence for the quotation. The closest verifiable remark we have from Gandhi is this:
“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”
Here, Gandhi is telling us that personal and social transformation go hand in hand, but there is no suggestion in his words that personal transformation is enough. In fact, for Gandhi, the struggle to bring about a better world involved not only stringent self-denial and rigorous adherence to the philosophy of nonviolence; it also involved a steady awareness that one person, alone, can’t change anything, an awareness that unjust authority can be overturned only by great numbers of people working together with discipline and persistence.
You can have a personal transformation. It will be a start. It will get you on the path of change. The path can only be set in stone if you begin to surround yourself with others that are going down the same path.
For example, it’s a fact that a big New Year’s resolution is losing weight/going to the gym. Most people start the first week of the New Year. Come February, the percentage of people going to the gym drop drastically. They don’t create a concrete path towards their goals. You know how I started going to the gym everyday? I had a friend dedicated to going to the gym and wanted someone to join a certain gym with him. That was me. From then on, thanks to him, I go to the gym almost everyday now.It was because someone else helped spark a change that turned into a habit.
Don’t wait for the New Year. Don’t wait for anyone else. Get up and do what you KNOW deep down inside that you NEED to do. Not what you WANT to do. DO IT NOW.
I’ll tell you what you already know.
- It’s going to hurt
- It’s going to be hard
- It will feel like nothing is working
- You will cry
- You will make mistakes
- You will fail, A LOT
- You will get pushed down
- Everything will not go your way
Among these problems,—and all negatives associated—there are methods to overcome them. You can face them before they happen. Tim Ferriss has a method called fear setting that can help.
Begin by thinking of a goal that is important to you but that you’ve kept yourself from attempting, and divide a piece of paper into three columns.
- In the first column, write down all of the things that could go wrong should your attempt fail. Think of the most terrible things possible.
- In the second column, determine ways that you can mitigate the possibility of each of those bad consequences from happening.
- In the third column, think of how you would recover from each of the scenarios you imagined and wrote in the first column.
By expecting fear, you will be prepared when it arrives. It’s okay to have fear and nervousness. It’s natural. Let it come. Embrace the negatives and work with the positives.
This New Year will not bring a new you. YOU will bring a new you. Today—right now—IS your time to change. You will change yourself for the better. You will take the proper actions towards living the life you want. You will create a concrete path and become renewed..
via Renewal
Daily Prompt: ENTHUSIASM FOR 2017!
New Year, New You!
About a week and a half until 2017! Are you prepared yet? I definitely am! Why? What’s not to be excited about next year? There’s a whole new year of OPPORTUNITIES just waiting to be unlocked within you! THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE DAYS of creating your best year ever!
There are approximately 8,760 hours in a year. If you work an average of 40 hours a week, you get an average of 2,080 hours working per year. If you sleep 7 hours each day, you get 2,555 hours per year. That leaves you with 4,125 hours to work towards your passions. How do you spend those hours? I’m not saying that you should use those hours ONLY to spend time on your passions but if you at least take half of that, 2062.5 hours, you get about 86 full-days worth of working on YOUR PASSIONS.
I know that it sounds rough. My main point is that you can really change who you are if you put in the work for it. There’s a finite number of days for you to live. Why waste it on anything else but doing what you love to do, then turning it into your career? The reason I say this is because once I changed the way I look at my life and how I live in it, I felt enthusiastic about each day. Not to say everyday was perfect but most days were great because I allowed them to be.
If you want to change your outlook on life, I’m currently reading a book called Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Disrupt You! by Jay Samit. Most people are fragile to life, they can’t take the unexpected. Why not learn how to be different? To gain from disorder that is called life. Look at mother nature, she has been thrown some of the worst cards in human existence but still pushes forward each day to continue to grow and stay lush so life can exist on this home we call Earth! Look to become antifragile in everything that happens to you and learn to disrupt your life to create the future that you invision for yourself.
It’s a new year coming up. How will you adjust to it?
via Enthusiasm
Daily Prompt: What’s Missing In You?
Finding The Final Puzzle Piece To Waking Up
It was another day in July. I had just gotten home from my IT Consulting job in the city. I felt tired and exhausted. Yet, I did nothing for 90% of my work day. I called my girlfriend. She asked how work was. I proceeded on another rant of how I hate my situation of being underpaid, undervalued, and feeling like I’m going nowhere.
As I complained, she stopped me midway. “SHUT UP!” she exclaimed, “Shut up and do something about it. How you’re feeling right now, this… this is not you! My boyfriend is a hard-working, driven man. If you’re feeling stuck and in a hole right now, then get up and do something.”
I was quiet for a moment. There was a switch in my head that turned on that day. I found what I was missing. I was missing WHY I was alive. My purpose, as some people will call it, was gone and I had given up on life. Playing video games, hanging with friends, and having drinks were all great; nevertheless, the world is ever evolving and full of experiences that can only be tapped once you choose to free yourself from these chains called “the real world” that we experience.
I decided to change.
I began reading books ranging from business to finance, self-help to spirituality, and any book recommended to me (feel free to comment on your top 3 favorite books to read). I listened to podcasts, joined webinars, and started attending conferences. Life becomes more fulfilling once you let go of your mind and take every opportunity and surprise that comes your way. Life opens up when you let go of negativity and learn that every situation that comes your way is how you react to it. Why live a close-minded life?
You see, growing up we are told to go through school, go to college, get a degree, and get a job. Along the way, we aren’t really taught WHY we should do it and HOW we should go about it. We’re just told this is WHAT we need to do. By the time you finish everything and get that job, is that it?
HELL NO!
We live in a world where our voice can be heard in millions of different platforms and the ability to learn about ANYTHING with a quick (or several) Google searches. Here, thanks to the daily prompt, you’re now reading this. Every voice can be heard with a quick tweet or post. Anything is possible these days and it’s just realizing that you’re missing your true passion helps reveal that.
If you want a start, I suggest reading the book Start With Why by Simon Sinek and How To Stop Worrying And Start Living by Dale Carnegie. Both phenomenal books that helped change my perspective of the world we live in.
Now ask yourself, what’s missing in you? Why are you living? If you don’t know, find it. I’ll be here to help if you need it.
via Daily Prompt: Missing
Daily Prompt: Your Buried Treasure
Imagine for a moment a map leading to your buried treasure. The path to take is dangerous. Mountains and oceans to traverse. Monsters appear at every corner. You’ll need to learn to fight and survive. None of it will be comfortable. It won’t be easy. You will come close to death. The treasure itself can be empty or full. Are you willing to take the risk?
Your buried treasure compares to real life. We all have passions and goals. The path to self-discovery and finding our purpose, our WHY, is never an easy task. Excuse me if this sounds rude but everyone says they want to live a more fulfilling life and to do what they love; yet, never set out to live it because they decide it’s more comfortable doing what’s already working instead of trying something new.
One morning, they find themselves changed. Their eyes are open! They’re going to do everything they ever wanted today! They plan to do a little bit of their 5 different passions to work on. Then by the time they get to number 3, it’s night time. They say they’ll do it tomorrow and go to bed. Tomorrow comes, they’re back to normal. No energy to do what they want.
You see, working towards your passion is not an easy task. You need to remind and push yourself everyday to work towards your goals. The one thing you need to change is just to choose one and ask yourself WHY you want to do it. Truly, why is it a passion and why do you want to accomplish this goal? The answer will be your main pillar towards reaching it. Your answer needs to be strong enough that ANY excuse doesn’t seem good enough to stop your drive. Now, create the map based of your goal and the why. Write down EVERY SINGLE STEP to getting to that goal. Change your routine and adjust your life to make time EVERY DAY for it, no matter what. Write down a reminder that you’ll see every morning and night of that goal. Step-by-step you get closer. Eventually, you reach it after all the struggle, long nights and hard work.
Once you’re done, move onto your next passion. It may be something old or new. Make sure you don’t stop. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it keeps you moving forward. Never stop learning and growing everyday. Adapt. Evolve. Change. It’s important to realize that you need to look at your life, find your WHY and set out to live how you see fit. YOU are the only one with yourself 24 hours a day. Why live it being comfortable? Create an adventure! Every day is a new story!
Imagine that map of your buried treasure and CREATE it into reality. Those obstacles along the way are nothing compared to what you gain on the path towards the treasure. It’s not about what’s inside the box, it’s the adventure along the way that’s the real treasure.
CK Allas 
