Wisdom-Trek ©

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 54 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Dealing With Stress

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 54 of our Trek. As we consider the daily nuggets of wisdom, one result that we should see in our lives as we grow in wisdom is learning how to manage stress more effectively. Today and tomorrow we will look at some of the causes, benefits, and dangers of stress.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It is good that we are going to look at stress for the next couple of days. Our client workload this week has had many more interruptions and challenges than we had anticipated.

I am certainly not immune to stress although my stress is usually not visible externally. I do find that as I grow in wisdom and maturity that I am better able to manage stress.  I am trying to understand and put into practice the ability to relax when I have a situation that is not within my control. This practice then frees up my energies to focus on those situations that are within my control. My problem is delineating when it is under my control and when it is not, as I tend want to control everything. Another aspect of stress that is hard to come to grips with is that stress is usually caused by our own selfishness. Life is not going as we expect, and we don’t like it.

One good way to look at stress is to ask yourself, "Will this really matter next week, next month, next year or ten years from now?" Another question that we need to consider is…

As we looked at a couple of days ago, there are no guarantees in life. I understand that planning and preparation are important. But, let us strive to focus on those areas that are most important, like gaining wisdom and insight while creating your living legacy each day. Or, as Bob Marley put it, "Don’t worry. Be happy."

So, on our trek of life today and tomorrow, let’s look at some of the causes of and cures for stress. Just as it can be stressful on a hike when we become lost or when we spot mountain lions or bears, many issues can cause us stress.

Stress can also be caused by carrying small burdens for too long. Let’s use the analogy of a glass of water, which weighs slightly more than ½ pound. Do you think you could hold that glass of water out with your arm extended to the side? Most of us could easily do that.

The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If you hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If you hold it for an hour, you’ll have an ache in your right arm. If you hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer you hold it, the heavier it becomes. That's the way it is with stress management. If you carry your burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, you won't be able to carry on.

As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When you're refreshed, you can carry on with the burden.

So, before you settle in for tonight, put the burden of work or the day’s activities down. Don't carry it at home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.

It is well known that too much stress is a "killer." Writing in Eternity magazine some time ago Fred Stansberry warns about "stress-related diseases such as cancer, arthritis, heart and respiratory diseases, migraines, allergies and a host of other psychological and physiological dysfunctions which are increasing at an alarming rate in our Western culture."

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 53 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

The 10 Tenets of Mother Teresa

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. The nuggets of wisdom that we consume each day provide us with the nourishment for our minds that allows us to think differently, to change our lives, and to impact the lives of everyone that we have contact with.  Together these three elements allow us to remain on the trail of Creating a Living Legacy.  This is Day 53 of our Trek, and today we are going to review the 10 tenets of Mother Teresa, along with other wisdom nuggets that she left as part of her legacy.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. This week finds us preparing for a sizable yard sale on Saturday. While I am not a garage or yard sale person, we do have the need to declutter our house and garage of some of the things that we have collected over the years. At least we will make a small dent in it.  We are also preparing to sand the wood floor in our eating area, and hopefully I will be able to seal it with polyurethane this weekend.

On our Trek two days ago, we were unexpectedly caught in a violent storm that washed out the trail before us. We learned that we have to deal with the issues of life as they are, not as we expect or desire them to be. Yesterday we were able to construct a crude bridge over the chasm because we had planned properly and brought the tools needed. We learned that there are no guarantees in life, but we do have to plan the best that we can so that when the storms of life do hit, we can weather them with minimal long-term impact.

Let’s continue on today helping each other along a trail that is now much rougher than it would be otherwise due to the storms. As we lend a hand to each other, mile after rugged mile, I am reminded of another person that helped so many with her sacrificial life – Mother Teresa.

As I have studied a little bit about her life, I have found that most of the reports of her work indicate that she led a life of self-sacrifice and pouring into others. As with any of us, she was not without detractors, but she did not allow those things to dissuade her.

As my virtual mentor Zig Ziglar puts it, “Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember ~ the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.”

Personally I am a protestant and was not raised as a Catholic, therefore I may not agree with some of the Catholic teachings, but I have come to understand that our service to God is one of the heart and not one of following certain denominational practices. Mother Teresa certainly was known best for her sacrificial love and helping others in the slums of India.

Mother Teresa was described on Biography.com in the following manner, "For her unwavering commitment to aiding those most in need, Mother Teresa stands out as one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century. She combined profound empathy and a fervent commitment to her cause with incredible organizational and managerial skills that allowed her to develop a vast and effective international organization of missionaries to help impoverished citizens all across the globe. 

However, despite the enormous scale of her charitable activities and the millions of lives she touched, to her dying day she held only the most humble conception of her own achievements. Summing up her life in characteristically self-effacing fashion."

She was also known for her down-to-earth, practical wisdom, and sage advice. Today we will look at her 10 tenets and a few of her other profound quotes. As I read through these, take time to ponder them,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 52 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

There Are No Guarantees

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. As we consume these nuggets of wisdom each day and apply the principles to our lives, we gain wisdom and understanding that transforms how we think and the choices we make.  This is Day 52 of our Trek, and today we are continuing on our trail and looking at how to handle life when there are no guarantees.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. When I look out my office windows on this beautiful sunny day and see all of the different types of trees that surround our home, it makes me think, 'What type of tree (or person) do I want to be?"

There are a few evergreens, poplars, hickory trees and several varieties of large maples and oak trees. Paula and I are too fugal (i.e. cheap) to actually buy additional trees, so we have nurtured several trees from saplings that spring up in the yard each year. Very few remain after the squirrels and the deer have their way with them. Through our experience, we know that the oak trees are the hardest to get established. They grow slowly, but yet they are the largest and strongest of trees on our property.

So, would you prefer to be a pine tree that grows fast with wood that is soft and has limited use or the mighty oak that take decades to grow but has wood that is nearly indestructible. Through the wisdom and insights that we gain each day on Wisdom-Trek, let us emulate the mighty oak trees that last for many generations.

On our Trek yesterday, we found ourselves trapped by a storm, much like the storms of life.  We could not very easily go back because our destination was ahead of us nor could we travel forward as the tail ahead was washed out by an unexpected flash flood that hit without notice. So, we were left with a choice to make - where do we go from here?

When we set out on our trail yesterday, we fully expected to reach our destination without any major difficulties, but unexpected events do happen. There are no guarantees in life, so we must do our best to plan and prepare for the unexpected. We may have avoided this situation by checking our weather a little closer, but popup summer storms are very difficult to predict, even with the best analysis.

The old idiom “The best laid plans of mice and men oft times go astray” is certainly true, but we should plan and prepare as best as possible.  Once we have prepared, then we need to be ready and accept the detours of life that will come up.  The better we plan and prepare, the less impact these diversions will have on us.

Fortunately, on this Trek, we planned ahead enough that all of our food was sealed in weather proof containers, and we brought along adequate tools. Although it will delay us some, we are able to gather sturdy limbs and build a crude bridge over the chasm ahead of us.  We have determined a suitable course of action that has provided a solution to our dilemma. We are now across the ravine and on our way again.The trail ahead is slippery and muddy with additional obstacles that were not expected, but we can be fairly certain that we will eventually arrive at our determined destination.

While there are no guarantees in life, we still need to be diligent in our planning and preparing on a daily basis. None of us have the guarantee of tomorrow, but we should all plan as if we will live forever but live as if we will die today.

As part of my meditation and devotional time this morning, I reread Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verses 1-6. This passage covers the same topic as our Wisdom-Trek today.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 51 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Suck it Up and Deal With It

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. Each day I will provide you with bite size nuggets of wisdom that if consumed and applied will become a part of the very fabric of who you are.  As with any significant changes in life, these changes will take time, but the changes that result from this wisdom will start to take root and grow into a large and solid tree. This is Day 51 of our Trek, and today we are going to look at how to deal with those issues of life that are thrust on us, especially when we have little or no control over them.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Being able to work from our newly renovated office on the 2nd floor is a real blessing.  The new large windows provide a nice view to work from.

After spending the last nine days focusing on how changing your thinking can dramatically change your life, today we are going to put this newly learned information into practice.  So, let’s break camp and head out on the trail.

As we are hiking along with our new knowledge gained from our twelve waypoints, our plan is to make use of this knowledge on our 20 mile Trek today. The first part of the trail is going rather smoothly, and we are making great progress. We find a nice clearing and break for lunch before heading out again.

Suddenly, we see dark, ominous-looking clouds on the horizon in the direction that we are heading. But, we must move on towards our destination anyway.  As we continue on, the wind picks up and starts to blow dust and twigs at us. We don’t like the looks of what we are heading into, but we press forward.

Soon the rains starts – small drops at first, then larger, and then sheets of rain start plummeting at us.  Before long, it becomes much more difficult to keep solid footing, but we continue forward. As we head down into a ravine, we hear and then see a rush of water from a flash flood about 100 yards in front of us.  It completely obliterates the trail that we are supposed to take.

Now what do we do? We don’t want to go back, as that does not lead to our destination, but now we can’t go forward. At this time, we don’t have a safe trail in front of us. It is time to panic, to give up, and to wish we had never headed out today. None of those options will help, and so it is with life sometimes.

When we run into these unforeseen events, we must put into practice all of the thinking skills that we just learned last week.

I have lived enough years to realize that the crises, for many, are certainly inflated due to past unwise choices that have been made.  Some people like to live in continual drama because it gives them a certain sense of purpose, attention, or accomplishment by having something to combat.  I see this in personal and business interactions frequently.

Regardless if the crises are self-imposed or completely out of your control, how you deal with the issue is your choice.  The tools that we gain each day on Wisdom-Trek will help to navigate life when it becomes treacherous as in our story today.

None of us are immune to crises, whether it is health-related, financial, relational or otherwise. Some crises can be inflamed by our own decisions in each of these areas, but others may be completely out of our control.

On a personal/business level, we have recently experienced two such storms.  Due to the lack of sales for one of our clients, they were not able to retain our services on a monthly basis.  Within a month of that,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 50 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 7)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. When you consume these daily wisdom nuggets, you can think of them as your daily supplements for your life.  They will provide you with nutrients needed for daily health. This is Day 50 of our Trek, and we will visit our last waypoint #12 on our lessons about how changing our thinking changes our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We arrived a couple of days ago and are ready for working on house renovations, meeting with clients, and gathering with family.

Yesterday we attended the annual Robb family reunion in Canton, Ohio. This is Paula’s mother side of the family, and it is always enjoyable to visit with family members, especially when we are able to share our lives of faith.  Paula and I are fortunate to come from families that have strong faith, work ethic, and integrity.  It shaped who we are and certainly aided in our strong marriage of nearly 36 years.

I consider all of our Wisdom-Trek listeners as Wisdom-Trek family members. I have the privilege of sharing with you each day, and I appreciate it when you share with me by leaving comments on Wisdom-Trek.com.

We have nearly completed our current Trek, as we are visiting the 12 waypoints on the Trail of Thinking where we have sojourned for the last 7 days. So far, we have stopped by waypoints 1-11 and have only 1 more waypoint to visit.

I encourage you to apply each waypoint to your life so that you can become more wise and successful.  If you have missed any of the previous podcasst this week, please take the time to listen to them or read the daily journals so that you will be all caught up on the trail with us. We certainly don’t want to leave anyone behind.

As in the previous days, when we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to deliberate on two more questions:

Am I continually considering others and their journey in order to think with maximum cooperation?

Do I stay focused on productive thinking so that I can gain the maximum results and reap the full potential of my thinking?

Study these daily questions, and then apply them to your life.  Doing so will radically change your thinking and gradually change your life.  Just like our trek in life, progress is usually slow and may be burdensome, but is required to become wise and successful.

As we reach waypoint #12 today, we are switching our focus from how to think are concentrating instead on what to think about.

 

Concentrate on What you Think About

As we consider this last waypoint, I am reminded of a quote I recently came across from Peter Lord that I feel is quite appropriate as we look at how to concentrate on what you think about.

"We have no control over how we feel, how we act — our attitudes, and actions — except as they are determined by our thoughts.  All these elements are irrevocably tied together.  But since we do have control over what we think, it is possible to control our attitudes and actions…All thoughts can be divided into two basic categories: true and false.  The thoughts that come from God are true.  He is the God of all truth and has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and to guide us into all truth.  If I can receive God’s thoughts, I can think the truth.  Therefore I will have the right attitudes and actions.  How do you get the air out of a glass?  By filling it with water.  How do you get rid of wrong and untrue thoughts?  By filling your mind with true and right thoughts from God.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 49 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 6)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. By consuming these daily wisdom nuggets, you will grow in wisdom as you listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. You'll also receive understanding and guidance on each day of life’s journey.  This is Day 49 of our Trek, and we will continue today and tomorrow learning how changing our thinking can dramatically change our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. By the time this episode airs on Sunday, July 19th, we will be back at The Big House for a little over three weeks, as we continue renovations and prepare for a family gathering on Paula’s side of the family.

Although this is day 49 of our trek, we started on Day Zero, so I am pleased to announce that this is our 50th episode!  It has gone by quickly, and I want to thank everyone who has listened.  My prayer is that each day’s trek has been encouraging and enlightening.  Leave us comments at Wisdom-Trek.com, and let us know how we can improve and serve you more effectively.

Life is a trek, and we are all in this trek together. Each day as we gain wisdom and insight, let us do all that we can to live life each day so that we are leaving a legacy.

We have stopped by waypoints 1-9 so far, so we only have three more to go.  I encourage you to apply each waypoint to your life so that you can become more wise and successful. Let’s continue on life’s trail until we reach waypoints 10 and 11.

As we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to consider two more questions:

Am I consciously rejecting the limitations of common thinking in order to accomplish uncommon results?

Am I consistently searching the minds of others to think “over my head” and achieve compounding results?

Consider these questions each day and apply them to your life.  This will help you to change your thinking and start down the trail to a changed life.  As we are on this trek of life together, one of the most important ways of thinking is found at our 10th waypoint.

10. Practice Unselfish Thinking

Unselfish thinking is beneficial because it enables personal fulfillment, adds value to other people, and increases the quality of your life. When you engage in unselfish thinking, you become part of something greater than yourself. It is only possible to create a long lasting legacy by thinking unselfishly and investing in others. Here are five ways to cultivate the ability to think unselfishly:

Put others first. When you think unselfishly you make a commitment, both mentally and emotionally, to look out for others’ interests.

Find situations where people have needs. One way to practice unselfish thinking is for you to find situations where people have needs and then do something about it. At first, the kind of giving you provide is not all that important; the goal is for you to learn how to give.

Give quietly or anonymously. After learning how to give, you must learn how to give when nothing is provided to you in return. Anonymous giving results in spiritual, mental, and emotional benefits.

Invest in people intentionally. Consider different people and their journey, and then work together with them. To possess the characteristics of an unselfish thinker, you must make sure the other person in a relationship wins first.

Continually monitor motives. It is in your human nature for you to put yourself first. This is true of everyone. It is important for you to examine your motives to ensure that you are not acting for selfish reasons.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 48 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 5)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast and journal. By consuming these daily wisdom nuggets, you will discover the principles needed to help you live a disciplined and successful life, which will result in doing what is right, just, and fair on each day of life’s journey.  This is Day 48 of our Trek, and we will continue  looking at how changing our thinking can dramatically change our lives for the next three days.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We are focused on client work and also preparing to head back to The Big House on Friday.  By the time this episode is released, we will be in Marietta and then heading north to the Akron/Canton area for the annual Robb reunion, which is Paula’s mom maiden name. We try to attend every year. Family ties are important, and it is a good time to celebrate together. I will give you an update in a few days on the day’s activities.

The hiking analogies that we use for Wisdom-Trek fit so well with our Trek through life each day.  It is when we take one step at a time over a long period of time that we make the progress we desire. Being on life’s trail allows you to truly experience the full spectrum of human emotion, sometimes all in one day. A moment of frustration and despair is seamlessly followed by peace and beauty. And so it is with life.

Just like in hiking, we need to plan and also take time to think and rest.  So far we have stopped at waypoints 1-7 to analyze our thinking so that we will become more wise and successful. Today we are working towards waypoints 8 and 9.

As we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to consider two more questions:

Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions for even seemingly impossible problems?

Am I regularly revisiting the past to gain a true perspective and think with understanding?

I do encourage you to consider these questions each day and apply them to your lives.  This will help you to change your thinking and start down the trail to a changed life.  One of the benefits of hiking on trails that are not used frequently is that we do not have to compete with masses of people as you would on a busy thoroughfare.

This also applies to waypoint number 8 where we have just arrived.

8. Question Popular Thinking

Questioning popular thinking can be challenging, but there are valid reasons for you to do so. When people follow a trend, they usually do not give it much thought. Although you may view popular thinking as a source of safety and security, there is a large difference between acceptance and intelligence. Because popular thinking favors the status quo, it discourages innovation and brings average results. Being an entrepreneur and someone who tends to question anything that the masses are following all my life, I have not had a major issue with this point.  Here are five different ways for you to question the acceptance of popular thinking:

Think before following. You need to consider what is best, rather than what is popular. When you challenge popular thinking it means that you will need to step off of the well-worn trail. When you go against popular thinking, you may be blazing your own trail, but it often hold the seed of vision and opportunity that others won’t recognize.

Appreciate different types of thinking. When you appreciate the ways that other people think, you open yourself up to embrace innovation and change. It is useful to spend time with people who think differently.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 47 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 4)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast and journal. By consuming these daily wisdom nuggets, you will digest the principles that will help you in your quest to become healthy, wealthy and wise as we trek through life together.  This is Day 47 of our Trek, and we will continue for the next few days on our Trek to look at how changing our thinking can dramatically change our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. After another very full workload today, it is good to be able to reflect on some words of wisdom to help refocus our priorities. One of the purposes for Wisdom-Trek is to provide mentoring to others. In order to gain wisdom, we need to be receptive to receive it and ready to apply it to our lives. It is through proper thinking that we are able to become wise and successful. As we change our thinking, our choices in life will change, which will also change our lives.

So far we have visited waypoints 1-5, so we are making good progress on our Trek. Today as we search for waypoints 6 & 7 on our expedition, let us see what advice we can gain so that we can continue to change our thinking. If you missed any of the past five days of podcasts, please go back and listen to them, or read our daily journal entries.  Doing so will enable you to be equipped with all of the information that you need to change your life.

As we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to consider two more questions:

Am I building a solid foundation on facts so that I can think with certainty?

Am I implementing strategic plans that give me direction for today and increase my potential for tomorrow?

I hope that you will take the time each day to reflect on these questions. This is crucial in gaining wisdom, as Proverbs 2:2-5 says,

"Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.

Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.

Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.

Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God."

As we continue on our trail of life this beautiful day, enjoy the sunshine, the soft mountain breeze, and the fragrances of summer after a brief shower.  As we visualize this, we soon come upon our 6th waypoint and find our first instructions.

6. Explore Possibility Thinking

To be a possibility thinker you must believe that solutions exist to even the most difficult problems. When you believe something challenging can be done and then succeed at doing it, doors open and others are attracted to you. When you make things happen, it inspires others to create possibilities.  When you approach difficult tasks, you have the potential to attain exceptional results.  When you embrace possibility thinking, you believe in what you are doing and are energized by it. There are six different ways to stimulate possibility thinking:

Do not focus on what is impossible. Instead focus on solutions to your problems or challenges in any situation.

Stay away from experts. This may seem counter-intuitive to having a mentor, but an expert may see all that could go wrong and may discourage your dreams. It is good to take wise advice, but be leery of those individuals who are self-proclaimed experts.

Look for possibilities in every situation. Opposite of the first point, regardless of the circumstances, try to look for positive possibilities.

Dream bigger. To encourage possibility thinking,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 46 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 3)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. By consuming these daily wisdom nuggets, you will digest the principles will help you in your quest to become healthy, wealthy, and wise as we trek through life together.  This is Day 46 of our Trek, and we will continue for the next few days on our Trek to look at how changing our thinking can dramatically change our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had the privilege of being interviewed on another podcast this past week, which was released on Monday.  I count it a blessing to be able to share our story on other platforms as well.  So far we have been on the Profit Pathway with Adam Farmer, PluggedIN Life with Mitch Kriegh, The Launching Point with Mike O’Toole, and Life Uncut with Tom Walter and John Allaire. If you would like to listen to any of these interviews, they can be found on Wisdom-Trek.com and choose The Big House.  There is another interview not yet released and a couple of more scheduled, so I will keep you informed when they are ready.

I am excited to continue on our Trek today as we visit waypoints 4 and 5 on our trail in our quest to change our thinking so that we can change our lives.  There are 12 waypoints or rest stops plus a couple of planning discussions in all, so if you missed any of the past five days of podcasts, please go back and listen to them, or read our daily journal entries.  This will give you the foundation for this week’s Trek.

As we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to consider two more questions:

Am I dedicated to removing distractions and mental clutter so that I can concentrate with clarity on the real issue?

Am I working to break out of my “box,” exploring ideas and options, so I can experience creative breakthrough?

Did you take time to reflect on and answer those question?  How has your focus and creativity changed as a result of these two questions? Remember, we must grow ourselves before we can ever hope to help others grow.

Let’s start down the trail today towards the next waypoint or rest stop.  While I am very much an optimist in life, I am also very much a realist. I always believe the glass is completely full, either with liquid, air or other substances, but I also know that I may not always want to drink what is in the cup.

So, let's settle in at our first waypoint or rest stop. 

4. Employ Realistic Thinking

Realistic thinking is absolutely essential for success in life. It minimizes your risk by determining in advance what the consequences of different actions might be. By understanding and acknowledging consequences, it is possible to plan for them.

By developing contingency plans, it allows you to feel and be more secure. Realistic thinking will also lead you to better define objectives or goals so that you can reach them. Through realistic thinking, you can create a solid foundation upon which your ideas can be built upon.

This reminds me of the parable that Christ taught us in Luke 6:47-49,

"I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.  It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.  But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 45 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 2)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. By consuming these daily wisdom nuggets, you will digest the principles needed to help you in your quest to become healthy, wealthy, and wise as we trek through life together.  This is Day 45 of our Trek, and for the next few days we will continue our Trek to look at how changing our thinking can dramatically change our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The client workload and activities should be consistently busy this week.  It will be a good week to spend indoors during the day as the temperatures in North Carolina are anticipated to be above 95° for the next two weeks. It certainly has been warm this summer.

We are continuing a several day Trek where we will stop at twelve waypoints or rest areas along our trail. When hiking long distances (as our life trek is), it is always good to plan in advance where your rest stops or waypoints will be.  This will help to measure your progress and make sure that you do not get off the trail.

At each waypoint along our Trek this week, we will have the occasion to reflect on and change how we think. By changing our thinking, these waypoints will also allow us to change our lives in a positive way.

Yesterday we reflected on the first waypoint which was Cultivating Big-Picture Thinking.  It followed two days when we looked at the science and results of big picture thinking. If you missed any of the past three days of podcasts, please go back and listen to them, or read our daily journal entries. This will give you the foundation for this week’s Trek.

 

As we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to reflect on the question, "Am I thinking beyond myself and my world so that I process ideas with a holistic perspective?"

Did you take time to think about how you would answer this question?  To grow in wisdom each day, we should be asking ourselves the difficult questions that cause us to reflect on our lives so that we can expand our world. It is then we will have the capability to impact others to a greater capacity.

It’s time to break camp now and head towards the next waypoint or rest stop.  As we head down the trail today, let us focus on what we learn at each stop and think creatively on how this will help us to live abundantly in all areas as we are creating a living legacy.

Wise and successful people practice certain thinking habits, and in order for you to become wise and successful, you need to entrench these same thinking habits into you mind.

2. Engage in Focused Thinking

Focused thinking allows you to think clearly about a problem. This skill helps you to direct energy toward a specific objective, bring more clarity to issues, and take ideas to the next level. When engaging in focused thinking, you should select challenges or areas that are most likely to have the greatest impact.

Here are five ways that you can improve your focused thinking:

Eliminate distractions and focus on areas that will provide the greatest impact.

Devote time to focused thinking. Although multi-tasking is a popular word in today’s world, it is not conducive to focused thinking. New evidence has shown that we really cannot multitask and, for most people, working on multiple tasks at a time is really counterproductive.

Keep items of focus in view. You must concentrate on things that matter. You must keep the important items of focus in front of you.

Set milestones. When you set clear objectives, it is easy for the mind to focus.