When you work on muscles, you have to start off with a weight you can lift and then gradually work your way up. So maybe you have to start off at 110 pounds. Let’s say you do the 110 pounds for a while and you do it long enough to where it now becomes easier. So the next thing you do is you add 10 pounds to that. Now you’re lifting 120 pounds. You work on that for a while until it becomes easier. When 120 pounds becomes easier then you add 10 more pounds. You continue on up like this, gradually adding more and more weight to strengthen the muscles in your arms.

We can relate it also to running. I can remember training for my first marathon. A marathon is 26.2 miles long. My good wife Lisa was my trainer. We didn’t start off by doing a 26-mile run. We didn’t even start off doing a 5-mile run. I don’t think I had ever even run more than five miles in my life. I couldn’t even run a full mile when I began my training. I’ll never forget the first time we ran three miles. I distinctly remember that when we completed the three miles I collapsed on the ground gasping for air. I remember that I was so thrilled that I had actually run three miles! It was a major accomplishment for me.

The way we trained for the marathon was to run two miles every morning, Monday through Thursday, and then rest on Friday. Then on Saturdays we would do a long run. Each Saturday morning we would add a mile or two to our long runs. So our first long run was three miles. Then the next week our long run was four miles. Then five miles the next week. Gradually, week after week, we worked our way up to where our final training run before the marathon was 24 miles. I remember that day, running the 24-mile long run, and thinking back to our first three-mile run and thinking, “Wow! Three miles is nothing! Running three miles is so easy!” Now we were running 24 miles! We worked up to it gradually over time. If we would have tried to run 24 miles that first day it would have been a huge failure and I would have given up and would have never completed a marathon.

So how does that relate to self-mastery? Well, every thing about a marathon is self-mastery! But a marathon, like weight lifting, teaches us that you can’t do it all at once and this applies to self-mastery in other areas of your life. You can’t change everything all at once.

So I’m relating this all to self-mastery and the changes that you want to make in your life. If self-mastery is like a muscle then you must work on it like you would work on a muscle. You must strengthen that self-mastery muscle by starting off with small and easy things and then gradually work your way up.

So how do you do this? I suggest you look at your life and determine what needs to change. Make a list of all the changes you would like to make. Then take one thing and focus on it. Work on it for a week or two until it becomes easy for you. Then begin the next thing. Gradually strengthen your self-mastery muscle one change at a time.

I have been doing this for a while. In fact I started on August 1st of this year and made some major commitments to myself of changes I desire to make.

More recently, as part of this process, I have focused on exercising every morning except Sundays. That’s what I focused on and now it has become a habit and even perhaps an addiction – a positive addiction.

Currently I am focused on getting to bed on time every night. When I get good at that then I will move on to my next goal. I have a series of improvements that I want to make in my life that I call my self-mastery goals. I can’t do them all at once. So I work on one thing at a time until it becomes a habit, until I strengthen that self-mastery muscle. Then I move on to the next one.

So in summary, the message for today is that self-mastery is like a muscle which needs to be exercised in a gradual, progressive way. Examine your life, determine what you want to change, and then work on one thing at a time.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Thank you.

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• January 4, 2009 — Master Your Priorities: Stop Being Sidetracked
• December 22, 2008 — Exercise – Becoming Addicted
• October 3, 2008 — Dealing with Obstacles to Getting to Bed On Time
• July 30, 2008 — Self Mastery Hero – Lisa Larson
• December 19, 2008 — Quick-Fixes Not So Quick

Putting on a pair of glasses

Now, what if I told you that you could take your beliefs and change them in the same way that you can take off a pair of glasses and put on another pair of glasses. When you put on another pair of glasses, let’s say a pair of sunglasses, you see everything differently – EVERYTHING! Now what you see, you see through the lenses of those glasses.

Your beliefs are the same way. Everything you do or every decision you make goes through the lens of your beliefs. If you believe that you’re a failure or you believe that you’re this kind of person or that kind of person, then no matter what, you are always seeing yourself through that lens. What you need to do is change the lens of your beliefs – the beliefs of who you are.

Removing doubts and fears

Some people look at hypnosis and they think that it’s some kind of trick, that it’s a farce. They think that the people are faking it. They don’t believe in hypnosis. But, hypnosis really does work. It’s a very simple thing. It doesn’t give anyone any special abilities or allow them to do anything that they don’t already know how to do. When a hypnotist hypnotizes someone and causes, for example, someone who stutters to give an eloquent speech, or causes someone who is afraid of heights to walk across a beam laid across two ladders, or someone who can’t sing to sing a beautiful song – the hypnotist is not giving these people these abilities, these abilities already existed in these people. The only thing the hypnotist is doing is removing their doubts that they can do these things. He’s removing their doubts so that they totally believe they can do it. That’s all hypnosis is. It is removing all inhibitions, doubt and fear that you can do something. The things that people do under hypnosis are things they already have the ability to do, but just don’t believe they can.

What are your beliefs?

Now I want you to think about that concept and think about your own life and think about the things that you continually fail at or that you continually can’t do or can’t accomplish. Is it because you don’t have the ability or is it because you simply believe deep down inside that you can’t do it, that you are not that kind of a person?

For example, there are people who all their lives have told themselves, “I’m not a runner, I can’t run, I hate running. It’s painful.” And they have never been able to run because they have told themselves that they are not a runner. That’s their belief. Well, there are some of these people who have had this belief all their life and have changed their belief. They began running and began training and got past that belief and suddenly realized that people aren’t runners or not runners and that you weren’t born into this world a runner and some people not runners. It’s all in your mind. It’s all what you believe.

These very same people who all their lives believed that they were not runners have been able to run marathons. Think about it! Suddenly they realized that they were a runner. They look at themselves now as a runner. It’s now a part of their being. It’s now a part of who they are. And now that they see themselves as a runner, they can RUN! And now that they believe that it’s enjoyable, they enjoy it!

What I’m trying to tell you here is that you need to change your beliefs about who you are. Not just parts of who you are but your entire being. Let’s go back to the glasses example. Think about it again. Let’s review it again. If you put on a pair of rose colored glasses, everything you see in this world is rose colored. No matter what it is that you see you see it through those rose colored glasses.

Who do you think you are?

Now I want you to take this example and think about who you are. Let’s say that you believe that you are a failure or that you are never going to be successful, that you are never going to accomplish the things in life that you want to accomplish. You have desires but your beliefs are not there. So, everything you do you see through those beliefs – the beliefs that you are a failure and no matter how hard you try you’re always seeing it through the “failure” lenses.

If you can understand this concept you can begin to identify your false beliefs about yourself and begin to change them. Put your false beliefs away and begin to see yourself as the person you desire to become. By changing your beliefs you can experience dramatic changes in your life.

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• December 15, 2008 — Sheep Thief or Saint?
• December 5, 2008 — Ponder Your Life – Find Your Mission
• December 3, 2008 — Quest for Immortality
• October 20, 2008 — I Have Quit!
• October 8, 2008 — Self-Pity – The ‘Luxury’ You Can’t Afford

Good morning. I went golfing a while ago with a friend who I know doesn’t earn a lot of money, yet he had a $500 golf set. His driver alone cost over $150. I asked him how many times a year he golfed and he said only once or twice. Once or twice! And yet he thinks he needs to have a top of the line golf set. I mean, come on, if you’re golfing once or twice a year I would think a decent $200 golf set would do just fine.

I have come across a number of people with this same trait. They think they need to have “The Best”. There is nothing inherently wrong with that except these are people that can’t pay their bills each month. Their money picture is all out of balance, meaning, in some areas they are lacking and other areas they have too much. Their house is falling apart or they can’t afford to pay their bills and yet they’ll go out and buy an item and it will be the top of the line or the biggest or the best and of course the most expensive.

Another example is an individual I know who is struggling with money. She went out and bought a brand new $700 computer. Now a $700 computer may not seem like such a big deal to most of you, but I know for a fact that you can purchase a great computer for around $400. I recently got one for my family and it works great and is very powerful. I don’t know what she got for the extra $300 but I guarantee you she doesn’t need it. All she is using her computer for is to access the internet and do simple word processing. But for some reason she was compelled to get “The Best.”

Its purchases like that that baffle me sometimes. Whether it’s a computer or clothes or a car or a camera – if you’ve got the money then go ahead and get the best. But if you don’t have the money you shouldn’t be buying top of the line items.

I’ve never bought a brand new car in my life and I don’t know if I ever will. You can buy great used vehicles for a fraction of the cost of new ones. I pay cash. I don’t go into debt. The car I drive right now is a great car and it didn’t cost much at all. It has all the luxury features, all the bells and whistles, and I’m very happy with it. Mostly I’m happy because it didn’t cost me a dime in interest. I paid for it with a check. It’s a fraction of the cost that many people, who make less money than me, spend on their brand new cars. I can then take that extra money and do fun things like go on a cruise with my wife, which is what I’m doing next week. I would much rather use the money for other things than sinking it into a vehicle or an expensive computer.

The point I’m trying to make is this: If you have the money, great. I don’t have a big problem with you having nice things or even the best things. I do have a problem if you buy those things when you can’t afford it. If you’re struggling and you can barely buy food or clothes for your kids then why do stupid things like buy an expensive car or an expensive computer or an expensive camera that you don’t need? Why do you think you have to have “The Best?” You can get along fine with good quality things. You can be perfectly happy and content without the 72″ big-screen TV – really! Many people do.

The next time you feel compelled to purchase “The Best,” stop and think. Why are you buying it? Are there cheaper models that will do just fine? Can you purchase it used? Can you skip the purchase altogether? Be wise. Think before spending. The best may end up not being the best after all.

Thank you.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• November 22, 2008 — Myths of Money and Happiness
• October 1, 2008 — How Strict Should You Be with Your Goals?
• December 15, 2008 — Sheep Thief or Saint?
• October 24, 2008 — The Price Tags of Life
• October 8, 2008 — Self-Pity – The ‘Luxury’ You Can’t Afford

Think for a moment about the visual image of a train. You can visualize a train on a track moving forward at a fast pace to its destination and another train sitting on the side track, not making any progress. It’s sidetracked. Sidetracked is a term we use in life when we get diverted from the goal or the object of our intent.

The Million Dollar Hypothetical Example

Let me illustrate by giving a hypothetical example. Let’s appeal to your baser desires and imagine you have an extremely important appointment and if you make it to this appointment it will result in you receiving one million dollars. If you can make it to this appointment on time and go through with it successfully you will be one million dollars richer.

Now this appointment is 25 miles away from where you live. You must travel on the local freeway to get there. You know the location. You know where you’re going. You have just enough time to get there. You have just enough gas in your car to get there.

So my question to you is this: Would there be anything that would stop you from keeping this appointment? My guess is that nothing would stop you.

The Carnivals of Life

Let’s examine our little scenario a little more. Suppose you get in your car and you start driving to this extremely important appointment. Let’s imaging that you’re headed to this appointment and as you are driving you notice there is a carnival along the side of the freeway. There are Ferris wheels and roller coasters and other fun rides. You see games and food and crowds of people having fun. You think to yourself, “Wow, I haven’t been to a carnival in a long time.” So you get off the freeway and you go over and visit the carnival and have a jolly time.

Do you think that this would really happen? It’s ludicrous to even think you would do this. Of course you wouldn’t. You would be focused on your goal of getting to that appointment.

The Road to Nowhere

Let’s imagine you were continuing along the highway to your appointment and you notice a road off to your left that you hadn’t noticed before. You think to yourself, “Gee, I’ve never been on that road before. I wonder where it goes.” You pull off the freeway and you head down that road thinking to yourself, “It’ll be a nice drive through the countryside with beautiful scenery.”

Do you think you would do that? Of course not! That would be preposterous. What would you really do? You would do everything possible to make it to your appointment on time.

Are You Stuck In Traffic?

In fact, let’s imagine you’re driving along the freeway to your appointment and suddenly you find yourself stuck in a big traffic jam. Of course you know that if you don’t make it to your appointment at exactly the right time, you don’t receive the million dollars.

In a normal situation, such as on your way to work, what would you do? You would just sit there in traffic and wait it out. When you finally get to work you would say, “Sorry I’m late but I hit traffic on the way to work and there was nothing I could do about it.” But was there really nothing you could do about it? If, in reality, you were on your way to an appointment to receive a million dollars, would you just sit there in traffic? I don’t think so.

I know what I would do. I would pull my car over to the side or even leave it parked on the freeway, get out of my car, jump the fence along the freeway, stop the first car I met, waving my arms crazily and say to the person in the car, “I have a huge emergency! If you can help me out it’s worth a thousand dollars to you! I promise you that I’ll pay you a thousand dollars if you can get me to my appointment on time.” I would find a way and so would you!

Diverted from Our Goals

But what do we really do in life? We have these great dreams and plans. We set goals. We really do have important things that we want and need to accomplish. But do we give our dreams and goals the importance that we really should? No! We let things divert our attention. We get sidetracked from the things that we want to accomplish. It’s incredible how this can happen.

Maybe some of the things you want to do aren’t going to get you a million dollars but perhaps to you they are just as valuable. Maybe it’s writing that book that you’ve said all your life that you’re going to write. Perhaps it’s developing that business or changing a character trait. We seem to find everything else in the world to do except for working on what’s most important to us.

One of the Seven Habits

As I talk about this it may remind you of Steven R. Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. If you’ve read this book you will recognize this concept. He divides our daily tasks into four different quadrants. They are:

1. Urgent and important
2. Imporatant but not urgent
3. Urgent and not important
4. Not urgent and not important

He talks about how we tend to spend our time in quadrant 1, the urgent and important, or quadrant 3, the urgent and not important. We seldom get to the tasks in quadrant 2, the important but not urgent.

Overcome by Urgencies

Those things in life that are of most importance tend to not have a deadline and so we tend to put them off. The tasks that would have the greatest positive effect on our life usually aren’t staring us in the face every morning, saying “Do me! Do me! Do me!” No, they are the ones that sit back quietly waiting for our attention.

I look at my own self and how many times I get sidetracked on different tasks, even in smaller things. One of my goals is to get up in the morning and follow a certain schedule and get to work by a certain time. Everything will be going well and then I’ll see some urgent thing that I think needs to be done and I start working on it and end up being late for work and not accomplishing the other things I had set out to accomplish because I got sidetracked.

Your Book Unwritten

That can be expanded into your life. As you look at your life and examine the goals and dreams you have made over the years, how have you done? You know you’re not getting any younger. You always say that someday you’ll get started on it. Well guess what, someday is today! When are you going to start working on that symphony? When are you going to climb that mountain, run that marathon, start that business, write that play or whatever it is you want to accomplish? When are you going to do those things?

Life moves on and we get diverted and we take those side trips. We stop at the carnivals of life. We seek pleasure and amusement and we don’t move forward to the things that are of most importance to us. Years go by and our books are still unwritten. It’s never going to happen until we make a concerted effort to let nothing get in our way.

Get Back On Track

My message for today is for you to look at the things you are doing and determine which of them are amusements and sidetracks and which are actually leading you to your ultimate goal and destination. Then if needed, switch your train off the sidetrack and back onto the main track of life and move forward, full speed ahead.

Thank you.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• March 7, 2009 — The Self-Mastery Muscle
• October 3, 2008 — Dealing with Obstacles to Getting to Bed On Time
• September 29, 2008 — Staying Up Late – Is It Worth It?
• September 7, 2008 — The Law of Habit-Forming
• August 13, 2008 — 13 Life Lessons from Running My First Marathon

A number of years ago I took my family to ride an old-time train powered by a massive steam engine. Before that train could move, the water temperature in the boiler had to reach two hundred and twelve degrees. Water will not generate steam at two hundred degrees. Even two hundred and ten degrees will not create the steam to move a train. For water to boil and steam to be generated it must reach the temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees. Lukewarm water will not move anything.

I believe the vast majority of people in life are like the train trying to move with lukewarm water – almost boiling but never quite there. They wonder why their life is stalled, why they never seem to be able to move forward. They work hard but success seems to elude them.

The temperature difference between water that is boiling and water that is not is only a degree or two but the difference in results can be dramatic. In the same sense the difference between a person with an overpowering mission in life and someone who is merely living life can seem small but the results are without comparison.

Achievers have an overpowering mission

One of the greatest tragedies in this world are those who fail to find and achieve their purpose or mission in life. The world is full of those whose daily existence is simply working for the weekend, plugging along until retirement or simply wondering whether they are in the right place doing the right thing. They know deep down inside that something is missing, that they are not doing what they do best. We each have only one life to live. How terrible it would be to come to the end of your life and realize you did not live to your fullest God-given potential.

The greatest achievements in this world have all been made by people with an overpowering mission. Like the steam that drives a locomotive, an overpowering mission drives every life of achievement. Think about every person of great accomplishment that you know of. Is it not true that each one had an overpowering mission?

Can you imagine Michael Jordan, Steven Spielberg, Mother Teresa, Christopher Columbus, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Mozart, or Henry Ford simply working for retirement, checking off the days on their calendars for when they can sit back and relax and watch TV? Ludicrous to even think about! No, these people were driven like a screaming locomotive. They each had an overpowering mission and there was no stopping them.

“The world always steps aside for people who know where they’re going.”
- Miriam Viola Larsen

What is an overpowering mission in life?

Call it a quest, a calling, a passion, a grand purpose, or a reason for being. A mission in life isn’t something you force on yourself. It is something you discover within. You are born with it. It is coded in your DNA. It flows in your blood and is written in your heart. It is not something that is separate from you. It is as much a part of you as stripes are a part of a zebra. You cannot get away from it. It eats with you, sleeps with you, and goes wherever you are because it is a part of you.

“Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
- Helen Keller

Once you find your mission your imagination is engaged and you have purpose. You have a reason for getting up in the morning. It fuses your values, beliefs, thoughts and actions into one unified force. It gives you a definition of who you are. Your mission is something that excites you, that drives you. When you are living your mission you look forward to every day. You live life with passion!

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
- Albert Einstein

Where does an overpowering mission come from?

I believe the creation of this world was not a mistake or some grand fluke of nature. It was created for a divine purpose. It was created as a place for God to send His children to learn and to grow and to develop their gifts and talents to their fullest. Each of us were sent here with certain things to learn and certain missions to perform. I believe in a Grand Design for everything.

“I cannot believe that God would choose to play dice with the universe.”
- Albert Einstein

It is my belief that each of us has been sent to this earth with a divine mission from God and it is one of the main purposes of life to discover it and pursue it.

Do you have an overpowering mission?

When I was in my late teens I had a good friend named Paul. In fact we roomed together for a while. I liked Paul a lot but there was one thing that really bugged me about him – he knew and had always known that when he grew up he would be a doctor. It never was a question in his mind. The reason it bugged me was the fact that I had no idea at that time what I wanted to do with my life and he did. It just didn’t seem fair.

Looking back I can see I had many clues and signs back then. But I didn’t see them!

Some of us come forth from our mother’s womb knowing our mission and purpose in life. Others of us, like myself, have a long struggle before the light finally turns on and we see clearly what our overpowering mission in life is.

One of the problems many of us face is that we have suppressed and denied for so long the feelings and yearnings inside us that they no longer come with the power and force they once did.

It’s like the puppy that follows the little boy home. The boy wants the puppy in a terrible way but knows his mother will never let him have it. So he tells the puppy to go away but of course it doesn’t. He yells at it but the puppy just keeps happily following him, wagging its little tail. It’s a persistent little puppy that won’t go away no matter what the boy tries. Finally, out of frustration the little boy picks up a rock and throws it at the puppy and with a yelp it runs off. It will be a long time before that puppy tries to follow the boy home again.

Too many of us have chased off our dreams and desires for so long that they rarely come back and if they do, they are timid and weak. That doesn’t mean they aren’t real and they aren’t important. They are still there. It just may take some coaxing to get them to come out again.

How do you discover your overpowering mission?

“Know thyself, and to thine own self be true, then thou canst not be false with any man.”
Shakespeare

There are many books and articles written on this subject. One particular book I own devotes over 150 pages with endless exercises and quizzes to help you discover your mission in life. I believe this type of introspection can be helpful but if it takes 150 pages to get you to find your mission in life, is it really an overpowering mission? I think it is much less complicated than that. There should be some rather large clues in your life and that is where you should look.

My own personal experience may be of some help to you. After I got married I began a career in the computer field. How was that chosen? My wife and my mother-in-law sat me down one day and succeeded in persuading me to go in that direction because there was good money to be made in computers. So for nineteen years of my life and over a million lines of computer code later I realized I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life doing that. But what then did I really want to do?

I began an earnest undertaking of finding out what I really should be doing with my life. A huge advantage I had was that I have kept a personal journal and have written in it nearly every day for the last 26 years of my life. So I began the rather large task of reviewing my journals from the first to the last. Frankly, I was amazed at what I found. I found over forty-three journal entries where I had expressed a deep desire to teach personal achievement, personal improvement, or personal change. My, how many times did that little dog come after me and I shooed him away or ignored him? Let me share one example from my journal, dated many years ago:

I wish I had the time each night to write down all the feelings that I have, but I never seem to have the time. I’ve been wanting to write about some ideas and aspirations I’ve been having lately, so here I go.

I like my job and it pays me very well. But sometimes I get the feeling that I have more to contribute in life besides computer programs. I sit at work each day and look at a little saying in front of my desk. It says, ‘Find out what you do best, then do it.’ I feel like I’m a good programmer and I do a good job at it. But I don’t feel that that is the thing I do best. I truly feel that I have an inborn ability to speak to people, to teach, to motivate, to give presentations to other people. The times when I have had opportunities to do this I have done very well, and most important, I have enjoyed it very much.

But how does one change from being a programmer to someone who teaches, speaks to, and motivates people? And also isn’t there a little vanity involved here? I mean, who am I to come out and say I can do these things and why do I want to do them? For the glory or recognition? I don’t want to be like that but how do you avoid it?

Plus what about my poor wife and her feelings and concerns – especially about family security? Here she thought I was all set and content in a nice career and now I’m thinking about changing. Is she going to think now that I’ll never be content at doing anything?

So, I shooed the puppy away then and every other time he came romping back into my thoughts. But he always came back. Finally I couldn’t deny it any longer. I had to pursue this powerful, overmastering desire; this mission in life.

“While goals are chosen, a purpose is discovered. Our purpose is something we have been doing all along, and will continue to do, regardless of circumstances, until the day we die.”
- Peter McWilliams

I don’t have a magic formula to give you in finding your life’s mission. I will say that it may take some deep thought, some making of lists and some review of your life thus far. For some this will be easy. For others it may take some coaxing to get the puppy to come back. Just be patient. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. You want to get it right!

“The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living.”
-The Grand Inquisitor in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov

It’s never too late

I have run a number of marathons. Each time I do I am amazed at the number of people who are older than me who not only run marathons but beat me to the finish! I will be running along, thinking I’m doing well and then a short, stubby, seventy-year old woman passes me up! It’s incredible! Life does not end when you turn forty, or sixty or even eighty. The history books are filled with people who have accomplished great things in the latter years of their lives.

I have always liked the saying that goes:

“Did you stop doing the things you did when you were young because you are old or are you old because you stopped doing the things you did when you were young?”

Read that again if you have to. I feel there is much to be learned from that statement. I once listened to a tape by the author Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. On the tape he asked a series questions to get you to think about yourself. One of my favorite questions he asked was this, “If you didn’t know how old you were, if there was no record of your birth, how old would you be?” His point was that the idea of how old you are has more to do with your thinking than with your birth certificate.

Many adults have the impression that once they pass a certain age they can never achieve or accomplish much. They feel their opportunities are lost. I say baloney! Every day that you wake up above ground is a day of opportunity!

The person who discovers or resurrects their overpowering mission late in life should not let age or time or circumstances get in their way. No matter how long they may have been delayed from it by mistakes or missteps, they should make a solemn resolve that they will not leave this life without pursuing and accomplishing their dream.

Clues from God

Our passions, longings and desires that arise from our heart are not just vain imaginations or hopeless dreams. They are the pointers, the clues, the guides to our possibilities. They are the prophecies, predictions, and blueprints of what we may become.

The honeybee doesn’t have an instinct to gather nectar without a real flower to match it; nor has the Creator planted within us yearnings and desires and dreams for a better, fuller, life without the possibility of achieving it. There is a divine reason and purpose behind our genuine desires.

I don’t believe there is anybody anywhere in this world that can be truly happy until they have found their true passion, their true heart’s desire, their overpowering mission in life and then followed and pursued it to the ends of the earth.

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• August 13, 2008 — 13 Life Lessons from Running My First Marathon
• July 4, 2008 — Grow or Die!
• May 18, 2008 — The Law of Attraction Part 6 – Practical Application
• May 14, 2008 — The Law of Attraction Part 5 – Is It Science?
• May 12, 2008 — The Law of Attraction Part 4 – Two Creations

My hiking morning goes something like this: I get on my hiking gear, jump in my car and drive up to the trailhead parking lot. This is about a mile from my home. The hike I usually take, especially in the winter, is up in the foothills of the mountain. It’s consists of a trail that goes in a loop where the trail runs along the lower portion of the foothills and then it heads up a very steep part of the mountain and loops back on another trail across a higher portion of the foothills and then back down to the trailhead parking lot. Got that?

I’ve been doing this every morning except Sundays and I have quite enjoyed it. I’ve hiked this trail quite a bit over the last three years but my consistency has been spotty at best. There would be months go by at a time that I wouldn’t do any hiking and then other months where I would be consistent. The goal is to do it every day. So I’ve been doing it very consistently for the last several weeks.

Well, a few days ago I stayed up late working on a project. (See Staying Up Late – Is It Worth It?) So the next morning I was exhausted. I slept in. When I got up I was very disappointed with myself. I realized I just didn’t have time to go hiking that morning for the first time in a long time.

So, as I went through my morning, running behind schedule, I found myself just dragging and very down on myself. I felt so discouraged and frustrated. I felt like I was missing something, that things just weren’t right. I couldn’t picture myself going through the day without my morning hike.

Finally, as I was sitting there pondering what to do, I turned to my wife and said, “You know, I don’t really care how late I go in to work, I’m going hiking.” So I got on my hiking gear and went out and did my morning hike. It was wonderful. I loved it. When I got home from my hike I felt so much better inside.

I started thinking about what happened there and I realized that I have become addicted to hiking. I was actually experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not going on my hike. It was good to realize that I was becoming addicted to hiking and that when I didn’t do it I was in fact experiencing withdrawal pains.

I’ve heard of people becoming addicted to running or other healthy lifestyles or activities. I can’t say that I’ve ever been addicted to running. I’ve done a lot of running in my life. I’ve run nine marathons. They were tough and the training was tough but I never found myself addicted to it.

For me hiking is different. It’s definitely a workout. In fact, as I tape-record this blog entry while hiking you can hear me huffing and puffing on my tape. But for me, hiking is also a mental exercise too. It gets my mind going and gets me away from the day-to-day cares of home and it gets me out among nature. There is a feeling there that is hard to describe. It’s a wonderful feeling. I don’t know if it’s the endorphins getting going in my brain or what, but I enjoy it very much. I was pleased to see how much it affected me when the thought of not going went through my mind.

So what is my self-mastery message today? It is this: Find something like hiking or biking or swimming that you enjoy doing and do it every day. I know two individuals who do this. One I see out nearly every morning on his bike. The other I know goes every morning to the local community pool and swims laps. I would imagine that they most likely have the same experience that I have where it’s something they look forward to every morning and when they don’t do it their day doesn’t feel complete, like they are missing something and their whole day is affected.

My wife Lisa is most definitely addicted to running. She is the most dedicated runner I know. No matter what, she is out running every morning and if for some reason she can’t go it influences her whole day. I think the morning hike is becoming the same thing for me.

My message to you is to find something that will do that same thing for you. Maybe it’s running, maybe it’s hiking, maybe it’s an aerobic workout on a DVD or maybe it’s running on your treadmill. The idea is to find something positive that you can become so addicted to that your day will not feel complete without it. Once you get to this point you look forward every day to your workout. It’s not something you dread any more.

May you be unstoppable in your efforts to take care of your mind and body.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Thank you.
Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• July 30, 2008 — Self Mastery Hero – Lisa Larson
• March 7, 2009 — The Self-Mastery Muscle
• November 14, 2008 — Getting Yourself to Act: 3 Ways Commitments Give You Power
• January 4, 2009 — Master Your Priorities: Stop Being Sidetracked
• December 19, 2008 — Quick-Fixes Not So Quick

I took an empty tin can and cut both ends out and split it on the side. I wrapped it around the rusted hole in the exhaust pipe and clamped it on with hose clamps. I started the car up and it sounded so much better. I was so proud of myself for fixing my car with very little cost or effort. My worries were over – or so I thought!

The next day as I was driving to work I began to smell a strange odor in the car. It got worse and worse and suddenly I realized it was smoke. I looked down to see where it was coming from and saw smoke coming from the carpet on the floor between the two front seats.

I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and turned the engine off. I looked under the car and found my clever exhaust pipe patch glowing red hot. Had I driven my car much further it most certainly would have burst into flames. That was a close one! I ended up taking my car into the muffler shop anyway and having an expert mechanic weld a new pipe on. It ran great after that.

How many times do we have something in our lives that needs to be fixed and we attempt the quick-fix, the clever and easy method, only to end up with a near disaster in the end?

Some things in our lives take more than band-aid fixes. Are you guilty of trying the fad diets, the miracle creams, the instant-hypnosis, the get-rich quick schemes, the insider trading tips, the instant piano courses, and on and on? Some things can’t be fixed or done overnight. Some things require patience and real, determined, effort.

Thank you.
Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• October 3, 2008 — Dealing with Obstacles to Getting to Bed On Time
• March 7, 2009 — The Self-Mastery Muscle
• December 22, 2008 — Exercise – Becoming Addicted
• December 15, 2008 — Sheep Thief or Saint?
• December 3, 2008 — Quest for Immortality

As Christmas approaches my thoughts are drawn back to the memories of Christmas past. When our children were young Christmas was a magical time of the year. The memories are sweet and comforting. One in particular comes to mind of many years ago. This was when my oldest daughter was 6 years old. I cracked open my old journal this morning and read about the experience and felt like sharing it with you. Here is my journal entry from Christmas Eve 1990:

Christmas Eve – what a night! It was a lot of fun for me and Lisa to see the excitement in the kids’ eyes. We sang Silent Night and then read the Christmas story in Luke. The kids wanted to get to bed so fast. Neil kept telling everyone to stop talking so we could get through our scripture reading.

After family prayer and scripture reading we sent them off to bed. Soon after that I went outside and rang the jingle bells outside the kids’ window. Later, when I went into their room to check on them, they were so excited to tell me about hearing the bells.

Erika had written a letter to Santa and left it by the tree. She asked several questions like; is there really a red nosed reindeer and how does he know if you are awake and how do reindeer fly? She also left a banana and a glass of milk for Santa on the fireplace mantle.

So I decided Santa should write her back. I sat down at the kitchen table and began writing her a letter from Santa as I ate the banana and drank the milk. I used a red pen and wrote in a very fancy script. I was halfway through the letter when I looked up and there was Erika, standing by the table staring at me! I about died on the spot! She wanted a drink of water. I quickly covered the letter, got her a drink and then chased her off to bed.

Later I went back into her room just to see what she would say to me or what kind of questions she may ask. I was worried about how much she may have seen. Luckily she hadn’t noticed what I was doing earlier or at least didn’t say anything about it. That was a close one!

Later Lisa and I were wrapping presents and I was hauling them upstairs. I decided to check on her again. She was still awake at 12:15 a.m.! That little rascal! She is so excited. It’s 1 a.m. and I hope she’s asleep now. It will be so fun to see the excitement on the kids’ faces in the morning.

And it was exciting, as all Christmas’s were back then. There is nothing quite like having Christmas with small children. They had a way of bringing back the magic and excitement of my own childhood. Now my daughter has two children of her own and she has begun the cycle all over again of experiencing the magic through them.

I’ve heard criticism from time to time of people who “deceive” their children with the whole Santa Clause thing. Frankly, I’ve not seen any negative effects from it with my children. In fact it’s been quite the contrary with my experience. Now, when my children gather at our home they love to talk about the great Christmas memories of their childhood.

We can talk about tips and techniques for mastering our family relationships but sometimes the answers to our problems are so simple. Sometimes all that we need is to spend time together having fun and building memories. Christmas traditions build wonderful memories with your family that will last a lifetime. It’s part of the glue that holds a family together. May you take the time to build memories with your loved ones this Christmas season. The dividends and blessings will continue to come year after year.

What are your Christmas memories? What is the glue that holds your family together? Please share!

Thank you.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• November 26, 2008 — How Not to Correct Your Child
• November 17, 2008 — Is Your Love Account Overdrawn?
• November 5, 2008 — The Value of Having Father’s Interviews with Your Children
• October 1, 2008 — How Strict Should You Be with Your Goals?
• September 24, 2008 — A Letter to My Son on His 3rd Birthday

The Trap

One day I was exploring around and found an animal trap – the kind where you open the steel jaws when you set it. I had seen some squirrels from time to time playing out back behind the old barn. There was a big mesquite tree and the squirrels loved to eat the beans that grew on the tree. I thought to myself, “I’m going to catch me one of those squirrels.” So I took the trap and placed it under the tree. I gathered some of the mesquite beans and place them on the trap as bait. Then I carefully set the trap. I was so excited to catch a squirrel.

From time to time I went to check my trap and each time there was nothing in it. Pretty soon the sun went down and I had to go to bed. Gosh I sure wanted to catch a squirrel but no such luck.

The Horror

The next morning I jumped out of bed and ran out to check my trap. As I got closer to it I could see there was an animal in it. Something was wiggling. I was so excited I ran even faster. As I got close to the trap my heart sank. I couldn’t believe what I saw there in my trap. I was filled with horror. There were two little black eyes looking up at me – almost as if to say, “So you’re the one who did this to me!” There in my trap was a bird with both of its legs broken. I don’t know what kind of bird it was but it was bigger than a sparrow, and it was in pain.

I thought to myself, “What am I going to do? There’s no way I can fix this little bird’s legs. If I just let it go it will never survive. It won’t be able to get food. It won’t be able to sit on a branch. It won’t be able to walk. It will just suffer and die a horrible death. Oh what have I done?”

Do the Right Thing

I remembered that my father had taught me that you should never let an animal suffer – that the right thing to do was to put it out of its misery. Oh, how was I going to put this bird out of its misery? I saw that nearby was an irrigation canal, the one that I had swam in so many times. I then knew what I had to do. I carefully opened the trap and took the little bird up in my hands. The poor thing was in terrible pain – all because of me!

I carried the bird over to the canal, knelt down at the water’s edge, looked that bird in the eye and apologized for what I was about to do. I gathered up my courage and slowly placed the bird under the water. I could feel it struggle in my hands. Then it struggled less and less. Finally, after what seemed like and eternity, it quit struggling and its little heart quit beating. It’s one thing to kill a bird 30 yards away with a BB gun. It’s quite another to have it die right in your hands. I wept as I lifted the little bird out of the water and realized what I had just done.

I took the little body, dug a small grave and buried it there on the banks of the irrigation canal. I made a promise to myself right there that I would never needlessly kill anything again. And since that day I haven’t.

The Lesson Learned

I have tried to teach my sons the same lesson. Life is sacred and we should have respect and reverence for it. It wasn’t right to take your magnifying glass and burn up ants with it. You don’t squish bugs just for the fun of it. You don’t throw frogs against trees. You don’t tie firecrackers to cat’s tails. You don’t pull the wings off flies or treat any of God’s creations in a disrespectful or cruel way. And you don’t shoot little birds.

I fear that some day I will stand before God to be judged and there, standing beside him, will be 30 little birds all with their little wings pointed at me and saying, “Yes, that’s him, he’s the one who did it!” And what am I going to say?

You may wonder why I am sharing this with you. Is this really part of Personal Development? I think it is. I believe the world would be a better place if each of us had a respect and reverence for Nature. I feel those who respect God’s creations will also respect the grandest of all of God’s creations, Mankind. Thank you.

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• December 1, 2008 — Life – Don’t Miss It!
• October 6, 2008 — The First Snow of the Season
• June 23, 2008 — Step Back and See the Big Picture

I once heard a story about two brothers who lived in a small town in the country. The story goes that both of these brothers were caught stealing sheep. For their punishment they were branded on the forehead with the letters “ST,” for “Sheep Thief.”

One brother was so ashamed that he left the community. Everywhere he went he had to constantly explain the letters on his forehead. He remained bitter about the whole thing and always felt he had been treated unfairly. He eventually died a lonely man and was buried in an unknown grave.

His brother, on the other hand, stayed in the community and tried to win back his neighbors’ trust. He did everything he could to show the people of the town that he was a changed man. He volunteered for community service projects, helped his neighbors when he saw the need, and did all he could to become the kind of man that he knew he ought to be.

Many years later a visitor came to town. He asked a local resident about the strange letters on the old man’s forehead. The resident replied that he had forgotten exactly why the letters were there, but that he thought “ST” most likely was an abbreviation for the word “Saint.”

Like the brothers in this story, each of us makes mistakes in our lives – sometimes big ones and sometimes little ones. And like the brothers in this story we can choose what we do about the mistakes we make. We are the ones that decide how our mistakes are going to affect us.

May each of us choose the good path and become the person we know we ought to be so that perhaps someday we may be known as a “Saint” and not a “Sheep Thief.” Thank you.

Copyright © 2008 Garold N. Larson

Related Posts

• October 24, 2008 — The Price Tags of Life
• October 8, 2008 — Self-Pity – The ‘Luxury’ You Can’t Afford
• September 11, 2008 — Addictions – Fighting the Fire Within
• September 1, 2008 — The Power of Decisions
• July 9, 2008 — Snap Decisions