Mine 2 Shine

    Day-13- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 Model a Child A while ago, I took my four – years – old son Colby to an Italian restaurant for lunch. It was a beautiful autumn day and, as usual, my young son was full of energy and joy. We both ordered pasta for our main course and then started to enjoy the freshly baked bread our waiter had brought. Little did I know that Colby was about to teach his father yet another lesson in the art of living. Rather than eating the bread while as most adults do, Colby took a different, far more creative approach. He began to scoop out the warm, soft part of the bread and left the crust intact. In other words, he had the wisdom to focus on the best part of the bread and leave the rest. Someone once said to me at a seminar, “Children come to us more highly evolved than adults to teach us the lessons we need to learn.” And on that fine day, my little boy reminded me that as so – called gr...

  Day-12- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 After I wrote The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari , I was flooded with letters from readers who saw their lives change from the lessons they discovered on becoming happier, more fulfilled and more peaceful in these stress – crazed times. Many of these letters came from people who work lives had grown so busy that they spent most of their free time worrying about things that should have been left at the office. They had lost the ability to laugh, love and share joy with their families because challenges at work were consuming them. Too many people are spending the best years of their lives stuck in a state of constant worry. They worry about their jobs, the bills, the environment and their kids. And yet we all know deep in our hearts that most of the things we worry about never happen. It’s like that great saying of Mark Twain’s, “I’ve had a lot of trouble in my life, ...

   Day-11- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428   Years ago, when I was a litigation lawyer who had many of the material trappings of success yet little in the way of inner peace, I read a book called As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. Te book discussed the enormous power of the human mind to shape our reality and attract great happiness and prosperity into our lives. The work also mentioned the profound influence of the words and language we use on a daily basis to create a more enlightened pathway of thought. Fascinated, I began to read more and more wisdom and self – help literature. And as I did, I discovered the profound impact and importance of the words we use in our daily communications (both with others and with ourselves) on the quality of our lives. This knowledge also caused me to become aware of the personal dialogue that each of us has going on within us every minute of every hour of every day and to vow to improve the con...

    Day-09- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 It is easy to say yes to every request on your time when the priorities of your life are unclear. When your days are not guided by a rich and inspiring vision for your future, a clear image of an end result that will help you act more intentionally, it is not hard for the agendas of those around you to dictate your actions. As I wrote in Leadership Wisdom from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari , “if your priorities don’t get scheduled into your planner, other people’s priorities will get put into your planner.” The solution is to be clear about your life’s highest objectives and then to learn to say no with grace.   The Chinese sage Chuang – tzu told the story of a man who forged swords for a maharaja. Even at the age of ninety, his work was carried out with exceptional precision and ability. No matter how rushed he was, he never made even the slightest slip. One day, the mahar...

  Day-08- -101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 The way you begin your day determines the way you will live your day. I call the first thirty minutes after you wake up “The Platinum 30” since they are truly the most valuable moments of your day and have a profound influence on the quality of every minute that follows. If you have the wisdom and self – discipline to ensure that, during this key period, you think only the purest of thoughts and take only the finest of actions, you will notice that your days will consistently unfold in the most marvelous ways. Recently, I took my two young children to see the thrilling IMAX movie Everest. Aside from the breathtaking imaginary and the powerful acts of heroism portrayed, there was one point that stayed with me: in order for the mountain – climbers to scale the summit, it was essential for them to have a good base camp. It was impossible for them to get to the top without the camp...

   Day-07- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 Every second you dwell on the past you steal from your future. Every minute you spend focusing on your  problems you take away from finding your solutions. And thinking about all those things that you wish never  happened to you is actually blocking all the things you want to happen from entering into your life. Given the  timeless truth that hold that you become what you think about all day long, it makes no sense to worry about pa st events or mistakes unless you want to experience them for a second time. Instead, use the lessons you have l earned from your past to rise to a whole new level of awareness and enlightenment.   Life’s greatest setbacks reveal life’s biggest opportunities. As the ancient thinker Euripides noted,  “There is in the worst of fortune the best chances for a happy change.” If you have suffered more than your fair  share of difficulties in life, p...

  Day-06- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 We live in a world of broken promises. We live in a time when people treat their words lightly. We tell a friend we will call her next week for lunch knowing full well we do not have the time to do so. We promise a co – worker we will bring in that new book we love so much knowing full well that we never lend out our books. And we promise ourselves this will be the year we will get back into shape, simplify our lives and have more fun without any real intention of making the deep life changes necessary to achieve these goals. Saying things we don’t really mean becomes a habit when we practice it long enough. The real problem is that when you don’t keep your word, you lose credibility. When you lose credibility, you break the bonds of trust. And breaking the bonds of trust ultimately leads to a string of broken relationships. To develop an honesty philosophy, begin to monitor how...

   Day-03- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 One day, according to an old story, a man with a serious illness was wheeled into a hospital room where another patient was resting on a bed next to the window. As the two became friends, the one next to the window would look out of it and then spend the next few hours delighting his bedridden companion with vivid descriptions of the world outside. Some days he would describe the beauty of the trees in the park across from the hospital and how the leaves danced in the wind. On other days, he would entertain his friend with step - by – step replays of the things people were doing as they walked by the hospital. However, as time went on, the bedridden man grew frustrated at his inability to observe the wonders his friend described. Eventually he grew to dislike him and then to hate him intensely. One night, during a particularly bad coughing fit, the patient next to the window stopped...

   Day-02- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 Every Day, be Kind to a Stranger On his deathbed, Aldous Huxley reflected on his entire life’s learning and then summed it up in seven simple words: “Let us be kinder to one another.” All too often, we believe that in order to live a truly fulfilling life we must achieve some great act or grand feat that will put us on the front covers of magazines and newspapers. Nothing could be further from the truth. A meaningful life is made up of a series of daily acts of decency and kindness, which, ironically, add up to something truly great over the course of a lifetime. Everyone who enters your life has a lesson to teach and a story to tell. Every person you pass during the moments that make up your days represents an opportunity to show a little more of the compassion and courtesy that define your humanity. Why not start being more of the person you truly are during your days a...

  Day-01- 101 day Reading Challenge- a Mine2Shine initiative-9789186428 Discover your Calling When I was growing up, my father said something to me I will never forget, “Son, when you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die the world cries while you rejoice.” We live in an age when we have forgotten what life is all about. We can easily put a person on the Moon, but we have trouble walking across the street to meet a new neighbor. We can fire a missile across the world with pinpoint accuracy, but we have trouble keeping a date with our children to go to the library. We have e-mail, fax machines and digital phones so that we can stay connected and yet we live in a time where human beings have never been less connected. We have lost touch with our humanity. We have lost touch with our purpose. We have lost sight of the things that matter the most. And so, as you start this book, I respectfull...

  STEPS TO BUILDING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE During childhood, we form attitudes that last a lifetime. Undoubtedly, it would be a lot  easier and better to have acquired a positive attitude during our formative years. Does  that mean if we acquire a negative attitude, whether by design or by default, we are stuck  with it? Of course not. Can we change? Yes. Is it easy? Absolutely not. How do you build and maintain a positive attitude? ¨   Become aware of the principles that build a positive attitude ¨   Desire to be positive ¨   Cultivate the discipline and dedication to practice those principles As adults, regardless of our environment, education and experience, who is responsible  for our attitude? We are. We have to accept responsibility some time in our lives. We blame everyone and  everything but ourselves. It is up to us to choose our attitude every morning. As adults,  we need to accept responsibility for our behavior and...

In 1902, the sociologist Charles Horton Cooley wrote: “I am not what I think I  am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.” Let that blow your mind for a moment. Our identity is wrapped up in what others think of us—or, more accurately,  what we think others think of us. Not only is our self-image tied up in how we think others see us, but most of  our efforts  at self-improvement are really just us trying to meet that imagined  ideal. If we think someone we admire sees wealth as success,then we chase wealth  to impress that person. If we imagine that a friend is judging our looks, we tailor  our appearance in response. In West Side Story , Maria meets a boy who’s into her.  What’s her very next song? “I Feel Pretty.”  As of this writing, the world’s only triple Best Actor Oscar winner, Daniel  Day-Lewis, has acted in just six fil lms since 1998. He prepares for each role  extensively, immersing hi...