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Last chance to get a copy of Color Your Life Happy pre-release price before June publication date.

Wordless Wednesday

By coloryou | June 24, 2009

stone-serious-about-exercise

Topics: Life choices | 1 Comment »

Three Reasons to Get Rid of the Life you Planned

By coloryou | June 23, 2009

guest-cabin-at-hedgebrook
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.
- Joseph Campbell

For all my talk about setting goals and following a plan, there is a lot be said for abandoning your plan. As a matter of fact there are three good reasons to get rid of the life you planned.

1. The plan no longer fits your reality.

Stylish shoes were once my weakness. 3 inch heels showed off my long legs and made me feel sexy. Even when they were uncomfortable, I tolerated them when they matched my outfit and brought compliments as I stepped into the room.

High heels no longer fit my reality. I’m much more interested in being comfortable and care very little about what others think about my shoes or anything else.

I still look at high heels as I pass store windows, but now I imagine forcing the designer to wear them all day until he collapses.

2. Your experiences and new knowledge call for a change to your plan.

When I left junior high teaching for university teaching, I scoffed at teaching in community colleges. I thought of community colleges as glorified high schools, and wanted no parts of them.

Fast forward several years when I was choosing among three job offers: community college was by far the best choice. I just retired from 20 years of community college teaching.

3. You’ve run into a deadend or detour.

I was raised as a Baptist, but as an adult researched various religions. I was drawn to churches that combined Eastern and Western thought. For many years I belonged to various congregations in Religious Science, Unitarian and other transforming groups.

Eventually, however, I hit a deadend. I wasn’t sure what was next for me. Then I attended a new church forming in my county. It’s a Presbyterian church, one I never investigated nor considered. I didn’t even know what Presbyterians believed, but I was drawn to the service, music and spirit of the congregation. I don’t know where this is going, but for now I’m taking this detour.

How about you? Have you ever dumped a plan or taken a detour from your life plan? Tell us about it.

Topics: Life choices | 1 Comment »

Wordless Wednesday

By coloryou | June 10, 2009

sunset-on-puget-sound2

Topics: Life choices | No Comments »

A Blog Worth Reading: David Pollay

By coloryou | June 8, 2009

Earlier this year while combing around the Internet, I discovered a wonderfully refreshing, encouraging and inspiring blog written by David Pollay. I’m happy to say I’ve been in touch with David and got his blessings to use the following post.

The Law of the Garbage Truck™
Copyright 2007 David J. Pollay

How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you’re the Terminator, you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of your success is how quickly you can refocus on what’s important in your life.

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. And I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened.

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, the car skidded, the tires squealed, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the other car’s back-end.

I couldn’t believe it. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face. And he even threw in a one finger salute! I couldn’t believe it!

But then here’s what really blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, “Why did you just do that!? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck™.” He said:

“Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.

So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me. You’ll be happier.”

So I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street? It was then that I said, “I don’t want their garbage and I’m not going to spread it anymore.”

One of my favorite football players of all time was Walter Payton. Every day on the football field, after being tackled, he would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best. Over the years the best players from around the world in every sport have played this way: Tiger Woods, Nadia Comaneci, Muhammad Ali, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Michael Jordan, Jackie Robinson, and Pele are just some of those players. And the most inspiring leaders have lived this way: Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™. He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker. David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer. You can find out about the No Garbage Trucks! mission at www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com.

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project. He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email david@themomentumproject.com. Here’s David’s full bio.

You can sign up for David’s MO Minutes Newsletter here.

See, Roy Baumeister, a psychology researcher from Florida State University, found in his extensive research that you remember bad things more often than good things in your life. You store the bad memories more easily, and you recall them more frequently.

So the odds are against you when a Garbage Truck comes your way. But when you follow The Law of the Garbage Truck™, you take back control of your life. You make room for the good by letting go of the bad.

The best leaders know that they have to be ready for their next meeting. The best sales people know that they have to be ready for their next client. And the best parents know that they have to be ready to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses, no matter how many garbage trucks they might have faced that day. All of us know that we have to be fully present, and at our best for the people we care about.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their lives.

What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?

Here’s my bet: You’ll be happier.

I began to see Garbage Trucks. Like in the movie “The Sixth Sense,” the little boy said, “I see Dead People.” Well now “I see Garbage Trucks.” I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

Topics: Life choices | No Comments »