Take Action

Listening and Doing go hand in hand when it comes to personal health and wellness. How? You may ask and of what importance is this to me? Well, it's quite simple, everybody at some point is quick to speak and slow to listen and the end result is normally something left unresolved or conflicted. Instead, it should be the other way around. We should be quick to listen, prepared to speak when it is our turn with something constructive that adds to the conversation. Some of us are quick to speak and quick to anger. We should  be slow to speak and slow to anger.

It is known that anger tends to bring out the worst in people and in some cases, results in irreversible damage and pain to ourselves and others. In an effort to avoid sounding preachy, people, we have got to be more conscious of our behaviors, our actions and reactions, and we have got to start learning to teach ourselves to walk away, step back or find healthier approaches to dealing with things that get us upset. Here are a few age old tips that might help clear the path to a thinking before we speak and do!

1. Clean your house and your environment of things that are bad for your physical and mental health like drugs, alcohol, pornography, weapons or things that promote a negative, hateful stigma or energy around you.
2. Do the same for your computer, TV and music collection. As best you can, delete and block out unhealthy content that promotes violence, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, physical and sexual abuse.
3. Replace the movies, books and music with lighter, more encouraging materials to the best of your liking. In other words, if you're not into gospel and you prefer rap music, don't just "cold turkey" trash all your rap music and switch to gospel. It's not going to work. You must browse for rap music that is less prone to the things that are breaking you down and quick to make you feel anxious or over-excited.
4. Do more than just listen to healthy advice for your life, act on it. Listen then Do. Do what the instructions and suggestions say and you will be amazed at the results. Whatever it is that you are seeking betterment at, for those who have gone before, succeeded at it, wrote a book, made a video, put it in some way for you to learn it, do more than just read it or watch it; apply it in your life and watch it change you. 

See, if we just read without comprehension, listen without action or watch without realization, we simply deceive ourselves and eventually lose sight of the goal to the point we can't even recognize ourselves in the mirror. Who is this person looking back at me? Is it a person that I recognize or does the image fade away just as soon as I walk away? We have to go deeper, find acknowledgement, application and execution.

 Once you have mastered the art of listening, comprehending, and applying, you will be exercising what most would call an art of execution. It's like the laws of perfection somehow flow with you and when do things, you don't just do them - you become them. You will find a sense of joy in the things you do, the results you get and the effects your good work has on others. Like they say, there's something to be said about a "job well done."  Most of all, it is a sense of freedom. When you feel good about what you do and when it has a positive flow into the lives of others, there is a seed of freedom that blossoms into an unconscious flow of self-discipline, worthiness, and purity. You literally feel like you are governed by the "perfect laws" of the world around you and things tend to flow in your favor more often than not.

 But you can't get that "feel good" flow in your life without first learning how to avoid the potholes. You have to be conscious at all times that there are people, things and influences that will kill, steal and destroy your positive attitude and good vibes. Steer clear of distressed people who do not want more for themselves. I'm not saying don't try to help, but if you have done all you can and they don't get better and it's purely their choice not to get better, know when to say when and get out. This goes for jobs, relationships, friendships, etc. When something or someone in your life is constantly creating a negative, stressful impact on you and yours and they are constantly polluting your good will and your encouraging spirit with filth, corruption and degradation, GET OUT! You have to know when to say I love myself and I love you enough to walk away. This has to be done when you have done all you can and the other person, situation or circumstance is not getting any better.

Now. Recap. Accepting positivity, moral law and goodwill into your heart and sewing into your natural fiber of being will literally transform your anger into something vibrant and energetic instead of something demoralizing and evil.  LISTEN - BE PREPARED TO RECEIVE. Going through the motions kills emotions. DON'T BE DEFENSIVE, BE HUMBLE. Slow to anger, quick to understand. ACCEPTANCE OF COMPREHENSION IS VALIDATED BY ACTION. Don't just hear it, live it. We tend to stay the same when at the end of the day, complacency is just as life draining as laziness. So Do not be afraid to take a good look at yourself and your life from time to time and see if anything needs to change. Life is like a automobile-you have to change the oil to keep the engine running. The one who looks intently and keeps looking until they find it eventually finds freedom and freedom leads to blessings in your life and you bless others around you.

And I can't stress this enough, most of all, be true to yourself and each other. There is nothing worse in health and wellness and life coaching that someone who is fake! They talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk. Don't be that person. Keep it authentic and pure.  When you lie to yourself, you lie to others and believe me, it shows. Reflect the real person inside and if you have a change of heart, it will show! When you have a change of vocabulary and choice of words, it will show! When you authentically change how you talk yourself and how you speak to people, it will reflect the real person inside. So you have to "keep it 100." The actions of a servant reflect the heart of a leader. It's not legalism, it's healthy boundaries to protect your most precious asset-YOU.

Higher Calling

Now, let's shift the focus onto something a little more complex. What is your higher calling? What is it about us that makes us different? Special? Important? No, I'm not talking about our external differences or our even our physical differences for that matter, I'm talking about what's underneath. We have common ground; we are all human, at least I like to believe we are, and we are all looking to achieve basically the same goals in life; to live happy and healthy, achieve personal goals and successes and hopefully leave behind something that will live on beyond our years. 

Well, this is much deeper than that. Some of you are not going to like this, but we some of you were actually called to be followers. Now before you get all upset, think about it. Where would leaders be if there were no followers? Where would celebrities be if there were no fans or where would businesses be if there were no customers? You get the point. It's not a bad thing. It's the reason everything else exists. It's the backbone to the whole process.

Not much of a higher calling you say? Well, look at like this. There may not be an "i" in team, but there is in "win". I'm sure you have heard that before. Well, the bumper sticker is correct. You see, without the team, the star player is not as strong. Without the team, the office does not run as smoothly. Without the team, the restaurant can pretty much stop functioning altogether. Again, you get the point. 

Fellowship is crucial among you. There must be a team to have order in execution of whatever you seek to accomplish together. Believe it or not, this is, in a sense, a call to freedom. How? Consider this. You are working together to achieve a common goal as a team, in fellowship, in support of a leader, and you are willfully participating. You are free to choose your path in life and follow any leader or influence you like. Fellowship means being ready willing and able to exercise your freedom to promote health, wellness and prosperity for yourself and others.

Now, we have talked a lot on this site about choice and how it is quite possibly the reason humans exist at all. We have talked in length about how decisions have outcomes that can either raise you up or bring you down. We know that were are naturally created to be whole, pure, creative, uplifting individuals who are born and raised in a life of love and good will. We also know that in our world, this is far too often, not what happens. That is why we are called to make a difference.

If you ask me, there is no greater calling than this; to the world you might be one person, but to one person, you might be the world.