self help

Vision Board and Goals

/ Robert Bruton / Leave a comment

Amazing how the bible is filled with everything we believe in regarding self-improvement. You can find it all in the Bible. Proverbs is an excellent place to start if you want to test my theory.

Proverbs was written by King Solomon. Let’s just say in today’s terms, King Solomon’s wealth would make Bill Gates look like a pauper.

Vision boards! Read this bible verse pretty cool:

Habakkuk 2

2-3And then God answered: “Write this.

Write what you see.

Write it out in big block letters

so that it can be read on the run.

This vision-message is a witness

pointing to what’s coming.

From basically the dawn of time, folks like you and I have studied to improve their lives. Throughout history, self-improvement has been a part of the discourse for millions of people.

Something to be said for goals and having a vision board for visual reference.

Here are some fun ideas to create a vision board:

  1. Gather up pictures from magazines, the internet, with your goals and dreams. Don’t be shy. Remember, God flung into existence the Universe, so I think he can handle even your wildest goals.
  2. A poster board makes a great vision board. Glue your photos all over it in a collage. Then place the board in a prominent place so that you see it every day. Several times a day!
  3. You can also make a folder in your photos on your phone, vision board. Then save into these photo pictures that inspire you.
  4. It’s okay to have more than one board. Again, don’t be shy.
  5. Do work. If you just stare at photos and never act. Nothing will happen. Action must occur faithfully, diligently, and consistently if you ever want your vision to come true!

Vision boards are ever-evolving. As one goal is achieved, get a new one on the board.

John Assaraf, in the movie The Secret. He told the story of his son, asking him what his vision boards were for. He said to his son, “they are daddies vision for his life,” as he thumbed through the boards,  stopped to see a photo of a house that years before he put on a vision board. He had not looked at this board for a long time. He then realized the new home they were moving in was the exact house he had just purchased.

goals, self improvement, self help

He never put that together until he was unpacking boxes in his home. A picture of his dream house, he clips out of a magazine years before he now owns. Wow, what a fantastic story.

Last year I had not looked at my board for some time. Even lapsing reading my goals for a time. Yet, I endeavor to not miss a day. Reading my own goals, I paused when I read the one that was to publish my first book in 2019. It dawned on me at that moment, I published seven.

Vision boards and written goals work!

The key to success with your goals is action. You cannot sit on your ass and expect the world to feed you. Get off your duff and get working. Small steps, giant steps, just move. Forward momentum with a plan will open up your life to incredible heights.

The life you want to have. Put in front of you every day. Let God know. Remember what it says in the bible. You have not because you ask not—James 4:2

Give it to God, vision yourself with what you ask. Do work. See your life manifest into abundance, peace, hope, and love.

 

I found this and love it, for those of us that need creative help..lol…

Check out this Vision board kit: https://amzn.to/2NiBWb3 

vision board, goals, happy

 

Letting God Drive

/ Robert Bruton / Leave a comment

Are you a backseat driver? Can you sit back and enjoy the ride, or do you have to continue to “turn here” “watch for that car” “it’s faster turn here?”

The hardest Christian decision I have had to make is “Let Go & Let God!” Faith in something that you cannot see.

You must learn to let God drive. Sit back in the car, shut up, do the work, stay in the word, pray,, and God will do his thing!

The Bible says:

Hebrews 11.1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  

Faith is hard when you cannot see God cheering you forward. It’s particularly tricky when results are not appearing. During these times, most will simply give up. Only to say all the God mumbo-jumbo does not work.

self improvement, self help, spiritual

Faith will be tested by the enemy with a relentless barrage of self-doubt, negative thoughts, and anything else that can be thrown at you. Important to note! This will pass. Your faith will be tested, and it will give if you stay in faith.

Can’t see the end, stay in faith. Can’t see hope, remain in worship. Can’t take another moment of pain, stay in faith. All of this will pass. Yes, it hurts at the time horribly. This is when you simply fall to your knees and let God know you don’t have anything left, it’s all up to him.

Do that with a sincere heart. Your life will change! 

For those of you that read me, you know one of my favorite examples of faith. You quit that which you desire just moments before God had planned change. Example: You asked God for a dream job. The job God has in mind to give you is currently occupied by a beautiful person getting ready to enjoy a well-earned retirement. This person is a short six months away from a beautiful life.

You’ve been busting your fanny trying to find a dream job for some four months. No responses, nothing coming at all. God has moved your destiny into play for the job that will be vacant in just thirty more days. Your head is telling you that what’s the point five months of searching and nothing. A flat zero!

What you don’t know is that in just thirty days more. God is moving people, places, and things so that you get this dream job. The enemy is in your head, telling you it’s hopeless. You give in, and life passes you by again.

Staying in faith is damned hard. You have to believe as though there is NO other outcome other than you will have your dream job. Whether it takes one day or six months. It does not matter to you, it’s yours. No plan, B! Laser focused.

How do you stay this way, you may be asking. 

  • Prayer that includes gratitude that you already have the job! 
  • Meditate, see yourself doing the job. See yourself already working in the position you desire. 
  • Stay in faith, even when you see NO way! 
  • Throw any Plan B out the window! Plan B suggests your faith has a limit; ask yourself, does it? 
  • Resources vs. Resourcefulness (Learn the difference, your life with rocketship to the moon. 

Do the work; don’t sit on your ass and expect things to just come running to you. We all must do the job. Nothing comes for free.

Train yourself to see the outcome. Look towards that which you desire with affection, love, and the unrelenting knowledge it’s yours. Do it, and your life will unfold in ways you never dreamt!

Sit back and enjoy the ride, let God drive!

 

 

Can You Find Silence

/ Robert Bruton / Leave a comment

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”–Mother Thresa 

For the longest time at the beginning of my faith. The silence was not comfortable to achieve. What we mean by silence is the wheels that are spinning in our heads. Relaxing on any level is a challenge.

Finding silence will have peaceful results in your life. Learning to not freak out over daily challenges, not letting the traffic jam ruin your day. What is your joy worth?

Think about that question for a moment. What is your joy worth?

Is losing your joy worth:

  • Traffic Jam?
  • A line at the Grocery?
  • Poor Service?
  • Someone else having a bad day, spills over on you?
  • Financial Issues? (always remember temporary)

You see the point here. We all become susceptible to losing our joy for reasons that are either out of our control, brief, or only not worth the aggravation we bring upon ourselves.

It’s too easy getting caught up in silliness that steals our joy. Seriously, getting pissed because someone cuts us off at the exit. It could be that God moved you from harm’s way. Life happens for a reason. Instead of flipping the poor soul off that cut you off, maybe the purpose was to save you. Unbeknownst to any of the folks involved!

You never know what turn life throws at you that is actually saving your fanny. It may not look like it at the time.

How does standing in line at the grocery because they’re short-staffed. How about listening to an uplifting Podcast while waiting? Or you can be grumpy and ruin your day. What you choose is a choice.

Make the most out of time. Caught in traffic, let us say. Crank up some music that gets your heart pumping. Again listen to a good podcast. Choose to do something fun instead of being grumpy. Life is a choice of happy or sad.

self improvement, self help, happy

Learning to allow life to just roll of our shoulders. Don’t hold on to the lousy luggage. Let that luggage get lost at the airport. Hanging onto negativity begets negativity. Letting someone steal your joy over something stupid, well, you do the math.

My joy is no longer for sale to jerks, grumpy bosses, lousy service, or the like. Don’t let someone else miserable day ruin yours!

So how do we find silence? 

  1. Meditation, learn to sit in quiet reflection. I use rain and ocean sounds using headphones. Close your eyes and breathe through your nose, out of the mouth. Silence phone!!!
  2. Prayer. Find times to pray. Let God know what you need. Just have a good conversation. 

These two simple acts can change your life. We find answers in the silence. Allow God to flow through you when you’re quiet. This is where you hear God speak to you!

 

Choice, Decide Already!

/ Robert Bruton / Leave a comment

Choice

If I asked you to make a choice right now to be happy, but you’re suffering through a terrible divorce. Could you be satisfied just by making that choice? The short answer is yes! Before you hit the refund, button hears me out.

What stops you from choosing to be happy in a moment is you. I should say years of conditioning yourself that you can’t just simply change. Why can’t you? Should be the real question.

Let’s take our divorce scenario to a little higher level. If divorce is imminent even though you don’t want a divorce.

Two options:

Option A:

  • Stay bitter, sad, emotionally done, not having any thought as to a new future.

Option B:

  • “Choose” to be happy. Yes, the person whom your life revolved around is gone. The Universe, in its infinite wisdom, is taking you down a new path. Presuppose for a moment that this new life if given a chance, has more love, joy, happiness, and fulfillment than you ever thought possible.

If you choose to be happy, “Option B” certainly has more promise. The simple act of choosing one from another is incredibly powerful.

Over a year ago someone that I am proud to call a friend explained away my own pain from divorce like this: “If you could have your wife back today and go right back to the way things were, OR, you could have the relationship you never thought possible. Which would you choose?”

That’s when I knew that I had to make a choice for myself. If something in your life is meant to be, then it shall.

The real rub is that for years-and-years, we conditioned our minds towards limiting beliefs. We end up saying:

  • If I just change, she will come back.
  • If I learn to keep my mouth shut.
  • If I lose twenty pounds.

The problem is NOT you, it’s the paradigm that is so entrenched in your head you can’t shake it off. Using the divorce analogy just scrapes the surface of this problem. This book is not a “how to get over divorce” book. NO, far from it.

How to change limiting beliefs, the unknowing lies we tell ourselves every day. What our journey well reveals to us, we can make a choice and move on, NOW!

Prayer, self improvement, society

Choice do you really want me to pick?

Yes, friends easier said than done. However, very doable. With some guided practice, you can learn to decide, stick with it, no regrets, and blaze a trail for others to follow. Pardon the cliché!

How do you we make these changes you ask? Training our minds to a new healthy reality. Who says you can’t do something; you need only look in the mirror? That’s who!

Part 1:

How many years have you heard phrases like?

  • You/I don’t have that kind of luck.
  • No education, you can’t do that.
  • You’re too fat.
  • You’re too skinny.
  • You’re not part of that social group.
  • Oh, honey, why don’t you lower your sights to something more realistic.

From as many years ago as you’re able to remember we’ve all heard the limiting phrases getting stuffed into our mind.

What is being communicated to you is, “If I can’t do you surely cannot.” By well-meaning parents, family, friends, and other well-wishers. So, if these lovely people are telling me this, it must be true. NO, not only NO; HELL NO!

The only person on this planet that knows whether YOU can do anything is YOU! It does not matter what your Mom, Dad, Grandmother, Friend, Boss, has to say about what you can do. The ONLY person that knows is your period!

People close to you will naturally want you to play it safe. None of us want to see a friend hurt. Who the heck says you must hurt? I’m not shouting at the top of my lungs “oh God, don’t write the first Novel you failed English literature.”

Again, I go back to the systematic brainwashing society shoves down our brain. How many folks have completed Marathons in wheelchairs or with lost limbs? Hundreds if not thousands. Why Choice! The choice NOT to allow something horrific to bring them down.

Mediocrity is a disease of the mind. It’s a cure; “Choice!”

Part 2:

How to break free, so Choice comes at will.

  1. Meditation / Prayer: see yourself through this practice as free of limitation. That my life, my choice to see it through as a vessel of the Universe. Not some, “I don’t have this or that mentality.”
  2. Put the affirmation “Choice” Refrigerator, bathroom mirror, reminders on your phone daily.
  3. Learn to believe in yourself. Take the training wheels off your life. When you feel you can’t do something learn to ask yourself; who said! With enough training and knowledge, you can bloody well do anything you want!
  4. Practice, Practice, Practice! Do not give up or in at the first sign of difficulty. This is something you must want as much as air. We’ve all heard the businessman who asked a guru “how do I become successful,” the Guru replied, “meet me at the beach at 6:00 AM and don’t be late.” The next morning the businessman is on time, and the Guru takes him out into the water up to there chest. The Guru grabs the man and holds his head down in the water until the man was in great distress. Lifting the man out of the water, the businessman screams, “Why did you do that?” The Guru calmly replies, “When you want success as-bad-as, you wanted to breathe, then you will find success!”
  5. Gain knowledge. The reason people quit is insufficient knowledge. If people aren’t saying to you, “Wow, I have no idea you could do that.” If the wow factor is not WOW, then gain more knowledge. Become a voracious reader.

Nothing on God’s good earth prevents you from achieving anything. If you set your mind to something, trust that God will give you the knowledge, and move the Universe into alignment for you. Believe that as much as you want to breathe (like our Guru analogy).

All it takes is a choice. Your choice to stay status quo or your choice to live a life most would only dream about.

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.”–Bradley Whitford

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Train Until You are Stress Proof

/ Robert Bruton / Leave a comment

When ill-prepared to do anything, this creates undue stress that does not matter the task. It’s natural to have tension when you feel nervous about a task at hand. Having knowledge gives you power. Hence, train until your stress-proof.

So many just give up long before they should. A top reason is folks get uncomfortable because they don’t want to appear for lack of a better word stupid. None of us want to look silly in front of our peers.

society, self improvement, self help

Most of us have experienced this in our lifetime. When beginning a new change, task, or any change for that matter. Put training, educations towards that task before perhaps announcing “hey, I’m doing such-n-such!”

Here are a few tips on training:

  1. Set time each day for training one of the three; Mind, Body, and Soul.
  2. Train until what you desire comes to you flowing like a river. 
  3. Become a voracious reader. Knowledge is true power! 

These easy tasks will help you strengthen your stress tolerance.

Don’t only give up. Evaluate your plan:

  1. Do I have sufficient knowledge?
  2. Am I truly prepared? 
  3. What is scaring me?

When you can identify what’s wrong, fixing that becomes easy. Don’t sell yourself short! Sometimes, the slightest of change in your trajectory will move you right back on task. Making a big deal that potentially is nothing is a snap judgment. Get that type of reaction out of your head.

The way to change, happiness, success, love, joy, you must be prepared. You must understand your desire completely. Then and only then, when you’re absolutely clear, the flood gates of life open!

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