Transform Your Thinking with Ed Watters

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The Importance of Aligning Our Dreams with Our Interests Centering our dreams or goals around our interests is crucial for maintaining motivation and drive. When we are passionate about something, we are more likely to put in the necessary effort and dedication to achieve our goals. This alignment ensures that we are not only working towards a specific outcome but also enjoying the journey along the way.

When we think of a garden people's minds tend to have such a different idea of what a garden is. And as we get deeper into spring and summer, many of us will find ourselves in the garden. Today I want to concentrate on a garden because I feel that we can miss so many things that we would never associate with a garden.

For me, a garden is a place of healing, relaxation, contemplation, and most of all a place to help me get closer to nature and God. I find myself picturing the relationship that Adam had with God in the garden, and it makes me more understanding of my faults or even weakness.

A garden can be whatever you want it to be, all it takes is action. That might sound a little cliché, however, let's take a deeper dive and see. You see, I feel a garden is about a place that you are at peace in, when you can feel at peace it is a mental garden that we should nurture and care for, protecting it at all costs.

When we first start building our garden, it is very easy to make simple mistakes that can feel devastating, however, it is the joy of learning that we can’t fully understand as we are making the mistake. I often associate a garden with life and how we must take the time and care to build the dream that we see for our garden or lives. This is when we can turn what we perceive as a failure into the building blocks of our foundations. Dreams just like gardens take time to mature into that beautiful garden or life of our dreams. Never rush a long-term plan.

Many times, in life just like the garden we might start building what we see as the best way to achieve our long-term outcome, however, about halfway through it the plans must change to get the desired outcome for the long term. Change is never going to be easy, and yes it can through a few wrinkles in your day or even year. This is the time when we can take a moment and enjoy the beauty, taking the time to reflect can revitalize you and give you that boost you might need.

When we start changing our thinking on what life is and why we are here, we can start living the dream life that we are inspired by. Life is just like a garden, what we do with it is what it will respond with. The size or the amount you receive from your garden is all in the planning and preparations. The plan can change but the garden never happens if you don’t put the work in and start one. When you have a desire to put meaning and order into your life, it will always require personal commitment and action.

Conclusion:

The sooner you see your life becoming a beautiful garden, the sooner your dream will come true. All it takes is one step at a time, and remember, never count the steps, reflect on and enjoy the steps!

Gratitude is made up of two components. The first is,

the state of being grateful / which means (appreciative of benefits received.)

The second is,

THANKFULNESS: which means (conscious of benefit received.)

expressed gratitude for their support.

Gratitude is a gift that is often overlooked in our modern day. The other day, I witnessed an incident where a homeless person was offered $5. Now, the funny thing is, the homeless person rejected the $5 gift and replied, “That’s not enough.”

What kind of a world do we live in where we lose the ability to be grateful for the benefits that we receive, the kindness from others? This is disruptive in many ways and very alarming at the same time in our society. When we feel that we are so entitled and that we are above the help because it’s not enough, that’s when we’ve hit critical mass.

It’s time to really wake up. To be thankful is a wonderful thing. Once you can be thankful, you can start giving because you have the gratitude and that state of being grateful. Once you find that, it’s like finding out that you already have enough.

I really ask that we look at ourselves and how leavened we are and puffed up in our society today. It’s fast-paced, it’s disposable, and it’s very harming to all of us. When we find ourselves without gratitude, we find ourselves without care. That, my friends, is a very dangerous place to be.

People throw around the term narcissistic, narcissism all the time, and many of the times we hear those terms coming from individuals, they themselves are suffering from narcissistic behaviors. We find ourselves now living in a very competitive world. Sometimes, the competition is way overboard, and this is part of the world that we are living in today.

Every day that you wake up, it’s a gift. Are you grateful for it? Each time you get a nice clean drink of water, it’s a gift. Are you grateful for it? Every time you have the luxury of a decent night’s sleep, it’s a gift. Are you grateful for it?

When someone takes time out of their busy day to offer you help and you show a lack of gratitude, it dismisses humanity and it makes the person offering that support second guess himself or herself the next time. How is it that we can be so bloated that we cannot accept a portion? That’s what it’s all about really, is portions. It’s about, can you handle the portion that you receive?

If you don’t have gratitude for what you receive, how can you handle the portions that you receive? When someone offers you a portion, be very thankful. It’s a promise of new beginnings. It’s hope for a brighter future. It’s a promise for a better tomorrow.

How can we battle this lack of gratitude? Some simple things that you can do: make a list of things that you’re grateful for, keep a daily diary and list at least one thing you’re thankful for each day, say thank you to people when they do something for you or when they say something nice to you, and most important of all, tell people how you appreciate them when they help you.

It’s up to each and every one of us to make this a better world, and really, this is one of the major issues that we have to fight and battle and face each and every day because all of us feel kind of belittled in some way. But I’m here to tell you that you’re precious and you are very valuable to our world. We need you, and most of all, we need each other.

Let’s learn to be grateful and show gratitude where we need to the most. It starts with you.

As many people along with myself. Saying reflection is a must to better ourselves. It's time to do a little bit of thinking on that concept. I think we really need to go further. With this. Reflection is great. It's how we grow. However. I think you need reflection. With accountability. This is extremely important. A lot of people live in a bubble that they create. Because they never. Get accountability for their reflection. What do I mean by that? A lot of us, we find comfort in understanding. Ourselves. However, we can't truly understand ourselves. If we don't listen to the people around us. These people that we interact with day-to-day. We need to reflect with their impression also. We need to find out what people think about us in order to understand. How we truly are. Or what some perceive us to be. Is it a facade? Are you being somebody who you're not? This is the trap that many people get. Stuck in? They reflect. But they only reflect on those things that they remember how they see things. This is dangerous if you truly want to fix yourself. You've got to incorporate the thoughts of others. For instance. My wife and I, we've been through some roller coasters, ups and downs. It's part of life. However. When I started down the journey of self-discovery. Self-help. In transformation. I was trying to reflect. On the way I saw things. How I understood things. This was a trap. And I got stuck in this for quite some time. And then I realized. It's part of the roller coaster. If you do not. Listen to others how they see. What went on in your life? You're just going to loop back until you fix it. It's a perpetual cycle that can't be ignored. Many of us. Want to ignore? What we can't take? We can't take. And sometimes taking criticism. About us. We find that offensive. This itself is a trap. Sometimes criticism is offensive, and sometimes that criticism should not be there. Constructive criticism. Comes from those closest to you. I remember getting mad a few times. When I was put in check with my attitude. However. Nothing was going to change until I accepted. That other people saw the other side of the coin. And I needed to really incorporate that into my understanding to get a full entire picture of how things happen in my past. This way I can direct a better a brighter future that is better for myself and the people around me. Reflection is very important and I think it's vital that we all incorporate what those people that are closest to us. Really think about us. And you should have these conversations. You should find out. What people think of you? And, you know, often I say I don't care what people think of me, and that is true. However. There's also falseness to that because it's important to understand what people think of you. Because it's the only way to get a well-rounded picture of who you truly are. So yes. I say reflect often. Reflect. With accountability. Bring those closest to you into your conversation. And bring accountability. To what you're trying. To change. You will be amazed. At how far you will go. Once you accept. The other side of the coin. Reflection. With accountability. I'll see next time.