ARTICLE OF THE MONTH

Name Your Price
by Stephanie Graham

If it's true that the majority of us believe that we only have one life to live, and with this "one life" often being admonished for feeling too short, then why do we spend so much of our precious time complaining about what we are doing, who we are doing it with, and what we would rather be doing, "but can't"!

The sad truth is that so many of us have been unhappy, unsatisfied and uninspired for a long time ...perhaps even years. Yet we stay exactly where we are and keep doing the same things over and over.

All of our conversations then revolve around that deep unhappiness and the people, places and things involved. Even when we don't openly talk about how we feel, it still permeates our lives in a very palpable way that radiates "I am out of balance", because our thoughts are busy having a dialogue of their own.

Imagine a hamster wheel inside your head, without the hamster!

Look closer and you will be surprised to find a few other characters running the show and trust me when I tell you they are bored out of YOUR mind because this is not what they signed up for when you were born.

Here are just a few of their names:

-Rick the Risk Taker: He's the one shouting to everyone "Slow down! Someone is going to get hurt! Be careful! We can't do this! And "what are yo u... crazy?" (he used to wear a Tiki shirt and say very uplifting things all day long...hmpf...not anymore)

-Jill the Joy Seeker: She's the one who has strapped herself to the bars of the wheel because she is hoping someone will kick her in the head as they run and put her out of her misery.

- Gil the Giver: Poor Gil has become so frustrated and underutilized that he is considering fulfilling Jill's request to feel better about himself as a "giver".

- Potentiality Paul: Bless his heart, he now just jogs at a slow pace, while smoking Marlboros, drinking scotch and muttering "I could have...I should have...what if I had....".

- Luna the Lover: She is the only one not on the wheel. She sits hunched over just under the support frame, reading books with titles like "I Hate Life" and "Love is For Losers...Don't Be A Loser".

There are a few more that I could mention, but as you can already tell this is a sorry group of characters that have been terribly neglected, underpaid, and underestimated in their skill level, abilities, vision, and creativity!

So what do you do now that you have stopped long enough to take a look at what your "employees" have been up to? And don't forget....YOU are the one that told them to hop on and waste their assets and your life energy with this ridiculous, but all too common, nonsense!

And don't blame Potentiality Paul, for as blurred as his vision is at the moment, he will most surely trip and fall and that will be the end of Jill the Joy Seeker!

Alright, so let's get serious and give you a new visual to work with shall we?

Saving Your Company 101 (also know as Saving Your LIFE!):

Step One: Reach in and put your hand on the wheel and STOP the wheel! (close your eyes and visualize this action...see your hand, the wheel ...everything)

Step Two:

-Tell Rick to calm down, breathe and hand him a fresh Tiki shirt and some deodorant while you're at it.

-Gently unstrap Jill from the wheel and allow her to collect herself.

-Slowly so as not to startle her, take the "I Hate Life" books from Luna, and ask her to "please step away from the wheel".

- Tell Gil that he has done a great job caring for everyone, and you will have plenty for him to give and do following a "post hamster wheel trauma session" with a good therapist.

- Take the cigarettes and scotch from Paul, promising him that rehab will have him leading the nation in life changing ideas within months.

Step Three: Take three deep breaths and in that time frame imagine that it has been a two week long vacation for all of your employees. They are now back in your office, standing in front of you and they are ready for the meeting of your life.

One by one they begin to share with you the price you have been paying and will continue to pay with compounding interest, if you fail to take immediate and sustainable action! They begin to list their assets, ideas, and motivation for helping you to succeed and expand in life on a personal and professional level.

So what are you hearing? In this important moment what are they trying to get across to you?

-Is there a trip that you have been talking about for years, but have never booked the ticket?

-Is there a business idea you have, but you have been too afraid to tell someone about it and seek support and funding to launch your vision?

-Have you been complaining about how miserable you are in your current job, but have been unwilling to sincerely explore other avenues in which your creativity and passion could have center stage, bringing you incredible fulfillment and therefore truly enriching the lives of others?

-Have you neglected your health with poor eating, sleeping and exercise habits?

-And it goes on.

Once we start to truly listen to what lies deep inside of us, what we hear is going to be different based on our sincere desires and the path before us that we are meant to live as individuals to enhance the whole of humanity.

The time to listen to what your inner needs and desires have to say is always NOW. And by needs and desires, we are not talking about selfishness, or running over others to get only what we want.

We are talking about what we are here to GIVE to others. Because when we clarify and decide what we truly want, and share that passion with the world, we not only help ourselves, we also help others get what they want too!

We see examples of this kind of freedom and passion all around us!

EVERYTHING that exists today is here because first someone imagined it in their mind. Then they took action and kept taking action until their vision came to fruition. And many of the people that we consider to be a huge success are truly ordinary people that kept doing one extraordinary thing that most fail to do....they took action!

They didn't have all the answers, huge amounts of money or time. Some of them are not even that smart or talented. But they kept saying, "SO WHAT" and kept on going.

So ask yourself if you would want to work for a company and a CEO that complained all of the time about their bottom line, their products, and the view from their office and DIDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!

So again:

-Stop the wheel

-Listen to what your ideas, desires and visions have to say to you about how you have been running things

-Keep listening as they follow up with great action steps you can take to get the ball rolling and stay motivated to see your life blossom into a true work of art.

-Appreciate what you have now, while focusing on what you ultimately want and not what you don't want.

The life of your dreams is truly right outside your door, so what have you got to lose?

All of us die at some point. We ALL lose our identity, our looks (if we had any in the first place), our ability to read small print, our hearing and our teeth, not to mention our hair. Goodness! There goes our dignity!

So do something you may have never done before....love yourself enough to shout "I'm going for it!" and take the leap of faith!

I PROMISE the net will appear!

@Stephanie Graham 2008