Some days are brutal! I know you know what I mean. We’ve all had them! I’ve had so many metaphors run through my head for how this feels.

• Keeping your head above water when the world is pushing you under. (I thought it sounded to much related to cash)
• When you feel like a bobbing yo-yo. (a what?)

That’s enough of that, the title says enough – like that song, “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down.”

This is where it gets challenging. Now I’m supposed to tell you how. But what if? What if the advice I give you, that works for me, and works for six other people, doesn’t work for you, nor 567 others? Oops.

Screw it. I’m not here to tell anyone what to do. I’m just telling some stories. Your truth will speak to you, maybe the writing will help call it out. Let’s give it a try.

Entrepreneurship is a challenging road, and here’s the thing: Life is tough enough without any of us wanting to make it harder. But who knew when we were young, ambitious, courageous, naive, trusting, and invulnerable? I didn’t know; I lived and breathed optimistic spontaneity. It is true – anything is possible – provided . . . . . .

Ha! What is that about?

Timing, opportunity, location, and a whole host of variables exist beyond our control. Anything can happen, and one decision can take you so far from experiences that may be extraordinarily beneficial at some later date in your life. And yet, who knew? Who knows? I’ve found myself, at 43, looking back upon one decade or another and seeing how small choices have had extraordinary results – both positive and negative – in my life. As for getting knocked down, I’ve been knocked down hard – a few times.

These days, great things are happening. The odd part of that is the vulnerability that I experience. Imagine I could fly.

In order to fly I must leap out off a cliff into open space spread-eagle. Yes, that is exactly what I mean by this vulnerable experience. Now, once I’m out there, I must remain spread-eagle in order to soar and stay aloft. Yes, I’m floating in space, defying gravity, soaring above the earth, and I feel an instinctual impulse to withdraw myself into a cannonball in some crazy response to the alarm of defying gravity.

Who said I couldn’t fly? Who said you couldn’t fly? I can see many people who’ve suggested such things to me in the past, growing up and in adulthood. Did that necessarily stop me? Rarely. Most often I would dig my heels in and hear this spirited internal response, “I’ll show you,” or “I’ll show them.” So could I honestly buy the idea that it is people today that are slowing me down or blocking my way? Partly, but very minor in their roles, as the power choice is wholeheartedly my own.

So what happened? I freak out sometimes, I panic, I worry, I cry, I get angry. Okay, I admit it: I’m human. Yes, there have been experiences in my past that haunt my todays. You see? That’s it, right there. On up days, it’s full steam ahead. On low energy days, those ghosts from our past tease at us.

When life is overall running quite smoothly, we weather these transitions with the ups and downs much more easily. When there is some big stuff going on, or has been for a while, this can become progressively challenging. And it is always boiling down to how you respond, in order to determine the outcome of each life chapter. Things getting more negative? Take a close look at your thoughts and patterns. Things improving? You know what I mean.

Whether knocked down, getting up, or staggering along, just remember to do just that: stagger along, keep focused on here and now. Push the feelings, fears, worries aside, and look at you and your choice to experience goodness. Let go and enjoy where you are, while learning to relax into the unfolding of the next moment. This isn’t always easy for a worrier – trust me, I know – but putting a conscious effort to it, becoming aware of it, builds up the ability.

And don’t beat yourself up over it. I used to beat myself up for having lost what I once had. Life, she’s a grand and demanding mistress, offering the ride of a lifetime.

I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down.

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Some days are brutal! I know you know what I mean. We’ve all had them! I’ve had so many metaphors run through my head for how this feels.

• Keeping your head above water when the world is pushing you under. (I thought it sounded to much related to cash)
• When you feel like a bobbing yo-yo. (a what?)

That’s enough of that, the title says enough – like that song, “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down.”

This is where it gets challenging. Now I’m supposed to tell you how. But what if? What if the advice I give you, that works for me, and works for six other people, doesn’t work for you, nor 567 others? Oops.

Screw it. I’m not here to tell anyone what to do. I’m just telling some stories. Your truth will speak to you, maybe the writing will help call it out. Let’s give it a try.

Entrepreneurship is a challenging road, and here’s the thing: Life is tough enough without any of us wanting to make it harder. But who knew when we were young, ambitious, courageous, naive, trusting, and invulnerable? I didn’t know; I lived and breathed optimistic spontaneity. It is true – anything is possible – provided . . . . . .

Ha! What is that about?

Timing, opportunity, location, and a whole host of variables exist beyond our control. Anything can happen, and one decision can take you so far from experiences that may be extraordinarily beneficial at some later date in your life. And yet, who knew? Who knows? I’ve found myself, at 43, looking back upon one decade or another and seeing how small choices have had extraordinary results – both positive and negative – in my life. As for getting knocked down, I’ve been knocked down hard – a few times.

These days, great things are happening. The odd part of that is the vulnerability that I experience. Imagine I could fly.

In order to fly I must leap out off a cliff into open space spread-eagle. Yes, that is exactly what I mean by this vulnerable experience. Now, once I’m out there, I must remain spread-eagle in order to soar and stay aloft. Yes, I’m floating in space, defying gravity, soaring above the earth, and I feel an instinctual impulse to withdraw myself into a cannonball in some crazy response to the alarm of defying gravity.

Who said I couldn’t fly? Who said you couldn’t fly? I can see many people who’ve suggested such things to me in the past, growing up and in adulthood. Did that necessarily stop me? Rarely. Most often I would dig my heels in and hear this spirited internal response, “I’ll show you,” or “I’ll show them.” So could I honestly buy the idea that it is people today that are slowing me down or blocking my way? Partly, but very minor in their roles, as the power choice is wholeheartedly my own.

So what happened? I freak out sometimes, I panic, I worry, I cry, I get angry. Okay, I admit it: I’m human. Yes, there have been experiences in my past that haunt my todays. You see? That’s it, right there. On up days, it’s full steam ahead. On low energy days, those ghosts from our past tease at us.

When life is overall running quite smoothly, we weather these transitions with the ups and downs much more easily. When there is some big stuff going on, or has been for a while, this can become progressively challenging. And it is always boiling down to how you respond, in order to determine the outcome of each life chapter. Things getting more negative? Take a close look at your thoughts and patterns. Things improving? You know what I mean.

Whether knocked down, getting up, or staggering along, just remember to do just that: stagger along, keep focused on here and now. Push the feelings, fears, worries aside, and look at you and your choice to experience goodness. Let go and enjoy where you are, while learning to relax into the unfolding of the next moment. This isn’t always easy for a worrier – trust me, I know – but putting a conscious effort to it, becoming aware of it, builds up the ability.

And don’t beat yourself up over it. I used to beat myself up for having lost what I once had. Life, she’s a grand and demanding mistress, offering the ride of a lifetime.

I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down.

People who liked this post also liked:

Dr. Anthony’s Self-Confidence Creator!

Money Beyond Belief! with Joe Vitale & Brad Yates

Success With NLP Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny

We the consumed hereby swear to uphold the ugly truth, to turn a blind eye, and ensure the survival of the free marketplace to which we will become slave to,  believing in the false security that it will continue to support our best interests.

Psychology is a very big part of the markets that support and sustain us globally. As we speak, third world countries penetrated by war are being quickly introduced to the western market-driven principles of abundance as large corporate stakeholders establish new supply chains to support overseas troops.

Human weakness, vulnerability, naivety, these are the targets of the messages broadcast throughout our world media. Belonging, Equality, Respect, Personal Control, Sex, all things representing a sense of acceptance; people want so badly to ‘fit in’ and to feel accepted – belonging. To know and be known, the very foundation of the human experience.

Is it all bad? In many respects, no. We clothe, food, shelter, millions easily. Our global village has bridged the vastness of geography with the advance of technology. Instant communication, accessibility, are making more possible. The question remains, are we taking ownership of the responsibility of governance – self-governance? In this sense, our adult perspective must include a global self, to support the individual self.

Everywhere we turn, we see ‘make a difference’ plastered in advertising slogans. 2003-2004 this was nowhere to be seen in mainstream media, advertising, or business consciousness. It was taking root in individual consciousness though. When the criminal element catches the shifting wind, they incorporate a strategy without even giving due thought to the real need. The corporate goal is to survive the marketplace, to sell more, to make profit. People like you and I work there, and participate in these decisions.

When an opportunity presents itself to ‘be the change’ in our daily affairs, it can surpass our own personal world-view to become one that has a lasting and positive impact upon a larger whole: our community, now a growing global village, penetrated by a vast corporate infrastructure seeking more. War, politics, oil, power, and cash, are driving forces behind change.

In the movie, The Green Mile, the friendly giant says, “He killed them with their love. It’s like that everywhere. All over the world, they’re going kill each other with their love.’ Manipulation, selfishness, self-centredness, greed, power, control, security. What do you love? How do you wield your sabre and shield?

It isn’t all bad, and there are many who are influencing big change. It is important, however, to also remember that we are bombarded daily with messages intended to influence a direction for some agenda driven for money and politics. We have one simple thing to remember to do, and after a very mind-numbing and exhausting day at work, this is sometimes difficult for some or many to do: Remember to Think. Critically think, being conscious of what is behind the messages.

Question the stories of old, the beliefs that separate, the loyalties that bind. Humankind is meant to be free, to be creative, to grow and discover. During times of expansion in the physical, we see what we have now consumed and amassed globally. Some are terribly concerned about the impact we’re having on the environment, and others deny it. What messages of belief have we adopted?

Look under the skin of each of us, and we see flesh and blood, a pounding pulsating heart, and a complex network of wiring in a brain, and all of this is host to a consciousness similar to our own. So how different are we? Appearance, Education, Culture, Language, Religion, Beliefs, etc. How perfect are these influences?

The child is born, consciousness arrives, and data is input into the biological machine. Each generation, one after the other, handing down the same truth, time after time. Our progress is slow, as the intelligent ones grasp the reins of knowledge in order to advance individual goals without regard to a greater whole. Other intelligent ones also grasp the knowledge, and attempt to counter-balance, and our cycles of change arrive.

Remember, every culture has been affected by war. It was a very long, long time ago when it was discovered that war is the most efficient way to altar a culture, beliefs, and ideologies in an accelerated fashion. With the advance of technology, Culture can be spread more quickly, more readily, across the globe very powerfully and surpass the influence of war.

Our individual responsibility now bears more weight in the fight for what is good for all of humanity. Our voices can be heard. We can participate. For as long as we are aware, thinking, of what choices are being made in our name today. Keeping the Internet freely accessible, not giving up the influence to the power of corporations, remembering our influence and participation in these corporations, and that we are family.

We the consumed, have the ability to change the course of our history.

Being told who to be, what to do, how to act, what to wear, where to go….. STOP!!

I’m certain we all encounter spaces in our world experience where enough-is-enough.Whether you had parents telling you to be a doctor when you wanted to be a painter, or you are not fitting in because you are different, any one of us can relate a personal experience to being hemmed in. Instead, the expected behavior is required.

This experience that I live is my experience! It is not yours, hers, his, or anyone else. Just mine! I alone am responsible. The question now is whether or not you will choose to empower that in me?

An in-depth conversation included talking about the duality of the human experience. Both of us had observations of what we see in our life landscapes coincide. It lead to other side adventures of philosophy, business, relationships, and even parenting.

Parenting

Above is a rather extreme representation of the conversations inspiration. In fact, all I had done is introduced a memory of parenting two boys, and told the story of a time when they got caught swearing at school. I was still early/mid twenties at the time, and my memories of childhood crisp and clear.

Living in a strict environment, always under a thumb from generations of military influencing parenting, I always found myself having to survive. I have lied through my teeth to save my ass from a beating, and have run away for fear of one too. Running away from home didn’t compare to the number of times I ran home from the school bus to save my ass from further beatings.  Always being controlled.

Kids Are Learning

The art of life and growing up is one of constant learning. Many children, just as adults, learn and experience the world differently. Each child is an individual, has uniqueness, talent, and a way of feeling, interpreting, understanding, and experiencing life. Some will learn more by trial and error, the act of learning through doing, while others learn more by rote. Even others can be influenced by more than one learning style. Whatever the methods, the child needs room to make their mistakes as well.

Kids Caught Swearing at School

When I recounted the memory of the children caught swearing at school, I told how I took them aside to talk about reality. I would hope everyone understands that there are times, situations, and places that our budding adolescent children encounter moments of choice where it is easier to go with the flow than to say no. Before you panic, please understand that I talked to the kids about reality.

The Duality of Reality

We are every bit as shaped by our circumstances as we are by our choices. Yet the choices are the building blocks that move us to higher ground. Listen to me talking about higher ground all the time, and yet and still, I will talk of the ‘other side’. It is what lives in us, and it is also pure physics. Polarity is one reason that Life works, exists, functions, evolves, etc. For our personal journeys, we want to make good choices, and yet, so often along our life path a choice made will lead to a painful experience. We learn and grow from these experiences, both positive and negative.

It’s Not Wrong

I explained to the kids that I understood that they might feel the need to swear here and there when they’re hanging out with their school friends. It’s sort of ‘to be expected.’

Duality of Reality acknowledges this, and that reality does not judge right or wrong; we do. We socialize and educate in ways that place so many limits and conditions upon the limits, with who, how, what, when, where, and why. It becomes a confusing place, particularly as our society blends more and more differing cultural influences.

Let Them Learn

In explaining to the children that they may find themselves in situations where they have the freedom to swear, I clearly gave an example in my own communication skills. Having recently left the military, my language tended to find profanity far more convenient adjectives than finding the appropriate words. I told them the cost of this, through the inability to express more meaningfully and accurately.  If you have the choice, how would you like to be seen? How would you like to be?

Empowered Choice

Giving the kids my little self-example, and allowing them to exercise their own judgment, two things happened. First, we never again heard of any problem with them swearing at school or any other adult-supervised event. Second and most important, these kids did become more self-aware and self-empowered as to owning their own choices over following the crowd all the time.

How you look at things determines what you see. Difficult experiences cast a shadow upon the lens of the soul, as many express the limiting perspectives these experiences create. Recognizing and making choices to push beyond a limiting perspective yields enormous potential.

The challenge I’m finding now is combining head and heart without burning out.

I saw this video today, following a weekend coaching seminar, and the effect of the video was pronounced with more meaning considering the seminar’s explorations.

As I look at the inspiration and ideas that have brightened my eyes over the years, there have equally been many dark storm clouds causing me to batten down the hatches instead of venturing into the unknown. These storm clouds are creations from my own mind, fraught with worries, fears, rationalizations, explanations, and other insidious suggestions that robbed meaning, adventure, and growth from my life.

Luckily, there have still been many choices made that have been rich with adventure and experiences that, even if painful, have fulfilled with meaning, adventure, and growth. I still don’t know that I’d take a leap like this, and yet I can see the glorious thrill of taking risks and living life exuberantly from the example these daredevils display.