Attitude and approach

The reward for travel is as much about what the act of experiencing new things makes you think (and feel), as it is about moving from one place to another.

Travel is not so much about the distance between departure and destination as it is about the journey. Don’t assume you have to travel far or somewhere exotic to reap the benefits inherent in the process.

Many people are guilty of failing to explore places that are easily within their reach simply because they take these places for granted or assume they know what they will find when they get there.

They fail to realize that the journey is as much of a reward as the destination.

Go for a walk, a hike, a bike ride. Take a drive.

However you do it, don’t be guilty of not exploring places that are easily within your reach. And remember to remain present for the journey.

Some of people’s best thoughts happen in the shower. Others come from going to places one has never been.

You never know where the inspiration for that next best thought or idea will come from. It might just be down that path you’ve never gone down before.

Originally published on: Apr 12, 2014 @ 15:40
Republished on: May 30, 2015 @ 13:40

It’s not so much how many wrinkles or how much hair you have that makes you seem old, it’s how you act.

Enthusiasm and an energetic spirit go a long way in giving one a youthful presence.

“Being youthful is an inside job. Think about what youth is. It’s kids, kids are enthusiastic, energetic, interested, optimistic, engaged, and curious. If you’re not all of those things, you can have no lines on your face and a 32 inch waist, and no one is going to call you youthful.” — Rob Lowe

Nothing makes you seem quite as old and used up like talking about how old and used up you are. And nothing reinforces in your mind how old you are as catering to these kinds of conversations with others.

Perhaps your memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be because you don’t do anything to keep it sharp or make it better.

Perhaps the pain or fatigue you feel in your body is a result of not doing much of anything to combat the effects of aging.

“You don’t stop doing things because you get old. You get old because you stop doing things.”

Yes, perhaps you have to make some mental and physical adjustments as you age, but people can do amazing and inspiring things at all ages.

If you simply resolve that “I am now limited because I’m getting old and that’s just the way it is”, you do a disservice to all the things you could still strive for and accomplish if you only tried.

Old-age thinking and old-age acting leads to “old age” much more than our revolutions around the sun.

Keep this in mind the next time someone wants you to identify with being “old” in a way you don’t necessarily agree with.

You can’t stop the clock, but you can do can do much to naturally combat the effects of aging in a negative way.

The secret of the fountain of youth is not in anything that can be bought. The secret of the fountain of youth is a healthy attitude towards aging.

Whatever your age, there’s always room for one more goal, one more accomplishment, one more way to better yourself and the world around you.

Never give up.

Related:

• Day 169: Think of it as getting better, not older…
• “It’s too late.”
• If you have the power to change something that is holding you back, and you don’t…
• There is a big difference between “can’t” and “it just isn’t a high priority.”
• “Can’t.” You keep using that word
• Your world will change dramatically…
• Self-imposed limitations: A tough pill to swallow

Be patient, be consistent, strive to better yourself and the world around you, and embrace small victories.

With consistency, small victories become big victories.

One day at a time.

Related:

• Offsite: One day at a time
• One day, one brick, one smile, one love, one step, one breath…
• What’s the rush?
• Offsite: The only person you should try to be better than
• There will always be someone better at something than you are

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” — William James

Yes, you absolutely make a difference.

But do you know how you make even more of a difference?

Simply by being aware of times that you can do so and then following through with some kind of action.

A kind word, a sincere compliment, a bit of encouragement, a smile, a listening ear, some positive feedback…

These things often take mere moments of our time to give, but can be worth so much to the people on the receiving end.

Accentuate the positive and positivity expands. You don’t have to see it to know it happens, but when you do, it is its own special reward.

Related:

• Offsite: Dear Panera Bread
• Offsite: ‘Act as if what you do makes a difference’
• Offsite: ‘If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito’
• Being “awesome” doesn’t mean simply existing.
• Never underestimate the power of a single act of kindness

“I just tell it like it is.”

Well, technically, as no two people perceive or experience things in an identical fashion, you tell it like you interpret it.

Perception may be reality — and there may be a great deal of agreement on shared experiences — but every one of our realities is unique.

What one person considers “normal”, another may consider “alarming” or “extraordinary” depending on personal experience, beliefs, education, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, health, fitness level, energy level, timing, intelligence, and, above all, interpretation.

Because we are prone to making mistakes in judgement, what we consider to be “true” based on our senses alone is not a guarantee of accuracy.

This can have a dramatic affect on our lives by allowing us to live according to false and self-limiting beliefs.

As Alfred Korzybski said, “The map is not the territory.”

So no, you don’t tell it like it is. You tell it like you interpret it. Sometimes you’re accurate. And sometimes you’re not.

“Experience is not what happens to you – it’s how you interpret what happens to you.” — Aldous Huxley

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“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.” — Isaac Asimov

An open-mind is a healthy mind.

“Korzybski’s dictum “the map is not the territory” … is used to signify that individual people in fact do not in general have access to absolute knowledge of reality, but in fact only have access to a set of beliefs they have built up over time, about reality. So it is considered important to be aware that people’s beliefs about reality and their awareness of things (the “map”) are not reality itself or everything they could be aware of (“the territory”).” (Wikipedia)

Related:

• Offsite: Why I’m in rehab
• Offsite: Not everyone thinks the way you think
• The moment you are certain that you know the one and only way…
• You don’t know what you don’t know
• The Dunning-Kruger Effect: When Ignorance Begets Confidence
• Self-imposed limitations: A tough pill to swallow
• Offsite: We can only experience freedom in direct proportion to the amount of truth that we are willing to accept without running away…