I am arguably the world’s worst softball player. Or certainly
would be placed in the lowest identifiable percentile of
softball skill levels. I’m one of those players who garners
comments from people on the sidelines, such as, “Wow, she must
have a lot of other gifts because softball is definitely not one
of them.”

During my first game, I sustained a fairly severe concussion
when the pitcher slammed the ball into the side of my head. He
was quite certain, I’m sure, that he had calculated his
trajectory correctly, assuming that no adult woman could run as
slowly as I did. Well, he was wrong and he wound up launching a
missile-worthy throw straight into the left side of my skull. I
still have a dent there. Maybe that should have been a sign to
me that softball just isn’t my calling. But I didn’t pay
attention. I kept on lurching, hiccupping, and laughing my way
through many additional–and entertaining–attempts to master
the game.

It actually took me two full seasons to score a run. If I
remember correctly, it was the last game of the second season
when I finally made it home for the first time. My team’s sole
mission for two years was to steward me across home plate in a
triumphant, run-scoring parade. Every game held new possibility
and every game left hopes dashed. They coined little mantras to
chant me on, stood with baited breath each rare event when I
actually hit the ball, and offered heartfelt “maybe next times”
after each valiant attempt.

On the day I actually scored the run, my teammates were so
elated that every single one of them rushed the field to
celebrate with me in a rowdy display of support. The other team
stood dumbfounded in their positions, wondering what madness had
ensued. I mean, it was just a run, right? Not the last game of
the World Series. But our team was drunk with joy over my bold
triumph against all odds.

The most memorable example of my predisposition to softball
ineptitude happened on one of the uncommon occasions when I
actually hit the ball. Because I wasn’t accustomed to hitting
it, it took a second or two for me to process that I was
supposed to start running to first base. By some miraculous
coincidence, it seems that the other team didn’t think I would
hit the ball either (why would that be?) so they, too, were
unprepared to act. Shocked and amazed as I was, I started
running. When I realized that they were fumbling around missing
the renegade ball, it dawned on me that I might, indeed, make it
to first base. Only I would have to run faster to do that.

With enthusiasm, I hit my own little personal turbo charge
button and started sprinting toward first. The only problem was
that my upper body started running faster than my lower body.
Perhaps you know where this is going. Gravity is such that one
cannot sustain one’s upper body running faster than one’s lower
body for very long. I made this observation at a point when I
was hovering at about a 45 degree angle from the ground. I
thought to myself, “I wonder how long I can keep this up?” I
then realized that, evidently, it wouldn’t be for much longer.

I hit the ground with the force of a speeding freight train
(courtesy of my rather ineffective, but powerful, turbo charge)
and proceeded to roll four or five times, until I finally came
to rest at the side of the dugout. Yes, it was the fence that
stopped me from careening any further out of control.

The crowd was deathly silent, wondering if I had broken any
bones, wounded my psyche for all of eternity, or a combination
of both. After a quick self-assessment to determine that none of
these cases applied, I started laughing until I nearly turned
blue. Well, actually, I guess I did turn kind of blue. This
shade change was made possible by the following sponsors: the
rolling wake of a dust storm churned up by my turbo charge and
my uncontrollable laughing fit. The combination of these two
events effectively yielded an asthma-induced coughing fit for
the better part of 20 minutes.

This incident is the talk of our circle of friends. When people
say, “It couldn’t have been that bad,” I reluctantly have to
affirm that, “Yes, it was that bad. And, unfortunately, I have
far too many witnesses to confirm that.” But I always follow up
that story with the qualification that we are not all gifted in
the same ways. Some people (obviously not me), are talented
softball players or sports stars. Others are good with numbers,
cars, gourmet cooking, or kids. I’m pretty skilled with words
and with people.

Fortunately, I’m surrounded by people who use their gifts in
ways that support me in using mine. For instance, Nola, my
database wizard, keeps me organized and connected; Kerri my
techno-guru, publishes my e-zine; and Debe, my bookkeeping diva,
is turning my financial systems into, well, honest-to-goodness
financial systems. Now, I can do all of these things–manage
databases, e-zines, and accounting records–it’s just that, like
softball, it’s not necessarily pretty when I do it. It is far
more productive and less stressful for everyone involved when
they exercise their gifts in these areas and allow me to
exercise my gifts with words and people. When we do that,
everyone wins.

And you can do the same. All it takes is learning about what you
do best and applying your unique strengths and gifts every day,
in every way you can. Your inner genius is second nature to
you–it’s what you feel you do best, what yields the best
outcomes for you, and what others notice about your unique
abilities. When you’re working in your area of expertise, you’ll
have nearly unlimited energy, creativity, and growth
opportunities associated with it. And, you’ll find that both you
and others realize tremendous benefit when you’re using those
strengths as often as possible. So, how do you do that? Here are
a few suggestions to get you started:

1) Take the “Signature Strengths Survey.” Log on to
http://www.authentichappiness.org and click on the link to take
the “VIA Signature Strengths Survey” (located in the top
left-hand corner of the website). This survey takes about 20
minutes and will help you identify some of your key strengths.
Then, look for ways you can use those strengths each day in the
different areas of your life–work, relationships, parenting,
self-improvement, or other roles. The more you apply your
strengths, the more successful and fulfilled you’ll feel in all
of these areas.

2) Ask people. Select at least five people from different areas
of your life (family, friends, work, etc.) and ask them what
they think are your unique gifts–gifts that show up across ALL
areas of your life, not just in professional settings. When they
respond, simply record their answers and see what themes emerge
for you about your signature strengths. Again, look for ways to
apply those abilities in all areas of your life on a daily
basis.

3) Use other resources and strategies. Check out chapter five in
my book, Living With Intention (or the corresponding audio
program), for a wide array of other resources for identifying
and applying your unique gifts in meaningful ways.

Do these things to gain reassurance that, even though we are not
all born to play softball (thankfully, because if we were I’d be
in major trouble), we are all born with a unique, inner
brilliance just begging to be shared. Once you identify yours
and begin using it daily, you will find an unlimited source of
fulfillment and success. Give it a try and see where your
strengths lead you!

NOTE: You are welcome to use this article online in electronic
newsletters and e-zines as long as it remains complete and
unaltered (including the “about the author” info). If use of
this article is desired in print, you must first contact Deanna
Davis at Deanna@appliedinsight.net

Thinking Is Mental Malpractice

How can thinking be mental malpractice? Well it sort of go like
this, when you think normally we think of the negative stuff and
the more we here the negative stuff the more we become what we
hear and see others do. So the part that is malpractice is the
fact that we tend to focus on the negative in all situations and
we tend to forget about All the good stuff that is happening.

We humans are so connected with the negative, we see the news
and see all the death disaster and hatred that is all around us.
Guess what for every bad thing that happens to us or someone
there is a million good things going on or happening to others
that we never hear about. Why is this you may be asking
yourself? Because doom and gloom death hatred sells papers and
TV. commercials and they forget all the other 999,999,999
thousand of the good stuff that is happening.

It’s your job to seek out this good stuff and to let it saturate
your mind and try to limit the bad stuff. The malpractice of the
mind is that it will always look for the bad. Do you know that
as a teenager reaches 16 years old, they have seen 15,000
simulated murders on TV? Do you understand the facts here folks?

Could the music that they listen too have an impact on the young
children minds? What they are thinking, you bet it can! Will the
TVs shows that show young ones see that it is ok to be gay or
lesbian, hey couldn’t they figure out these themselves? Why do
they need to push it on this way, the way they do?

How about alcohol and what it does to people? Well this is the
perfect example of mental malpractices in work. Why is this you
may be asking have you ever been drunk and done things you
normally would have not done? I mean we know when it’s guys or
girls night out that maybe just maybe we will find that special
someone who will make us complete, as our life with our wife has
become stale and smells of corruption and death. Now would you
normally be on the look out for another woman even if she were
less than what you already have? I mean is life that bad and are
you willing to throw away all the time you took to build this
relationship?

Now music, news, alcohol and the list goes on and on can
destroy a life a family and even worse a nation. Do you see how
the way things are going, that we are committing mental
malpractice, by not seeing the loving, the good and the
999,999,999 thousand that are good and what do we focus on?
That’s right the one dam thing that goes wrong! Hey, is there
anyone out there with half a brain? Listen to me there is a
million good things that are going on, so start to look for it
and lets start to stop being the problem and not commit mental
malpractice ever again!

Please know that you can share this article with anyone you
want to and to maybe some you don’t Even like, because it’s that
good & will in turn show that you love your neighbors, please
pass it along as long as the footer is left in tact, my goal is
to reach 2,000,000 people with this new Conciseness. I feel is
Heavenly inspired to raise money for the Mentally Ill, I am
setting up a non-profit Organization called Out of Darkness &
Into The Light, please know if you want to make a difference in
someone’s life, please donate $1 to our pay pal account
Outof_darkness@yahoo.com, I can honestly say this will go to
people who prove there is a need for their medication and they
need it bad! Millions donated to the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, I am asking you all out there to donate to MENTAL
HEALTH DISODERS, as it is becoming a very hard topic to get
people to donate to and the system is really under funded and we
need to change that and now! We can change this you and me
together. This organization will help provide medicine for those
who can not afford it, so they don’t have to eat dog food or,
instead of getting there medicine So remember anyone reading
this because of you, I Will Lay my life down, because of you I
took another breath today. They don’t call me The Zig Ziglar of
Mental Health for nothing, please know, if you are suffering
right now, that tomorrow can and will get better, I am a walking
miracle and if I CAN RECOVER, SO CAN YOU! Because of you!

The main problem with many of us is we loose our direction in life. We have great aspirations upon leaving school or college but then just loose direction or do not know how to achieve our dreams. We are all taught the academic basics needed to function in today’s world. We may then study further to achieve a qualification in a particular field. But we are never taught how to achieve real success. You need far more then just qualifications to make a success of your life. It’s a fact that many people have left school with very few or no qualifications, but have still been very successful.

To be successful requires a certain mindset. It’s not “what we do but the way that we do it”, that counts. Two individuals from the same background with the same qualifications could start the same business. One could fail whilst the other could grow and expand into a multi-national business. So its not your education, it’s not your background and it’s definitely not luck, it’s your mindset.

Look. Don’t say to yourself, “oh that’s all very well but you need money to make money”, or “you need luck to succeed”. You don’t. With the correct mindset, focus and an understanding of how things work, you will create wealth and luck for yourself in abundance.

Have you ever wondered why you persist in an unsatisfying relationship, or why you are unwilling either to work towards a solution or to find an end and move on?

It is because you fear the unknown. The action you take changes things and will lead to the unknown. You believe that the unknown will be more painful then what you are already experiencing.

A very old proverb says. “The better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” These beliefs keep you from taking actions that could change your life. If you want to change you life for the better, then you have to overcome your fears by overriding this preconditioned set of responses.

It is possible to link pain and fear to an unknown event. For example; you have never flown before and you are scared of flying in an airplane. You are frightened for no logical reason. You might have read about a plane, which crashed in the paper. And consequently believe your plane may crash. The truth is this fear a fear of the unknown. Before you can fear it you must experience it. You must make sure that you live your life in the present and respond to things, which are real. Do not allow your fears of what once was or what might someday be.

The key thing to remember is that you do not move away from real fear or pain, you move away from what you believe will lead to fear or pain.

Most people will never succeed because they cannot master the power of concentration, the power of the mind or the power of the universe. Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can command when we focus all of our resources on a single area of our lives. It is a fact that all people both men and women can make a success of their life and can achieve great riches in both monetary terms and ultimate happiness.

Mark Claridge specializes in teaching motivational and self-development skills. In his new book “Mindset and Match” he covers amongst other subjects how having the correct mindset can bring you all you want out of life and is available at http://www.mindsetandmatch.com.

As we grow, we do so in fits and starts, lurching forward then back, sometimes looking more like clowns than seekers.

Winston Churchill wrote: “Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on as though nothing has happened.”

We humans, in searching for success and happiness, have several great loves. One is the love of discovering new things. New places… new people… new ideas… they fascinate us.

We also love finding new ways to solve problems. If we’ve been suffering the indignities and inconveniences of a long-standing problem, we have an unquenchable urge to find what’s causing the discomfort and fix it.

Unfortunately, an equally strong drive within our psyche is the compulsion to keep things from changing.

We love variety and change, but we also love predictability. When things start shifting in our world, we get uncomfortable; uncertain; unsure what to do next.

So with our left foot we strike out to seek change, while at the same time our right foot drags along behind us, trying with all its might to remain planted in one spot.

Often, as Churchill points out, we unquestioningly follow that urge to maintain status quo. Why? Well, it’s the same reason we continue to do anything automatically — habit.

Then how do we break the grip of habit? How do we escape the gravity well of inertia?

It’s the same way we change any habit.

First step: become acutely aware of what we’re doing. No habit can operate properly when we draw back the curtains of inattention.

Have you had a realization about yourself or the way you live your life? Maybe you don’t want to let it drift away and become lost to you, the same way countless realizations have done before.

Then make a big production of it. Fasten your attention on it. Roll it around in your mind, play with it and explore the implications.

Don’t let old habits rob you of the treasure you’ve found.

And that’s exactly how you can stop yourself from stumbling over a truth and then continuing on as though it never happened.

Charles Burke is the author of Command More Luck, the book that shows you why all those things keep happening to you. Learn why “luck” doesn’t work the way you’ve always been told. Not even close. The bad news — There’s no such thing as luck. The good news — There’s something even better. Learn how it works at www.moreluck.com