Christmas has come and is almost over.  December 26^th will arrive shortly.  One of the things I do routinely is to be thankful and grateful for everything in my life – the good and the bad.  I learn (or hope that I do) from both the good and bad in my life to become a better person.

I was outside yesterday exercising with my daughter.  We talked about a myriad of subjects over the course of nearly an hour.  I asked her a few questions as we were headed home that are important for every one to ponder periodically in their lives.

Are you a better person for what you have learned over the past ten years (could be twenty, but the time frame is not critical)?  Most of us would immediately say, YES.

However, what if the question where broken down into several niches and rephrased?  Are you a better parent today than you were ten years ago?  Are you in better health today than you were ten years ago?  Are you a better citizen today than you were ten years ago?  Are you a better listener today than you were ten years ago?  Is your time management better today than it was ten years ago?

Additionally, you can ask yourself about other areas of your life.  Are you better spiritually today than you were ten years ago?  Are you better with your financial decisions today than you were ten years ago?  Are you better today financially than you were ten years ago (not accounting for inflation)?  Are you better today in your relations with your family than you were ten years ago?

Do you understand how to improve your life (actually how and why things happen) better today than you did ten years ago?  If you don’t know the how, the what, the why to make a change, what are you going to do?  You will follow the same path you have been on for the past ten years for another ten years and another ten years after that.

The Theory of Attraction has two premises that I advocate (it has more than that, but these two are easy to start with).  The first is to be thankful for everything you have received in your life.  Don’t resent people, situations and decisions to cover your vision of the future.  The second is that you become what you focus on.  If you focus on health and wealth, you will achieve them.  If you focus on doom and gloom, you will have an amazing life of doom and gloom – a self-fulfilling prophesy of sorts.

Think about the decisions you have made and the life you are living today.  Is it what you want?  Are you happy with it?  Do you desire something better?  Regardless of the answers to those last three questions, begin with thankfulness and gratitude for what you have.  It doesn’t cost you anything.  Letting go of some emotional baggage is good for you.  It opens some room for you to see things you might not see otherwise.

Assess the balance in your life.  Do you live a balanced life?  That is, do you constantly and continuously keep active in several aspects of your life every day?  These aspects are typically (but not totally inclusive of) include your physical health, your personal development, your spiritual life, your relationships, your financial acumen, your financial future and your management of time.

Exercising two hours every day and spending one or two days a year attentive to your spiritual life is not balanced.  Don’t suboptimize one aspect of your life and expect improving happiness, as you get older.  Happiness is derived from many factors (it is worth another blog just on that topic).  Think back to the beginning of the year 2001 and assess where you were – what you were doing and how happy you were with you life.  Think about today and where you want to be in 2021.  It is attainable, but you have to make some mid-course corrections to get there.

Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Copyright 2010 MRO Global, LLC

Reprint rights granted if linked to this post