Wings of Change – Change Your Life Articles

Have you ever felt like you don’t belong, you don’t fit in? Does your life constantly bang against the wall of conformity and crash against the common perception of life? This is what the authors of Wings of Change, Jim and Katharina Murdoch, were facing when their lives were turned upside down by unexpected events. How could life be any worse? Religion wasn’t meeting their needs, jobs weren’t meeting their needs, and to top it all along came a force which threatened to tear their family apart.

But they survived, not what could be said about their belief systems. “Our beliefs took a knock, a big knock,” says Jim. “One day we thought all our beliefs about God, life and the world were in order, then they were all turned on their head. Nothing has been the same since.” This was the turning point in their lives as they began to pursue the answers which had been avoiding them until now. And thus began a journey of discovery.

Their discoveries, uncovered independently as they each walked distinct paths, were complimentary and served to bind them together against all odds in spite of the forces threatening to pull them apart. Amazingly, their separate paths were uncovering the same truths and they found themselves agreeing more and more as they learned about God, the universe and consciousness.

The lessons they learned on their journey serve as an inspiration to the reader. You will read how they grew in awareness of who and what they are, how they learned to let go of old ways and paradigms and how to listen to their inner voice for guidance. The reader will benefit from their lessons of overcoming obstacles, daring to experiment with new ideas, realizing their purpose and acting on their new found truth to live the life they desire.

To help tell their story, Jim & Katharina have been inspired to adapt a parable to highlight each chapter. Using a family of geese they intriguingly blend in their life’s experiences into the geese’s life and their pursuit of happiness in learning the V formation and daring to fly south.

Katharina sums it up, “The readers will have fun. It’s inspiring and they will learn something for life. There is hope for anyone. No matter how bad a situation may be there is wonderful hope.”

Wings of Change – Discover a New Formation to Success will inspire you to take a new look at life and dare to be different.

There are many avenues to explore when it comes to discovering your life purpose. Unfortunately, though, nobody else can find it for you. Since your life purpose is unique from anyone else’s, it’s a mission that you – and only you – can complete.

In your quest for passion, concentrate on enjoying the journey itself. Sometimes when you stop stressing about your life’s purpose, it falls into your lap!

Here are some ways you can discover your life purpose:

1. Write about how you feel. Try journaling with a pen and paper, or grab your laptop and just start writing. Write about how you truly feel and what you want out of life. Remember that no one is going to read this other than you, so don’t be afraid to express your thoughts.
   • Go back and reread your entries every so often. Many times this process can bring you new realizations that you didn’t think of when you were writing it in the first place.
2. Pursue your passions. If you’re passionate about a certain subject, maybe you can make a career or hobby out of it so that you can engage in activities that are personally meaningful to you. This way, each day of your life will feel like it matters and you will have a life purpose.
3. Consider your talents. Think about the areas in which you naturally excel and see if you can turn these skills into something meaningful for you.
   • Many people are drawn to a life purpose that makes them feel like they’re making a true difference in the lives of other people. You may find it fulfilling to be using something you’re good at to help others that are in need.
   • For example, if you find that you’re good at comforting people, perhaps you can consider a career as a counselor.
4. Converse with inspiring people. Strike up a conversation with someone who inspires you. While you might not be interested in the same things, you can talk about how they discovered their life purpose. Their triumphs and struggles will make good lessons for you in your journey to your purpose.
5. What brings you joy? Reflect on the moments in your life when you’re most happy. What are you doing at these times? You can start the quest for your life purpose by using what already makes you happy.
   • Maybe you’re most happy when you’re just sitting at home with your family. That’s a wonderful gift!
   • Remember that you’re not necessarily searching for something exotic! After all, your life purpose may already be under your nose.
6. Embrace change. Sometimes the thing that holds you back from self-discovery is a fear of change. There’s comfort and safety in not taking risks, but you also may never discover your life’s true purpose. Learn to embrace change because life is constantly changing around you.
7. Uphold your values. Everyone has a set of values that they tend to adhere to in life. You can use your values as a starting point to discovering you life purpose. Make a list of your values with your most important ones at the top. Think about what you can do to honor those values in life every day and you may find your purpose.

Finding your purpose in life may not be as hard as you think. Use these strategies on your journey and one day soon you’ll realize that you’ve found the one feature of your life that makes everything worthwhile.

A healthy self-esteem is a starting point for a happy life. Unfortunately, when you lack self-esteem, you also lack the ability to reach your true potential. Why? Because your thoughts are truly powerful!

It All Starts With Your Beliefs

Most people have heard the statement, “If you can dream it, you can do it,” but few people actually take it to heart. For some reason big goals seem unattainable and an “I can’t” mentality takes over.

While everyone experiences negative thoughts from time to time, you may need to make an extra effort to get through these challenges. Positive thoughts must be victorious in the end!

Tips For Developing Self-Esteem

Developing a healthy self-esteem doesn’t need to be a difficult task. There are small changes you can make to get yourself on the right track.

Try following these strategies to help you develop a healthy self-esteem:

1. Ignore negativity from others. For some reason, many people get into the habit of putting others down. You know you shouldn’t listen to these people, but sometimes you take what they’re saying to heart. It’s especially hurtful when it’s coming from someone you love.
   • Some people will even steer you in the wrong direction because they think they’re doing the right thing. When it comes down to it, you’re the only one that knows yourself and your dreams. You simply can’t let anyone stand in the way!
2. Learn to accept compliments. You might toss off compliments as lies because some people may have ulterior motives. While this might be true, in most cases people are being genuine. After all, most people won’t go out of their way to give you a false compliment.
   • Accepting compliments will help you discover what you’re good at and strengthen your self-confidence.
3. Get a life coach. Life coaches are in the business of helping you live your life to its fullest potential. You don’t need to be scared or embarrassed to seek one out. If a life coach doesn’t seem feasible for you, you can look into getting some self-help guides.
   • Go online or to a local bookstore to find some relevant workbooks and resources.
4. Use affirmations. Affirmations are great self-esteem boosters because they show your brain what you already know you can achieve. They bring positive energy into the present moment.
   • You can read affirmations on the subjects of your choice or you can get into the habit of writing your own affirmations. Nothing can be more targeted to your true feelings than your own words!
5. Avoid comparing yourself to others. It’s easy to get into the habit of comparing yourself negatively to other people. Remind yourself that everyone is unique. You’re equipped with your own set of strengths and weaknesses, so the best thing you can do for yourself is concentrate on developing your own strengths.

Follow Your Dreams

Once you’ve worked on your initial feelings about self worth, it’s time to take a step in the right direction. A part of a healthy self-esteem is having the drive to take action toward your goals.

Have a plan and follow through. If you feel that you’ve improved your self-esteem but then fail to take action towards your dream, it will only be a matter of time before your self-esteem begins to wane again.

When you’re faced with challenges, actively seek solutions. When you do, you’ll soon notice what a positive role your healthy self-esteem plays in your life!

Wealth creation all starts with the mind. If you have an abundance attitude and wealth mindset, you’ll be able to attract the financial success you deserve!

While there are many paths to wealth, once you discover the abundance mindset, you’ve set yourself up for actually achieving your dreams. But how do you create this mindset in the first place?

Here are some techniques that will help you develop a wealth mindset:

1. Visualize your goal. It’s not enough to just say you want to “be rich.” You have to make the conscious decision to create a clear goal and visualize all the details. It’s best to focus all of your energy on one thing rather than spreading yourself too thin.
2. Be specific. Break down your goal into minute details and start thinking about the exact steps you need to take in order to get there.
3. Break up the plan. The goal seems huge at first, but once broken down into smaller, more manageable steps, it doesn’t seem so bad. Focus on each individual task that you need to complete, and then congratulate yourself once you achieve each step.
4. Take action. It’s easy to get caught up in the daydreaming and planning phases of your goals, but action is what it takes to get you there. Your dreams become realities with action; otherwise they’ll just remain dreams forever.
5. Seek a mentor. Sometimes people are tempted to go at it alone, but you’re not alone in this world! There are many out there that would like to see you succeed and it’s your responsibility to find these like-minded people. Perhaps a business mentor or life coach may be just what you need to give you that extra push.
6. Focus on your thoughts. If you’re experiencing confidence issues, it’s important to take time to focus on your thoughts. Do you really believe that you can achieve wealth? Are negative thoughts holding you back? If necessary, remind yourself that wealth is possible and that success is a very real possibility for you as well.
7. Believe you deserve it. Believe that you are worthy of achieving wealth. If you don’t think that you deserve it, you may unconsciously set yourself up for failure. In turn, you may actually become the roadblock that prevents you from the wealth you deserve.

Believe In Yourself

Do you truly want wealth? Then be willing to follow through on your action plan while maintaining a positive attitude.

In life there are plenty of snags in the road and your path to wealth won’t always be easy. If you maintain the perseverance to achieve, you’ll be more willing to seek solutions and find success.

Remember that you have to start somewhere. Take the time to truly appreciate your progress. So for example, if you’ve doubled your salary, that’s a huge feat to be celebrated! While you may not be rich yet, you’ve made progress on the way to wealth. Keep focused on your goal and you’ll continue to build an unstoppable momentum.

Trusting your inner instincts is an important skill to learn, although there are times when your mind can play tricks on you. When your body and mind are under stress, it may be difficult to see the difference between good thoughts and those that arise from fear.

Dealing With Fear

No one enjoys dealing with fear; however, it’s a necessary part of a fulfilled life. The best line of defense is to practice remaining calm and ask for help when you need it. After all, two minds striving for a rational solution is usually better than one.

When Not To Trust Your Thoughts

Even in difficult circumstances, you probably have an idea about what is truly right or wrong. However, it’s a good idea to try to recognize the situations where you tend to have trouble thinking clearly. That way, when these situations do come up, you can start working on solutions, instead of giving into the cloudy thoughts.

You probably shouldn’t trust your thoughts in the following situations:

1. When you’re under stress – People often don’t recognize how detrimental stress can be to the mind and body. Stress can cause you to make unwise decisions and think too quickly. Stress can take over your body and produce hormones that alter your thinking patterns.
2. When you’re feeling anxious – There are varying degrees of anxiety that can affect anyone at any time. When it takes over in a strong manner, such as when you’re dealing with crippling fear, it can lead to erratic, irrational thoughts or even panic.
3. When you’re having negative thoughts – Sometimes you’ll have a bad day or even a bad week. Having a tough time can cause a negative thinking pattern that can cause you to think unreasonable or even absurd thoughts. You may start to have angry or depressing thoughts that can’t be trusted.

When you’re having thoughts that seem real, but are rather unreasonable, remember that it’s not coming from you. Rather, it’s coming from the build up and repression of years of self-doubt, negativity, stress, anxiety, or even past circumstances. That’s precisely why you cannot trust those thoughts!

Dealing With Your Feelings

You now know that negative thought patterns can arise from stress, anxiety, fear or even the past. Crippling fear, unfortunately, hurls many strongly negative feelings your way. But it’s how you deal with them and proceed with your thought patterns that make all the difference. Strive to take time to cool down and relax your mind before making important decisions.

One way to know if something is your true feeling is to wait a few days before making a decision. For example, if after a week of thinking something over, you still think the same way, then it’s probably true. Of course, you first have to ensure that your mind isn’t under attack from stress, anxiety, negativity, or fear.

Healing From Fear

If you find that you’re frequently in fearful situations, you can concentrate on healing those feelings. When your mind begins to race, take in a large dose of oxygen. Believe it or not, deep breathing is a signal for your mind to relax and think clearly. So breathe deeply and breathe often!

Also remember that you’re not alone. You have people who can help you and you shouldn’t feel shy to ask for that help. If you feel uncomfortable talking with a family member or friend, consider the help of a coach or counselor.

Just remember to avoid taking drastic actions that arise from fear. Take your time when making decisions, breathe deeply, and seek the help you need to overcome the grips of fear.

If you’ve lost your job, there’s no denying that it can be a devastating ordeal. It can be a real burden, especially when your whole family depended on that job and the income it provided.

However, you can find the strength to recover from a tragic job loss. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the silver lining, but it’s always there waiting to be discovered.

Focusing On Your Self-Esteem

Your thoughts are very powerful. Sometimes you may think that you don’t have control over your thoughts, but you always do. Of course you should give yourself time to recover from the initial shock of a job loss, but it’s how you choose to react afterwards that makes all the difference.

When you focus on developing positive self-esteem, you’ll be able to think clearly and confidently so you can figure out what your next steps are going to be. You may even use this new opportunity to finally follow your dream job.

Have these tips in mind to keep your self-esteem intact:

1. Give yourself time to grieve. Sometimes you don’t think of job loss as being the same as other types of loss, but the shock can be the same and you should allow yourself some time to go through the standard stages of grief. You’ll eventually recover from the shock, but give yourself an appropriate amount of time to absorb the situation.
2. Look for a support system. You might feel especially alone after losing your job. Your initial reaction might be to run and hide and keep your emotions inside. Be sure to fight this feeling and, instead, rely on your support system. Remember: it’s okay to ask for help, that’s what your support network is for!
3. Keep up your motivation. After the shock has worn off, it’s important to strive for a certain level of enthusiasm and motivation to find another job. You need to believe in yourself and trust that things will turn out for the best. Remember that your new job might be even better than your last one!
4. Looking for a new job. When you’re ready to start the search, consider all of your options. You may want to consider whether or not you really enjoyed the field you were in before. Consider your job loss as a new opportunity. Maybe you’d like to try bringing your life into a different direction.
5. Keep an eye on your finances. When you deal with job loss, you must also deal with the financial realities. Determine your current financial situation and how long you have until you must return to work. Maybe you have to find a job right away, or perhaps you have enough savings to consider other career options. Whatever the case may be, you should know what the financial implications mean to you and your family.

New Life: New Opportunities

After dealing with job loss, the best thing you can do is to think of it as a new opportunity in life. Sure, you didn’t choose to embark on this path at this particular time, but it’s important to roll with the punches.

Don’t be afraid to take risks. Also, don’t be afraid to adopt the attitude that everything happens for a reason. Bad things happen in life, but good things happen too. Stay strong for yourself and your family and your self-esteem will prevail.

All actions start as mere thoughts. When you set out to reach your goals, negative thinking pretty much ends your journey right there. You end up losing your drive, which you need in order to get anything done.

Thinking optimistically can be the difference between easily reaching success and falling short. But how can you start thinking optimistically? There are certain actions you can take that will help you shift your core beliefs.

Try these steps in order to set yourself up for success with optimism:

1. Expect the best. You should know your desired outcome for your ultimate goals and believe that the best case scenario can prevail. You may tend to drift into the “what if” thoughts from time to time, but you also have the power to fight them. If you catch yourself thinking this way, immediately shift your focus onto something positive.
2. Take immediate action. Reaching your ultimate goals can be intimidating. There might be many things holding you back, including the fear of failure. But when you take immediate action, you leave no time for pessimistic thoughts to arise. You’ll plough forward in a positive direction.
3. Seek the silver lining. No doubt there will be situations that present challenges to you. You must believe that everything happens for a reason and that there’s a silver lining somewhere in this challenge. Do your best to learn from the situation and then actively seek the best direction forward.
4. Write down your thoughts. You can certainly benefit from a brain dump every now and then. Write down your thoughts, including your fears, in order to vent. Take note of your positive thoughts as well. By writing everything down, you’ll gain clarity about your goals.

Worrying About Challenges

Don’t waste your time worrying about the challenges at hand or ahead. Once you realize that worrying serves no purpose, you’ll be better able to let them go. Chances are things will work out for the best. You need to believe this in order to achieve an optimistic attitude.

Realism will tell you that there’s the possibility of failure. While that may be true, you shouldn’t focus on it. Worrying about failure will not make it any easier to endure if it happens, and it can even cause you to attract that failure to you!

Worrying only hurts you in the present moment and keeps you from taking the positive action that can bring your goals to fruition.

Challenges Are Normal

When you realize that challenges are normal, they may be a tad easier to deal with. The fact is you’re faced with challenges of varying degrees everyday.

You already know that life throws challenges your way, but you must believe that you can overcome these challenges! Then, you’ll be able to conquer every obstacle with an optimistic attitude.

Discover What You Can Learn

There’s a lesson to be learned in each challenge. Realizing the lessons you’re presented with will allow you to grow as a person and learn from both your successes and failures. As you learn, you build confidence and confidence brings optimism.

Evaluate the outcome of a few different challenges your life has presented you. When you had an optimistic attitude, how did things turn out? When you had a pessimistic attitude, how did things turn out? Oftentimes your attitude alone can make a significant difference.

And remember, your attitude is your choice!