What is the meaning of faith?
When we have a problem the first person we turn to is ourselves. We face up to the issues and try to find a solution. For the most, this is normally sufficient and we create independence by sorting out our own problems. It also helps in building self confidence and self esteem.
If a solution doesn’t come forth through our own efforts then we normally turn to friends, family or a professional; an expert in the field in which our problem lies. Two heads are better than one so the saying goes, and particular with regards to the expert, their wealth of experience will usually guide us in the direction we need to go.
There are times though when despite our best efforts, despite the efforts of others, an answer to our problem doesn’t seem to be readily available. For every problem there is a solution but when it just doesn’t seem obvious “who are we gonna call?”
God.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. But when we have a deep rooted faith, God becomes our strength. We can face up to any challenge if we believe and trust that God will see us through.
So in the event of a crisis we have three levels at which we operate.
1. We look for the answers ourselves. We do a bit of research and apply the grey matter a little bit harder and if that fails we revert to plan 2.
2. We ask somebody. Hopefully there is an answer out there amongst the people we know.
3. Plan 3 is to ask God. By having faith, asking God for his help and being patient, the answer will come.
So what happens to those non-believers? What do they do when they get to level 3. Emotions normally take over. Panic and quite often depression, and when anybody gets to this state it can be a downward spiral. When negative emotions cloud thinking the problem becomes the sole focus of attention, blinkering any thoughts of a solution.
I once had a boss who would say to me “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions”. Easier to do when God walks by our side and we can think positive thoughts. Nowhere near so easy when negative thoughts run through the mind.
When we have the joy of knowing Gods love, when we have absolute faith in God helping us to find the answers, we think positively and the solutions surely emerge.
Perhaps I should have added another level between 2 and 3. “If all else fails read the instructions”. The bible.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
Showing posts with label self esteem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self esteem. Show all posts
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Saturday, 14 November 2009
The Faith of Children
What is the meaning of faith?
On occasions our faith can be in need of strengthening. Life has a habit of sometimes throwing doubt at us when things don’t quite go as smoothly as we would like.
So where can we gain our inspiration from?
Where can we turn to regain that absolute faith that we have so relied on before?
The answer is quite simply all around us. For a start Gods creation is wonderfully inspiring. Despite the scientist great efforts to explain the origins of the universe, there are always more questions than answers and one can only conclude that some kind of super force is the creator of our world and the planets and stars beyond.
But just by purely observing nature we can see how creatures rely on faith to progress. Imagine being a chick in a birds nest. Eventually, one day that chick will have to flee the comforts of that nest to make its own way in the world. But first it must learn to fly.
But how does a bird learn to fly?
It’s not exactly one of those skills that can be practiced before hand. That chick has to take one almighty leap of faith and jump. Instantaneously that chick becomes a fully fledged bird with the instinct to fly.
Mother Nature provides many other instances of faith, but we can also see this happening naturally in our own children.
My son Charlie was up on his feet quite early; about seven months. He practically skipped the crawling stage. However once he was on his feet he would hold on to every piece of furniture to guide himself around the room. This he did for about another nine months until one day we were sitting on the patio at my parents’ house. My wife and I were sitting on one side on a concrete bench linked to the patio table and my mum and dad were sitting on a wooden bench on the other side of the patio. Charlie was eager for his grandparents’ attention and was stretching out for them to come and get him. I made to take him over to them but after a couple of steps I let go of his hand. He was left stranded in the middle of the patio.
What should he do?
For a second we could see the bemusement on his face. But he looked at my mum and dad and then went for it. His faith became instantaneous as he toddled over to nanny. From that point on there was no stopping him. His faith had provided him with a new found confidence and freedom.
We can see this faith and self confidence naturally and unquestioning in children.
But what happens to us as we grow older and our faith tends to weaken?
With life’s many ups and downs, the downsides can test our faith and self confidence if we let it. But if we take the trouble and time to look around us we can see the miracles of God all the time, and we should easily be able to recall the many times that God has helped us in our lives.
In children faith is unquestioned. They don’t think about it, they just practice it, even if they are unaware of it. This is how our faith in God should be; unquestionable.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
On occasions our faith can be in need of strengthening. Life has a habit of sometimes throwing doubt at us when things don’t quite go as smoothly as we would like.
So where can we gain our inspiration from?
Where can we turn to regain that absolute faith that we have so relied on before?
The answer is quite simply all around us. For a start Gods creation is wonderfully inspiring. Despite the scientist great efforts to explain the origins of the universe, there are always more questions than answers and one can only conclude that some kind of super force is the creator of our world and the planets and stars beyond.
But just by purely observing nature we can see how creatures rely on faith to progress. Imagine being a chick in a birds nest. Eventually, one day that chick will have to flee the comforts of that nest to make its own way in the world. But first it must learn to fly.
But how does a bird learn to fly?
It’s not exactly one of those skills that can be practiced before hand. That chick has to take one almighty leap of faith and jump. Instantaneously that chick becomes a fully fledged bird with the instinct to fly.
Mother Nature provides many other instances of faith, but we can also see this happening naturally in our own children.
My son Charlie was up on his feet quite early; about seven months. He practically skipped the crawling stage. However once he was on his feet he would hold on to every piece of furniture to guide himself around the room. This he did for about another nine months until one day we were sitting on the patio at my parents’ house. My wife and I were sitting on one side on a concrete bench linked to the patio table and my mum and dad were sitting on a wooden bench on the other side of the patio. Charlie was eager for his grandparents’ attention and was stretching out for them to come and get him. I made to take him over to them but after a couple of steps I let go of his hand. He was left stranded in the middle of the patio.
What should he do?
For a second we could see the bemusement on his face. But he looked at my mum and dad and then went for it. His faith became instantaneous as he toddled over to nanny. From that point on there was no stopping him. His faith had provided him with a new found confidence and freedom.
We can see this faith and self confidence naturally and unquestioning in children.
But what happens to us as we grow older and our faith tends to weaken?
With life’s many ups and downs, the downsides can test our faith and self confidence if we let it. But if we take the trouble and time to look around us we can see the miracles of God all the time, and we should easily be able to recall the many times that God has helped us in our lives.
In children faith is unquestioned. They don’t think about it, they just practice it, even if they are unaware of it. This is how our faith in God should be; unquestionable.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
Thursday, 29 October 2009
The Lion, The Hedgehog and The Case of Missing Self Confidence
Self confidence at times can be a fragile quality. Many other people can destroy our self confidence particularly if our actions are driven by the desire to please them at the expense of what we believe to be true.
Here is the tale of the lion and the hedgehogs.
Once upon a time there was a lion living in the jungle with all his lion friends. One day he grew adventurous and decided to go and see the wider world. He stumbled on the home of the hedgehogs. This was a nice place; a place he liked very much. He asked the head hedgehog if he could stay with them.
“Sorry, you can’t stay here you are too different. Cut off your tail and become like us” said head hedgehog.
With some deep reservations the lion took the advice and cut off his tail. On his return to head hedgehog he was told
“No, still too different. Shave off your hair and come back to me.”
Although he thought this rather drastic, he was eager to please so he shaved off his hair.
“Your claws are too long” retorted the head hedgehog. “You’ll have too chop them off”.
Desperate to gain the acceptance of the hedgehogs he clipped his claws back to nothing and returned to the head hedgehog once more.
“No still not right. Look no matter what you change about yourself, you are still different. It must be your personality. It’s in your nature to be a lion. You will never be a hedgehog so please go away and leave us alone”.
The lion set off to find his old lion friends in the jungle. But once there he found more rejection.
“You’ve lost your identity” cried out one of the others. “You’re no longer a lion”.
No longer a lion and didn’t get to make it to hedgehog status either, whom or what had he become?
The lion had sold his identity in exchange for acceptance by the hedgehogs. He had sold his true self for the approval of others. People can be like this lion too. Perhaps we change the way we dress or do things that other people want despite this going against our better judgement, purely to gain acceptance. This results in either acceptance but no self confidence or rejection and a loss of identity.
Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate but other people do respect others with differing opinions, ideas and interests. By discarding our identity for the acceptance of others we lose our true selves. Yes we can change ourselves for the better but we should do it for ourselves and not for other people.
Although I believe that believing in God is becoming fashionable again it was not that long ago that having a faith deemed us as not conforming. It was not “cool” to declare our belief in God. Yet having our faith, no matter how we choose to follow that faith, forms part of our personality. We must never deny God just to appear to be “cool” in the eyes of others.
Unto thine own self be true.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
Here is the tale of the lion and the hedgehogs.
Once upon a time there was a lion living in the jungle with all his lion friends. One day he grew adventurous and decided to go and see the wider world. He stumbled on the home of the hedgehogs. This was a nice place; a place he liked very much. He asked the head hedgehog if he could stay with them.
“Sorry, you can’t stay here you are too different. Cut off your tail and become like us” said head hedgehog.
With some deep reservations the lion took the advice and cut off his tail. On his return to head hedgehog he was told
“No, still too different. Shave off your hair and come back to me.”
Although he thought this rather drastic, he was eager to please so he shaved off his hair.
“Your claws are too long” retorted the head hedgehog. “You’ll have too chop them off”.
Desperate to gain the acceptance of the hedgehogs he clipped his claws back to nothing and returned to the head hedgehog once more.
“No still not right. Look no matter what you change about yourself, you are still different. It must be your personality. It’s in your nature to be a lion. You will never be a hedgehog so please go away and leave us alone”.
The lion set off to find his old lion friends in the jungle. But once there he found more rejection.
“You’ve lost your identity” cried out one of the others. “You’re no longer a lion”.
No longer a lion and didn’t get to make it to hedgehog status either, whom or what had he become?
The lion had sold his identity in exchange for acceptance by the hedgehogs. He had sold his true self for the approval of others. People can be like this lion too. Perhaps we change the way we dress or do things that other people want despite this going against our better judgement, purely to gain acceptance. This results in either acceptance but no self confidence or rejection and a loss of identity.
Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate but other people do respect others with differing opinions, ideas and interests. By discarding our identity for the acceptance of others we lose our true selves. Yes we can change ourselves for the better but we should do it for ourselves and not for other people.
Although I believe that believing in God is becoming fashionable again it was not that long ago that having a faith deemed us as not conforming. It was not “cool” to declare our belief in God. Yet having our faith, no matter how we choose to follow that faith, forms part of our personality. We must never deny God just to appear to be “cool” in the eyes of others.
Unto thine own self be true.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
Monday, 26 October 2009
Knock Knock
What is the meaning of faith?
How can we measure true faith?
How can we tell when our faith in god is truly justified?
When the chips are down and we our facing real adversity and our situation seems completely hopeless do we turn to god?
There will be many times in our lives when doors keep shutting in front of us. The dreaded “no” keeps being thrown in our face when we go knocking on those doors. Somehow we still believe in our ideas but it seems impossible to get anybody else to be interested. This is the moment that the really strong will switch into overdrive. The tough keep going.
There are so many examples in history of successful people who have found the going sticky at times. Just about every single successful person did not start out being successful. They had to endure hardship and persevered in the project that they believed in. They kept knocking on doors because they never knew whether that next door might be the one that led to the road of success. They continued with hope and faith. Thomas Edison tried nearly one thousand different patents before he finally created the model light bulb that worked. Each one that did not work wasn’t considered a failure but more of a learning curve. He learned that that one wasn’t the correct way and he was one step closer to finding the right way.
A tremendously positive example of focussing on the solution, not the problem.
So how can one stay strong during extreme times of adversity?
One way is to have faith in God. By turning to God and asking him for guidance he will listen to our prayers and provide us with answers. And sometimes the answer lies in a completely different format to what we expected. There can be no greater example of this than that of “The Virgin Birth”.
Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem with Mary just about ready to give birth. Mary knew that she was giving birth to God’s child but did he have to make life so difficult? Did that census have to come right now?
They knocked on door after door only to be told that there was no room at the inn. But they had faith in God. So they kept trying and eventually they were given shelter in a stable. Jesus was born in that stable.
Now the obvious answer to their dilemma would have been for God to have found a spare room in one of the inns. A room with a comfortable bed. But it was extremely fortuitous that they ended up in that stable. Firstly, the inn keepers would have been obliged to have provided them with a room each as men and women weren’t allowed to share rooms in those days. Joseph, being Mary’s only travelling companion would have missed out at being present at the birth. Secondly all those visitors they had wouldn’t have been able to find them and they wouldn’t have gone home loaded up with Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Mary and Joseph’s faith in God eventually provided them with a solution to their problem, even though it was in the most unexpected of ways.
Likewise for all of us, in the mitts of adversity we can turn in faith and hope to God to gain our strength. Strength to see us through to the bitter end. But don’t be surprised if his ideas are somewhat different to our own.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
How can we measure true faith?
How can we tell when our faith in god is truly justified?
When the chips are down and we our facing real adversity and our situation seems completely hopeless do we turn to god?
There will be many times in our lives when doors keep shutting in front of us. The dreaded “no” keeps being thrown in our face when we go knocking on those doors. Somehow we still believe in our ideas but it seems impossible to get anybody else to be interested. This is the moment that the really strong will switch into overdrive. The tough keep going.
There are so many examples in history of successful people who have found the going sticky at times. Just about every single successful person did not start out being successful. They had to endure hardship and persevered in the project that they believed in. They kept knocking on doors because they never knew whether that next door might be the one that led to the road of success. They continued with hope and faith. Thomas Edison tried nearly one thousand different patents before he finally created the model light bulb that worked. Each one that did not work wasn’t considered a failure but more of a learning curve. He learned that that one wasn’t the correct way and he was one step closer to finding the right way.
A tremendously positive example of focussing on the solution, not the problem.
So how can one stay strong during extreme times of adversity?
One way is to have faith in God. By turning to God and asking him for guidance he will listen to our prayers and provide us with answers. And sometimes the answer lies in a completely different format to what we expected. There can be no greater example of this than that of “The Virgin Birth”.
Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem with Mary just about ready to give birth. Mary knew that she was giving birth to God’s child but did he have to make life so difficult? Did that census have to come right now?
They knocked on door after door only to be told that there was no room at the inn. But they had faith in God. So they kept trying and eventually they were given shelter in a stable. Jesus was born in that stable.
Now the obvious answer to their dilemma would have been for God to have found a spare room in one of the inns. A room with a comfortable bed. But it was extremely fortuitous that they ended up in that stable. Firstly, the inn keepers would have been obliged to have provided them with a room each as men and women weren’t allowed to share rooms in those days. Joseph, being Mary’s only travelling companion would have missed out at being present at the birth. Secondly all those visitors they had wouldn’t have been able to find them and they wouldn’t have gone home loaded up with Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Mary and Joseph’s faith in God eventually provided them with a solution to their problem, even though it was in the most unexpected of ways.
Likewise for all of us, in the mitts of adversity we can turn in faith and hope to God to gain our strength. Strength to see us through to the bitter end. But don’t be surprised if his ideas are somewhat different to our own.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
A Christian's Look at Islam 2
What is the meaning of faith?
In part one we looked at how the Christian faith and that of Muslims were very similar. We also explored the differences between Christianity and Islam. Much of this information was sourced from www.geocities.com/mikailtariq/index.htm and trust that the facts have justly been interpreted.
It is reckoned that Christians look for their rewards or punishment in the next life, whilst Muslims believe that by conducting themselves correctly every day heaven can be created here on earth. However through the teachings of James in the bible, this isn’t necessarily a true interpretation of Christian philosophy.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” – James 1:22
“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?” – James 2:14
“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” - James 2:17
These verses obviously demonstrate the need to place action behind beliefs and faith.
A Muslim will conduct himself with dignity and honour. Not to do so is disrespectful to the Islamic faith. Likewise, cleanliness is a very important aspect of their day to day conduct. It is their belief that being unclean offends God. Being dirty through honest toil is acceptable; at any other time it is not. It has to be said that from my experience of people following the Islamic faith, their cleanliness is wholly commendable as cleanliness doesn’t seem to be at the heart of Christian faith.
Whilst bodily cleanliness ranks high in a Muslims conduct, so also does internal cleanliness. This is why they do not partake in alcohol and illicit drugs. As a pig is seen as an unclean animal, eating filth, the consumption of pork is also forbidden.
The Qur’an is obviously the book by which the words must be followed, but a Muslim will also abide by the laws of the land in which they reside. They are lawful and responsible citizens that abhor sin. To make a mistake and sin once is forgivable but to continue to live in sin is wrong and shows contempt of God.
How does this compare to the Christian notion of forgiveness?
The religion of Islam acknowledges that everybody is a brother or sister. A practitioner of Islam must not discriminate between race and ethnic origin.
They must not contribute to the downfall of another. This too, is best practice of the Christian faith.
Islam decrees that a follower should observe the following five points:-
To say the creed several times a day.
To undertake daily prayer – at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. Cleansing must be undertaken prior to prayer and they must face Mecca during prayer.
Give alms – give money to the poor in the community.
Fast during the month of Ramadan. Fasting during day-light hours is a reminder of the gift of God’s revelation to Muhammed, ie. The Qur’an.
Undertake a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca once in a lifetime.
By sticking to a disciplined regime a Muslim obviously remains in touch with God many times during the course of the day. A Christian daily routine would be more flexible and consequently perhaps doesn’t retain his/her thoughts on God so much during the day. Grace at meal times and a once per day offering of prayer doesn’t strike as being quite so devout as that of a Muslim.
Although some of the differences between Islam and Christianity may appear to be divisive, there is a lot of common ground. The shear fact that both religions share a belief in one God should be THE uniting factor. Ultimately demonstrating ones faith in God is an individual choice. By living our lives through him and creating a quality in life that is in harmony with fairness, kindness and morality means we can have that freedom of choice and should be able to live peacefully together.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
In part one we looked at how the Christian faith and that of Muslims were very similar. We also explored the differences between Christianity and Islam. Much of this information was sourced from www.geocities.com/mikailtariq/index.htm and trust that the facts have justly been interpreted.
It is reckoned that Christians look for their rewards or punishment in the next life, whilst Muslims believe that by conducting themselves correctly every day heaven can be created here on earth. However through the teachings of James in the bible, this isn’t necessarily a true interpretation of Christian philosophy.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” – James 1:22
“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?” – James 2:14
“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” - James 2:17
These verses obviously demonstrate the need to place action behind beliefs and faith.
A Muslim will conduct himself with dignity and honour. Not to do so is disrespectful to the Islamic faith. Likewise, cleanliness is a very important aspect of their day to day conduct. It is their belief that being unclean offends God. Being dirty through honest toil is acceptable; at any other time it is not. It has to be said that from my experience of people following the Islamic faith, their cleanliness is wholly commendable as cleanliness doesn’t seem to be at the heart of Christian faith.
Whilst bodily cleanliness ranks high in a Muslims conduct, so also does internal cleanliness. This is why they do not partake in alcohol and illicit drugs. As a pig is seen as an unclean animal, eating filth, the consumption of pork is also forbidden.
The Qur’an is obviously the book by which the words must be followed, but a Muslim will also abide by the laws of the land in which they reside. They are lawful and responsible citizens that abhor sin. To make a mistake and sin once is forgivable but to continue to live in sin is wrong and shows contempt of God.
How does this compare to the Christian notion of forgiveness?
The religion of Islam acknowledges that everybody is a brother or sister. A practitioner of Islam must not discriminate between race and ethnic origin.
They must not contribute to the downfall of another. This too, is best practice of the Christian faith.
Islam decrees that a follower should observe the following five points:-
To say the creed several times a day.
To undertake daily prayer – at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. Cleansing must be undertaken prior to prayer and they must face Mecca during prayer.
Give alms – give money to the poor in the community.
Fast during the month of Ramadan. Fasting during day-light hours is a reminder of the gift of God’s revelation to Muhammed, ie. The Qur’an.
Undertake a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca once in a lifetime.
By sticking to a disciplined regime a Muslim obviously remains in touch with God many times during the course of the day. A Christian daily routine would be more flexible and consequently perhaps doesn’t retain his/her thoughts on God so much during the day. Grace at meal times and a once per day offering of prayer doesn’t strike as being quite so devout as that of a Muslim.
Although some of the differences between Islam and Christianity may appear to be divisive, there is a lot of common ground. The shear fact that both religions share a belief in one God should be THE uniting factor. Ultimately demonstrating ones faith in God is an individual choice. By living our lives through him and creating a quality in life that is in harmony with fairness, kindness and morality means we can have that freedom of choice and should be able to live peacefully together.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Monday, 28 September 2009
A Christian's Look at Islam
What is the meaning of faith?
As a Christian I practice my faith in God in a manner that feels the most comfortable to me. Perhaps this has evolved from my upbringing, the teachings that have been presented to me through the course of my life and from what I have encountered myself during my life.
Ultimately how I allow my faith and beliefs to affect my life is down to me. The rules that I obey through Christianity allow me to live a clean and happy life with a well developed sense of morality and fairness.
But do we need to be a Christian to have a faith in God and live a decent life?
At www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com it is the aim to look at all aspects of faith. In the first of two articles we shall look at the very basic beliefs of Islam as practiced by its Muslim followers.
The major source of information for this article has come from www.geocities.com/mikailtariq/index.htm and it is sincerely hoped that the interpretation is factually correct and in no way offensive.
The Islamic faith and Christianity agree in many things and as is also common with other faiths such as the Jewish faith, they all believe in one God. Perhaps the confusion comes with the fact that Muslims refer to Allah, which is a contraction of Al Ilah (The God).
A true Christian will follow the teachings of Jesus as presented in their one book, The Bible. A Muslim will accept the teachings of the great prophets Jesus, Moses and Abraham, but practice their faith through the words of The Qur’an. This, they believe is the most complete and reliable source of God’s revelations as presented through the prophet Muhammed, and as he was the last of the great prophets, this must be the most up to date account of God’s wisdom.
So Christians and Muslims have common ground in the belief of one God and a desire to live good, clean and honest lives. So where are the differences?
Muslims are taught to be proud and to conduct themselves with dignity and honour. They believe that Christianity teaches meekness, which is true although it could be argued that modesty doesn’t have to obscure self esteem. Assertiveness is viewed as inline with Muslim thinking.
Muslims place tremendous store on education. They place great reverence on schools and books and encourage efforts to acquire great knowledge. It certainly could be said that those that sit on the fringes of Christianity are not so disciplined in their attempts to gain a better education.
The Islamic faith encourages commerce and the accumulation of wealth whilst it believes that a good Christian will shun riches and depend on God for sustenance. Muslims have an immense work ethic and although they aren’t against benefits handed out by governments and charitable organisations they have the belief that they should work where at all possible. In defence of Christians, the bible implies that it is the desire for wealth that is the root of all evil. The earning of money to enjoy God’s abundance and perhaps to help others is no sin at all.
Christians are certainly encouraged to turn the other cheek. A follower of Islam on the other hand will defend his family, his faith and himself. Although not advocating violence they would not be subjected to humiliation by submitting to evil. The difficulty may come in respect to the interpretation of who or what is evil.
This is the first of two articles on a Christians view of Islam through www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com. So far we can see that there is a lot of common ground between these two major religions and perhaps the differences aren’t really that great a divide. Accepting the common denominators of the two should surely mean that we can live in harmony with each other.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
As a Christian I practice my faith in God in a manner that feels the most comfortable to me. Perhaps this has evolved from my upbringing, the teachings that have been presented to me through the course of my life and from what I have encountered myself during my life.
Ultimately how I allow my faith and beliefs to affect my life is down to me. The rules that I obey through Christianity allow me to live a clean and happy life with a well developed sense of morality and fairness.
But do we need to be a Christian to have a faith in God and live a decent life?
At www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com it is the aim to look at all aspects of faith. In the first of two articles we shall look at the very basic beliefs of Islam as practiced by its Muslim followers.
The major source of information for this article has come from www.geocities.com/mikailtariq/index.htm and it is sincerely hoped that the interpretation is factually correct and in no way offensive.
The Islamic faith and Christianity agree in many things and as is also common with other faiths such as the Jewish faith, they all believe in one God. Perhaps the confusion comes with the fact that Muslims refer to Allah, which is a contraction of Al Ilah (The God).
A true Christian will follow the teachings of Jesus as presented in their one book, The Bible. A Muslim will accept the teachings of the great prophets Jesus, Moses and Abraham, but practice their faith through the words of The Qur’an. This, they believe is the most complete and reliable source of God’s revelations as presented through the prophet Muhammed, and as he was the last of the great prophets, this must be the most up to date account of God’s wisdom.
So Christians and Muslims have common ground in the belief of one God and a desire to live good, clean and honest lives. So where are the differences?
Muslims are taught to be proud and to conduct themselves with dignity and honour. They believe that Christianity teaches meekness, which is true although it could be argued that modesty doesn’t have to obscure self esteem. Assertiveness is viewed as inline with Muslim thinking.
Muslims place tremendous store on education. They place great reverence on schools and books and encourage efforts to acquire great knowledge. It certainly could be said that those that sit on the fringes of Christianity are not so disciplined in their attempts to gain a better education.
The Islamic faith encourages commerce and the accumulation of wealth whilst it believes that a good Christian will shun riches and depend on God for sustenance. Muslims have an immense work ethic and although they aren’t against benefits handed out by governments and charitable organisations they have the belief that they should work where at all possible. In defence of Christians, the bible implies that it is the desire for wealth that is the root of all evil. The earning of money to enjoy God’s abundance and perhaps to help others is no sin at all.
Christians are certainly encouraged to turn the other cheek. A follower of Islam on the other hand will defend his family, his faith and himself. Although not advocating violence they would not be subjected to humiliation by submitting to evil. The difficulty may come in respect to the interpretation of who or what is evil.
This is the first of two articles on a Christians view of Islam through www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com. So far we can see that there is a lot of common ground between these two major religions and perhaps the differences aren’t really that great a divide. Accepting the common denominators of the two should surely mean that we can live in harmony with each other.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
How to be a Great Leader
Self confidence is required in so many fields of life but another quality that is a must in business is leadership. If you run your own business or head a department, even manage a large organisation, the people beneath you in the chain of command will look to you for leadership, inspiration and self confidence.
So what must we have to be a great, inspiring leader?
1. An extraordinary vision is definitely required. A leader has big dreams and motivates his team with those dreams. His communication skills convey emotion, continuously accentuating the positives to drive forward the business or project. Leaders are forward thinkers, seeing what doesn’t exist at present and then visualising it as existing with the sole aim of making it a reality. Their dreams will always be larger than those of the rest of the team; they have to be to create that magical inspiration and self confidence of the team.
2. A leader will have an attitude far more positive than those that he leads. They continuously have powerful thoughts and his manner is always upbeat with self confidence. It is so necessary to always show positivism and self confidence. Both positive and negative thoughts can be contagious yet negativity can spread so much more easily than positive ness. It is therefore so essential to remain positive, never allowing yourself to make criticism about the company, management or product. An organisation can so easily be weakened or destroyed by one critical remark (remember the Gerald Ratner effect).
3. How approachable are you for your team if you are always right, never ready to admit mistakes. Nobody is ever likely to make suggestions if they think that they are not going to make a difference. And when things go wrong, where should the buck stop? With the leader of course; the leader is responsible for the success of the organisation or project. A great leader will see the harm that can be caused by shifting blame onto others and will instead place him/herself in the firing line for criticism. Learning from your mistakes builds self confidence plus admitting them earns the respect of those around you
4. A leader has to be a decision maker. Lacking decisiveness and self confidence can be so frustrating for a team. They need to depend on those that can make a decision so they in turn can have a direction to follow. A manager is always concerned about doing things correctly whilst a leader is more concerned about doing the correct thing. It is impossible to always make the right choices but the important thing is that you are making them and making them for the right reasons. As long as lessons are learned, experience combined with self confidence will determine that more and more correct decisions are made in the future.
5. Those that lead will always put those that they lead first. By putting others before your own interest, will gain the trust and confidence of the team. By looking out for their best interests, your crew will work harder knowing that you want them to succeed. This in turn will build your self confidence as a great leader.
6. The best way to be a leader is to show how it can be done. To prove that you have the skills necessary will really gain the respect of your team. Yes, if the team is particularly large you will most likely not have the skills required in every department, but you should certainly have enough wherewithal to demonstrate to the people immediately beneath you. There has been recently a programme on British television where the owners or Managing Directors of organisations go back to the shop floor to tackle and see for themselves the tasks undertaken by the productive staff. This exercise usually demonstrates their lack of abilities in this field, but being involved and showing a willingness to understand the needs of their workers nearly always gains them respect. It also helps build their self confidence in order to run the business more effectively.
7. By doing the right thing and having pride in your team, confidence in you as a leader will be built in your team at every level. Upon you, all the hopes and desires of your team will be on your shoulders. As a leader you must show a hundred percent commitment to honesty and truthfulness. By being honest and true you know that everything you do and every decision you make is entirely for the right reasons and does wonders for your self confidence in the process. A leader must seriously consider making this his/hers number one priority.
8. There is no place for inferior workmanship or performance from a leader. Your attitude to appearance and courtesy plus a total dedication to excellence will mark you down for success or failure. Your team will only look up to you if this attitude is at a level above theirs. If you can only mark yourself as an 8 in this area, only the people whose attitude is 7 or below will look up to you as a leader. By striving for a perfect 10 not only gives you the respect of all your team members it creates the desire to do everything to the best of your ability and enhances your self confidence in the process.
9. Self confidence is a part of personal growth. But so is the need to understand your business and constantly keep on top of new developments within your industry. The University of Life teaches us something new every day and if we are not prepared to learn the lessons, how can you expect your team to. The business, like your knowledge, will fail to grow. It is so necessary to grow personally as nobody likes to be around a leader who is just prepared to stand still. That would be a sure fire way of loosing some valuable members of your crew. Be positive and be prepared to learn and you along with your self confidence will grow enormously.
Whilst it is said that many great leaders are born, many more can develop the self confidence and skills for leadership. If you have the strong desire to succeed and you need a highly motivated body of men and women behind you, you can and must create those leadership qualities. Self confidence is an extremely important attribute required for success, but also is leadership, the power and ability to lead and inspire others to greatness.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.com/index.htm#terryn1
So what must we have to be a great, inspiring leader?
1. An extraordinary vision is definitely required. A leader has big dreams and motivates his team with those dreams. His communication skills convey emotion, continuously accentuating the positives to drive forward the business or project. Leaders are forward thinkers, seeing what doesn’t exist at present and then visualising it as existing with the sole aim of making it a reality. Their dreams will always be larger than those of the rest of the team; they have to be to create that magical inspiration and self confidence of the team.
2. A leader will have an attitude far more positive than those that he leads. They continuously have powerful thoughts and his manner is always upbeat with self confidence. It is so necessary to always show positivism and self confidence. Both positive and negative thoughts can be contagious yet negativity can spread so much more easily than positive ness. It is therefore so essential to remain positive, never allowing yourself to make criticism about the company, management or product. An organisation can so easily be weakened or destroyed by one critical remark (remember the Gerald Ratner effect).
3. How approachable are you for your team if you are always right, never ready to admit mistakes. Nobody is ever likely to make suggestions if they think that they are not going to make a difference. And when things go wrong, where should the buck stop? With the leader of course; the leader is responsible for the success of the organisation or project. A great leader will see the harm that can be caused by shifting blame onto others and will instead place him/herself in the firing line for criticism. Learning from your mistakes builds self confidence plus admitting them earns the respect of those around you
4. A leader has to be a decision maker. Lacking decisiveness and self confidence can be so frustrating for a team. They need to depend on those that can make a decision so they in turn can have a direction to follow. A manager is always concerned about doing things correctly whilst a leader is more concerned about doing the correct thing. It is impossible to always make the right choices but the important thing is that you are making them and making them for the right reasons. As long as lessons are learned, experience combined with self confidence will determine that more and more correct decisions are made in the future.
5. Those that lead will always put those that they lead first. By putting others before your own interest, will gain the trust and confidence of the team. By looking out for their best interests, your crew will work harder knowing that you want them to succeed. This in turn will build your self confidence as a great leader.
6. The best way to be a leader is to show how it can be done. To prove that you have the skills necessary will really gain the respect of your team. Yes, if the team is particularly large you will most likely not have the skills required in every department, but you should certainly have enough wherewithal to demonstrate to the people immediately beneath you. There has been recently a programme on British television where the owners or Managing Directors of organisations go back to the shop floor to tackle and see for themselves the tasks undertaken by the productive staff. This exercise usually demonstrates their lack of abilities in this field, but being involved and showing a willingness to understand the needs of their workers nearly always gains them respect. It also helps build their self confidence in order to run the business more effectively.
7. By doing the right thing and having pride in your team, confidence in you as a leader will be built in your team at every level. Upon you, all the hopes and desires of your team will be on your shoulders. As a leader you must show a hundred percent commitment to honesty and truthfulness. By being honest and true you know that everything you do and every decision you make is entirely for the right reasons and does wonders for your self confidence in the process. A leader must seriously consider making this his/hers number one priority.
8. There is no place for inferior workmanship or performance from a leader. Your attitude to appearance and courtesy plus a total dedication to excellence will mark you down for success or failure. Your team will only look up to you if this attitude is at a level above theirs. If you can only mark yourself as an 8 in this area, only the people whose attitude is 7 or below will look up to you as a leader. By striving for a perfect 10 not only gives you the respect of all your team members it creates the desire to do everything to the best of your ability and enhances your self confidence in the process.
9. Self confidence is a part of personal growth. But so is the need to understand your business and constantly keep on top of new developments within your industry. The University of Life teaches us something new every day and if we are not prepared to learn the lessons, how can you expect your team to. The business, like your knowledge, will fail to grow. It is so necessary to grow personally as nobody likes to be around a leader who is just prepared to stand still. That would be a sure fire way of loosing some valuable members of your crew. Be positive and be prepared to learn and you along with your self confidence will grow enormously.
Whilst it is said that many great leaders are born, many more can develop the self confidence and skills for leadership. If you have the strong desire to succeed and you need a highly motivated body of men and women behind you, you can and must create those leadership qualities. Self confidence is an extremely important attribute required for success, but also is leadership, the power and ability to lead and inspire others to greatness.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.com/index.htm#terryn1
Monday, 13 April 2009
Stand Tall with Self Confidence
Communication applies to us all. To provide inspiration and motivation to others we must be able to communicate and communicate with self confidence. Most of us will consider the most important part of our communication to be speech. The ability to express our words certainly will be an inspiration and motivation to others particularly if delivered in an enthusiastic and engaging way.
Yet the truth is that only 45% of effective communication is verbal. Although others hear your words, they also receive signals generated by our body language. It is body language that provides the other 55% of effective communication. Thus when we are trying to convey a message to somebody else, we must be conscious that our body is telling the same story as our voice.
Most people, except perhaps the really insecure, find self confidence to be an attractive quality and the body will demonstrate a great deal about whether someone possess that fantastic quality called self confidence.
So what are the posturing signals that give off self confidence vibrations?
Standing with hands behind our backs demonstrates a naturally self confident person or at least somebody who is on top of a situation.
Clasping hands in front of our stomachs is a stance that you will normally see being taken by world leaders during press conferences and speeches.
Finger tips of both hands touching each other
Standing upright with both feet firmly placed upon the ground.
Walking with long strides shows somebody with purpose, someone who is ready to take on new challenges.
Being someone who refuses to panic when mistakes happen.
Sitting with one leg crossed over the other and hands clasped behind our heads tends to show an air of superiority and over confidence. We do use this posture sometimes when we have completed a difficult task of finished a hard exam but care has to be taken as others may consider this to be impolite.
That great quality of self confidence can be seen by all and attracts many people to those that possess it. Inspiration and motivation radiate from these people providing optimism that everybody can attain this quality too.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Yet the truth is that only 45% of effective communication is verbal. Although others hear your words, they also receive signals generated by our body language. It is body language that provides the other 55% of effective communication. Thus when we are trying to convey a message to somebody else, we must be conscious that our body is telling the same story as our voice.
Most people, except perhaps the really insecure, find self confidence to be an attractive quality and the body will demonstrate a great deal about whether someone possess that fantastic quality called self confidence.
So what are the posturing signals that give off self confidence vibrations?
Standing with hands behind our backs demonstrates a naturally self confident person or at least somebody who is on top of a situation.
Clasping hands in front of our stomachs is a stance that you will normally see being taken by world leaders during press conferences and speeches.
Finger tips of both hands touching each other
Standing upright with both feet firmly placed upon the ground.
Walking with long strides shows somebody with purpose, someone who is ready to take on new challenges.
Being someone who refuses to panic when mistakes happen.
Sitting with one leg crossed over the other and hands clasped behind our heads tends to show an air of superiority and over confidence. We do use this posture sometimes when we have completed a difficult task of finished a hard exam but care has to be taken as others may consider this to be impolite.
That great quality of self confidence can be seen by all and attracts many people to those that possess it. Inspiration and motivation radiate from these people providing optimism that everybody can attain this quality too.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Friday, 10 April 2009
Meaning of Success
There seems to be some people who are blessed. They are vibrant and happy; the glowing companion linked to their arm and abundance seems to flow into their lives. So why does life always appear good for them yet for others misery seems to follow with every step they take?
I was with two colleagues today; Sid and Steve. Sid is happy go lucky, a colourful character who has experienced a lot of life’s ups and downs. He is a great example of the phrase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. He lives off of his wits and always seems to find that extra buck or two. Despite being obviously very street wise, he does attend church and appreciates a spiritual side within himself.
Steve is a worker. He does work hard yet always seems to be just keeping his head above the financial waters. Although he doesn’t constantly moan about his problems there are many hints and signs that he is tremendously concerned about his money situation.
We had two conversations of note during the course of the day; the first was when Steve stated that “I can’t see the point in religion. It only causes all the troubles in the world. It seems that people who don’t believe, like atheists, are the ones that are peaceful”.
The first thing that I pointed out was that the troubles are caused in the name of religion. It isn’t the religions themselves that cause the issues. Fundamentalists; people with such a deep beliefs in their teachings that they cannot accept other faiths, races and points of views seem to be at the heart of the troubles. The mainstream religions of this world have one common theme. They all believe in one creator. We may have differing guidelines on how to worship our creator and how to practice our religions but that one common link should be what binds us together and allow us to live in harmony with each other.
Secondly, I focussed on the Islamic faith. I don’t profess to know much about the religion but I hear many times that this is a very peaceful religion that denounces any form of violence. Any atrocity caused in the name of Islam is really so far removed from their teachings. Unfortunately within any race or creed; even amongst the atheists, there are good people and there are bad. It is a sign of the times that the world’s media only focuses on the bad.
It is an indication of Steve’s thought patterns that he had chosen to start a conversation on a real negative. This was even more noticeable with the statement he made later on in the day.
“I’ll be glad when this year is over”.
Considering that, at the time of writing we are only into the third week of January, this took Sid and me a little by surprise.
“Why’s that then?” I asked
He went on to point out that we were doing a horrible job (his words were a bit more flavoursome than that), and that the recession was really getting him down.
Admittedly the job wasn’t likely to be classified as our favourite, but I felt the need to express the notion that sometimes we need to experience the rough to truly enjoy the smooth.
With regards to the credit crunch I asked him
“What can you do about it?”
“Well nothing” he replied.
“Exactly” I countered. “So why keep thinking about it. Concentrate on what you can do to work around it”.
I then highlighted that the world is a beautiful place. Continuously seeing it as a dark, horribly place; one full of misery will lead to his world being one of misery. Conversely, choosing to see it for what it really is, a wonderful place full of abundance will mean a life that god wants us to experience, full of the abundances that he has put here for us to enjoy.
Undoubtedly there will be harder times than others. If we decide to see the world in its full glory, those harder times will be so much easier to handle, obstacles so much easier to overcome.
Sid pointed out that if we visualise life like a steeplechase race, we have hurdles to straddle. If we view the world with tremendous optimism and confidence we will jump the hurdles. If we see our planet as a world full of darkness we are going to clip those hurdles and fall over. Worst still, we will probably run straight into them.
Sid obviously had a better grasp on how to view his world and consequently experiences a lot more of the good that is out there.
We can all decide to see the world in a positive light; full of hope and optimism. It is our choice and we don’t have to let other people’s negativity cloud our vision. It doesn’t come easy, but catching ourselves thinking negative thoughts is a start. Substituting those thoughts with ones of vibrancy, abundance, happiness and tranquillity and then truly believing that we deserve these riches, will, eventually, develop us into those that have and not those that have not.
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#terryn1
I was with two colleagues today; Sid and Steve. Sid is happy go lucky, a colourful character who has experienced a lot of life’s ups and downs. He is a great example of the phrase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. He lives off of his wits and always seems to find that extra buck or two. Despite being obviously very street wise, he does attend church and appreciates a spiritual side within himself.
Steve is a worker. He does work hard yet always seems to be just keeping his head above the financial waters. Although he doesn’t constantly moan about his problems there are many hints and signs that he is tremendously concerned about his money situation.
We had two conversations of note during the course of the day; the first was when Steve stated that “I can’t see the point in religion. It only causes all the troubles in the world. It seems that people who don’t believe, like atheists, are the ones that are peaceful”.
The first thing that I pointed out was that the troubles are caused in the name of religion. It isn’t the religions themselves that cause the issues. Fundamentalists; people with such a deep beliefs in their teachings that they cannot accept other faiths, races and points of views seem to be at the heart of the troubles. The mainstream religions of this world have one common theme. They all believe in one creator. We may have differing guidelines on how to worship our creator and how to practice our religions but that one common link should be what binds us together and allow us to live in harmony with each other.
Secondly, I focussed on the Islamic faith. I don’t profess to know much about the religion but I hear many times that this is a very peaceful religion that denounces any form of violence. Any atrocity caused in the name of Islam is really so far removed from their teachings. Unfortunately within any race or creed; even amongst the atheists, there are good people and there are bad. It is a sign of the times that the world’s media only focuses on the bad.
It is an indication of Steve’s thought patterns that he had chosen to start a conversation on a real negative. This was even more noticeable with the statement he made later on in the day.
“I’ll be glad when this year is over”.
Considering that, at the time of writing we are only into the third week of January, this took Sid and me a little by surprise.
“Why’s that then?” I asked
He went on to point out that we were doing a horrible job (his words were a bit more flavoursome than that), and that the recession was really getting him down.
Admittedly the job wasn’t likely to be classified as our favourite, but I felt the need to express the notion that sometimes we need to experience the rough to truly enjoy the smooth.
With regards to the credit crunch I asked him
“What can you do about it?”
“Well nothing” he replied.
“Exactly” I countered. “So why keep thinking about it. Concentrate on what you can do to work around it”.
I then highlighted that the world is a beautiful place. Continuously seeing it as a dark, horribly place; one full of misery will lead to his world being one of misery. Conversely, choosing to see it for what it really is, a wonderful place full of abundance will mean a life that god wants us to experience, full of the abundances that he has put here for us to enjoy.
Undoubtedly there will be harder times than others. If we decide to see the world in its full glory, those harder times will be so much easier to handle, obstacles so much easier to overcome.
Sid pointed out that if we visualise life like a steeplechase race, we have hurdles to straddle. If we view the world with tremendous optimism and confidence we will jump the hurdles. If we see our planet as a world full of darkness we are going to clip those hurdles and fall over. Worst still, we will probably run straight into them.
Sid obviously had a better grasp on how to view his world and consequently experiences a lot more of the good that is out there.
We can all decide to see the world in a positive light; full of hope and optimism. It is our choice and we don’t have to let other people’s negativity cloud our vision. It doesn’t come easy, but catching ourselves thinking negative thoughts is a start. Substituting those thoughts with ones of vibrancy, abundance, happiness and tranquillity and then truly believing that we deserve these riches, will, eventually, develop us into those that have and not those that have not.
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#terryn1
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Assertiveness and Self Confidence. The Perfect Win-Win Situation
Assertiveness is a fantastic quality to have and really enhances self confidence which in turn provides motivation to achieve the goals in life we most desire. Assertiveness is very much a word that is heard from people coaching personal development and is a subject that is preached in many a sales training course.
So what is this great attribute called assertiveness?
Can it be learned?
Answering the second question first; yes definitely it can be learned, if that person so desires to learn this skill.
The answer to the first question is slightly longer. Assertiveness is the ability to express upon others your emotions, principles and desires without treading on the other persons toes; infringing their rights and desires. This must be done without being aggressive. The opposite end of the scale is to be passive, where we would constantly say “yes” to others just to please and as a consequence we violate our own rights. Some people have explained assertiveness as the art of saying “no”. http://www.2knowmyself.com/
Assertiveness is about being in control, not showing anger when explaining what we want. It is the middle ground between aggression and passiveness. The relationship between aggression, passiveness and assertiveness was once explained as
Aggression – I win , you lose
Passiveness – I lose, you win
Assertiveness – I win, you win
A lack of assertiveness is a behavioural trait that has been learned to help deal with others, to earn their love or at the very least not to be spurned by them. For this we let go of our rights and create a fear of standing up for ourselves. A feeling of worthlessness comes from saying “yes” when we really want to say “no”. Self confidence can seriously be damaged in the process. But this can change if we make that decision to be assertive.
Unless we are dealing with an over sensitive person, in which case we do need to tread with care, people will admire assertiveness and self confidence. So how do we develop that great quality of assertiveness?
Let’s start with the techniques,
Whenever a favour is asked of us, ask the question, does this request contravene my interests, principles or obligations? If the answer is “yes”, say “no”.
Whenever our rights are trodden on we must stand up for ourselves. It matters not how small the infringement may be, letting an incident go will encourage the subconscious mind to behave the same way next time, and this may well be a greater betrayal of our rights. Constantly practice assertiveness will eventually make it second nature.
Use assertive body language. Body language can either support or contradict assertive behaviour. Standing erect with shoulders back, both feet firmly on the ground with no arms folded and using positive eye contact demonstrates assertiveness and self confidence.
Avoid aggressive behaviour. This will lead others to be resistive and hateful.
It also helps to remember some of these rules.
We all have the right to our own values, beliefs, emotions and opinions.
We have the right to justify and explain our actions to others.
We have the right to tell others how we wish to be treated.
We have the right to say “I don’t know”, “I don’t understand” and in particular, “no”.
We have the right to take the time required to develop our ideas before expressing them.
We have the right to make mistakes (although I hope we learn from them).
We have the right to stand up for ourselves and for what we want.
Particularly, we have the right to be treated with respect. http://www.2kowmyself.com/
Assertiveness is really about communication, in a fashion that is neither aggressive nor passive using both body language and carefully chosen words. Creating a win – win situation develops our own self confidence and motivation and instils inspiration and optimism in others. This is a sign of great leadership.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
So what is this great attribute called assertiveness?
Can it be learned?
Answering the second question first; yes definitely it can be learned, if that person so desires to learn this skill.
The answer to the first question is slightly longer. Assertiveness is the ability to express upon others your emotions, principles and desires without treading on the other persons toes; infringing their rights and desires. This must be done without being aggressive. The opposite end of the scale is to be passive, where we would constantly say “yes” to others just to please and as a consequence we violate our own rights. Some people have explained assertiveness as the art of saying “no”. http://www.2knowmyself.com/
Assertiveness is about being in control, not showing anger when explaining what we want. It is the middle ground between aggression and passiveness. The relationship between aggression, passiveness and assertiveness was once explained as
Aggression – I win , you lose
Passiveness – I lose, you win
Assertiveness – I win, you win
A lack of assertiveness is a behavioural trait that has been learned to help deal with others, to earn their love or at the very least not to be spurned by them. For this we let go of our rights and create a fear of standing up for ourselves. A feeling of worthlessness comes from saying “yes” when we really want to say “no”. Self confidence can seriously be damaged in the process. But this can change if we make that decision to be assertive.
Unless we are dealing with an over sensitive person, in which case we do need to tread with care, people will admire assertiveness and self confidence. So how do we develop that great quality of assertiveness?
Let’s start with the techniques,
Whenever a favour is asked of us, ask the question, does this request contravene my interests, principles or obligations? If the answer is “yes”, say “no”.
Whenever our rights are trodden on we must stand up for ourselves. It matters not how small the infringement may be, letting an incident go will encourage the subconscious mind to behave the same way next time, and this may well be a greater betrayal of our rights. Constantly practice assertiveness will eventually make it second nature.
Use assertive body language. Body language can either support or contradict assertive behaviour. Standing erect with shoulders back, both feet firmly on the ground with no arms folded and using positive eye contact demonstrates assertiveness and self confidence.
Avoid aggressive behaviour. This will lead others to be resistive and hateful.
It also helps to remember some of these rules.
We all have the right to our own values, beliefs, emotions and opinions.
We have the right to justify and explain our actions to others.
We have the right to tell others how we wish to be treated.
We have the right to say “I don’t know”, “I don’t understand” and in particular, “no”.
We have the right to take the time required to develop our ideas before expressing them.
We have the right to make mistakes (although I hope we learn from them).
We have the right to stand up for ourselves and for what we want.
Particularly, we have the right to be treated with respect. http://www.2kowmyself.com/
Assertiveness is really about communication, in a fashion that is neither aggressive nor passive using both body language and carefully chosen words. Creating a win – win situation develops our own self confidence and motivation and instils inspiration and optimism in others. This is a sign of great leadership.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
You Need Inspiration and Motivation? Get a Mentor
Motivation, inspiration and self confidence are fantastic attributes to have but they can elude even the most successful people from time to time. So who does the budding entrepreneur turn to when they need some inspiration?
Do they need anybody to turn to at all?
Mentors. Who are these mysterious people that have the answer to all our problems?
Well in fact they don’t. This is why we need more than one. It is why they are also not that mysterious. They are likely to have expertise in one field. As an entrepreneur just starting on the road to success we are going to need advice in many areas of our business. This advice could be financial, legal, technical or educational so we need the experience of several people.
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Some of this advice is going to cost money. A good account or solicitor doesn’t come cheap unless we have them amongst our circle of friends. However, many will offer start up advice for free believing that you will use there services once you are up and running. If you can get this type of advice then it is ethical practice to use their services once you need your accounts looked after or a contract drawn up.
Friends or members of our family quite often provide valuable sources of advice and invariably this will also be free. It is great if friends or family become mentors because they are so much more approachable. However, be careful that you don’t offend if you don’t take their advice onboard. Sometimes you end up with conflicting advice from more than one individual and you then have to decide which course of action you are going to take.
It may come as a surprise to many that we can have the rich and successful as mentors too.
How?
So many have published books, set up courses or perform seminars. We can easily, normally for a small fee, discover how they create their success. This is a fantastic way of educating ourselves and tapping into the mindset of the experts. So many books sit on my bookshelves which I take down from time to time to refresh my memory over a tactic or purely just to provide inspiration.
To have mentors such as Richard Branson or Paul McKenna to guide and inspire is a tremendous facility that we all can have. Obviously the choice of successful people will depend on the individual but none the less these people are there for us to follow and emulate.
Another form of mentor is a coach. Very much thought of in the past as the domain of the sporting world, we can get a coach for almost any area of our lives now. Personal trainers, life style coaches, business coaches are all forms of mentors if we need them. At the beginning of an enterprise these types of coaches may not be required, but as a business expands we may need to consider whether we need to hire life style and business coaches to help personnel to grow and fulfil their potential. http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
As we can see, mentors are a necessity if an enterprise is going to succeed. It is virtually impossible to be successful on our own. Along with advice, they provide motivation, optimism, inspiration and self confidence.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com/
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Do they need anybody to turn to at all?
Mentors. Who are these mysterious people that have the answer to all our problems?
Well in fact they don’t. This is why we need more than one. It is why they are also not that mysterious. They are likely to have expertise in one field. As an entrepreneur just starting on the road to success we are going to need advice in many areas of our business. This advice could be financial, legal, technical or educational so we need the experience of several people.
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Some of this advice is going to cost money. A good account or solicitor doesn’t come cheap unless we have them amongst our circle of friends. However, many will offer start up advice for free believing that you will use there services once you are up and running. If you can get this type of advice then it is ethical practice to use their services once you need your accounts looked after or a contract drawn up.
Friends or members of our family quite often provide valuable sources of advice and invariably this will also be free. It is great if friends or family become mentors because they are so much more approachable. However, be careful that you don’t offend if you don’t take their advice onboard. Sometimes you end up with conflicting advice from more than one individual and you then have to decide which course of action you are going to take.
It may come as a surprise to many that we can have the rich and successful as mentors too.
How?
So many have published books, set up courses or perform seminars. We can easily, normally for a small fee, discover how they create their success. This is a fantastic way of educating ourselves and tapping into the mindset of the experts. So many books sit on my bookshelves which I take down from time to time to refresh my memory over a tactic or purely just to provide inspiration.
To have mentors such as Richard Branson or Paul McKenna to guide and inspire is a tremendous facility that we all can have. Obviously the choice of successful people will depend on the individual but none the less these people are there for us to follow and emulate.
Another form of mentor is a coach. Very much thought of in the past as the domain of the sporting world, we can get a coach for almost any area of our lives now. Personal trainers, life style coaches, business coaches are all forms of mentors if we need them. At the beginning of an enterprise these types of coaches may not be required, but as a business expands we may need to consider whether we need to hire life style and business coaches to help personnel to grow and fulfil their potential. http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
As we can see, mentors are a necessity if an enterprise is going to succeed. It is virtually impossible to be successful on our own. Along with advice, they provide motivation, optimism, inspiration and self confidence.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com/
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Monday, 30 March 2009
Optimism and Motivation. The Skills of a Great Leader
To be a leader requires many attributes and abilities; qualities such as self confidence, self belief, motivation, optimism and enthusiasm. Having charisma – that charm and personality, also helps particularly in line with the ability to be engaging. To help your team to focus on the goals and fully understand their roles is a must if any task is to be truly successful.
As a commissioning engineer I have had to train many personnel on equipment before handing over for them to maintain. It is extremely rewarding when your audience have fully participated in the training programme and you can see that they have really appreciated the knowledge that has been passed to them.
Back in 2003 I had two visits to Nigeria to commission some water treatment equipment at a tobacco factory in the city of Ibadan. On the second visit, one of my remits was to perform the training not only on the plant that I had been commissioning but also on another companys system to. As I wasn’t overly familiar with this equipment, I felt very apprehensive about conducting the training.
The organisation that I had been sub-contracted to were Yugoslavian and the engineers that I had been reporting to had said
“Don’t worry, these Nigerians won’t ask any questions, the training will soon be over”
These Yugoslavian engineers were conducting some training of their own after my session was over. Tuesday afternoon at 1.00p.m. my time came to perform my training. Gathered around the plant were ten Nigerian guys that at first glance looked totally uninterested.
“Lets go for it” I thought and proceeded to introduce myself.
Now my style was to be light-hearted, not taking myself too seriously. I would obviously go systematically over the equipment but I would throw questions back at them to make sure that they were taking in the information that I was imparting. By the time I had finished talking about the system that I was less familiar with I really felt that I had gotten these Nigerian maintenance staff on my side. I had them then ask me questions and these questions were very intelligent ones. They were interested and I was pleased that my style seemed to be working.
I was becoming more at ease now and when I went on to explain about my “baby”; the piece of equipment that I had commissioned I was in my element. The enthusiasm flowed out and by the end of my training session all these Nigerian maintenance engineers were gathering around me to ask questions about me. I honestly felt that they had taken me to their hearts. It was 4.00p.m.; some three hours later. This had hardly been a short training course and my Yugoslavian friends had still to conduct their training.
In comparison their method was far more serious. They didn’t ask questions of the students and didn’t invite questions back. It was plain to see the Nigerian staff “switching off” and loosing interest. These people were bright, intelligent people who could very easily take in the lessons providing the training was interesting and engaging.
Despite my nervousness at the beginning, I had the self confidence and self belief to get me through the training and win these people over. With the qualities of enthusiasm and optimism I was able to find the ability to provide motivation and inspiration to these Nigerian people.
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
As a commissioning engineer I have had to train many personnel on equipment before handing over for them to maintain. It is extremely rewarding when your audience have fully participated in the training programme and you can see that they have really appreciated the knowledge that has been passed to them.
Back in 2003 I had two visits to Nigeria to commission some water treatment equipment at a tobacco factory in the city of Ibadan. On the second visit, one of my remits was to perform the training not only on the plant that I had been commissioning but also on another companys system to. As I wasn’t overly familiar with this equipment, I felt very apprehensive about conducting the training.
The organisation that I had been sub-contracted to were Yugoslavian and the engineers that I had been reporting to had said
“Don’t worry, these Nigerians won’t ask any questions, the training will soon be over”
These Yugoslavian engineers were conducting some training of their own after my session was over. Tuesday afternoon at 1.00p.m. my time came to perform my training. Gathered around the plant were ten Nigerian guys that at first glance looked totally uninterested.
“Lets go for it” I thought and proceeded to introduce myself.
Now my style was to be light-hearted, not taking myself too seriously. I would obviously go systematically over the equipment but I would throw questions back at them to make sure that they were taking in the information that I was imparting. By the time I had finished talking about the system that I was less familiar with I really felt that I had gotten these Nigerian maintenance staff on my side. I had them then ask me questions and these questions were very intelligent ones. They were interested and I was pleased that my style seemed to be working.
I was becoming more at ease now and when I went on to explain about my “baby”; the piece of equipment that I had commissioned I was in my element. The enthusiasm flowed out and by the end of my training session all these Nigerian maintenance engineers were gathering around me to ask questions about me. I honestly felt that they had taken me to their hearts. It was 4.00p.m.; some three hours later. This had hardly been a short training course and my Yugoslavian friends had still to conduct their training.
In comparison their method was far more serious. They didn’t ask questions of the students and didn’t invite questions back. It was plain to see the Nigerian staff “switching off” and loosing interest. These people were bright, intelligent people who could very easily take in the lessons providing the training was interesting and engaging.
Despite my nervousness at the beginning, I had the self confidence and self belief to get me through the training and win these people over. With the qualities of enthusiasm and optimism I was able to find the ability to provide motivation and inspiration to these Nigerian people.
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Never Fear Success is Here
To become a success, there are certain personality traits such as motivation, self confidence, inspiration and leadership skills that are almost certainly a must to reach our dreams. But are these all that are required or are there other attributes needed?
Are these traits the privilege of a fortunate few or can these fantastic skills be learned?
Let’s first consider what the definition of success is. Although the definition of success can be as broad as there are numbers of people, it can be narrowed to the fulfilment of dreams, the achieving of goals and the pursuit of happiness.
Success is very seldom created overnight. It can require patience, time, effort and very often, hard work. Despite all our efforts, midway through a project, when all seems lost and our hopes are dashed, disappointment sets in and the desire to quit becomes strong. Successful people resist the temptation to give up and find something easier to tackle because they have the personality traits to help them through such difficult times. http://www.2knowmyself.com/
These attributes are behavioural traits and they are definitely traits that aren’t confined to a fortunate few but ones that can be learned and developed. It requires a certain strength to reach the desired goals for success. During the journey it is likely that we will encounter rejection, disappointment, pain, regret, sacrifice and perhaps occasionally, depression.
So how do we find the motivation, optimism, inspiration and self confidence to carry on?
Smile in the face of adversity. Failure is a normal fact of life and if we learn to accept failure in a positive light as being part of our education, then we can move on knowing that we have learned a valuable lesson and are less likely to make that mistake again.
Get used to rejection. Some of the most successful ideas have been rejected by people in their early stages of development. Even the Beatles, one of the most successful bands of the 1960s, were rejected by managers and record labels in the early part of their careers. When it is considered that sales people may only convert 1 in 10 of their leads that is still a 90% rejection rate. If we can truly believe in our product and our abilities we can smile at rejection and move on.
Disappointment hits the people with ambition far harder than most. When we are stricken with disappointment we need to rally the troops, take counter measures, change strategy and move on. If something isn’t working we must change the way we are doing it. http://www.2knowmyself.com/
Success requires that we must face and relish the challenges that lie ahead. Adversity should be considered a normal pattern to life and not an unwanted catastrophe. Consider these as a sign that we must reform or change tactics and not that “I tried hard, didn’t succeed so I gave up”.
It becomes obvious that not only are motivation, inspiration, self confidence and optimism required to become that successful entrepreneur but resilience plays a very big part on that journey to success as well.
Fortunately these are personality traits that can be learned and developed and there is hope and optimism for us all.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Are these traits the privilege of a fortunate few or can these fantastic skills be learned?
Let’s first consider what the definition of success is. Although the definition of success can be as broad as there are numbers of people, it can be narrowed to the fulfilment of dreams, the achieving of goals and the pursuit of happiness.
Success is very seldom created overnight. It can require patience, time, effort and very often, hard work. Despite all our efforts, midway through a project, when all seems lost and our hopes are dashed, disappointment sets in and the desire to quit becomes strong. Successful people resist the temptation to give up and find something easier to tackle because they have the personality traits to help them through such difficult times. http://www.2knowmyself.com/
These attributes are behavioural traits and they are definitely traits that aren’t confined to a fortunate few but ones that can be learned and developed. It requires a certain strength to reach the desired goals for success. During the journey it is likely that we will encounter rejection, disappointment, pain, regret, sacrifice and perhaps occasionally, depression.
So how do we find the motivation, optimism, inspiration and self confidence to carry on?
Smile in the face of adversity. Failure is a normal fact of life and if we learn to accept failure in a positive light as being part of our education, then we can move on knowing that we have learned a valuable lesson and are less likely to make that mistake again.
Get used to rejection. Some of the most successful ideas have been rejected by people in their early stages of development. Even the Beatles, one of the most successful bands of the 1960s, were rejected by managers and record labels in the early part of their careers. When it is considered that sales people may only convert 1 in 10 of their leads that is still a 90% rejection rate. If we can truly believe in our product and our abilities we can smile at rejection and move on.
Disappointment hits the people with ambition far harder than most. When we are stricken with disappointment we need to rally the troops, take counter measures, change strategy and move on. If something isn’t working we must change the way we are doing it. http://www.2knowmyself.com/
Success requires that we must face and relish the challenges that lie ahead. Adversity should be considered a normal pattern to life and not an unwanted catastrophe. Consider these as a sign that we must reform or change tactics and not that “I tried hard, didn’t succeed so I gave up”.
It becomes obvious that not only are motivation, inspiration, self confidence and optimism required to become that successful entrepreneur but resilience plays a very big part on that journey to success as well.
Fortunately these are personality traits that can be learned and developed and there is hope and optimism for us all.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Friday, 27 March 2009
Love is in the Air
Love and our relationships are very precious and sometimes extremely fragile. At the beginning of a relationship we are walking on air. All seems right with the world and we seem invincible. But sooner or later that honeymoon period ends as familiarity sets in and the relationship becomes comfortable. This leads to taking our partner for granted which in turn causes resentment. Along with those annoying little things that our partner does, the relationship starts to head on a downward slope.
Does this sound familiar?
Are you taking the other half for granted or are you the one being taken for granted?
How can the downward slope be turned into the fantastic climb up the mountain of dreams?
At the beginning we would have observed all the positive attributes about her/him. Those gorgeous eyes, that fit body or the amazing sense of humour. The likelihood is there are still many of those positive attributes still present in our partner. Granted the bum may start to “look big in this” or the belly might be hanging over the belt but personality wise there remains many beautiful traits that first attracted us to our partners and some hidden ones will have emerged as well.
The little things that niggles us, how bad are they really?
Unless our partner has turned into a real life monster, those negative aspects can be ignored with the focus on the many great attributes our partner possesses. Realising that the significant other has some fantastic qualities enables us to focus on the good. Remembering the good times and the fact that you can still have those good times because you still have a lot in common with shared interests, will help the love to grow back into the relationship.
Being positive about our partner doesn’t just amount to what we view. Speak positively in their company. We have to compliment each other and talk about our hopes, our dreams and our aspirations. Focussing on where we want to go and how to achieve this creates fantastic energy and a desire to reach those goals together. As in any other aspect of personal development, being positive ultimately ends with positive results. The Law of Attraction dictates that.
Remember to take an interest in our partners. Finding out about how their day has been and really listening increases their respect for you. Ask them questions and truly listen to the response. Everybody loves to feel that their ideas and opinions mean something to somebody even if their interests revolve around Gillingham Football Club and you haven’t got the faintest interest in football.
Asking questions of our partner and devoutly listening to the answers could actually teach us something about them that we didn’t know. Our interests do change as we move on in life and our opinions do also change. Listening to what our partners have to say and understanding those opinions helps the relationship to evolve. This doesn’t mean to say that you have to agree with everything they say. Having a mind of our own and being able to think for ourselves is a healthy situation.
Both our partners and ourselves have strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses will be different yet combining our strengths will provide for a stronger entity. Despite having the odd disagreements and slight difference of opinions we should never try to compete with each other. Trying to outdo the other and point score is a very damaging activity to follow. Playing mind games determines that somebody will be the winner and a partnership should be a win-win situation.
Practice gratitude. Being grateful for all we have is a very noble action but to express gratitude for all the good things in our relationships will again help the relationship to blossom. It enables us to focus on the positive and all good things come to those who believe that they can have them.
We mustn’t stifle our partners. As much as we are looking for the positives in our relationship, being with our partners night and day can prove suffocating. Every person needs the space to be themselves, this is healthy, but sharing some activities is also healthy for the relationship too.
A healthy, loving relationship creates self confidence and self esteem in us. It provides motivation and inspiration, optimism and hope and together we can face the world together.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#htm.terryn1
Does this sound familiar?
Are you taking the other half for granted or are you the one being taken for granted?
How can the downward slope be turned into the fantastic climb up the mountain of dreams?
At the beginning we would have observed all the positive attributes about her/him. Those gorgeous eyes, that fit body or the amazing sense of humour. The likelihood is there are still many of those positive attributes still present in our partner. Granted the bum may start to “look big in this” or the belly might be hanging over the belt but personality wise there remains many beautiful traits that first attracted us to our partners and some hidden ones will have emerged as well.
The little things that niggles us, how bad are they really?
Unless our partner has turned into a real life monster, those negative aspects can be ignored with the focus on the many great attributes our partner possesses. Realising that the significant other has some fantastic qualities enables us to focus on the good. Remembering the good times and the fact that you can still have those good times because you still have a lot in common with shared interests, will help the love to grow back into the relationship.
Being positive about our partner doesn’t just amount to what we view. Speak positively in their company. We have to compliment each other and talk about our hopes, our dreams and our aspirations. Focussing on where we want to go and how to achieve this creates fantastic energy and a desire to reach those goals together. As in any other aspect of personal development, being positive ultimately ends with positive results. The Law of Attraction dictates that.
Remember to take an interest in our partners. Finding out about how their day has been and really listening increases their respect for you. Ask them questions and truly listen to the response. Everybody loves to feel that their ideas and opinions mean something to somebody even if their interests revolve around Gillingham Football Club and you haven’t got the faintest interest in football.
Asking questions of our partner and devoutly listening to the answers could actually teach us something about them that we didn’t know. Our interests do change as we move on in life and our opinions do also change. Listening to what our partners have to say and understanding those opinions helps the relationship to evolve. This doesn’t mean to say that you have to agree with everything they say. Having a mind of our own and being able to think for ourselves is a healthy situation.
Both our partners and ourselves have strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses will be different yet combining our strengths will provide for a stronger entity. Despite having the odd disagreements and slight difference of opinions we should never try to compete with each other. Trying to outdo the other and point score is a very damaging activity to follow. Playing mind games determines that somebody will be the winner and a partnership should be a win-win situation.
Practice gratitude. Being grateful for all we have is a very noble action but to express gratitude for all the good things in our relationships will again help the relationship to blossom. It enables us to focus on the positive and all good things come to those who believe that they can have them.
We mustn’t stifle our partners. As much as we are looking for the positives in our relationship, being with our partners night and day can prove suffocating. Every person needs the space to be themselves, this is healthy, but sharing some activities is also healthy for the relationship too.
A healthy, loving relationship creates self confidence and self esteem in us. It provides motivation and inspiration, optimism and hope and together we can face the world together.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#htm.terryn1
Friday, 20 March 2009
Your Dreams Can Come True With a Penny of Self Confidence
People who are successful appear to have that air of self confidence. They have tremendous motivation, optimism and energy. Successful entrepreneurs seem to have lady luck on their side; or is this strictly true?
Are these people really lucky?
Is that self confidence and self esteem just a façade?
Can anybody achieve success?
It has been said that successful entrepreneurs create their own luck. Throughout their venture they have the heart and bravery to try anything to see if it will work. Many of these do not work but they are not disheartened. They disregard the ideas that do not work and concentrate on those that do work. Failure is not viewed as a bad thing but as a learning curve. Learning happens all of the time. We don’t have to go to university or college to be educated; although these institutions do provide an extremely beneficial part of the education curriculum. Life provides education and making mistakes are part of that education as viewed by entrepreneurs and successful business people. http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Once the ideas that do not work are out of the way, this leaves the ones that do work, creating a system for success. Is that luck or being smart?
Successful people have the self confidence in their ability to sort out the successful ideas from the non-workable ideas. They retain faith when things go awry. Some of them have natural self confidence or have been brought up by parents who remain positive or talk in a positive manner. However many others have to work on their self confidence using self confidence techniques to build up their self esteem. http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Thinking and talking positively is a necessary tool for creating success. The phrase “self fulfilling prophecy” is such a true term. Thinking negative thoughts will result in those negative thoughts becoming true. Positive thinking therefore brings forth successful results.
Self confidence will come from positive thinking and success will follow that. We have to be aware of the things that can go wrong so that we can guide ourselves around them. But the focus has to be on the positive ideas and to work on these in order to develop success.
No matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter how low we can get, we can turn things around. History is full of truly inspirational rags to riches stories.
These stories are not one offs, just for the lucky few. These successful people believe in themselves and this faith along with self confidence provides them with the drive to get on in life. http://whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
This same faith and self confidence will provide us all with the motivation, optimism and inspiration to succeed.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com/
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Are these people really lucky?
Is that self confidence and self esteem just a façade?
Can anybody achieve success?
It has been said that successful entrepreneurs create their own luck. Throughout their venture they have the heart and bravery to try anything to see if it will work. Many of these do not work but they are not disheartened. They disregard the ideas that do not work and concentrate on those that do work. Failure is not viewed as a bad thing but as a learning curve. Learning happens all of the time. We don’t have to go to university or college to be educated; although these institutions do provide an extremely beneficial part of the education curriculum. Life provides education and making mistakes are part of that education as viewed by entrepreneurs and successful business people. http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Once the ideas that do not work are out of the way, this leaves the ones that do work, creating a system for success. Is that luck or being smart?
Successful people have the self confidence in their ability to sort out the successful ideas from the non-workable ideas. They retain faith when things go awry. Some of them have natural self confidence or have been brought up by parents who remain positive or talk in a positive manner. However many others have to work on their self confidence using self confidence techniques to build up their self esteem. http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
Thinking and talking positively is a necessary tool for creating success. The phrase “self fulfilling prophecy” is such a true term. Thinking negative thoughts will result in those negative thoughts becoming true. Positive thinking therefore brings forth successful results.
Self confidence will come from positive thinking and success will follow that. We have to be aware of the things that can go wrong so that we can guide ourselves around them. But the focus has to be on the positive ideas and to work on these in order to develop success.
No matter what situation we find ourselves in, no matter how low we can get, we can turn things around. History is full of truly inspirational rags to riches stories.
These stories are not one offs, just for the lucky few. These successful people believe in themselves and this faith along with self confidence provides them with the drive to get on in life. http://whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
This same faith and self confidence will provide us all with the motivation, optimism and inspiration to succeed.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com/
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Make Love Not War
Every second or third Sunday I, my wife and two boys visit my mother and father for the afternoon and we have our Sunday lunch there as well; although it is almost evening by the time we sit down to eat. My father thinks he is Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen organising the cooking and the dishing up with order and authority. Woe be tide my mother or brother if they put a foot wrong when helping to get the food to the table.
Both my father and brother partake in the old tradition of the Sunday lunch drink down the local pub. Amongst their friends they debate politics, the economy and generally put the world to right whilst the alcohol slowly takes its effect.
Sometimes these weekly debates spill over to the dinner table as did happen recently. Religion was the subject of conversation and it was expressed that religion was the cause of the majority of the wars. Now I tend to jump right in with the defence of religion.
My argument is that wars are not caused by religion but by people; people who declare that they are fighting in the name of their religion. These people in my view do not grasp the basic principle of their religion, and that is one of peace.
Islam is a very peaceful religion that totally opposes violence as does Christianity.
Wars tend to be started because of somebody’s greed, lust for power or the fundamental idea that a culture or religion is the only way that nations should live their lives by and will not rest until the world falls into line. Fundamentalism, the fight for their religion or culture to reign over all others is the reason that wars are fought - in the name of religion.
Stating that religion causes war is like saying that Football Clubs cause football hooliganism. Yobs gather to fight in the name of Millwall or Birmingham City but it is not Millwall or Birmingham City Football Clubs that cause the riots; it’s the people doing so in the name of their Football Club. And in truth, are these hooligans really football supporters?
Many of them wouldn’t know the offside rule anyway.
Everybody is entitled to live and let live. Everybody is entitled to their own point of view. Forcing a way of life and beliefs onto other people is a huge reason why wars are started. Fundamentalism exists amongst all religions and yet these people refuse to see the harm they are doing to their religion, home and country.
How much motivation, inspiration and self belief is needed to create a world of peace? To be in a world where all religions, cultures and individuals can live side by side without disturbance would be an ideal dream.
How fantastic would that be?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Both my father and brother partake in the old tradition of the Sunday lunch drink down the local pub. Amongst their friends they debate politics, the economy and generally put the world to right whilst the alcohol slowly takes its effect.
Sometimes these weekly debates spill over to the dinner table as did happen recently. Religion was the subject of conversation and it was expressed that religion was the cause of the majority of the wars. Now I tend to jump right in with the defence of religion.
My argument is that wars are not caused by religion but by people; people who declare that they are fighting in the name of their religion. These people in my view do not grasp the basic principle of their religion, and that is one of peace.
Islam is a very peaceful religion that totally opposes violence as does Christianity.
Wars tend to be started because of somebody’s greed, lust for power or the fundamental idea that a culture or religion is the only way that nations should live their lives by and will not rest until the world falls into line. Fundamentalism, the fight for their religion or culture to reign over all others is the reason that wars are fought - in the name of religion.
Stating that religion causes war is like saying that Football Clubs cause football hooliganism. Yobs gather to fight in the name of Millwall or Birmingham City but it is not Millwall or Birmingham City Football Clubs that cause the riots; it’s the people doing so in the name of their Football Club. And in truth, are these hooligans really football supporters?
Many of them wouldn’t know the offside rule anyway.
Everybody is entitled to live and let live. Everybody is entitled to their own point of view. Forcing a way of life and beliefs onto other people is a huge reason why wars are started. Fundamentalism exists amongst all religions and yet these people refuse to see the harm they are doing to their religion, home and country.
How much motivation, inspiration and self belief is needed to create a world of peace? To be in a world where all religions, cultures and individuals can live side by side without disturbance would be an ideal dream.
How fantastic would that be?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
GOAL!! Yes You Need Them If You Want The Motivation To Be Successful.
Many people appear to be happy just taking each day as it comes without any great desire or motivation to improve their lives. They are contented with their lot and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that attitude. For others though, they want to progress in life, build success and make things happen.
For every entrepreneur that sets out to create a successful business they need to set goals. Without goals the venture becomes like a ship without a rudder; directionless. By setting goals and doing our utmost to keep them we are creating a path for the business to follow.
Goals should be long term, medium term and short term. In the long term you visualise how big you want the business to grow to, the amount of staff you would like to employ, the type of business premises you would like and its location. Medium term goals are a little more specific, painting a picture of where your business will be in six months time, a year or three years.
Short term goals are the ones that you aim to achieve daily and weekly. These set out all the detailed things that require to be done to help the business grow and fulfil the medium and long term dreams. Every time a short term goal is reached it strengthens our self confidence and self belief that we can achieve success. There is nothing like a little bit of success to provide the motivation to create even more success.
Goals don’t have to be just about creating a business. If we want to be successful in any walk of life, goals help us reach our dreams more effectively and quickly. Sportsmen and women in particular use goals to continuously improve and reach their pinnacle of performance.
Setting goals and achieving them is a success that should be celebrated. By celebrating success you have the motivation, inspiration and self confidence to push on further.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
For every entrepreneur that sets out to create a successful business they need to set goals. Without goals the venture becomes like a ship without a rudder; directionless. By setting goals and doing our utmost to keep them we are creating a path for the business to follow.
Goals should be long term, medium term and short term. In the long term you visualise how big you want the business to grow to, the amount of staff you would like to employ, the type of business premises you would like and its location. Medium term goals are a little more specific, painting a picture of where your business will be in six months time, a year or three years.
Short term goals are the ones that you aim to achieve daily and weekly. These set out all the detailed things that require to be done to help the business grow and fulfil the medium and long term dreams. Every time a short term goal is reached it strengthens our self confidence and self belief that we can achieve success. There is nothing like a little bit of success to provide the motivation to create even more success.
Goals don’t have to be just about creating a business. If we want to be successful in any walk of life, goals help us reach our dreams more effectively and quickly. Sportsmen and women in particular use goals to continuously improve and reach their pinnacle of performance.
Setting goals and achieving them is a success that should be celebrated. By celebrating success you have the motivation, inspiration and self confidence to push on further.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
How to Keep Yor Optimism and Motivation When Your World is Falling Apart
When times are hard do you loose that sense of motivation and optimism?
Does your self confidence and self esteem disappear when the unexpected happens?
When your expectations aren’t met do you feel despair?
Although these are the feelings of many in times of trouble, by re-aligning our point of view about setbacks we can start to appreciate that we are receiving feedback. From this feedback we can learn and change our strategies. http://www.2knowmyself.com/success/adapting_to_unwanted_unexpected_situations
Accept change.
We all like stability in our lives. But to expect the boat never to rock or our expectations to always be met is rather unrealistic. Changing circumstances are a normal fact of life and we have to accept the inevitable; that change happens.
Feeling depressed or sorry for ourselves is a negative emotion that will slow us down and cloud any vision that we might need to change our position. Accepting change as part of life builds self confidence to handle the ups and downs of life and provides the inspiration to cope with any new situation.
What happens to the mind.
Whenever we are faced with difficult situations our subconscious minds searches through the database for various options and solutions. Once found these options are applied whether they are negative as in depression or positive as in taking action. We have to remove the negative options and decide to be positive the next time things don’t go our way.
Once negative options are erased, our subconscious mind delves for new ideas. It is surprising how new and positive options are now free to surface.
Be prepared.
It does help to be prepared for changes. Expect the unexpected. Taking this attitude means less disappointment when difficult times occur. This is not about taking a pessimistic stance; more the fact that facing up to change means we are less likely to panic in times of adversity.
Company managers and directors face unexpected circumstances on a daily basis. Yet they find solutions, they do not panic and never despair. Feeling bad is never an option.
We are the bosses of our own lives. When change occurs we mustn’t feel blue but instead we need to alter our approach, be flexible, work harder or even simply start all over again. Just don’t feel bad.
A couple of analogies.
Water changes shape to fit its container. Likewise we need to change to fit the situation or our environment.
If we are sitting in a room when all of a sudden the lights go out, we very soon start to see through the darkness. Our eyes adjust accordingly. When faced with our own personal darkness, there is no need to panic or feel sad. Just adjust accordingly and look for the light switch. This will restore our self esteem, inspiration, optimism, motivation and self confidence.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Does your self confidence and self esteem disappear when the unexpected happens?
When your expectations aren’t met do you feel despair?
Although these are the feelings of many in times of trouble, by re-aligning our point of view about setbacks we can start to appreciate that we are receiving feedback. From this feedback we can learn and change our strategies. http://www.2knowmyself.com/success/adapting_to_unwanted_unexpected_situations
Accept change.
We all like stability in our lives. But to expect the boat never to rock or our expectations to always be met is rather unrealistic. Changing circumstances are a normal fact of life and we have to accept the inevitable; that change happens.
Feeling depressed or sorry for ourselves is a negative emotion that will slow us down and cloud any vision that we might need to change our position. Accepting change as part of life builds self confidence to handle the ups and downs of life and provides the inspiration to cope with any new situation.
What happens to the mind.
Whenever we are faced with difficult situations our subconscious minds searches through the database for various options and solutions. Once found these options are applied whether they are negative as in depression or positive as in taking action. We have to remove the negative options and decide to be positive the next time things don’t go our way.
Once negative options are erased, our subconscious mind delves for new ideas. It is surprising how new and positive options are now free to surface.
Be prepared.
It does help to be prepared for changes. Expect the unexpected. Taking this attitude means less disappointment when difficult times occur. This is not about taking a pessimistic stance; more the fact that facing up to change means we are less likely to panic in times of adversity.
Company managers and directors face unexpected circumstances on a daily basis. Yet they find solutions, they do not panic and never despair. Feeling bad is never an option.
We are the bosses of our own lives. When change occurs we mustn’t feel blue but instead we need to alter our approach, be flexible, work harder or even simply start all over again. Just don’t feel bad.
A couple of analogies.
Water changes shape to fit its container. Likewise we need to change to fit the situation or our environment.
If we are sitting in a room when all of a sudden the lights go out, we very soon start to see through the darkness. Our eyes adjust accordingly. When faced with our own personal darkness, there is no need to panic or feel sad. Just adjust accordingly and look for the light switch. This will restore our self esteem, inspiration, optimism, motivation and self confidence.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Don't Get Angry. Stay in Control of Your Life and Your Optimism.
We all get angry from time to time. It can lower our self esteem and drain us of energy and inspiration. How many of us feel guilty when the red mist forms?
If anger makes us act irrationally, later regretting our words or actions then anger can be perceived as being destructive. But if anger can be controlled and channelled it can be a useful and productive emotion.
So what are the things that make us angry and sap us of all motivation?
The list is enormous but can include some of the following:-
People jumping ahead of us in queues.
Too much work being placed upon us and getting stressed in the process.
Being told off by our superiors at work especially when it is unjustified.
Team members not pulling their weight.
Things going wrong when you have the least time for it.
Being poked fun of.
Being afraid. Anger can be caused by fear.
Some if not all of these will have been experienced at some point or other. http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/audio/anger/index.html#terryn1
Anger is a mechanism stemming from the subconscious mind when defending our rights, things going unexpectedly wrong or we are frightened. The emotion of anger is launched to help us try and regain control of a situation.
Uncontrolled anger can be destructive. Who remembers the episode of “Fawlty Towers” when Basil Fawlty beats his car with a tree branch when it breaks down?
However, suppressing anger can lead to depression. One definition of depression is “anger turned inward”. Suppressed anger will come out in one way or another eventually. This may be in the form of bad dreams, unexplained moodiness or bursts of unexplained anger. Rather than being angry with the boss and going home and taking out on the cat, here are some great techniques that have proved invaluable for controlling anger and regaining some self control and self esteem:-
Control self talk. On the way to work we can be having thoughts like “my boss is going to give me a shed load of work today”. As this thought goes over and over in our minds, the anger grows and by the time we get to work we can be fuming. We need to be practicing positive self talk to keep us calm. Also, after a period of anger, positive self talk can help us to calm down and focus on the present again.
Assertiveness. This is the art of communication that allows us to stand up for our rights without being violent or aggressive. There are many articles and publications that lecture on the subject of assertiveness. http://www.2knowmyself.com/directory/31
Washing Our Face. This may sound odd, but if you are near a wash basin next time you feel angry, give it ago.
Changing our position. If we are standing up when we feel angry, sit down. If we are sitting down then lie down.
Relaxation techniques. By learning to relax we can let go of anger almost at will if relaxation techniques have been practiced often enough that it becomes automatic.
Workout or Run. By working out or running any anger is released without taking it out on the wrong people. We very often find that are performance when working out or running is greatly improved if we are venting off some anger at the same time. http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/audio/anger/index.html#terryn1
Anger can be constructive or destructive. Controlling anger can actually be very beneficial and won’t cause lack of self esteem, self confidence, motivation or optimism. We won’t feel guilty either.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
If anger makes us act irrationally, later regretting our words or actions then anger can be perceived as being destructive. But if anger can be controlled and channelled it can be a useful and productive emotion.
So what are the things that make us angry and sap us of all motivation?
The list is enormous but can include some of the following:-
People jumping ahead of us in queues.
Too much work being placed upon us and getting stressed in the process.
Being told off by our superiors at work especially when it is unjustified.
Team members not pulling their weight.
Things going wrong when you have the least time for it.
Being poked fun of.
Being afraid. Anger can be caused by fear.
Some if not all of these will have been experienced at some point or other. http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/audio/anger/index.html#terryn1
Anger is a mechanism stemming from the subconscious mind when defending our rights, things going unexpectedly wrong or we are frightened. The emotion of anger is launched to help us try and regain control of a situation.
Uncontrolled anger can be destructive. Who remembers the episode of “Fawlty Towers” when Basil Fawlty beats his car with a tree branch when it breaks down?
However, suppressing anger can lead to depression. One definition of depression is “anger turned inward”. Suppressed anger will come out in one way or another eventually. This may be in the form of bad dreams, unexplained moodiness or bursts of unexplained anger. Rather than being angry with the boss and going home and taking out on the cat, here are some great techniques that have proved invaluable for controlling anger and regaining some self control and self esteem:-
Control self talk. On the way to work we can be having thoughts like “my boss is going to give me a shed load of work today”. As this thought goes over and over in our minds, the anger grows and by the time we get to work we can be fuming. We need to be practicing positive self talk to keep us calm. Also, after a period of anger, positive self talk can help us to calm down and focus on the present again.
Assertiveness. This is the art of communication that allows us to stand up for our rights without being violent or aggressive. There are many articles and publications that lecture on the subject of assertiveness. http://www.2knowmyself.com/directory/31
Washing Our Face. This may sound odd, but if you are near a wash basin next time you feel angry, give it ago.
Changing our position. If we are standing up when we feel angry, sit down. If we are sitting down then lie down.
Relaxation techniques. By learning to relax we can let go of anger almost at will if relaxation techniques have been practiced often enough that it becomes automatic.
Workout or Run. By working out or running any anger is released without taking it out on the wrong people. We very often find that are performance when working out or running is greatly improved if we are venting off some anger at the same time. http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/audio/anger/index.html#terryn1
Anger can be constructive or destructive. Controlling anger can actually be very beneficial and won’t cause lack of self esteem, self confidence, motivation or optimism. We won’t feel guilty either.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Are You After Money, Rewards and Abundance? Read On!!!
Many people consider success to be purely financial. For some the creation of a healthy bank balance gives them self esteem, self confidence and pride. Money talks. Undoubtedly having money can provide peace of mind and security but the love of money above anything else can lead to a very shallow life.
The abundance that is there for everybody to obtain doesn’t come from money alone; it come from having a fulfilling life, taking on adventures and living your dreams. The word “reward” conjures up images of money; money earned or money gained from passing on information. But the rewards in life can be so much greater. Giving and helping others breeds contentment and satisfaction to a degree that many other activities fail to achieve.
Obviously raising money for charity is a noble thing to do. Even charities need money to survive. I can remember as a schoolboy doing events like sponsored swims and sponsored silences (yes I did manage to do this). At such a tender age I can still recall the pride that I felt having given my time selflessly.
In my adult years, doing walks for childrens’ charities was my “thing” for a little while. Not only did I feel that sense of joy and self esteem again, I also felt that I had achieved by pushing myself to complete the course. Come November time BBC Television and Radio presents a bonanza of fund raising events all in aid of childrens’ causes. Two years on the trot I was able to participate by manning the phones at our local BBC Radio Station collecting all the pledges as they came rolling in. I really felt a tremendous buzz as I had contributed to such a fantastic fund raiser as BBC Children in Need.
Doing good works for others doesn’t necessarily have to come in the name of charity. We can do good deeds every day. Even our work can provide a sense of satisfaction when we are able to help to provide a service for someone. Going that extra mile, doing that little bit more for somebody beyond what we are paid for can provide enormous rewards, and yes, sometimes that can mean financially as well.
Paul, a good friend of mine used to be a project manager in the IT industry. He earned good money but unfortunately he ended up being made redundant. Because the computer world was inundated with a wealth of talented people he found it very difficult to get another job in IT. Eventually he took a job teaching unemployed people literacy and numeracy and helping them to get job placements. Some of these people could be difficult to handle as they didn’t really want to be there, only being on the course because of the threat of withdrawal of their benefits. But occasionally he would get the one person who made it into the job market and was extremely grateful for the help they have received. This was the jewel in the crown for Paul which made his job so rewarding. The pay was poor in comparison to his previous work but he still teaches literacy and numeracy today, albeit for a supermarket chain where his students are more willing, thus the rewards of satisfaction come thicker and faster.
I have tremendous pleasure in referring back to some work I did in Nigeria in 2003. Having commissioned some Water Treatment Equipment I had to train the maintenance staff on the operation and maintenance of the equipment. It was so visible in their faces that my presentation had gotten through to them and that it had been of great interest and relevance. At the end of my training they were asking lots of questions, not just about the equipment but about me. Again the rewards were so deeply gratifying.
This year I am hoping to do more charitable work. It is my intention to sign up for a project for which I will spend a week in Rumania, along with other like minded people, constructing extensions to an orphanage for children with learning difficulties. http://www.cryinthedark.co.uk/
Helping others to better their lives is a reward in its self. It’s surprising how doing things selflessly for others without striving for money can provide inspiration and motivation for others to do the same. It also does wonders for your self confidence and self esteem too.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
The abundance that is there for everybody to obtain doesn’t come from money alone; it come from having a fulfilling life, taking on adventures and living your dreams. The word “reward” conjures up images of money; money earned or money gained from passing on information. But the rewards in life can be so much greater. Giving and helping others breeds contentment and satisfaction to a degree that many other activities fail to achieve.
Obviously raising money for charity is a noble thing to do. Even charities need money to survive. I can remember as a schoolboy doing events like sponsored swims and sponsored silences (yes I did manage to do this). At such a tender age I can still recall the pride that I felt having given my time selflessly.
In my adult years, doing walks for childrens’ charities was my “thing” for a little while. Not only did I feel that sense of joy and self esteem again, I also felt that I had achieved by pushing myself to complete the course. Come November time BBC Television and Radio presents a bonanza of fund raising events all in aid of childrens’ causes. Two years on the trot I was able to participate by manning the phones at our local BBC Radio Station collecting all the pledges as they came rolling in. I really felt a tremendous buzz as I had contributed to such a fantastic fund raiser as BBC Children in Need.
Doing good works for others doesn’t necessarily have to come in the name of charity. We can do good deeds every day. Even our work can provide a sense of satisfaction when we are able to help to provide a service for someone. Going that extra mile, doing that little bit more for somebody beyond what we are paid for can provide enormous rewards, and yes, sometimes that can mean financially as well.
Paul, a good friend of mine used to be a project manager in the IT industry. He earned good money but unfortunately he ended up being made redundant. Because the computer world was inundated with a wealth of talented people he found it very difficult to get another job in IT. Eventually he took a job teaching unemployed people literacy and numeracy and helping them to get job placements. Some of these people could be difficult to handle as they didn’t really want to be there, only being on the course because of the threat of withdrawal of their benefits. But occasionally he would get the one person who made it into the job market and was extremely grateful for the help they have received. This was the jewel in the crown for Paul which made his job so rewarding. The pay was poor in comparison to his previous work but he still teaches literacy and numeracy today, albeit for a supermarket chain where his students are more willing, thus the rewards of satisfaction come thicker and faster.
I have tremendous pleasure in referring back to some work I did in Nigeria in 2003. Having commissioned some Water Treatment Equipment I had to train the maintenance staff on the operation and maintenance of the equipment. It was so visible in their faces that my presentation had gotten through to them and that it had been of great interest and relevance. At the end of my training they were asking lots of questions, not just about the equipment but about me. Again the rewards were so deeply gratifying.
This year I am hoping to do more charitable work. It is my intention to sign up for a project for which I will spend a week in Rumania, along with other like minded people, constructing extensions to an orphanage for children with learning difficulties. http://www.cryinthedark.co.uk/
Helping others to better their lives is a reward in its self. It’s surprising how doing things selflessly for others without striving for money can provide inspiration and motivation for others to do the same. It also does wonders for your self confidence and self esteem too.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
http://www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index.htm#terryn1
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