Focusing is about saying No to Distractions. – Steve Jobs

As autumn sets in, the days are beginning to get colder here in Toronto. However the squirrels are still out and about foraging for their daily food and when we go out for walks Ginger is often to be seen chasing after them and then sitting at the foot of a tree looking up with extreme focus on a squirrel that has just scampered up the tree leaving its food behind.

No amount of appeals or blandishments deter her from her Focus as she patiently waits eyes fixed on the prize as it swings from branch to branch looking for any alternate way to descend without raising any alarm in the little dog sitting below with extreme determination, for all the world as though her tiny tail had clamped her body firmly in a sitting position into the ground.

And I realize she has her eyes fixed on the prize even when I see her blondly sitting under the one tree when the squirrel has darted away down the trunk of another tree a few yards away. On one occasion, assuming that Ginger had wandered away, a different squirrel came down the tree under which she was holding vigil. And the delighted puppy gave chase all over again! The implications of lack of focus are many– and it can sabotage your life in ways that you may not suspect.  At best, you may not get the prize you are hoping for…a promotion at work, a client with whom you have been courting business or even just getting a date! Read More→

Argue for Your Limitations, and they’re Yours! – Richard Bach

I was 15 years old when I read Richard Bach’s Illusions for the first time and it has played a huge part in shaping my beliefs and as a result, my life. This one is one of my favourite quotes.

I really believe that once we start defending our lack of resources whether spiritual, physical, emotional, mental or financial ….we actually create more of that lack.

For example if we keep saying, I am not smart enough because I did not get an education, we remain stupid. If we say, we cannot afford it, we remain poor.

It is time to stop this Universal Illusion of Self imposed limitation and start reaching out to embrace the concept that we are Abundantly Resourced and Behold! That begins to happen.

It’s like Magic!! But it takes work to shake off the paradigms of the past… Read More→

Il faut cultiver son jardin; Cultivate the Garden within.  – Voltaire, Candide

Spring is here heralding the appearance of the darling buds of May. The Cherry blossom trees are in full bloom with the perfume of the petals spilling out into the surrounding yards and streets and while the beauty of the flowers is fleeting, the fragrance seems to linger on.

Somehow this season symbolizes growth to me. There is the freshness of growing grass around us, little baby rabbits and chipmunks abound in the fields and hills around us. The trees are in leaf, with all of them bursting forth into delicate pale green foliage at the same time in response to some hidden conductors cue.

Everywhere I walk, there is the enticing smell of freshly watered soil, the refreshing moistness of freshly mowed grass, newly planted saplings and flower beds and even the weeds are topped with delightful sunny yellow and bright blue flowers. Every garden I see holds the promise of growth and beauty. Read More→

To do two things at the same time is to do neither – Publilius Syrus, Slave in the first century, B.C.

Spring came reluctantly but it is here at last with fresh green grass on the slopes of the hills around us and bouncy little rabbits popping out of holes eveywhere.

Our little dog Ginger is perplexed. She cocks her little head in bewilderment, first this way and then that, at how the bunnies pop in and out of the field, give her a come hither flicker of tufty tail and then disappear swiftly into the ground.

She goes quite crazy chasing first this rabbit, and then that, catching neither in her hot pursuit of  the cheeky little teases. Never having caught a wild rabbit either, I was wondering if I was qualified to give her tips on how to chase one rabbit at a time , with single minded focus, in order to stand a chance of  catching it! Read More→

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.  –  W. Somerset Maugham

Habits, as Agatha Christie once said, are curious things. People themselves don’t  know they have them! So what is a habit? It is something that we have been doing for so long that we fail to notice it at all – its as though we are in autopilot mode and the habits are now what are leading our lives.

Some of these may be good habits, usually ingrained in the discipline of childhood- such as brushing our teeth in the mornings, keeping our commitments , washing our hands when we come in from the outdoors. We don’t usually wake up and say, what if I did not brush my teeth today. The habit will eventually force you into getting them cleaned sooner or later. Good habits protect us and make us successful. Read More→