Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 13 of our Wisdom-Trek and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
Today we look at the Importance of MindShift.
Hello and welcome to Wisdom-Trek! This is Guthrie Chamberlain, and I am your Guide to Wisdom. This is Day 13 of our Trek, and today we are looking at the importance of always keeping a forward momentum as we travel on life’s trail, regardless if the trek is easy or difficult. In order to do so, we must keep moving forward with a positive mindset while making sure that our footing is secure.
Today we are recording our podcast/journal from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. I am making these journal notes during the first week of June. It has been another very busy week for Paula and me.
We officially launched this Wisdom-Trek podcast this week, and trying to learn, coordinate, and balance the demands of this new and exciting project, while maintaining the normal client workload that we have through our consulting company, Venture Consulting Group, has proven challenging.
We are celebrating Paula’s birthday this week. On her birthday we had dinner at the Buckley House in Marietta, which was a very nice restaurant with good food. As I am making the journal notes for this podcast, we are our way to see Tecumseh! Which is an outdoor drama celebrating the Native Americans in southern Ohio. Paula is so gracious to drive, so that I can work on various projects while traveling.
It is certainly nice to be in a season of life where we can take the time for these types of activities and to have the wisdom to know that we need to. If you are younger in your trek of life, remember to take some time for relaxing and recharging. I have to admit that I did not do so near as much as I should have and still have a few lessons to learn.
That is my personal sharing for today. If you have any questions that you would like to ask of us or desire additional information, please leave a comment on Wisdom-Trek.com/Contact Us, or email me at guthrie@venturecg.com. We want to form a bond with you that will allow us to be your guide, mentor, and friend.
Please share your stories or questions with us through the links mentioned. We will work them into future podcasts so that everyone on our Trek can get to know each other.
Yesterday we came to understand the crucial difference between and the purposes of a compass and a clock. With the knowledge that we gained, we can now focus on life’s trail that is before us each day.
Each day when we rise, we have some initial crucial decisions to make. How we start the day will largely determine how well the remainder of the day goes. We will often chat on our Wisdom-Trek about the importance of what we allow into our minds. One of my favorite quotes from one of my Virtual Mentors Zig Ziglar is, “You are what you are and you are where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You change what you are and you change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.”
Has your trek in life been difficult at times? Do you ever feel that you are standing in front of an impassable mountain? Life trails at times are rugged and rough, we may encounter difficulties that we have to overcome.
In some seasons of life the cold winter winds blow while other seasons are sunny and warm without a cloud in the sky.
Some nights are so dark that you can’t see your hand in front of your face while other days you can see for miles.
To imagine life as anything else is to not live in reality. The difference will always be how we perceive and then handle each day of life.
Clare Boothe Luce put it this way,
What does your trail look like today, and how are you going to perceive it? As a member of the Wisdom-Trek team, you do not have to trek alone. We are all on life’s trek together, and it is up to us to both give and receive help from those that we meet each day either online or in person.
I am sure you have been able to tell, I am generally a very positive person, but I am also rooted in the realities of life. You might say I am a positive realist. How we perceive each day is based on our paradigm tied to our attitude.
Some of you might ask, what is a paradigm? Well, as I would tell my business consulting clients, “It’s about 20 cents.” If you don’t catch that right away, I understand. It is not a word used often, so as a play on words “a ‘pair of dimes’ is worth about 20 cents.” But seriously, a paradigm is a framework containing our basic assumptions, or our way of thinking.
Our basic assumptions or the way we think about life will in large part result in how our life will turn out. So in order to change the way we think about life we may very well need a paradigm shift (or mindshift) – a radical change in how we perceive each day.
Over the years of observation and experience, Paula and I have seen many times the self-fulfilling prophecy of a person’s basic attitude and beliefs. Instances of lost jobs, broken relationships, and failed businesses primarily due to a person’s attitude and belief that the situation would not work out well.
On the converse, those that are hopeful and anticipate that life will go well overall usually experience success.
This is clearly evident in the Bible where the word mind and heart are many times interchangeable as is written in Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart (mind) above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
What we think about, and how we allow it to permeate our life will determine the course of our lives. If we are fearful of stumbling over obstacles on the trail or falling down the slippery slopes of life, there is a great possibility that those fears will turn into reality.
If we keep in our minds that which is good and positive, then the fruit that is produced in our lives will be good, and the outcomes in life will be positive overall. Christ put it this way in Matthew 12:35, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart (mind), and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart (mind).”
Some days our tails will be flat and smooth and it is easy to start and remain positive. Other days we will wake up to find that a boulder has rolled onto the path right in front of us or a bear is lurking outside of our tent, and it will be difficult to even begin.
To be honest with ourselves, we have to admit that some of the difficult trails are caused by our own choices. Maybe we pitched our tent in the wrong place or left food out that attracts unwanted predators. I have observed over the years that some people enjoy living in crisis mode with much drama, for in some strange way that is their comfort zone. They are masters in self-sabotage.
I hope that as we trek together, if you find that you are this type of person that you will grain wisdom and insight to change this type of self-defeating mindset.
Even when we have a positive, encouraging and victorious mindset/outlook on life, we cannot always control how rough the trails of life may be, but we can control our attitudes about those trails.
In my life of faith, this is made possible by acknowledging and accepting the gift of God’s Spirit which Christ promised before His return to heaven, after His resurrection. This promise is found in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Regardless of your belief or walk in faith, how each day turns out is largely based on your choosing and how you interpret and handle your life experiences. We can choose to be different, we can choose to be positive, and we can choose to be at peace and without fear with whatever life dishes out to us.
That will finish our podcast/journal for today. Tomorrow we will discuss how valuable the concept of sharing really is. Sharing transforms your thinking can truly transform your life.
Please check into our “camp” tomorrow for another day on our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
I encourage you to leave a discussion topic, comment, suggestion, or question about this podcast in the comment form on Wisdom-Trek.com/day13, or email me at guthrie@venturecg.com If you would like us to discuss any topics or answer any questions during our podcast, please let us know. We would love to have interaction from members of our Wisdom-Trek team.
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As we take this Trek together let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy the Journey, and Create a Great Day! See you tomorrow!