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In these gloomy times, where every day we hear about a new part of the sky falling, it's important for us to find ways to stand out of the way. You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought - as one book title put it (Peter McWilliams and John Roger, 1995). Here's a list of five ideas to take your enthusiasm, zest for living, and power back:
1. Read positive and inspiring books and listen to stimulating podcasts -- The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferris (paperback, 2008) is one book that could well get your juices going. Ferris offers a variety of ways to get more done in less time and make more money along the way. His ideas and solutions are more important than ever. His can do attitude is contagious!
Another book worth reading is Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson, yet on the New York Times Best Seller List after having been published in 2007 in paperback. The staying power of this book is a testament to the path Mortenson took to realizing a promise he made to a small Pakistani village that took him in and nursed him back to health after his unsuccessful attempt to climb K2. He had no way of knowing how he would do it, but he vowed to build the community a school. The odds were against him, yet he managed to succeed anyway.
If you were one of the ones lucky enough to get a Kindle from Amazon.com before they went out of stock, you could carry these books as well as thousands of others around with you wherever you go. That device is reputed to be doing for books what iPods have done for music -- made them ubiquitous. Better yet, if you prefer to get your inspiration audibly, these books are also available on audio, as are most books today.
You've already heard me rave about my favorite podcasts in earlier columns, but for those who might have missed this, here are some that stand out: Learn from my Life; Harvard Business Ideacast; Living Dialogues; Theatre of the Mind; Oprah's Spirit Channel; Speaking of Faith. All of these podcasts are free and can easily be found through your computer's interface with iTunes. If your computer doesn't have iTunes, go to www.apple.com/itunes and download the software for free.
You can find podcasts for every taste. Because they are generally fulfilling a different role than the traditional media sources, podcast broadcasters can offer more than the general fare of bad news.
2. Teach yourself new tricks -- Start a new hobby, take a class you've wanted to take, learn a new language. Doing so will fire new synapses in your brain and will engage you at new levels. Negative news can be deadening. Reengaging at new heights can be life giving. Actually, the more creative new outlets you can find the better. Producing a pencil drawing, sewing an object, building a bird house gives you a tangible result -- something you can be proud of and admire. The positive elixirs will start flowing in your brain and body -- serotonin and dopamine. You can find a ton of free instruction materials on the Internet at how-to sites or in books, DVD's and kits at your public library if you're on a tight budget.
3. Put something back -- Get out there and volunteer even if it's for a few hours a week. You'll feel good about yourself and you'll be supporting your community. Our new President and his family challenged us to volunteer in our community at the time he first took office. Find volunteer activities you'd enjoy -- don't do something out of guilt, you'll be defeating the purpose. Make sure that whatever organization you pitch in with gives you activities you can be excited about. If not, ask for what you'd like to contribute. If that's not possible, find another volunteer group to engage with. Assert yourself.
4. Seek out positive people -- Make sure you stay away from the ain't-it-awful crowd. While playing the ain't-it-awful game can be a bonding ritual for some and may provide some momentary satisfaction, ultimately like eating a rancid food product, doing so can leave you with a headache and a stomach ache. Look for the positive people around you. While you may have to sensitize yourself to their optimism and you may think that they are acting naive, truly these people can offer great value in times like these. It's like they're the ones with the flash lights in this dark tunnel. Get curious around them and start practicing more positive thinking yourself. Like any new habit, like writing with your non-dominant hand, doing so may feel awkward at first, but you'll get used to it.
5. Live in the Now -- Eckhart Tolle made gazillions of dollars extolling the virtues of staying in the moment with his famous book, The Power of Now (2004). Richard Moss came up with a simple tool for recognizing when you are in the now and when you're not. He calls it "The Mandala of Being" and details his process in a book with the same title. Essentially, draw a large circle on a page with a smaller circle in the center so you have an object that looks like a large donut. In the smaller center circle, put the word Now. At four points within the larger circle (like the points on the face of a clock), place these four words: at 12 o'clock, Future; at 3 o'clock, Judging Others; at 6 o'clock, Past; and at 9 o'clock, Judging Self.
Each time you step out of the present by worrying about the future, regretting the past or judging yourself or others, you have removed yourself from the present. Recognizing this is a reminder to you to get back into the now where you are actually ok -- you're breathing and living and able to remind yourself the This too will Pass.
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