Small

It’s been quite a wild couple of months here in this little world of ours here in Laughing Divas/Laura Kowalski land. Big changes and finding new ways of thinking and doing. Never a dull moment in the first place, but especially now … things are hopping. And when you have big change going on, it can take a lot of time, effort, and energy. Have you ever been there?

I am SURE that you have. When you move house, for example, the actual act of moving may be one or two days, but the whole event may take 4-6 months of work at least, and that may not even include planning time. Choosing a new place, getting things sorted so they can be packed, moving, unpacking, getting settled, and then making the most of the move. It’s a lot isn’t it? It FEELS like a lot.

During times like this friends and “extra” things tend to fall by the wayside. We are “too busy” … for leisure, dinners to linger over, for others’ issues, for focusing on anything but what seems so huge in front of us, sometimes even to be considerate or polite. Because that’s what it feels like, isn’t it? Like “the change” is HUGE, hard to see around, something dominating our world. And it’s big and important. We may try to make an effort to get out and see others’, but inevitably our world gets incredibly centered on us.

OVER-centered on us, even if we meditate and breathe and remind ourselves not to do it.

It’s especially at times like this that I love to take quick trips into nature, preferably a national park or someplace BIG to remind of how small not only my problems and projects are, but how small I am. Which is exactly how I found my way to the Garden of The Gods the other week.

It’s awfully hard to hold on to your ego and all your %*$# when you are standing next to a rock that is millions of years old towering above you so you feel as tiny as an insect, or trees that have seen more than you will ever be able to imagine. Looking up at these amazing formations, you realize that you matter and you are important, but you are little in this world. The world goes on…it has for a long time, and it will no matter what you do. What you “knew” was big, is tiny. What you thought was immovable is almost laughably insignificant. What you considered to be your whole world is only a quick blip on the scale of all things.

And I have to say, what a relief.

It’s such a wonderful feeling. Especially in the middle of what you consider a “long” project, or one that is “too difficult.” Such a great perspective to know I count, but there is SO much more than me.

If you don’t know, The Garden of The Gods is in Colorado Springs. That’s right: in it, not kind-of-sort-of around it, but in it. Huge slabs of rock rise up into the sky dramatically and form a cathedral like no other. A private landowner’s family left it to the city and provided this escape with incredible views that include the valley floor and Pike’s Peak. When you are there, you feel like you are in a national park, it’s THAT awe inspiring. But you aren’t … you are just off to the side of a busy city. I love that it’s a place that is easy to get to and simple  to drive through. You are never alone there because of the proximity to town and given the amazing rock climbing opportunities it offers there are always groups scaling the sides.

Usually that would make me nuts, but not there. It’s so nice to be able to get into the park area quickly (Rocky Mountain National Park is not far away, but you have to really take some time to get there and then BE there) and the rock formations humble you so quickly, you don’t mind the others being around.

I know not everyone has the luxury of having a Garden of The Gods out their back door, but America being as amazing as she is, chances are you have something right near you – a forest, a park, a river, a desert – that you can get to easily to help you remember your true size. And what a gift that is.

Take advantage of it. Gain perspective. Sit in awe. Feel how small you are and revel in that.

Much love,

Laura

Bob Proctor’s Six Minutes to Success

If you have spent any time reading or studying in the self-help field at all, chances are you have run into Bob Proctor on more than one occasion. Whether it’s his books, his lectures, his videos, his classes, or his students who are out there leading the way in the self-help world (like Gina Mollicone Long, Sonia Ricotti, James Ray, Brian Tracy, John Assaraf) Bob Proctor is everywhere in that industry. And with good reason: he is a dedicated teacher who has found a truth, made it work by being exact, and brought into being hundreds of amazing accomplishments.

Indeed, it seems whenever I find a person that brings me value, teaches me exceptional ways of working in this world, helps my thinking…I find that at some point in time, Bob Proctor has been their teacher and changed their life. When you see that over and over again – a man behind almost everyone’s scene – you HAVE to sit up and take notice. If you are like me, you want to run right to the source and drink deeply of that knowledge.

So I ran … and I have stayed drinking at that well for a long time. This water is soooo good, pretty sure I am never going to leave.

Bob has been around for a long time, and is so devoted to the idea of teaching others success, I can hardly imagine him having a conversation about anything else. I have, in fact, never heard him have a conversation that doesn’t end up being about success and your thinking. I have seen him speak on many occasions, and studied with him in almost every way imaginable and I have never seen him off his game, nor trying to create something new that’s his own. He just wants to teach true success. And he does.

He read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napolean Hill in the 60′s – followed the suggestions – and it turned his life around. He then committed his life to the ceaseless study of success with the intention of understanding it and sharing it. Which is exactly what he’s done and continues to do. Hooray!

That’s one of the things I love about Bob: when you spend time with him in any way, you are getting it from someone who reeeeally knows what they are talking about. That’s years and years and years worth of knowledge and experience (I don’t think Bob would mind me pointing out that he is no spring chicken.) He walks his talk … he lives his life as he teaches. He’s taught it to his family, and it’s changed THEIR lives. His friends, his coworkers, his businesses are all using these principles. I like to see that, too.

He’s been doing this for over 40 years and it’s such an unfailing study and application, one might get to thinking Bob WROTE the laws he talks about, but he’ll be the first to tell you that he has license to brag because he created NONE of it. While I appreciate innovation, I so value that he will study one concept repeatedly (repetition is the first law of learning) and boil down the truth out of a matter, out of a book, out of a line of study, and share it with such clarity and simplicity there is no way to listen, obey, and fail.

As an intuitive, I also must notice and mention that what Bob teaches and talks about rings true, feels true, and is true. Again, he didn’t create any of it, he has distilled a great amount of learning to simple concepts and shares them. Whenever people are listening and learning to new ideas, I ask them to stop a moment and see how it sits with them – literally. Does it feel true? That will have a resonance in your body deep down that has nothing to do with your brain, your head, your shoulders, etc. A lot of the stuff out there in the self-help world doesn’t sit well, doesn’t feel right. Bob’s teachings always ring true.

I study this work every day. I do mean EVERY day … and it’s not because I am a slow learner. I study it deeply and take it in. It’s simple stuff, really, but it is not easy. It takes time, a strong desire, a willingness to be honest, and to surrender to change in yourself. Bob has been been my secret weapon in this world for a long time now, and I cannot recommend highly enough that he become yours as well.

He’s made a few little videos to reach out to people, and I thought today I would start with this short (9 minutes) video to introduce a couple of his most basic ideas. It’s very introductory, but it gives you a great idea of the vitality, the passion, and the ideas that Bob Proctor brings to people’s lives. He discusses that if you know where you want to go, and can make the decision that you will get there, then you never – I mean NEVER – need to spend even 5 seconds thinking about the “how.” That’s foreign to most people. That’s crazy talk to many. But that is what Bob can do that no one else – and I have studied hundreds of people – has been able to do. It’s what makes him amazing. He can teach you how to change your thinking. Truly. Permanently. For the way you want go. Once you are thinking clearly, you are unstoppable. For achievement is never about conquering anything but the limitations we have in our mind.

Check it out here https://sixminutes.infusionsoft.com/go/life/laurakk (affiliate link) to see what you think. I will tell you that he is not what you expect, but his teachings can make a bigger difference in the lives of you, your friends, your co-workers, than a handful of the best teachers combined.

A little while back (in Bob-time) Proctor created a way to study with him in the briefest but most effective of ways – a little video to watch each day that is two minutes long, and then you spend 4 minutes thinking about it. It is a great little idea that makes a major difference, and one that’s worth doing. This is about changing habits after all. It’s called Six Minutes to Success, and it is the perfect stepping stone into changing your thinking. Or maybe of thinking at all. But i will talk about that, in a later blog.

until then …

Much love,

Laura