The Pacific Institute’s Post

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! Strength in Our Environments For most of us, we “inhabit” three environments. There is our inner circle of family and close friends, the next circle of co-workers and professional connections. And finally, the wider world of our organizations or society at large. Each affects our well-being in different ways, due to the strength of the relationships. We affect these environments, and depending on our mindset, each can affect us in a myriad of ways. When things are going well, we feel good, cheerful, positive, and full of enthusiasm. But, when things go wrong, we may start to unravel, feeling like a victim. A positive way to frame this is to say that if you are not having problems, you are missing an opportunity for growth. You make the choice to take charge of how you respond and what you do, regardless of what is happening in your environment. The only thing in life over which we have complete control is what goes on inside our minds. When you choose to take charge of your thoughts, of the things you tell yourself, you become immensely powerful. You can choose to use setbacks as opportunities to grow. You develop the ability to quickly bounce back when you hit an obstacle, as well as gaining the incredible strength that comes from standing up to adversity. You are in charge of you, your beliefs and the decisions you make. There is great strength in that, and, when harnessed, tremendous power to positively affect the environment around you.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! The Value in Being Responsible Responsibility is a crucial aspect of life that goes hand in hand with confidence and the feeling of being in control of one's own life. It involves making rational or moral decisions on one's own, being answerable to others for their behavior, and being trustworthy and dependable. Being responsible means that we are fully matured adults and can choose our response to life's events, rather than reacting by habit or reflex. This attitude is reflected in our behaviors towards friends, family, clients, and customers in our community. Feeling responsible is essential for living up to our potential, enjoying satisfying relationships, and living happy, fulfilling lives. To teach our children to be responsible, we should be responsible ourselves, explain the benefits of responsibility to them, and gradually increase responsibilities as they grow older. Praise their efforts and let them know that you see them as responsible, and watch them grow into it. By doing so, we can help our children live up to their potential and enjoy satisfying relationships with others.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! Power Comes from Within Power can be perceived negatively, leading to abuses and undesirable impacts on our lives. However, there are also positive uses of power. People often believe that power means having control or loss of control, but it is actually about having the power to act, influence, cause, create, and do. Power is not an external force, but rather an internal one, derived from feeling accountable and authority for one's life. It comes from a strong, vital, and respectful connection to others, including family, friends, and community. This personal power benefits both the individual and others, and if used correctly, it benefits others more. To understand personal power, one should ask themselves if they feel powerful and why. If they do, then the next question becomes, "How do I use my power?" Each answer reveals a facet of our personalities and souls. By recognizing and utilizing personal power, we can empower ourselves and others in our lives.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's the weekly message if you missed the email: Do I Want to be Right or Happy? The question of whether one would rather be right or happy is a complex one that can have many answers. Some people sacrifice time and effort to be correct, believing that making others wrong is the way to be right. This can lead to feelings of dislike and undermine teamwork. Those who need to be right also avoid taking risks, and limiting creativity and ingenuity. On the other hand, those who would rather be happy don't care much about their intelligence and recognize that everyone is on a learning curve. They understand that the best way to help each other grow is to stop competing and start cooperating. Life is about helping each other see and understand each other, and working with someone towards a goal can lead to greater happiness. Each person has the choice to decide how they spend their energies and whether they are willing to give and accept help. They can choose whether they are going to be right or happy, and sometimes they can do both. However, if they had to choose just one, which would it be?

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! The Key to the World of Success The Pacific Institute has been studying success since 1971, studying the difference between the cans and can-nots, the do's and do-nots, and the secret of success. The Institute has learned from some of the most successful people in the world and has spent time with respected research psychologists. The secret of success is "Attitude." People who succeed do not have fewer problems, better parents, or more money, but they often start with a dream and a will to make it a reality. They have a way of seeing obstacles as possibilities and making the most of every opportunity, almost guaranteeing success. When facing unexpected challenges, it might be helpful to check your attitude. Ask yourself if you are getting in your own way because of your outlook. By changing your attitude, you can change your perspective on what you perceive and what your senses tell you. This can lead to different outcomes and open up a whole, previously unseen world.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! One Tenth the Energy What do you absolutely love to do? How well do you do it? Now, whatever your answer to the first question may be, the answer to the second question will be somewhere between, “very well” and “superbly.” Because, if you love doing something, you are probably good at it. Do you know anyone who has achieved tremendous success by doing something he or she hates? Most likely, the answer is “No.” Mark Twain once said, “The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation,” and that is exactly what successful people seem to do. Workaholics who dislike their work tend to get headaches and ulcers, and spend the weekend resting up so they can go “do battle” again on Monday. However, workaholics who love their work get ahead. It makes their lives richer and more satisfying, and they have tremendous energy for what they do. Neuroscientists have determined that when you do something with enthusiasm it only takes one-tenth the energy that it takes to do the same thing with reluctance. When we don’t want to do something, we expend a lot of time and energy mentally running down paths that have nothing to do with what needs to be accomplished. (Formally, this is called procrastination, and some of us are experts at it.) Let’s face it, some jobs are easier to love than others. The key for you is to work toward getting those jobs that you love. And if you can find creative ways to do what you are doing now, it will make the climb toward your goal of “love-the-work” faster and easier. People in charge will notice your skill, and especially your attitude. So, bring the same energy and enthusiasm to your work as you do to your play, and watch what happens!

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! What's Next for You? In order to move ahead, to reach goals that we have set for ourselves, we need to make the future picture of what we want more inviting, more attractive, more necessary than staying in our current reality. This is easier than it sounds, because of two things innate in human beings. We have the ability to use “forethought” – looking forward – and to use our imaginations. In other words, we can look ahead and dream of a future. As far as we know today, no other creature on earth has these two abilities. Another asset we have is the ability to use different words, to create different pictures, which bring on board different emotions. The word “change” can be off-putting, as we see more risk than reward. It’s much easier to stay as we are. But if we use the word “growth” instead, that allows us to see the benefit of adjusting our attitude, and creates a “want to” emotion within us. It’s easier to see value in growth, than it is in change. When we set a goal (which is all about growth), and create that gap we mentioned yesterday, energy and creativity are unleashed in our minds. Those dreams of the future cause ideas and drive to close the gap – and we are tremendously creative creatures! We can dream of just about anything, and make those dreams reality.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! Looking Back, Driving Forward In these weekly messages, you have read about the need for purposefully setting goals for ourselves, in order to unlock the energy and creativity inside each of us. When we set a goal, we cause a “gap” for ourselves – between the way things are and the way we want them to be. It is in our nature to want to close that gap. Keep in mind that the primary job of our creative subconscious mind is to keep us like we know we are. Setting a goal changes how we “know we are.” We must close the gap to maintain our sanity. In order to close that gap, to make the outside picture match the inside picture of who we know we are, our creative subconscious turns on enough energy and creativity to make it happen. We either get drive and ideas to move toward what we want in the future, or ideas and drive to stay where we are. Herein lies the danger of spending too much time looking back at the past. We’ve talked before about how human beings are picture oriented. Here’s the catch: we move toward the strongest picture. Our natural tendency is to maintain our current idea (picture) of who we are. In order to change, we need to make that future picture (goal) stronger and more attractive than the one that shows us staying put. By constantly reminding ourselves of our past, we lock onto the old picture and lose the drive to move forward.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! Defining "Is" “Is-ness” is not a term that you are likely to see in a textbook, but it is an idea that has a profound effect on who we are and how we behave. A person who believes that he or she “is” an optimist will naturally tend to look on the bright side as a day-in, day-out experience. But someone who simply feels optimistic right now may feel pessimistic tomorrow. An optimist “is” not who they are. It just happens to be something they are passing through today. We all behave in ways that are consistent with the person we believe ourselves to be. That is “is-ness” in a nutshell. So, you can see why it is important to know what you believe about yourself. That will involve a little introspection. Most of us devote precious little time to honest introspection, but when we do it nearly always leads to insights, and insights are the initial stepping-stones to becoming “more” than we were yesterday. If there are things you’d like to change, first change how you think and talk about them. Instead of saying, “I am in financial trouble,” say, “I have some debts right now, but I am taking action to resolve them.” Replace “I am a cancer victim,” with “I've developed cancer, but I am basically healthy and strong. I have the strength to fight this.” Your actions will follow your thoughts and words – but the beliefs, those thoughts and words, need to come first.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's the weekly message if you missed the email: Creating Solitude The concept of solitude is often overlooked in today's world, but it is essential for personal growth and development. People are social beings, and too much solitude can feel like a punishment. But, we need solitude for deep thinking and focusing on our goals. Noise-cancelling headphones are not just for sleeping while flying commercial airlines. Some therapists believe that therapy provides built-in time and structure to focus attention inward, leading to great renewal and growth. By taking time to be alone, we can rediscover solitude, build it into our schedule, and use it to think about our current situation and future goals. This solitary time can help us problem-solve, reflect, and re-connect with our heart's desires, as well as manage the challenges we face daily. By taking time to be alone, we can move ahead and make the most of our time.