Masterful Mindsets

“Nurture your dreams as a gardener nurtures his plants.” ~Vridhi

We typically see a lot of moisture during spring. Being from Colorado this often comes in the form of snow, but it is moisture nonetheless. And seeing the tulips popping out from beneath the snow brings a sense of hope and excitement for what’s to come.

A very good friend (whom I always think of fondly around Earth Day, because she loved gardening) said to me one day, years ago, as we were talking about some plants that I was sure were dead... "All they really want to do is live, you just have to help them along and give them a chance."

I’ve never forgotten that. It was so profound to me because, truly, isn’t that what all of us want? We want to live and thrive. And sometimes, we just need a bit of help or support along the way. We need to be reminded not to give up on our hopes and dreams, instead, we need to nurture them. Just think of how you and your dreams might be able to grow...

"Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself."

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, that you are like the five people you surround yourself with most. So think for a minute about who you spend the majority of your time with… are they people who encourage and empower you or do you spend most of your time around negative people who would rather pull you down to their level than hold your hand as you rise to greatness together?

I realize that sometimes you don't have a choice. You may work with toxic people. Their negativity can bite you without warning and start to flow through you like gangrene. Creeping through your body and killing off the parts of you that contain your hopes and dreams. You may also have family members or people in your current social circle, like this. They are negative, non-supportive of...

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." ~Buddha

Relationships require effort. Anyone who tells you differently is misrepresenting the truth of relationships. Now I am not saying that they have to be difficult or hard. But they do require effort. Trust me, after 28 years of marriage (which we just celebrated this past weekend) we wouldn’t still be deeply in love with each other if we didn’t put effort into our relationship. Don't get me wrong, sometimes even we need a reminder. Life can get busy and overwhelming. And when that happens, it's easy to take your closest relationships for granted. But to keep any relationship alive and strong, it requires attention and effort. It requires kindness, love and affection.

Do a check right now before you read on… On a scale of 1-10, how much effort do you put into each of the relationships you value most? If the score you give yourself doesn’t match the value...