Personal Development Carnival: Issue 32

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I’m afraid.” – Audre Lorde

Welcome to the 32nd issue of the Personal Development Carnival. This carnival is dedicated to people who want to share and receive ideas to improve the quality of their relationships, sustain happiness and create lasting success for the next 45 years; and beyond.

Every Sunday a new carnival containing your thoughts, articles and inspirational stories will be shared. You may participate by visiting the submission form at the bottom of this issue. Continue to live while resisting the temptation to regret your past. Instead, you need to take full advantage of your future. After all, it isn’t how you start in life, it’s how you finish.

The Art of Pause
by Cameron Schaefer

I noticed my month-old daughter had grown a lot in the past couple weeks. She was changing quickly. Her hair was longer, she didn’t quite fit into some of her newborn outfits, she seemed much taller and, in a sense, I was missing it…not because I had been away, though that had some to do with it, but because I was becoming consumed with the “busy-ness” of life.

This struck me deeply as I held her. I turned off the television, closed my laptop and just looked at her. My daughter was teaching me the art of the pause. more>>

Bounce Back After Failure
by Ralph Jean-Paul

One of the best learning tools that are available to us as human beings is also the same tool that we are most afraid of. It’s interesting how even the thought of failing at even the simplest task can prevent most people from even attempting that task.

In the greater scope of achieving life goals, the fear of failure is an enormous hurdle for most people to jump. The truth is failure cannot be avoided forever. Those who attempt to flee from it their entire lives almost certainly miss great opportunities and even greater rewards. more>>

When Life Squirts Lemon Juice in Your Eye…
by Jen Schiller

… make lemonade. Or, in my case, cry about it, b*tch to your husband, throw a minor tantrum, melodramatically insist that you cannot go on another day, grudgingly accept your circumstances, and make some damn lemonade. With Splenda, because you haven’t been working out lately.

OK, I think I’m done whining now. But seriously, what should we do when it seems like everything is going wrong? Is there any way to make it easier on ourselves? Here are some strategies I’m going to try. more>>

How to Stop Worrying
by Warren Wong

When you worry, you are essentially directing all your thoughts towards a possibility that you dislike. You imagine yourself standing in a court room and getting sued. You imagine yourself lying on a bed with a terminal illness. You imagine people disliking you for doing something you want to do.

When you do this, you start to form memories of all of these situations as discussed in the passage of time. If you do this long enough, then most of your memories will be of these situations. After all, those are the most recent and most thought about things, so it’s only natural that your brain holds on to them. more>>

Make a Decision Easier
by Tupelo Kenyon

Do you hem and haw over the details of a decision so long that the actual decision is perpetually delayed? Do you get bogged down in the minutia and lose sight of the big picture?

Decisions needn’t be a chore. In fact, it’s a profound privilege to be able to make decisions for yourself. Consider the alternative. Would you rather have someone else make your decisions for you? The ability to make your own decisions is a good definition of freedom. more>>

Letting Go of Negative Thinking and Fear
by David B. Bohl

I know a few people for whom everything has to be a problem. If they get a promotion, they’re worried about whether they can do the work. They’ll probably end up getting fired, they say. They shouldn’t have taken the promotion.

Nothing is good for these people. They have to look at the negative in every situation. I’m convinced that they don’t just do this. They have to do it, because they are incapable of having a positive outlook. more>>

Four Essential Skills to Starting Relationships with Strangers
by Dean Lacono

The common factor of any relationship, even ones that you are intentionally using the Law of Attraction to bring into your life, is that you start by meeting strangers.

Obvious point to think about, at one time every friend, co-worker, buddy, chum, lover, boy/girlfriend, etc. was a stranger. This article focuses on four essential skills to starting relationships with strangers. Whether these relationships develop further is another issue. more>>

Failures and Mistakes: Keys to Success
by Lorraine Cohen

We all know that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

Did you know he also invented the stock ticker, the electric vote recorder, the automatic telegraph, the electric safety miner’s lamp, fluorescent lights, the motion picture camera, and the phonograph?

While struggling with the light bulb, he replied, “I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” From the book The Power of Patience, by M.J. Ryan.

Do you have a fear of failure? more>>

Lessons from the Geese
by Rich Vosler

A few nights ago I was struggling. It was one of those days where I felt like I had had enough. Being a single father can weigh on you. It seemed as if everyone needed something from me and I couldn’t deliver. I was dangling at the end of my rope over a pond full of alligators and I was losing my grip.

As a respite, I went to a favorite spot in my office. It’s a window dormer where I have a special altar in honor of my late wife Joanne. I knelt down and began to ask my Higher Power for more strength. I questioned everyone and everything I could think of. The tears came for the first time in many months. more>>

How Do You Know When You Are in a State of Balance?
by Jeanie Marshall

The quick answer to the question, “How Do You Know When You are in a State of Balance?” is: “You know by how you feel.” You can only feel in the present moment.

You can certainly reflect on how you felt in the past, but your reflection takes place in the present moment. You can imagine how you will feel in the future, but you are using your imagination now; in the future, you may or may not feel as you thought you would. more>>

Thanks to everyone who submitted articles. You are invited to submit your articles and inspirational stories to the next edition of the Personal Development Carnival using our carnival submission form.

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