Do you think two words can change your life? No? Come on, have a little fun. Play with me. I have two keys that will make your life happier.
The first key is ACCEPTANCE. Do you think that is passive or weak? How many of you think acceptance is running away from the struggle? What if acceptance was a springboard to the rest of your life? I know it’s true. I’ve lived it.
I came from a crazy family. I mean, we’re talking crazy! I know I’m not alone. How many of you know what I mean? They were so crazy I ran away to the circus. Well, I ran away to the opera, but since they both have elephants, it’s easy to get confused. I was on the world’s stage from Carmen to Family Guy until I hit 50 going about 90! I crashed and burned.
The first thing I needed to do was get out of my denial (Who me? I’m fine. How are YOU?) and accept exactly where I was. I had crashed and burned. I couldn’t define myself as a glamorous opera singer anymore. I had to accept that I felt like an absolute failure. I didn’t even know who I was anymore. The only way I could get out of that hole was accept that I was sitting in one. I had to become conscious of the reality of my situation. Once I did, I began to change.
The second key is ASK. Do you know that most of us don’t ask for what we want? We only ask for what we think we can get. Why? Because we don’t want to lose face. We want to be cool. Oh, how I hate that four letter word! Stop being cool – be real. It’s riskier but it’s more fulfilling.
Jack Canfield, my mentor and teacher has a chapter in his new book The Success Principles titled Ask! Ask! Ask! First, stop making assumptions and have the guts to ask, What did you mean by that? We are afraid to look dumb so we assume – it is deadly. We’ve trained ourselves for so many years to settle for less, that we let go of what our hearts really want. Let me explain.
A man died and gets to heaven and knocks on the pearly gates. St. Peter welcomes him. “John, I’m so glad you’re here.” The man walked in, looked all around and saw a huge pile of boxes to the right. “What are all those boxes?” St. Peter says, “Go take a look.” He goes to look at the boxes and on each one he sees a gift tag, To: John. Love, God. All the boxes are labeled the same way. He runs back to St. Peter. “I don’t understand this. All of these boxes have my name on them.” St. Peter says, “Yes, they are all your gifts, except you never asked for them.”
Accept exactly where you are in your life and ask for what you want — two huge steps toward a happier life; I promise. I live it every day.