What could they have asked?

This next entry is dedicated to my grad school classmate Kyle Parker. He made me aware of the online clips that I will discuss in this post. The website is http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/

The clips can be found at
New Orleans
New York


The concept is simple the same one question asked to 50 people. They did one clip on their answers from New Orleans and one clip on their answers from New York. The question that was asked and the corresponding videos that followed inspired me to write the first three posts of my blog in about nine hours. The question can be considered anything from simple to complex depending on your perspective.

By the end of today what would I wish to happen?

The reason I had such a positive reaction to this idea is because I just finished reading The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer. The first principle in the book is to take 100% responsibility for your life. The last couple of days I had set up some ideas for my first few blog entries but I felt I had writer's block when it came to actually putting it together. This question reminded me that I have complete control of my life. What did I want to do by the end of the day? I wanted to get my blog rolling!

I know that depending on your perspective that question could fall anywhere on the spectrum between beautiful and easy and gut wrenching and impossible to answer.

If you find yourself too far on either end may I offer some humble advice? First off for those who find it impossible to answer have comfort you are not alone I and many others have been there to. From my experience when I got so overwhelmed by either the activities I had to perform or the uncertainty of what I was supposed to do the best thing to do was to break it down. Breaking it down is just taking a larger goal and chunking it down into smaller parts. If your mind is so full of thoughts and you don't know where to turn next try calming it down. Do a little meditation or say a prayer and your conscience will point you in the right direction.

For those who find it easy I hope their quick response is full of passion and certainty. I hope it is not just an acceptance of the norm. Trust your gut; it knows the difference.

By the end of today what would I wish to happen is a loaded question. That is why I'm addressing it. I would like to comment on some of the responses to the question I saw from the clips. I would like to point out some themes I noticed as well as other observations. Before I dive in I want to make crystal clear that I believe everyone has a right to answer any question however they feel is right and if any of this comes off as judgmental I apologize in advance.

The first theme that was most obvious to me was the reaching out for love and success. I think in a way this kind of the default for human being. I know at 26 I am still striving for love and success so take this with a grain of salt. I’m not sure how to be successful or how to find true love but my gut tells me follow your passion. If you follow your passion logic would say you're going to be a happier person a good amount of time. I also think the goals that are planted in our heart are a roadmap from the universe on what we are supposed to do with our lives.

The next theme I noticed was real human emotion. Both sides of the coin were well represented. I saw real sadness and a real genuine happiness. My answer to both situations is prayer. I pray for those who are sad to find a way to let go and find that silver lining that is out there for all of us if we look hard enough. I also pray for those with big grins on their faces because I hope that they can keep that ability every day for the rest of their life.

I would like to send out another prayer for those whose day consisted of what I like to call the mundane complain. Sometimes days are filled with ordinary tasks but only the individual can determine how they are accomplished. Instead of saying “I just want all my work be done.” As an alternative try “I will accomplish all my goals with ease!” I have faith in the saying if you can believe it you can achieve it.

I felt sad for the lady in the New York clip who is not looking forward to seeing someone at a wedding and was afraid that her answers might become public. It reminded me of a younger version of myself. My advice is be who you are in your heart and never worry about judgment. Saying what you really feel to anyone that asks has a way of attracting what you want into your life.

I hope that everyday you wake up with a wish in your heart for that day because if you do what is necessary to make that wish come true the end result will be a life full of dreams come true.

A big thank you to the great minds behind fiftypeopleonequestion.com

Keep up the great work!

Thanks for reading!
Chris

Provoking Positivity?

Hi Everybody!

Like I said in my last post I am indebted to Steve Pavlina for giving me this idea as a business model. The overall theme for Steve's blog is personal development for smart people. That got me thinking “okay what do I want the overall theme of my blog to be”.

There is no question I want to spread positivity throughout the world with my words, but that does not 100% encapsulate everything I have to say. I have a lot of thoughts floating around in my head that I want to share with the world. Sometimes they are odd sometimes they're quirky and sometimes they're just plain weird, but every once in awhile I am blessed with a thought that is profound. I also want this to be a forum to share those kinds of ideas. The phrase thought provoking popped into my head. But then I put on the brakes in my head. I thought is that the best idea? Doesn't provoke and provoking have negative connotations?

So I decided to go to the good old Google web definitions gadget and here is what I found.

Provoking- agitative: causing or tending to cause anger or resentment; "a provoking delay at the airport"

I am not in the business of agitating people. When it all comes down to it I want to bless people's lives; I want to enrich people’s lives. I believe the idea to promote something or promoting is a much more appropriate verb.

Promote: contribute to the progress or growth of; "I am promoting the use of computers in the classroom"

That is exactly what I'm looking for! I want to contribute to and help grow peoples’ beliefs in themselves and others. For now I cannot come up with any more perfect theme for our blog then promoting positivity. Let’s help grow the good things in life and see what we can accomplish together.

You might've noticed that in the last couple sentences I used words like we and our. I meant that; there was no mistake. Even though this blog has my name at the top if you take the time to read this you are now part of my online family. We can do more together spreading good throughout the world than I ever could do by myself.

I have a great biological family, an amazing extended family that includes all my wonderful friends, but now I also have a new brotherhood of an online family. We can make positive strides in this world each and everyday through our conscious thoughts and actions.

Please feel free to contact me through the blog or at my e-mail address chris.rathje@gmail.com

I want to hear from you because for lack of a better term I want this to be a reader centric blog. If you take the time to read one of my entries I want you to feel like it was worth your time. I want to know what you like and what you dislike because I strive to produce entries you like and entries that uplift you. My ultimate goal would be to write such high quality entries you would pass them along to a friend therefore more people can promote positivity!

I strive to be accountable to you the reader. I want to always focus on the positive and if you ever feel that I falter in this goal please let me know. I envision sharing a frustrating story or a negative experience but there will always be a point to it. I will try my absolute best to always finish every entry on a high note.

I came across this word more than a year ago engender. The google web definitions gadget simple definition is call forth. I've also known it to mean to make the conditions right to create. This would seem appropriate to me since there are some biblical uses for giving birth or creating the conditions for birth. Whatever definition you want to put on engender I think it is beautiful word so let's go out there and engender some positivity while minimizing negativity. In future posts I will talk more about the tactics to make this happen.

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has a blessed day!
Chris

The Beginning- How did I get here?

Hi World! For those of you who do not know me my name is Chris Rathje.

When coming to what motivated me to start this blog I would say it is a two-pronged answer. I had the inspiration to write a book about a month after I finished grad school in early 2006. I was sitting in my bedroom at my parents’ house reading a compilation of minibiographies of some of the great figures of history. After reading the sections of Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain a little lightning bolt went off in my head and I was thinking “I could write a book too!” That thought mulled around in my head for nearly a year until I attempted to word process some of my thoughts after I moved down to Birmingham, Alabama. Two years and seven attempts later I'm still a ways away from completing a book, but I do wholeheartedly believe in my ability to think and write.

Then just this week I was reading an interview between Yanik Silver (an Internet marketing genius) and Steve Pavlina. It truly inspired me! Steve has a website completely dedicated to personal growth and his seven universal growth principles (www.stevepavlina.com). Steve currently has other projects going on, but it all started with his blog and is still a major source of income for him. I love Steve's approach to how he runs his blog and why you does it. His articles center around people becoming better versions of themselves through many different facets of life.

There are many other people on the web doing this. Several people who sell similar content through information products on the Internet. Steve did not want to take this route because he would be limiting his impact to the 5 to 10% who decided to buy his product. He figured if he provides good content monetary rewards will follow. I would like to humbly use the same business model.

I know I have so many thoughts to share with the world so why not start today?

From a very early age I have been fascinated with looking up words in the dictionary. The main reason for this is because a dictionary definition gives everyone an equal understanding of what words mean and in theory this would allow people to communicate better with one another. The words that I present for your perusal are extremely appropriate for the first of anything.

Begin: take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

Start: set in motion

So I humbly submit this as the first step and set in motion a bigger vision to become a writer who unites his fellow man and is a force of good.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
Chris