Start with a Simple Idea.
It’s as simple as that. Or is it? We hear stories about people who are fulfilled and successful, motivated and inspired. What many of these people have in common is that they started their Journey of Success with a simple idea that ultimately sparked growth in their personal lives while contributing to the world around them.
I had some crazy dream about Skylab, America’s first space station, last night — how I was trying to walk on one of its pinwheel arms while maintaining my balance in a gravity-free environment — not an easy task even within the fuzzy confines of a dream. All of which got me thinking, mid-dream, about what a wonder the whole contraption of Skylab is. Having experienced its interstellar wonder in my dream, I woke up thinking about how much research and groundwork and hope and intention and vision and forward thinking went into creating it.
Skylab didn’t just happen. It started with a simple idea and it grew. Maybe someone scribbled his or her original idea of it on the back of a bar napkin. Maybe it was the result of some astrophysicists having breakfast together at a conference. Maybe some scientist woke up with a detailed dream of it. I don’t know Skylab’s true genesis, but someone had to take it and move it beyond a doodle or an entry in a lab notebook.
In a TED talk (click on the link below), Tony Robbins tells the story of his family receiving an unexpected and generous Thanksgiving Day kindness when he was younger. As a teenager, Robbins wanted to pay this stranger’s kindness forward, so he anonymously provided a different family with a Thanksgiving dinner. This generous and simple idea grew into the creation of an organization that now feeds millions of people.
I love stories like this. Still, as inspiring as they are, they can also feel to be a bit overwhelming. The obvious questions enter into my thoughts: How did Tony Robbins grow the organization from this one simple gesture? How did he organize enough people to join him in his vision? Where did he get the capital to grow the organization into such a large one? Sure, the amazing and energetic and dynamic Tony Robbins could pull this off . . . but could I?
Details, details, details. I so often get lost in the details. If I were to look back on my life and pushpin myself onto any given past moment, would I have imagined all of the dynamics of Today? Parts of Today? Maybe parts, yes. But all of the amazing-ness that I now experience? No. I don’t think I could have foreseen a tiny glimpse of the bigger picture. I had to take one simple step. And believe. And know. And feed the vision.
Skylab was originally launched unmanned but there were eventually several different crews delivered to the station. On the latter missions, there was even an additional spacecraft orbiting to rescue the crew should they encounter any emergencies. Imagine these baby steps. First, unmanned. Next, manned missions. Ultimately, backup and support.
For a free download (in workbook format) of today’s journal prompt “Start with a Simple Idea,” provide your email address, and I will send you your inspiring journal exercise for you to print out and to start journaling. Time to make a differrence!
And to conclude on an uplifting note . . . This is such an inspiring TED talk: Why We Do What We Do. If you have 21:45 today to take the time to just relax and to open your mind to possibilities, this is a great TED talk. In fact . . . watch it before you begin journaling. The ideas that Tony Robbins shares will expand your thinking and your creativity and your perceptions of what is possible.
In this age of mindfulness, abundance, and positive thinking, we can’t help but read and hear a lot about the importance of thinking positive thoughts. We read the anecdotes and the stories from those whose lives have been richly blessed by the positive effects of mindful manifesting, and we wonder if the same would work in our lives. Does positive thinking work? I believe so. Actually, I think so — with the most positive thoughts I that can create and think. And after all, the alternative — negative thinking — isn’t all that great of an alternative.
Being a person who enjoys words and writing, I was hoping that some neat turn of phrase might bubble to the surface. Maybe something profound or appropriately witty or, even better, both. Something that would neatly sum up all of the many memorable events that have marked the calendar these past six months . . . experiences that stand as fence posts upon which I have strung the minutes, hours, and days.
It’s the first thing that came to mind and now, after re-reading my list of Top 9 Fence Posts, it makes sense. Looking Both Ways implies some sense of caution, like what our parents tell us before crossing a street: Look both ways!
This, I must say, is a GREAT feeling: returning to work from vacation and not being able to remember my password. When this happens, I know that I truly got away from my day-to-day stuff.
The Unseen Words Project 