Good Morning MOJO,

Aron Ralston was trapped. While climbing alone in a narrow canyon in Utah, he became hopelessly stuck when an 800 pound boulder shifted and pinned his right arm. Stuck in a 3 foot wide slot, he tried for days to get free, but nothing worked.

Finally, after three days of being trapped without food or water, he realized he’d die if he didn’t take drastic action. Aron’s only option was to cut off his arm to save his life. Yes, that’s right; he cut off his arm, in the middle of nowhere, by himself, with a dull pocket knife – to live. It took him two days. When he finally free himself, he crawled through a narrow, twisting canyon, rappelled down a 60-foot cliff, and hiked six miles before he finally stumbled across help. All this with his forearm gone, the stump bleeding.

“I’m not sure how I handled it,” he said. “I felt pain and I coped with it. I moved on.” He knew there was no other way to live.

While most of our choices aren’t nearly that drastic, I couldn’t help wondering what we are willing to sacrifice to live, to achieve our goals, to accomplish our dreams. Because when times get tough and we’re stuck, we have choices. Keep what we’ve got, keep doing what we are doing and die, or take “drastic action” and sever what’s holding us back and live. It could be a destructive relationship, it could be a failing business, it could be unhealthy living or it could be addictions to drugs, alcohol, smoking, food, money, power, etc. that control our life.

Drastic changes? Yes, that is what is needed. There comes a time when that’s the only way out, and we’re the only one who can set ourselves free. Is life worth it? Ask Aron.

Click here to watch and hear as Aron Ralston describes the amputation.

Make it a powerful week, make the necessary changes and live!!!!!

Good Morning MOJO,

The key to getting what we want in life is making the choice.  The most common difference between those who get what they want and those who don’t are simply the everyday choices they make.  Typically it’s not their circumstances; it’s not the way they were raised, or their education.  Most people who are not accomplishing their goals in life are totally capable of reaching their goals if they were committed to them, but they have chosen not to – they just aren’t willing to do what is necessary to have a life that good.  Think about your life for a moment. What do you want and what does it take to get it?  Be very specific on what it takes to get it. 

So, why haven’t you been doing what it takes to get what you want? Before you start with all of the excuses, ask yourself: if you really had to do it, could you?  Let me make it a little clearer how this is a choice.  I don’t like to think these thoughts, but this will help you understand that you can do it if you want it bad enough.  If the person or person’s you care about the most lives depended upon it, could you do it? If you doing those specific things necessary were a matter of life or death, could you?  We both know the answer: of course you could and would do whatever it takes to make it happen to save the ones you love.  Life is a series of choices – the Y’s in the road of life.  In most cases if you take the easy path, the past most people take, you will experience short term gain and long term pain.  On the other hand if you have the courage to take the other path, the one most will not take, you may have some short term pain, but long term gain.  So, make the right choice.

Make it a GREAT week and make the right choices!

Disconnected…

Your gut, heart and soul say one thing…your voice, body and mind say something different.  You say Life is great. I’m happy. I’m healthy. I love my life. I am dependable. I’m disciplined. You can count on me. But down deep inside you know its BS. You’re not connected. You’re not in alignment.

When your voice, mind, body, soul, heart and gut are not in alignment is when life sucks and has drag. Like an airplane that has too much drag, if you don’t watch it you will crash! Drag creates anxiety and stress. It creates a feeling of being disconnected. Of not being in alignment. A feeling of just getting through life, not taking from it.  Trust me, I know how it feels. I think in life no matter how much we try to live our life connected, in alignment and balanced.

We all have times when we struggle with this when we are not honest with ourselves.  Unfortunately, I think most are disconnected.

I was one of those who was mostly disconnected until about 12 years ago, until enough was enough and I just got fed up. Quite frankly, because of changing from someone disconnected and not honest with myself for so long to someone who I think is pretty honest with himself, and mostly connected today is one of the main motivators for me to write Monday Morning MOJO.

I know the sense of relief and freedom that comes with being honest with myself. With being in alignment.  If you are ready to make a radical breakthrough in your life and really have a great life”, be happy, be healthy, and just  love your life, you need be honest with yourself about who you are today, who you want to be, and the discipline, accountability and changes you are going to need to make to get there.  When you make the commitment to do this, unlike New Years resolutions which never last, if you stick with it you will get connected.

It won’t happen over night and quite frankly I think it is something we all have to work at for the rest of our lives.  In the beginning, it will take months or perhaps years before you start to feel your soul, voice, body, mind and your gut connected. Once you do, you will notice everything in your life start to get better. Your health, your relationships, you business, your life

One of the books which had a huge impact on me years ago was The Power of Full Engagement written by Jim Loehr.  Another one of his books which we all should be checking out is “The Power of Story”.  What stories are we telling ourselves about ourselves?  Check out this short clip then order the book:

Make it a GREAT week.