“Surrounded by people who love life, you love it too; surrounded by people who don’t, you don’t.” ~Mignon McLaughlin

The following familiar story, as written below, comes from the website: DontFeedTheWolf.com

“One winter’s evening whilst gathered round a blazing camp fire, an old Sioux Indian chief told his grandson about the inner struggle that goes on inside people.

‘You see’ said the old man, ‘this inner struggle is like two wolves fighting each other. One is evil, full of anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, deceit, false pride, superiority, and ego.’

‘The other one,’ he continued, poking the fire with a stick so that the fire crackled, sending the flames clawing at the night sky, ‘is good, full of joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’

For a few minutes his grandson pondered his grandfather’s words and then asked, ‘So which wolf wins, grandfather?’

‘Well’, said the wise old chief, his lined face breaking into a wry smile, ‘The one you feed!’”

So, in other words, if you surround yourself with positivity, you will live with more positivity. If you surround yourself with negativity, you will find yourself living with more negativity.

There is a wonderful discussion of this very concept in a video done by the publisher of Success Magazine, Darren Hardy.

You can view the short video by clicking here.

I challenge you to seek out those who set a great example — who inspire you with their positivity, their motivation, their initiative, and their greatness. Surround yourself with people who constantly push the bar a little bit higher, and you will find yourself emulating them and following their lead. You will become more positive as a result, and you will experience more successes than disappointments.

Seek out the positive! Be the positive…Feed the “good” wolf inside of you!

I wish you the best!

-Victor

Photo source: http://echiax.deviantart.com/

I wrote this poem — food for thought — If you like it, please share with others!

http://victorschueller.wordpress.com/mr-lizard-brain/

This week, the spotlight is on Kirk Weisler, speaker and author of the book, “The Dog Poop Initiative.”

Kirk will be joining me on Monday, January 23 and 30 at 12 PM Central on Simply Empowered Radio.

Please check out Kirk’s page in my weekly spotlight! You won’t want to miss the interview!

“It is important to remember, it’s not the words we speak on the outside, but the thoughts we have on the inside, that determines which chair we are operating from.” ~Peggy Smith

I had the pleasure of speaking with Certified Non-Violent Communication Trainer Peggy Smith this past Monday on my radio show, and one of the exercises she did with me for the show was the “Four-chair” exercise.

Each “chair” represents a choice of reacting to messages of those that we come into contact with and interact with.  Peggy was kind enough to refer me to her article, which details what each chair represents, or which choice of reaction is represented by each chair.

The ultimate goal, from my understanding, is to get to the point where you can sit in “chair four” and choose to react accordingly.  I am not there yet!  I am usually jumping between “chairs” one and three.  If I could sit comfortably in “chair four,” I am sure it would make a difference in how I interact with others.

Take a moment to read through the exercise, and think about what chair you “sit” in regularly when it comes to interactions with others.

As Peggy clearly stated, “It is important to remember, it’s not the words we speak on the outside, but the thoughts we have on the inside, that determines which chair we are operating from.”

Which “chair” do you “sit” in?  Let me know!

-Victor

This article describes the secret to Google’s selection as the “Best Workplace in America.”

Google is famous for it’s free food, bowling alleys, massages, and other perks provided to the employees, but Google executives do not believe these perks are the reason why it’s a great place to work.

“Google treats employees as the owners of the company, that it has an ethic of corporate transparency that allows rank and file workers to question and expect honest answers from their superiors — even CEO Larry Page, at the company’s weekly “TGIF” all-hands meetings — and that the company tries to empower employees to feel that everyone can have an impact, both internally, and in the larger world.”

There are other unique touches Google adds to the workplace to make it a great place to work, including caring about the air quality.

You can read the article here:

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_19773900

I found an article that underscores how deeply workplace bullying can affect a person. Apparently, the teacher who committed suicide felt the workplace culture was being severely (and negatively) affected by the administration in the district.  It’s worth a read.

I especially found the following passage interesting — “Teachers admitted that they are intimidated by school officials, afraid for their jobs and dare not speak openly about the conditions they face. More than one teacher spoke about being harassed for taking sick days. Another teacher noted the irony of having an anti-bullying campaign in the school while the teachers are being bullied.”

So true — we tell kids they can’t bully others — but it’s okay to turn a blind eye to adults bullying others?

Let me know your thoughts…Here’s the link:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/suic-j09.shtml

An article from the University of Michigan News Service reports, “While it may come as little surprise that happy employees are more productive, a high-performing workforce needs more than just a feeling of contentment…”

It turns out that a seven-year study shows that workers not only need to be happy — they need to thrive at work.

The article goes on to state, “The researchers identified two components of thriving—vitality and learning.”

Read more here:

http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20165-being-happy-at-work-is-nice-but-thriving-is-betterand-more-productive

This article comes right out of the “Good News Network,” which I featured a couple of weeks ago on my spotlight page.

Check out this article to see if you can shore up any potential regrets down the road.  It’s a very intriguing read…

Here’s the article:

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/most-popular/top-5-regrets-of-the-dying.html

“Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.” — Edwin Arlington Robinson

This morning, something happened that never happened to me before.  I stopped by a Starbucks prior to a training I was conducting, and when I got to the window to pay and pick up my drink, the clerk said, “The woman in front of you paid for your coffee and said that you should have a good day.”  Stunned, I grabbed the coffee, said, “Oh wow…How nice…” and drove off.

It was a great way to start the day.  I started thinking about how that made me feel.  I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude toward this stranger who was so gracious as to pay for my coffee, and I felt almost this sense of urgency to do the same thing for someone else down the road.  If I would have had my head on straight I could have just said that I would pay for the coffee for the person behind me.  By the time that occurred to me it was too late, but I’ll do it again.

When someone does something out of the goodness of their heart, you feel a sense of gratitude.  But, what’s more, the good feelings you get from it are contagious, and you want to make someone else feel good too.  It feels good to give, and that feeling of warm generosity just feels great — so I’ll call that GREAT-itude.

What ways can you give someone else a sense of GREAT-itude in simple ways?  I would love to hear your suggestions!

Have a great day!

-Victor

Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net