Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest under an assumed name and didn’t even make the finals. How could that possibly happen? He was Charlie Chaplin! Because no one expected Charlie Chaplin to enter a look-a-like contest for himself. The reality – we see what we want to see and what we expect to see. The lesson – we can’t always trust our own perceptions.
When what we believe and what we do are not congruent, something has to give. And as Freya Stark suggests, that something is our own happiness.
Check in today and ask yourself “Did my actions reflect what I believe?” If you answer “yes,” you are undoubtedly a very happy person. If your answer is “no,” honor the integrity of your beliefs with more congruent action and your happiness will soar.
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S. Comment and share what you do to honor the integrity of your beliefs.
I’m Italian, so passion is wired into my DNA. I’m passionate about everything I do. When passion is a way of life it gets you through the boring tasks and projects, making it easier to not give into the tedium. Yes, I’m often tempted to take a break to clean toilets or iron clothes instead of writing a report.
I don’t like everything I do in my legal nurse consulting business, but everything is so much easier when I passionately embrace it, whether I’m feeling passionate or not.
Try being Italian for a day. Put more passion into your life – it just might work for you and your CLNC® business. 🙂
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S. Comment and share your experiences with embracing passion in your daily life.
This quote from A Course in Miracles is why I have a 4:00am tea time – a tradition I picked up trekking in the Himalayas. Balance and perspective are always my first call of the day.
Banish fear and you will endow the world with attributes of love, peace and abundance.
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S. Comment and share how you will banish your fears.
Tom and I were in the Maldives on a dolphin viewing cruise. I’ve seen dolphins at home and worked with dolphins at Sea World, but these are “Spinner” dolphins. Their eccentric behavior is to jump out of the water and spin in the air like an Olympic skater executing a triple Axel jump. Everyone was excited to be on the water and, needless to say, our expectations were high.
Suddenly, there we were, in a channel surrounded by more than 100 dolphins. You could see their white bellies as they swam just in front of the boat – surfing the pressure wave created by the bow. They splashed in the wake, made rolling turns and swam in tightly packed groups of 2-8. They did every type of dolphin behavior – except the one we came for – spinning.
I’ve never seen so many dolphins at one time. They moved so quickly, breaching the surface to breathe and then swimming off at an incredible rate of speed. I’m an amateur photographer. Point, click and hope for a good photo. After taking way too many pictures of dolphin tails and backs (they’re too fast to photograph without being able to anticipate their next move) I just stopped,
The morning of my birthday I woke up in a villa on stilts over the water in the Maldives. The portion of the Indian Ocean that extended into the safe harbor of our atoll was a brilliant azure blue. It was a storybook location. I sipped my two cups of healthy green tea, simply sitting and listening to the whisper of the waves beneath me, then climbed down into the hammock that had been beckoning. Soon I was in a state of bliss.
Click the photo to see more beauty in the Maldives
The night before, when we climbed off the boat from the airport and checked into the hotel, there were all sorts of activities to sign up for. My first response was that I wanted to do them all. But prudently all we signed up for was a 10:00pm dinner reservation. Those of you that know me well know that a 10:00pm dinner is quite a stretch – at home I’m usually into a REM cycle, not a glass of red wine, at 10:00pm.
The next morning, my birthday, I woke up and thought to myself,
I aspire to live a life of significance and this quote reminds me that living that life requires intention.
How significant is it to get the highest score in Candy Crush® or be the fastest responder in Words With Friends®? Time is a precious gift, not to be wasted. What will you do today to be significant?
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S. Comment and share what living a life of significance looks like to you.
I was in Kigali, Rwanda talking to a young woman, Darlene, who’d lost her aunts and uncles to the 1994 genocide. As you probably recall, in 100 days more than 1,000,000 Rwandans classified as Tutsi were machine-gunned, hacked and clubbed to death by Rwandan Hutus. Neighbors murdered neighbors. Coworkers killed coworkers. Anyone labeled Tutsi by their identity card was marked for death and many were killed. Visiting the Genocide Memorial is a sobering experience. Photos of the missing victims, children, parents, siblings are hung in a room – taken from the walls of the refugee camps where survivors hoped that against the odds they’d find any other surviving family member.
Darlene attends the Akilah Institute for Women, whose mission is to help young Rwandan women become successful entrepreneurs and leaders in their country. She survived due to a stroke of luck – her parents sought refuge in Burundi during the genocide while the rest of her family had stayed behind in Rwanda to perish. When I asked her about her loss, she said “I cannot change the past, but I can change the future.” Profound and amazingly upbeat – I can’t say that I would feel the same way.
I just got back from tracking gorillas in Rwanda – a country I never thought I’d visit and an experience I never thought I’d have. My twin brother, Vince jokes that he loves animals more than he loves people. After experiencing gorillas in the wild, I know why. LOL! When a gorilla looks at you the experience is spiritual. It’s like they are looking into your soul and affirming all the mysteries of life.
When traveling we discover ourselves (and our potential) as much as we discover others. What country would you like to travel to next?
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S. Comment and share what excites your sense of childlike wonder.
How often do you handle emergencies at your RN job as easily as making the bed? How often do you make split second decisions that are the difference between life and death for your patients? Promise #5 reminds us that if we can do all that, for sure we can do something as straightforward as talk to an attorney and analyze medical records.
The more you succeed, the more you will succeed because you believe you can. Don’t underprice yourself or your RN expertise. Always remember, We Are Nurses and We Can Do Anything!®
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S. Comment and share how your beliefs have led you to CLNC success.
*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
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