Author: Stevie Puckett

  • These Aren’t the Important Things

    This is an excellent article by Kerry MacDonald, who has been traveling around the country this year learning about microschools and other alternatives to the conventional classroom.

    In a World Full of Robots, Humans Wanted | Cato Institute

    “So we got progress reports home saying she can only count to 100, but she should be counting to 150 at this point. And her Spanish comprehension is not where we want it to be. And around this time, it’s starting to click with me that maybe these aren’t the important things.”

    In a World Full of Robots, Humans Wanted | Cato Institute
  • Relationship Habits and the Power of Non-reaction

    • Relationships are not about what you do together but how you feel together.
    • There is a lot of power in non-reaction for changing relationship habits.
    • The world gets smaller and smaller if you decide you don’t want to go out because of the way others make you feel.
    • What are we here really to learn and teach?
    • TED Talk by a teen about what he wants to be when he grows up. It is simple, he wants to be happy.
  • Relationships and Focus: Creating Satisfying Relationships

    • Feeling good is powerful, and it is the place you must start to improve your relationships.
    • You will immediately feel heightened freedom and energy when you release others to their own creation and focus on yours.
    • People benefit from being around your positive energy almost as much as you do by allowing it!
    • You can be an example of a person who focuses on the positive as you go through your life feeling good and being secure in your personal power most of the time.
    • Make room for inspired action in all your relationships. Action that will result in new and better interactions and connections with others for you to enjoy.
    • It’s so important to be disciplined about what you are focusing on about other people in order to have satisfying relationships.
    • Don’t let your mind obsess about how someone is so awful, and don’t dwell on those things that you find annoying about someone else. Instead, cut them a break…no, cut yourself a break!
    • You have to control your focus to feel good. In fact, it is the only thing you do have control of. You can’t control others or at-the-moment situations you find yourself in, but you can control what you think about and what you give your attention to.
    • Every accomplishment and thing of beauty comes about because somebody believed in somebody. Believe in those around you. Believe in the best of them to see more of it.
    • And believe in yourself and your ability to keep your focus on what you enjoy and want to see more of…then look for it.
  • Powerful People: Relationships and Going with the Flow

    As you are walking around town working to get stuff done, did you know that it’s not so much what you say or how you say it but how you vibe that determines how your interactions with others will go? People are tremendously perceptive. Many are experts in body language and decoding a vibe, and they don’t even know it. You can be certain that others sense your vibe well before they can even make a logical argument to explain what they think of you.

    Can you do anything about what others think of you? Should you even try? No, don’t even try, not directly anyway. Taking direct action meant to control what others think of you is a waste of life energy. Instead, use the indirect method by working on your own vibration. Create time and space to focus on feeling good. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time…less than 5 minutes, really. And it doesn’t have to be a big production either. In fact, the simpler and less obtrusive, the better!

    Now some people might think that I’m talking about meditating every day. Meditation is a great way to bump the vibration up for some people. Personally, I find meditation a better tool for quieting mental chatter to get more in touch with intuition and tune in to your higher self. Reaching for the feeling of love and appreciation and the sweetness of life during meditation is a great way to use daily meditation to lift your vibration, too though.

    There are lots of ways to feel your vibrations soar each day. Listening to your favorite music for a few minutes…especially good beat, high flying, enjoy life type songs.

    Getting outdoors is another great way to raise your vibe. Whatever you can do outside that helps you notice the beauty of nature and absorb the majesty of life. You can do an activity like fishing, or hiking, or you could just gaze at the mountains, trees, or oceans for a bit.

    I also like what I call the Leading Questions Game. Think of questions you can ask yourself to get a happy response. Have fun with it. Remember, this is a game. Ask a question, then give yourself a few seconds to come up with something. So you might say, “Who can I appreciate right now?” or “What has been the happiest moment of my life so far?” or “If I felt like a powerful force for good right now, how would I feel.”

    Make it a priority to feel your own vibration soaring for a few minutes each day. Allow the high vibe, make a space for it. Do so, and you will find day-to-day interactions flowing like never before.

    There are powerful people around us all the time. People who can either help us create a new and better story or people who will help us rehash our old story. Relationships are about the potential of the next part of your story. Through your relationships, you become more of who you are. Much of the juice of life comes from interactions with others too.

    Even as we live our lives and have our experiences, we can maintain a fundamental view of others as people with the potential to connect meaningfully with us. Through times of connection, we all learn something new about ourselves. Different teachers and mentors will come into our lives through our relationships.

    It’s human nature to look to others to make us feel good. One of the best feelings ever happens when we look into someone’s eyes as we laugh with them. It’s so easy to appreciate the moment when that happens. But remember, no one else is responsible for how you feel. Would you even want them to be? I don’t care to be that dependent on anyone! I don’t control how others feel, and no one but me controls how I feel.

    You are worthy, and your perspective is valid. You have a unique point of view, and it matters. You matter whether anyone else recognizes that at any moment or not. Do not be dependent on other people’s opinions of you for your own happiness!

    That being said, strive to make appreciation the whole point of your interaction with others. That appreciation will strengthen you, even though, at first glance, it might feel like something you are doing for someone else.

  • Wiser than Me

    The first episode of the Wiser than Me podcast by Julia Louis-Dreyfus hooked me. Julia is featuring conversations with old ladies and what we can learn from them. The podcast is very well done. I’m looking forward to hearing more.