“Thinking about what you don’t want to happen increases the odds that it will.” – Robert Kreigel, “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It”

It’s a rare occasion that a clock experiences a nervous breakdown. But one little ticker worked himself into a frenzy thinking about how often it would have to tick in the coming year. “I’ll have to tick two times per second,” he muttered. “Oh my, that means 120 ticks per minute, 7,200 each hour, 172,800 a day.” Continuing to calculate his responsibilities, the little clock worried it would not be able to complete the necessary 1,209,600 ticks every week. The clock suddenly realized it would have to tick nearly 63 million times during the next 12 months. The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. Finally the little clock become so anxious his little ticker went on the blink.

Realizing he needed help, the clock sought the counsel of a psychiatrist. “I just don’t have what it takes to tick that often,” he lamented. The counselor responded, “How many ticks must you tick at a time?” The clock answered, “Just one.” “How about using your energies to tick just one tick at a time,” suggested the counselor, “and I think you will be just fine.”

So, the little clock wound himself up, concerned himself with one tick at a time and ticked happily ever after.

Take life one tick at a time. Although your problems, upcoming challenges, or ongoing burdens seem insurmountable, you’ll find renewed strength by taking life one step at a time.

Thanks for reading.

This message is especially dedicated to the great writer, Robin S. Sharma.

Today, November 23, 2007, I, Ed Tseng am making a public declaration that I will now be rising with the sun every day and meditating. This is something I decided I wanted to do from now on, and when you make a public declaration, you are sure to follow through with it. If anyone would like to join me, please feel free, as it is a wonderful and powerful way to start your day. Here’s what I did today…

I lie awake in bed thinking new ideas about my book, Zen in the Art of Tennis, and how I’m going to spread my message and make sure I get on Oprah. Once I get on Oprah, I will have the notoriety, and I can begin my non-profit organization and travel spreading my message, and helping people achieve success. The thing about truly successful people is that they don’t want to go to bed at night, and they can’t wait to get up in the morning. I fall under that category; I can’t tell you how many times I tell people that I was up at 4am with some new ideas that I started jotting down, or typing. People look at me like I have three heads, but you know what? That tells me that I’m on the right track; the right track because I have the passion for what I am doing, but also that NOBODY else is doing it.

I got up right away and headed to my new Sanctuary of the Self (meditation area) and sat on a cushion. I started off focusing on my breathing, deep breathing. After a few minutes of deep breathing, I began focusing on gratitude. I was appreciating everything that I have in my life, big and small; I was thankful for my friends and family, my car, my house, my job, my ability to continuously gain knowledge and teach what I know, my health, etc. After my period of gratitude, I then focused on visualizing my goals, as if they were already been attained. This is a very powerful technique that very few people use. Your sub-conscious doesn’t know the difference between what you visualize in your mind, and what actually physically happens. This means that visualization is just as good as doing.
After that, I fed my dog started writing today’s blog message…

The time of my meditations will vary, and some days I may be out of town, so access to the Internet may be a challenge, but for for the most part, you can make sure I’m on track by looking at what time my posts were done…I’m predicting within an hour of the sun rising.

You may be thinking that you cannot do this every day because you don’t have the time. You’re wrong; that’s like saying you don’t have time to get gas because you’re too busy driving! Once you start doing this, it becomes a “get to” instead of a “got to.” Your inner strengths are just as important than your outer strengths, probably more.

“We are not passionate because we are successful, we are successful because we are passionate. Get passionate about life…don’t let it pass you by.” – Ed Tseng

“Don’t die with the music still inside you.”

Thanks for reading.

When talking about Thanksgiving, do you often say one or more of the following?…

“I don’t want to spend time with my family; they annoy me.”

“I have to prepare so much food, help out around the house; I’m going crazy.”

“I have to drive sooo far to my relatives’ house.”

“There’s going to be so much food and I’m going to gain so much weight.”

“I HATE turkey!”

Now, although those feelings may be true, it is your choice whether or not you dwell on them and let them bother you. I have negative thoughts all the time, but I accept them and immediately think about them in a positive way.

If you have to drive far, think of it as a good time to listen to a good audio book in the car; or if there is going to be so much food, think of it as having many options; if your family drives you crazy, think about all the people in the world that don’t even HAVE families.

Thanksgiving is a time of appreciation and gratitude. If you are reading this, you have the gift of life. Don’t just go through life merely existing and WANTING materialistic things. True happiness comes from helping others and expressing appreciation and gratitude to everyone you come in contact with. Treat everyone the same, regardless of how they treat you; if they are good to you, love them back; if they are cruel to you, love them back.

“all communication is either a loving response or a cry for help.”

It’s easy to give love to someone who is good to you, but if you give love to someone who is not good to you, and you do it long enough, you will change their attitude and their intensity will disappear.

One of the things that changed my life is when I began incorporating gratitude in my life. I started appreciating everything in my life, especially the little things. But it’s like anything else, you can’t just do it once – you have to do it every day. Honestly, every day is Thanksgiving to me and happiness is always with me.

Much appreciation and gratitude for reading.