love | The "O" Zone

There are crucial components to your development that must be examined to accelerate your progress. There is a core set of skills, values or principles which can be debated, but factually, these key ingredients build on your present state.

Let’s place four elements in this Core of More™. These elements confirm there is more in your core than you can imagine, yet you periodically ignore one or more components. They are Let it glow, Let it grow, Let it flow and Let it go. These ingredients will enable you to gain rather than regress and achieve surplus, that is not necessarily excess.

Let it Glow

Your light, however you define it, must be allowed to shine. Your talent, skills, abilities, capacity and resources must be a beacon of hope, a living positive example. Your light must be an indicator of your presence, purpose and performance. As we sang in Sunday School, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.” When it shines, it has a glow, a luminescence that grabs people attention, pinpoints your location and potentially influences your behavior.

Let it Grow

Skill level and impact will expand and enlarge your contributions. Influence grows as your abilities are refined and increased. You will devote the time, effort, energy and insight received from teachers, mentors and coaches to improve knowledge and the quality of your work.

You will become a continuous learner and communicator, passionate about getting better in the priority areas of your life. Your light will get larger and brighter and more will take notice of you and more will be expected of you, as more are influenced by your presence. Your abundance will become a windfall to others, as you realize you are slated to get better, so others can benefit from your brilliance.

Let it Flow

As it glows and grows, it will flow in the execution of your skill set and in helping other people. Work will become easier and more natural. Executing your tasks will appear effortless, mainly because you are in your sweet spot and you are letting it flow. It is captured in an acronym SMILE (So Make It Look Easy). An athlete will comment that they let the game come to them or the game slows down for them as they improve their craft.

When you let it flow, you remove the barriers to your performance. Your actions are as a well-trained athlete, gliding through the race; a musician who makes playing the instrument look easy; a world class professional speaker in their comfort zone, delivering a powerful message. You are caught up in the flow.

Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi , has a concept of flow which is defined as follows, “In positive psychology, as the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity”¹. It is a state where skills are consistent with the challenges presented to you. In the state of flow, you lose track of time and you are consumed in passion”². Simon Sinek says, “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion.”³ When you Let it flow, your passion shows, as you let it flow.

Let it Go

Along your journey, there are nouns you must displace. There are people, places or things that are excessive weight that must be discarded. As a hot air balloonist will tell you, if they want to increase their altitude, sand bags must be cast over board or they will hamper your ascension.

There are personal situations that try to hold you back and hold you down. In earlier articles I refer to them as the Hindre™ a person or spirit of negativity that attempts to hinder or restrict your progress. They must be released if you are to soar to the rightful heights of your achievement. You may know these impediments, or you must be open to people giving you a second opinion on people who are plotting against you.

You must let go of destructive habits, attitudes, the wrong crowd, the wrong mindset or other roadblocks that are impeding your progress.

Let it glow, Let it grow, Let it flow and Let it go, are part of the Core of More™. Apply these principles to help you achieve success in the professional and personal realms of your life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1998). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life
wordpress.com/2014/08/24/working..

We are often reminded of the priorities in your lives. We have an awakening that relationships and God give true meaning to our existence. What matters most and Precious little angels are two poems that put our priorities and purpose into perspective.

What matters most

What matters most,
Competes for time on our schedules
Like a client who makes an appointment.
They jockey for position
And request private audiences,
Primacy and priority status.

What matters most,
Believes in the seniority of faith,
The value of the home
And intermittently,
Issues demands to be moved
To the front of the line.

What matters most,
Is discontent with quality time,
For it serves to rationalize
The crumbs of attention
Thrown in their direction.
The left over morsels of time
Are insufficient,
For they do not meet the minimum
Daily requirements
Of our obligations.

What matters most,
Views a pedestal
And questions what occupies
The place which was reserved
For the critical elements
In our lives.

What matters most,
Tugs at our conscience,
Looks at us with solemn eyes,
Begs us to come home early,
To love God,
And treat our neighbors
As we wish to be treated.

What matters most,
Addresses our hearts,
Awakens feelings of responsibility,
For they know,
It is character over credentials,
And fulfillment of potential,
That grows our spirit.

What matters most,
Knows it is not power or possessions,
But the heartfelt confessions
To a Holy God that secures our eternity;
That relationships give us strength
And add seasoning and significance
To the caliber of our lives.

Precious little angels

Precious little angels

We’ll miss you tonight.

We were not prepared for your flight.

Our routine was to read and recite,

Say your prayers and kiss you good night.

Handsome and lovely ones don’t be afraid,

For Heaven will stage a parade.

We asked for assistance and when we prayed,

For the favorite games you played.

Precious little angels know that we feel,

The pain of the carnage is real.