Deeper Connections

The world will suggest for you plenty of things to pursue. The trouble is, those things can’t bring fulfillment. Do you really want what you think you want? Or are you just following a borrowed dream? When following a dream that isn’t even yours, there’s no passion to propel you forward. Even when you do somehow manage to reach it, the prize will be empty if you never really wanted it. You can stop listening to what the world says you should want and start listening to who you are. You can allow yourself discover what truly brings you joy. You can let yourself live, not to impress others, but to follow the values you hold most dear. Real success comes when you can be who you are. Listen as Ralph offers some suggestions on how to do this.

The more difficult the situation, the more reasons you have to move beyond it. What if you could give yourself permission to feel great about right now? What if you could have the go-ahead to bubble with enthusiasm for what you can do with this day? Imagine being able to look forward to the future with eager anticipation. Think of how it would feel to radiate true confidence as you work to transform the challenges into achievements. No matter what your situation, it’s certainly not going to hurt to have a little bit of encouragement as you deal with it. That’s what this week’s podcast is all about. Listen as Ralph goes through a whole list of compelling reasons to be encouraged, no matter what you may be going through.

Serenity gives a powerful way to experience life. In serenity, there is strength. Staying calm, when confusion and chaos surround you, keeps you firmly in control. With serenity, you can respond with much more power and positive focus. By staying calm, instead of letting events scatter your attention in a thousand different directions, you remain in control. When you can quiet your mind, suddenly the distractions which seemed so overwhelming feel like they’re a million miles away. As you sink deeper into the awareness of being here in the present moment, you leave behind the worries, the fears and the doubts. Join Ralph for a journey to a powerful, refreshing, energizing place. And experience the value that serenity can bring.

Courage is already within you, and always yours to choose. Challenges are great, risks are many, and uncertainties abound. You’re not sure what will happen today, or tomorrow. Nonetheless, you can move ahead with courage. Courage is knowing that you can enact a positive response to whatever happens. Courage is being realistic about your prospects, listening to your fears, and taking well-informed action. Join Ralph for an exploration of courage. Feel your purpose, choose your courage, and transform the challenges into achievements.

No matter where you start, with enough persistence you can reach the goal. Every success story is a story of persistence. Persistence is not particularly glamorous or exciting. Yet the results of persistence can be truly amazing. Persistence is not always easy, though it is always accessible. Once you’ve made the effort you can continue making the effort, and that’s what will make the difference. It’s completely understandable that you will, from time to time, feel like giving up. It’s also absolutely possible to let go of that dejected feeling, and to replace it with an even stronger desire to persist no matter what. Listen as Ralph makes a compelling case to persist in your efforts no matter what.

Joy gives an energy to life in a way that nothing else can match. Nothing feels quite like pure, authentic joy. The very fact that joy feels so good, so right, is an indication that it’s something to be treasured, enlarged, and shared. The more joy you have in your own life in your own life, the more you have to give others. By experiencing joy, you let the true person inside come to life. That person is overflowing with love, abundance and creativity, all of which will add immensely to your life and the lives of those around you. Listen in as Ralph considers the place for joy in life and celebrates the immense value that flows from living with joy.

Money connects you to the past, to the future, to people you know and to those you’ll never meet. Some people claim that money is evil, while others harness the energy of money to benefit people all over the world. Money can serve as a store of value, as a medium of exchange, and as a source of information. But what is money, really, and what is the most useful way to think about it? Money plays a big role in your day-to-day life and in your plans for the future. Money can provide you with great flexibility, yet it can also be a source of much stress and worry. So how do you maintain a healthy, useful connection to the monetary aspects of your life? Join Ralph and Kimberly as they look at the relationship between money and value, and at how to make the best use of this powerful tool.

What you experience, what you understand, what you do, are all influenced by your perspective. Just a small change in perspective can reveal a whole side of life that you’ve never even known was there. Everything you experience is filtered through a unique, specific perspective, and it pays to keep that in mind. No two people have exactly the same perspective. And although that reality can sometimes lead to conflict, it can also result in great progress. By understanding and acknowledging that each person experiences life differently, we can find ways to benefit from all those diverse perspectives. Whatever you’re doing, you’ll do it more successfully when you take into account your own perspective and the perspectives of others. Join Ralph and Kimberly as they seek to gain a new perspective on the power of perspective.

Instant gratification is rarely the best way to get what you want. There’s a much more reliable choice. Big, difficult, complicated problems give you the opportunity to create real, lasting value. However, that kind of value does not just instantly appear. It usually requires long, focused, sustained effort. That’s not so easy to do when you’re immersed in a culture that constantly promises and promotes instant gratification. Where do you find the energy for taking action in the present, when that action won’t pay off until sometime in the future? How do you motivate yourself to transcend the desire for instant gratification while you work toward your best possibilities? Listen as Ralph and Kimberly discuss the value of a long-term horizon and the pitfalls of giving in to instant gratification.

Humility is not meekness. It is a way of looking at life that can empower all you do. Ego imposes many burdens on multiple levels. With humility, when what you do is not all about proving yourself or getting credit, you have to freedom to actually do great things. Humility sharpens your view of reality, enables richer connection to others, and strengthens your confidence. Instead of being held back by the fear of being humiliated, you can own your mistakes and even your foolishness, growing stronger, more resilient, more capable in the process. Listen as Kimberly and Ralph trade thoughts on the power of humility, and consider how humility can make a positive difference in your world.

Working remotely has many benefits, but it can take some thought, adjustment, and practice to do it well. Technology now enables us to do many different kinds of work from just about anywhere. And circumstances sometimes make it necessary for us to work from home or from somewhere other than the traditional workplace. Although working away from the office sounds like a great idea, it can also carry its share of challenges. There are good reasons why people gather to do work, and many of those positive group dynamics are absent when you’re working remotely. In this episode, Ralph and Kimberly discuss some of the unique challenges that arise when working away from a traditional workplace, and explore strategies for being productive wherever you are.

Generosity is a powerful perspective from which to view life. Generosity brings richness to your own life as well as the lives of those around you. When you live from a perspective of generosity, you can become a powerful positive force in your world. So what exactly is generosity, and what do you need in order to activate generosity in your own life? Listen as Ralph and Kimberly explore the nature of generosity. Discover some surprising insights into how you can add the benefits of generosity to every day.

Nurturing and exercising your skill of listening will connect you to life’s best possibilities and to the people who can support you in fulfilling those possibilities. Communication requires connection. For effective communication to take place, someone has to listen, with skill, intention and attentiveness. Equally important as what’s being said, is what’s being heard, what’s being understood. Although your sense of hearing requires no effort, that doesn’t mean listening is a passive activity. When you train yourself to actively listen, a whole new world of richness opens up to you. In this episode, Ralph and Kimberly share their perspectives on the essential skill of listening. Discover some new insights and useful techniques on this crucial element of communication.

Change is a constant part of life. With all its challenges, there are also great opportunities in change for growth, achievement, and enrichment. It’s disruptive. It’s uncomfortable. It’s challenging, aggravating, and sometimes very frightening. Change is built into the very fabric of life, and yet as much trouble as it can be, you wouldn’t want to be without it. You can’t stop the changes. What you can do is make the choice to successfully adapt to them. But how do you do that? What strategies can you employ to get the changes working in your favor? Listen as Kimberly and Ralph talk about their own experiences with change, and offer useful, practical insights into dealing with all the changes that life can bring.

The realm of existence is filled with awe-inspiring realities and possibilities. Open yourself to all the wonders. Life can be difficult and painful, requiring great effort, inconvenience, commitment and persistence. And yet, life is very much worth all the trouble because of the limitless possibilities for experiencing beauty, love, fulfillment, connection, wonder and awe. When you take the time to look, you’ll see life’s awesome possibilities stretching out in every direction. Ordinary things you take for granted every day can be endless sources of wonder and delight. Immerse yourself in a sense of wonder as Ralph and Kimberly detail some of the aspects of life that they find to be positively awe-inspiring. Gain a new appreciation for the wonders of existence.

We’re made to be together, and loneliness serves as a powerful signal that our need for connection is not being met. As lonely as we can sometimes feel, we’re certainly not alone in that loneliness. Studies show that millions of people around the world say they experience loneliness often or always. In a time when almost everyone has the technology to instantly communicate, why is loneliness such a problem? And what can each of us to do ease our own sense of loneliness and the loneliness of others? In this episode, Ralph and Kimberly delve into some of the different levels and manifestations of loneliness, and discuss several effective strategies that enable you to let go of the root causes of your own loneliness.

Focus unlocks your maximum creative potential, when you carve out the time and space in your life for focused work. In a world that’s constantly grabbing for your attention, focus is a highly prized and richly rewarded skill. Working with focus for long periods of time enables you to do valuable, original work. And focus creates a level of satisfaction that nothing can match. But how do you stay focused for even a few minutes in the midst of the noises, distractions and constant interruptions that make up your daily life? What techniques will enable you to balance the effectiveness of focused work with the benefits of being up-to-date and connected? Listen as Ralph and Kimberly discuss the power of focus, and explore numerous strategies you can use to maintain focus in your life and your work. You’ll gain new insight into how you can successfully stay focused on what matters, even when meaningless, superficial temptations are swirling around you.

Trust requires time and effort to establish, and is well worth everything you put into building and maintaining it. Trust contributes immeasurably to your connections and interactions. Whether in a marriage, a business, or any other kind of relationship, trust enables progress to proceed more quickly, robustly, and sustainably. Although it can be advantageous in the short term to betray trust, once trust has been lost it is almost impossible to re-establish. Although trust has great value, we can’t simply grant our trust to just anyone. In this episode, Ralph and Kimberly look at various ways that trust can be built, and at behaviors that could cause people to lose trust in you in ways you may not have considered.

You can’t anticipate or control what kind of energy will be aimed in your direction. What you can do is redirect it toward positive purpose. Some people you deal with are going to be negative toward you. When that happens, you might feel a strong urge to reflect that negativity back to them. But you have a much better choice. You can intentionally point that energy in whatever direction you desire. You have the power to transform what feels like a confrontation into a positive, cooperative experience. Someone else’s negativity toward you is more about that other person than it is about you. Instead of echoing and amplifying that negativity, you can seize the opportunity to practice patience and grace, improving the quality of the interaction as well as its outcome. In this episode, Kimberly and Ralph discuss several examples of potentially negative encounters, and look at strategies for redirecting energy to create positive outcomes.

During periods of fear and uncertainty, some of your most useful tools can be the inner values that resonate with your deepest purpose. There come times in life when, no matter how strong, capable, and willful you are, there’s nothing you can do to make the difficulties go away. Some situations are beyond your ability to deal with on your own. Where do you turn when you’ve run out of options? To be human is to be vulnerable, not only to your own shortcomings but also to larger factors that you can’t control. Being honest about that vulnerability, with yourself and with others, will strengthen your connections, enabling you to benefit from teamwork and cooperation. Asking for help will not only help to jumpstart your efforts, it can also enable you to recognize hidden strengths you didn’t even know you had. In this second of two episodes on fear and uncertainty, Ralph and Kimberly discuss the nature of vulnerability, the importance of structure in life, and the power of faith in coping with life’s uncertainties.