The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die, by John Izzo

John Izzo begins his book: The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die with a question we should form our entire life around: “Why do some people find wisdom and die happy?” This query is one that should sit quietly in the back of our minds from birth until death. When we sit with a question like this, we open ourselves to the endless possibilities of the answer.
John Izzo seeks to provide his audience with a roadmap to discovering our own answer to this. Through his book, he invites us to create lives of wisdom and happiness, no matter what our circumstance. Before beginning the five-step lesson, Izzo outlines the greatest challenge of all. He reminds us that time is passing. In our powelessness over that, we have huge opportunities. We can manage our priorities and our choices. We are the stars of this one-person, one-lifetime show.
This book was, in some ways, a collaboration. Four thousand people were nominated by friends or loved ones as being true pillars of wisdom and joy. The author then chose 235 of those candidates between 60 and 105 years old – the most knowledgeable section of our society. These subjects have experienced the most. They can separate the hard knocks from the great lessons. Through those subjects and their wisdom, Izzo came up with five tenets for a life worth living:

1. Be true to yourself.
2. Leave no regrets.
3. Become love.
4. Live in the moment.
5. Give more than you take.

Although each of these is vital and approached with great depth and focus in the book, one or two demand a moment’s inspection and are worth implementing this very moment.

· Living in the moment. If one of the five tenets to living a happy life is to live in the moment, we are literally behind the eightball before we even begin. We are taken out of the “moment” a thousand times each day through our own technology. (Can you say email?) The author recounts taking his dog for a walk one day. The dog was enjoying that walk so much more than Mr. Izzo himself. The dog paused to enthusiastically enjoy smells or the company of other dogs (friends). The author was simply busy timing himself to accomplish his daily speed walk.
· Become Love. Izzo asks us to recognize that love is not an idea, it is an action. It means choosing to spend time with friends. (Even dogs do that!) It means embodying thoughtfulness and a loving tone. We must not miss an opportunity or spend a day in human disappointment – there simply are no do-overs. You will pass through today only once, and love will sustain you.
· Leave no Regrets. The author’s grandfather offered him the idea, early in his life, to judge his days by how satisfying they are. Each day will pass, it is simply the law of time and space, but how we live and how fulfilled we are, will become the foundation of great choices. Quite simply, we get this one chance to create a life that leaves no regrets. Do what thrills you.
Like all great books on positive psychology, gratitude is the prevailing thought throughout this book. To be able to rebound every day (if necessary) and choose to live a joyous and meaningful life. To create time to be still and find the timeless beauty hidden behind to do lists and ever-full inboxes. To author our own sonata, our own academy-award winning existence. That is the good life, and John Izzo wants us to know it. The rewards of each of these five principles are limitless, and amazingly, they are free. It’s the free lottery ticket – your one true life.

To your success, Dr. Success (aka Andrea Goeglein, Ph.D.)
http://www.servingsuccess.com/

Practicing The Power Of Now

Appreciate (v): to judge with heightened perception or understanding. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

Success Challenge: Observe things you take for granted. A warm cup of coffee when you get to the office, your computer operating as it was intended, the phone working or the person who hands you your ticket at the train station. What would it feel like to be so present that you appreciated that person, place or thing today as you encountered them or it?

For anyone who reads my blog or watches my TV segments , you know that the cornerstone of Positive Psychology is the development of the strength, gratitude. From best I can discern, it is the one strength that if it is not in your top five natural strengths, it is suggested you put forth effort to develop the characteristic.

It was in Echart Tolle’s book, that I first took to heart the notion that gratitude starts with noticing at the most minute level the significance of things that I had not even noticed before. One of Tolle’s practice exercises was to consciously look down at your feet, one step at a time, when you walked up and down a flight of stairs. It was a simple exercise yet, of course, not easy.

It has been eight years since I committed to that practice (most of the time) and my ability to appreciate the small things in life has definitely grown.

This week something happened that drove that lesson home. Our trash gets picked up on Friday of each week (you can’t get more mundane a daily activity than that). My husband usually puts the trash out (yes, I know that is a stereotype!) This week he was traveling and the thought of putting the trash out did not even cross my mind – until, of course, I was working on my computer at 7:15 a.m. Friday and I was distracted by the honking of a big truck’s horn. I immediately wondered what that was about. My next thought was, “oh, no…it's trash day”. It then all connected, the honking was intended to get my attention because the trash men had noticed I did not have my pail out. I quickly got down to the garage, got the trash out to a neighbor’s home across the street and waited for the trash men to circle around. When they did, I thanked them for noticing I had not put out my trash. They beamed, and in turn I experienced a feeling of appreciation too.

As I walked back to my house I sarcastically thought, “what does it say about my life that the trash men honking to reminder is enough to make me feel happy?” Then I smiled and thought, it means that for that moment – that NOW – I had reaped the rewards of Practicing the Power of Now.
With appreciation, Dr. Success

http://www.servingsuccess.com/

Las Vegas Encore to Success

Even Dr. Success™ needs a boost and is in the process of creating her next great Encore to Success. Lucky for me, no place personifies the concept “fake it till you make it”, like Las Vegas. Las Vegas is famous for holding out the promise of a better day and that anything good is possible.

Thanks to a very stalled economy, Las Vegas is allowing you to create your own Encore http://www.encorelasvegas.com/ to Success. For an unbelievably low investment, you can get a room at the spectacular new Steve Wynn resort, Encore http://www.encorelasvegas.com/ and engage your dreams for what is possible in your future.

Surrounded by the finest interior design elements, fabrics you can only wish to afford someday and impeccable service, you have the opportunity to hold on to your goals and remind yourself that change is good and is an indicator we are still growing. Thanks to a reasonably priced salon/spa menu, I was able to luxuriate in a manicure by nail technician extraordinaire, Lydia Gutierrez.

What treating yourself to a night at a resort like Encore allows is for you to remember what it feels like to be surrounded by wealth, luxury, and safety. Retaining those feelings during challenging times is, well, a challenge. Being able to recreate those feelings is, well, necessary for you to continue to strive toward your personal life success. Remember, if you allow yourself to forget what it feels like to have dreams, to experience luxury, and to be pampered, you are actually causing your own mental recession. You may not feel like you control much these days, but you still control how you feel.

So here is today’s Success Challenge: Find a place close to home (for those of you lucky enough to be in or near Las Vegas, you must experience Encore and its majestic spa) and create a one-day, affordable escape. Use to time away to remind yourself of your dreams – not focus on reality!

Wishing you a happy Encore to your success,

Andrea T. Goeglein, Ph.D.
Dr. Success™
http://www.servingsuccess.com/