Important Choices: Who is on Your Wagon?

Recently I’ve experienced such a wonderful sense of community and support both in my personal and professional lives, simply because of some of the choices I have made.

There’s nothing quite like Christmas and New Year’s for me to reflect on the past year. It seems January is a time to make resolutions and I thought it would be a good time to share with you one I made 12 years ago when my father died; one that still requires consideration and adjustment every January.

I decided to look at who is on one of the most important things I pull around with me every single day of my life to help and support me; “My Wagon”. Let me explain.

Butch Lewis originally described how if you are a person who is success minded, you have an imaginary wagon that you pull uphill. Attached to this wagon is a very thick rope. This rope is attached to your back and you pull this wagon uphill at all times. You and only you, are totally responsible for your wagon and you are the only one pulling the rope.

It’s has become clear to me once you choose to allow helpful and supportive people on your wagon, you’re sense of confidence, happiness and love (just to name a few) skyrocket! You feel like the world is your oyster! This is powerful. I am always looking at different experiences and lessons in my life that I can improve upon to create a good solid base. I read and learn and ponder about the best possible steps to create a fulfilling life that has a positive impact on my destiny and so, I only allow people on my wagon who are only behind me 100 %, people I trust and who have got my back. People I can talk to and people I can listen to.

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? It really is once you figure it out. However, in order to figure out who is on your wagon you usually have to go through some challenges such as hurt, loss, back-stabbing or perhaps loneliness. As a result, you come to realize whether people have value in your life or are they just on your wagon riding along, perhaps even slowing it down? I often get a piece of paper out and make a list. I have a good look at this and figure out clearly how to make my wagon full of positive, like minded people with happy energy for me!

Decide for yourself who is on your wagon; it may just be the key to reinforcing some of your goals.

Second to my wagon comes the challenging choice in life concerning the timing of events. I always over analyze about when to do certain things or not. These last few years I have chit chatted with my own personal troops that are on my wagon and they have helped with some overwhelming decisions and have given me incredible support; when to sell my parents house, where to live, momma issues, health, fitness etc. all of which fall under a huge umbrella of life changes involving death, divorce and illness. My wagon rocked!

There are often so many statistics and analytics about any topic that I sometimes get overwhelmed with information and go crazy! In the end I always ask myself: What am I waiting for? I do forget that I have this amazing characteristic that is simply called intuition. I also know in the end any final choice I make is up to me. There really is never a perfect day or time for anything. There did come a day years ago when I suddenly felt it was time for a change and I just trusted my own gut and went for the simple magic of making a new beginning and making new choices. Sometimes if you don’t decide to just do it you will end up most certainly waiting for a very long time.

What was I waiting for, I asked my self again?

Lastly, accompanying and solidifying my wagon and timing of my choices, I made another big choice; I decided to work incredibly hard on altering my thoughts by using positive and kind language. After my parents died I enrolled in a mindful course for a year and it introduced me to the power of change, more specifically, with my words and phrases. I was diligent about using “I am”, “I will”, “I can”, “most certainly”, “that’s great” and “definitely”. There is much research from neurologists around the world that suggest how you use your words can restructure your brain. Dr. Andrew Newberg introduced me to the phenomenon that “a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.” The front of the brain is the center for reasoning, logic, stress management and fear. If I could learn to control or improve these why would I not?

So, I got that piece of paper out again and made yet another list, this time of very specific words and phrases to actively use every day.

My wagon and my choices allow me grow and learn which are key fundamentals in life. I am not afraid to make mistakes as this is how I figure out how it all works. My life is one that is fascinating and full of dreams, hopes and goals that I want to be fulfilled by the act of doing, rather than a life lived in fear or doubt of what may or may not be.

If at first I don’t succeed, I will try and try again, learning from any failure splendidly.

Good old Seuss says, “Your Mountain is waiting, so be on your way.” You just have to figure out which mountain, how big it is and who’s on your wagon to help you through the ride that is full of so many wonderful choices.