You wouldn’t have a problem getting out of the harbour, you wouldn’t have any problems crossing the Atlantic, but without a map you have no way of detecting the error and since you are expecting to arrive in New York, you’re in for a big surprise. Depending on which way you sat the compass wrong, you’ll probably end up either somewhere in Canada or South America. Definitely not New York!
In fact, if the ocean is big enough, half a degree will make you go in circles.

Now imagine that the ship is your life. You constantly set out goals to achieve and you might reach some, or most of them, but you have a feeling that you aren’t really going anywhere. It’s like going in circles. The same problems seems to be coming back all the time, and your life don’t seem to be getting you where you would like to be.

What if you changed the way you think about things just half a degree?
You wouldn’t see a big difference tomorrow, but if you stick to your new course, next week your habits may have changed slightly. By next month you may start to see different things happening, or at least you will think and feel differently about them. And the next year will be very much different than the last.

If it doesn’t matter to you if you end up in “Canada”, or “South America”, it doesn’t matter how you change your thinking. Any change will do.
On the other hand, if it does matter to you, then make sure that you have a plan. If you know where you want to go and how to get there, then you have a map and can make corrections on the way.

To sum it up; Small changes can make a big difference!
And if you haven’t been successful with your navigation so far, it might be a good move to contact a pilot.

Best regards,

Tor Johnsen
Life Coach

But remember, Christmas comes to everybody also the lonely ones, with no family or friends left, and to the poor with no homes. To those who have just lost their job, or a loved one. To those who are far away from home, maybe even in dangerous places. Christmas comes to all, but it might not have the same meaning to all.

You can help even that out a bit by showing the most important emotion we have, especially this time of year; Compassion.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s OK to enjoy all the good things about Christmas, but remember that things are just things, and people and feelings are what matters.

In these tough economical times, here are some great ideas for gifts:

• A friendly word, wrapped up in a smile.
• A helping hand to someone who has a lot to carry. (Mental burdens are just as heavy as physical ones.)
• A little honest respect to others, even if we’re not sure they deserve it. (You may not even know them!)
• A good portion of politeness. (Spread evenly on everybody you meet.)

And if you have some money left; there are a lot of good charities out there, who despite their struggle, do a fantastic job helping others.

A final thought that helps me prioritize:

The things around me will most likely be there next year.
The people around me might not.
So, I give them from my most precious asset; I give them my time!

I sincerely wish you all a Merry and Compassionate Christmas!
Tor Johnsen

For instants, birds can be quite good role models for parents.
If the chicks are still hungry, or need care, you won’t find the parents down at the pub, because they need a life themselves.
And you won’t find them in a line, waiting for someone else to feed their family.
Or expecting others to teach their young ones how to cope in life.
No, they will stick with their task until they know that their offspring is ready for the world.
Of course they will grab their occasional moments to sing just for joy, to spread their wings and take to the sky just because they can.
But not for long, and not if there is urgent tasks to be done for the family.
They take responsibility for their families very seriously.

Ants are great role models for prosperity.
The American business philosopher Jim Rohn has a good story about ants and their philosophy.
About how to make the most of things, and never quit.
In winter, when there is little food and the weather is cold, they stay under ground preparing for summer. “It will soon come, we better be ready!”
In summer, when the weather is warm and food is plentiful, they rush out and collect as much as they can, preparing for winter. “It will soon come, we better be ready!”
If they run into an obstacle they’ll climb over it, go around it, dig a way under it, just so they can get to their goal. Because they know that even if the summer seems to last forever, eventually there will be winter again.
In though times they prepare for the good times that they know will come.
And in good times, because they know though times will follow, they harvest, as much as they can.

If we look at plants and trees, we can also find good advice.
Look at your problems the way dandelions look at tarmac.
It’s dark underneath it, it looks as if it’s impossible to get through, but on the other side of it, the sun shines. So they find a way through it. It might not be easy, it might take some patience, but in the end it’s worth the effort.
Look at your life the way the trees do.
Grow as much as you can grow. Be the best you can be. Do the most of your opportunities and circumstances. Trees are good role models. Have you ever heard about a tree that only grew half way?

Look at sharing good things the way that flowers do.
They produce nectar to give to the bees and other insects. Why? Because they can, and because it will benefit the whole world, including their own species.
So do good, as much as you can, just because you can. And it will benefit the world, including your own specie.
Remember, if you should happen to come across someone who doesn’t have a smile, give him one of yours. It’s free!

But the most difficult thing is to forgive yourself. For all the things that has gone wrong. For all the things you haven’t achieved, all the things you think you should have done, but didn’t do.
Think about it this way; A lot of the time the things we beat ourself up for, we wouldn’t have a problem forgiving with our friends. We should start to treat ourselves in the same forgiving way!

If we realize that the things we do wrong is not who we are, but just doings, and as soon as they are done, they’re history, and we can learn from them and move on. Tell yourself that what has been, has been. Don’t be a victim of the past, give yourself a fresh start.

Start designing your new tomorrow by forgiving yourself and those who might have done you wrong, and accept the fact that you’re human. Mistakes has and will happen in this world. That’s the way it is, that’s the way we learn and make progress. Accept that.

But also accept the fact that you’re unique, you’re special, and you deserve all the good things in life. Embrace the opportunities the world have to offer. Especially the opportunities you give yourself.

And in a way, it’s the same with us humans. If our way of thinking and our habits are limiting us, it becomes our bottle. It is difficult to see it, because the glass is clear. Our limiting thoughts and ways of doing things are often invisible to us, so we don’t change them.
But unlike the pumpkin in the story, we have the ability to expand our limitations, or to get rid of them all together. By getting more knowledge, by studying ourself and how we do things and how we think about things. The most important though, is how we think about ourself.

Think about all the things we do, or say to ourself, that limits us. If we were aware of it, we probably wouldn’t do it, but because the glass is clear, we keep on doing it.
How easy it would be if our bottle was green.

It seems like if we don’t get it right, the same or similar things will happen until we have learned how to do it right. If something troublesome happens to you, try to remember if you’ve experienced similar things before and if so, try to remember how you dealt with it then. If you’ve seen it before, you might want to try a different solution this time.

I read somewhere that when “God” (or whatever you prefer to call the force of life) wants us to learn something he sends us presents of events containing lessons. He often wraps the presents up in problems though, and then it’s up to us to spend time on the gift or on the wrapping.

Try to look beyond the problematic things in your life and see if you can find a present there.

Try to expand your life to be the kind of life you were meant to have.

A really good one!

Try to imagine how it would feel like to know that you would succeed every time you started a task! What kind of goals would you go for then?

We have all heard that it is important (and right) to take small steps to reach our goals. Baby steps. But there is something that is equally important.

We have to have a sincere wish to walk!

We hear people say: ”I’ll give this a year, three weeks, six months etc.” This is wrong! We have to learn from the babies. They would never say this. They would say: ”I’m going to give this as long as it takes, because I shall walk! I am going to make it!”.

Time is not important, the will to walk is important!

Babies have one great advantage. Nobody is telling them that they can’t do it. On the contrary; they are encouraged to try.

We have to stop listening to those who say we can’t!

We have to look at the world as a baby sees it. We have to see a world full of opportunities. Filled up with exiting things that we will explore, things we will master. It should be easy, even a baby can do it!

We have to take it for granted that we succeed!

It may take time (time goes by anyway), we will have obstacles, but we will succeed. There are so many examples and incredible stories of people who have managed to create their own ”reality”. Not because of, but in spite of their fellow human beings.

The possibility to fail exists only in our own mind!

We have to take control over our own mind. We have to program our self back to the time that we truly believed; everything is possible!