When we come together, work together, and let go of our divisions – miracles can happen. Check out this inspiring two minute video that exemplifies this:

With Inspiration,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

Below is a funny short video of two babies laughing. I share with you for a few reasons.

First of all, with the birth of our new baby girl Annarose last month, I am a little obsessed with babies at the moment.

Second of all, there is nothing quite as cute and sweet as the laughter of a baby.

Third of all, this will make you smile and laugh yourself.

And finally, the power of laughter is healing and rejuvenating for all of us.

Let’s laugh more often!

With Appreciation and Fun,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

The birth of our new baby girl, Annarose, reminded me in a profound way of the miracle of life. What a magical, remarkable, and breathtaking experience it is to witness and participate in the birth of another human being.

As I have had a few weeks to digest this a bit, to connect with my beautiful new daughter and my family, and to experience the range of emotions that often accompany a life-altering event like this, I’ve been reminded of so many aspects of life that are truly miraculous.

As Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” There is so much for us to be in awe of in life if we stop and pay attention. From the most profound to the mere mundane, life is full of wonder. Too often we take people and things for granted, instead of being amazed, impressed, and excited about the beauty and synchronicity that exists all around us.

In addition to being in awe of my sweet little angel, here are a few examples of some other, “simple” things I’ve noticed and been in awe of in the past few weeks:

- Electricity
- The natural bond between human beings
- The internet
- Breast feeding
- Trees
- Laughter
- Automobiles
- Family and community support
- Video
- Breathing

Our ability to be grateful and to appreciate others, ourselves, and life in general has very little to do with the circumstances or situations we encounter…it has to do with us and our perspective.

When something “big” happens in life, like the birth of a child, a major accomplishment, an important milestone, or something else we consider to be really “good,” we often give ourselves permission, albeit sometimes for just a very short time, to stop and appreciate – ourselves, others, or certain aspects of life. This is wonderful!

However, what if we took the time to appreciate life, the people around us, and ourselves all the time? If we focused on what we appreciated more regularly, do you think it would have a positive impact on our work, our relationships, and our lives? Of course it would. The good news is that appreciation is and always will be up to us. We have a choice in the moment-by-moment, day-by-day reality of life about what we focus on and how much gratitude we experience.

Take a minute right now and think of some of the people, things, and aspects of your life that you appreciate. Paying attention to these things and allowing yourself to be in awe of them is up to you! And, when we do this…it alters our experience of life, others, and ourselves instantly.

For some additional ideas and specific tips, check out this week’s audio clip.

Share Your Thoughts / Feedback on this article here.

In Appreciation,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

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For the second time in my life I had the profound, glorious, and wondrous experience of witnessing and participating in the miracle of life up close. Our second daughter, Annarose Benoit Robbins was born on Friday, August 22nd at 7:00 PM PDT. She is healthy, happy, and such a pure expression of love, joy, and spirit.

I am blown away by my feelings of love and connection with her, in awe of my wife Michelle for carrying her and giving birth (naturally), and in deep gratitude and appreciation for the miraculous nature of life. As I felt when Samantha, our two and half year old was born, it boggles my mind to think that we all come in this way and that most of us are fortunate enough to be healthy.

Anyone who has experienced the birth process up close like this knows what a remarkable feeling it is. And, even if you have not been in the room when a baby has come in – we all came in this way, and therefore have experienced it first hand.

It amazes me how easily we forget about the miracle of our own births and the births of every other person on the planet. We take so much for granted and don’t pay attention to the miracles that exist all around us all the time.

I’m so grateful for the birth of our little “Rosie” and look forward to the growth, learning, love, pain, adventure, challenge, and excitement of being her daddy. I’m also grateful that through her birth I am once again reminded of how sacred, important, and miraculous life is. Like most people, I often forget and get caught up in the day to day stuff of life.

Take a moment today and pay attention to the miracle of your own life, the lives of others, and of life itself. When we do this, it alters everything.

With Appreciation, Excitement, and Awe,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com  

This powerful video from Sarah McLachlan reminds us about how much we have, how much there is for most of us to be grateful for, and what a huge impact we could make with just a little bit of money. When it’s put into perspective this way, it’s amazing.

http://www.worldonfire.ca/  

With Appreciation,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

This week’s audio post is about personal emissions, a look at what we “emit” personally into our relationships, our work, and the world around us via our thoughts, emotions and actions. I’ll talk about ways to use self awareness and other tools to make sure your emissions are healthy and clean.

To download this audio as an MP3 file, right click here and select “Save Target As” to begin download.

With Appreciation,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

Are you facing any challenges in your life or your business right now? These days, there are some real challenges facing many of us – slowing economy, high gas prices, housing market crash, lots of negativity and complaining around us (based on all of this stuff going on), and a myriad of personal issues related to family, health, money, relationships, and more that tend to show up in life.

The challenges themselves, even the most difficult ones, aren’t usually the real issue; it’s our relationship to them that causes us the most pain and difficulty. Think of what your life, your relationships, and your career would be like if you didn’t complain about or resist challenges when they showed up? For most of us, this would make things very different.

Resisting, complaining about, or even feeling sorry for ourselves about the “bad” things that are happening is totally normal and what we are often encouraged to do by people around us and our culture in general – whether we do it out loud with others or just in our minds. However, these things, while understandable, don’t address the real issues, the emotions we’re experiencing, or make things better for us.

I’m not advocating that we pretend everything is “fine” when it isn’t – that’s denial, which won’t help us either. However, the question in life and business isn’t whether or not we’ll face challenges, the question is what will we do and how will we respond in the face of the challenges that arise. Do we avoid really dealing with difficult things and learning from them by playing the role of the victim and not acknowledging our true feelings about them or do we face them directly, acknowledge our emotions, and choose to grow from the experience? It’s always up to us.

On our path of life, growth, and success, we all encounter difficulties. However, many of the most successful and fulfilled people who’ve ever walked the planet have faced incredible challenges. What if we actually appreciated our challenges? Remember, appreciating something doesn’t necessarily mean we like or enjoy it. Appreciation means that we recognize the value of something and are grateful for it.

Here is a list of some things we can appreciate when things get tough:

: Challenges often give us important feedback about where and who we are

: Challenges give us contrast and can help us appreciate things when they get easier

: Challenges can allow us to wake up and notice all the good things that are happening that we weren’t paying attention to

: Challenges are always a great opportunity for learning, growth, and improvement

: Challenges give us an opportunity to get in touch with, take responsibility for, and express our real emotions

By learning to appreciate our challenges and see the opportunities in them, we take our power back from the situations and circumstances of our lives. Our ability to appreciate difficulties, learn from them, and use them to our advantage, gives us an important insight into who we really are and how to create success and fulfillment in a conscious and deliberate way.

Action: What You Can Do

Make a list of some of the biggest challenges in your life right now. What can you appreciate about each of these difficulties? What are you learning from them? What are you able to appreciate in yourself and your life because of these things? If you look for it, you’ll be able to find many things to appreciate about every one of your current challenges. Appreciating our challenges can allow us to accept them, learn from them, and ultimately take back our power from them. Doing this reminds us that we’re the authors of our lives – not the circumstances we’re facing.

For more ideas about appreciating our challenges, listen to this week’s audio tip below.

Share Your Comments

In Appreciation,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

This week’s audio tip from me is about appreciating challenges… finding joy in the chaos of life and learning that often what stretches us makes us stronger in the end.

Enjoy…

With Inspiration,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

My wife Michelle sent me this great video – it made me laugh and inspired me. The power of dance, joy, travel, community, and self expression all come through…check it out:

To find out more about this guy Matt, his project, his travels, and the story behind this video, check out his website at http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=BOYzro

With Appreciation,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com

Death has a way of putting life into perspective, doesn’t it? While I did not know Professor Randy Pausch personally, his life, his message, and his death (just one week ago today) touched me deeply. Randy gave his famous “last lecture” to his students at Carnegie Mellon University last September and has inspired millions through that lecture (thanks to youtube, Oprah, and people sharing his words of inspiration), as well as the bestselling book he wrote, The Last Lecture.

This week all three of my blog posts have centered around Randy and his incredible message and example. One of the most poinignet aspects of what he said and what I took away from his lecture, as well as every other experience I have ever had personally with the death of someone close to me, is that most of the stuff we focus on, worry about, and even do on a daily basis doesn’t matter that much. It is the people in our lives, the love we have, and the simple things that are the most important.

This week I am in the midst of finishing up the manuscript for my next book, BE YOURSELF, EVERYONE ELSE IS ALREADY TAKEN – which I am excited about, but also has caused a great deal of stress, worry, and anxiety for me since the deadline is fast approaching and I have been behind schedule. As much as I try to remind myself that I will get it done and that it will all turn out, it is so easy for me to give away my life to the process and to my fears about it not getting done, being bad, etc.

As important as this new book is to me, in the scheme of things and when I ask myself what really matters, I realize that Randy’s reminder is so important. Incidentally, we are also expecting the birth of our new baby girl sometime soon as well. Now, that is something that really does matter.

What really matters to you? Are you spending as much time and energy as you can on the things that really matter to you…and letting go of the stress, worry, and anxiety that you allow to flow in the direction of the many things in your life that don’t really matter? If so, let’s all together see if we can remember what Randy taught us and focus on the truly important stuff.

With Passion,

Mike
www.Mike-Robbins.com