The Catalyst

Salutations to all,

This may be a rhetorical question but did anyone happen to catch President Obama’s inaugural speech last week? If you did, I know you heard him talk about “putting away childish things”. I mentioned that in the Catalyst a couple of weeks ago when I was asking everyone (myself included) to grow up. What are the odds that Mr. President reads the Catalyst? I guess in the scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. But that lets you know that my thoughts can put you in the White House if you’d only listen. I’m just playing (…but a little serious). As you can tell by my light-hearted banter I was planning on taking it easy today. I know you’re ready for enlightening nuggets of wisdom that will help you throughout the week (and you still may get it). But before we get any further into the new year I wanted to give you a message from my soul to yours: STOP BEING SO HARD ON YOURSELF!
We all were young once. We were all innocent back then. We loved our bodies. We didn’t care what brand clothes we wore. When we are adolescent we were content. Actually, we were more than content. We relished in the fact that life was wonderful the way it was. So what happened? As we grew up, we established prerequisites before we could be happy. “All I need is that raise THEN everything will be fine”. “Screw this apartment. I’ll clean better WHEN I get my house”. I could continue but you see where I’m going. We all started out with the same blank slate. Over time that slate has been filled with pertinent and non-pertinent information. We were innocent until someone else told us that a particular behavior was “bad”. We loved our bodies until we looked in a magazine and saw what passed for beauty. Our clothes were fine until we found out how much they cost and that there were more expensive clothes that (fill in your own blank) wears. Suddenly, we established that we didn’t measure up. We didn’t meet the status quo and that was unacceptable. From that point on we let other people make our decisions for us. So much so that other people’s opinions seem like our own. How we dress to the foods we eat is based on someone else’s idea. Of course, none of us can help that because that is how we learn. But it gets to a certain point where you should begin to make decisions on your own. Not based on what other people tell you but your actions should be dictated by productivity. If you have an idea that doesn’t get you any closer to your goal(s) get rid of it. Everybody can’t/won’t be a millionaire. The only way a person can have a “perfect” body is to have some work done (plastic surgery). It’s a fact that Air Jordan shoes won’t improve your basketball skills. It doesn’t make you evil if you don’t have a god to worship. These are all barbicans* we build as we get older that limit our progress.
It’s Jericho time! The time has come to break down the barriers that have kept us away from our collective promise lands. The only way to do that is to develop a positive self-image. There is no success that can happen without confidence. Anything is possible until you let an “expert” tell you otherwise. What makes them so right and you so wrong? You should be the judge and jury in your life. Nothing happens in your life that you don’t allow. If you want different results you should try a different method. Transformation begins when you stop paying so much attention to suggestions and focus more on progression.

“There are no such things as failures, only results. How you classify those results is up to you.” - The All-American Rallo Styles

Dream Big. Live Bigger.



The All-American
www.rallostyles.com
www.blestbabyproductions.com
http://thecatalystexperience.blogspot.com/

*Word you’ve never heard…
barbican /BAR-bih-kun/ noun - an outer defensive work; especially : a tower at a gate or bridge