A life of well-being, meaning and purpose.
We humans are animals, too. Survival is bred in us. Before we can become our best selves, we must get our basic physical and psychological needs taken care of. Not just enough but more than enough to keep our brains from going back and dwelling on a lack of resources in any area. Having a reserve calms that fear and allows us to focus on higher goals.
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Title Photo by Anna Tukhfatullina Food Photographer/Stylist from Pexels
Continue reading “The Path To Having Enough”
Continue reading “Plug the Drains”Building reserves at each level in the hierarchy of needs allows you to focus on the next level. Plugging the drains on your resources in the areas of time, energy, money, security, love, and self-esteem is the first step of building reserves in these areas, a necessary action for climbing the pyramid of self-actualization.
TheExceleratedLife.com
Continue reading “Why You Need A Super Reserve”Growth without risk is impossible but taking fool-hardy risks leads to destruction. You can increase your risk tolerance and help mitigate the effects when a risk plays out by building reserves. You can further enhance the one and guard against the other by creating Super Reserves.
TheExceleratedLife.com
Moving from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset helps you progress up the hierarchy of needs to self-actualization. You must experience having enough at the lower levels of physical and emotional needs in order to move to higher levels and towards self-actualization.
The presenter at a conference held up a ripe red tomato. She asked the audience, “How many seeds are in this tomato?”
The participants imagined cutting open a tomato and tried to estimate the number of seeds inside. They began calling out answers. “500”, “700”, “1000”, “5000”, “10,000”.
Quietly, the presenter said: “There are enough. Enough to save for planting next year and enough to give to my neighbors so they can have tomatoes as well. Next year, they’ll have enough seeds to share with more people. And I will share with others, too. How many seeds are there? Enough.” [1]
Continue reading “Moving From Scarcity To Abundance”Your space is filled with Stuff, your calendar is crammed with activities and your To Do list is running off the page, yet you still have an empty place inside – a void and a feeling that something is missing. You can be overwhelmed with Stuff and constant activity yet still be running on empty. Perhaps you need to build a reserve.
My wife and I had recently moved to Greenville to be closer to my new office, where I had been hired for my first job as a computer programmer. In those days, men wore coats and ties to the office, so I needed to buy dress shirts. We were shopping in a local department store and I found some nice shirts on sale.
I picked out a couple that I liked and carried them to the check out counter. But I had miscalculated the cost and when the clerk rang up my purchase, I realized to my horror and embarrassment that I didn’t have enough money to pay the bill. As I felt my face flush with shame, I had to admit to the sales clerk that I was short of cash and left one of the shirts for him to return to the rack.
Continue reading “Are You Running On Empty?”Having reserves is a state of being. Having a reserve is a state of mind. Both are required to free us up to pursue the Excelerated Life™.
Most Thursday mornings, you can find me at United Ministries, an agency in downtown Greenville dedicated to “serve, transform, and empower those in need toward achieving self-sufficiency.” [1] United Ministries offers a number of different services to assist the homeless, the unemployed, and those mired in poverty.
I volunteer in the Employment Readiness program. Those enrolled in this program are unemployed or under-employed. They go through a week-long training related to the job search and, after successfully completing the program, they work with an employment counselor.
Continue reading “Getting By Is Not Enough”To reach the peak of Maslow’s Hierarchy (self-actualization), you must first get the basic needs met. After you build and keep a reserve in these areas, then you are able to focus on achieving your full potential.
A few months after I got my driver’s license, I drove to a neighboring town to apply for a summer job. On my way back to school, the car quit running, slowed down and came to a stop on the side of the road. It was out of gas.
I had seen that the gas was low but foolishly thought I could drive till I made it back home. Now I was stuck.
Continue reading “Why You Need A Reserve”“Build a superreserve in every area: have more than enough.” ~ Thomas Leonard
I was on my way to work and decided to stop at a nearby store to fill my car’s gas tank. As I was waiting for the tank to fill, I noticed a woman who was trying to fill a gas can but was obviously having trouble understanding how to use the pump. I walked over and offered to help.
As I filled the can, she told me that she had run out of gas a short way from the gas station. A policeman had given her a ride to the store. She said she had a pre-op appointment with her doctor that morning. She had spent the night with her mother because it was closer to the doctor’s office.
Now, she was in danger of missing this important meeting with her doctor because she had run out of gas. As she told me her story, I thought to myself, “Here is a person who needs to keep a reserve.”
Continue reading “Where To Have A Reserve . . . And How”Got enough . . . really enough? Enough that you are no longer engaging in survival thinking? Surviving isn’t thriving.
Many years ago, I was in the bathroom at work when I heard someone enter the stall next to mine. After a few minutes, I heard my boss’s voice. “Got any extra paper?”
“No, I’m sorry,” I said. “There’s barely enough for me.”
There was a pause for a few seconds, then . . . “Got change for a $10?”
Clearly, we were in need of a reserve.
Continue reading “Keep A Reserve”