"Why Trust the History Books to Record Cultural History for Your Family?"
By: Susan McKenzie
Take a minute and imagine you are on a satellite high above the earth and from this vast and lofty vantage point, you can see and hear all the stories being told on our planet today. The earth is presently inhabited by almost 7 billion fathers, mothers, and children. Each one has a special, totally unique part to play in our generation. It's their story and they are living it every day, turning the pages with each decision they make, each person they talk with, each place they visit, and each event that unfolds around them and how they respond to it.
What if YOU were the one to decide which stories are newsworthy?
While the news station hounds sniff down the latest drug bust, natural disaster, and economic devastation across the globe, the hounds of Heaven are broadcasting a whole different story…. snapped from ordinary digital cameras and cell phones You see, although the world is in bad shape, I believe we are the authors… not Hollywood or the News or anyone else. We each decide on any particular day if we are going to write our own story or float passively along with the masses who are turned every which way by circumstances they feel are beyond their control.
Most people have no clue how to change their stories, how to rewrite their future, and how to reach their destiny.
Sadly, most of us have lost our identity, as individuals and as communities. The good news is, we get to set (or reset) the trajectory of our lives! We each decide which news happening around us is worthy to focus on, what we will listen to and believe. That's what happened at a major department store last month.
It was Fall 2010 and on October 30th, at Macy's in Philadelphia, hundreds of people popped out their digital cameras and recorded an amazing cultural event. In an age when being 'politically correct' translates to what you can or cannot call "Christmas" this store does not seem to be lacking customers…. happy customers, at that!
Hundreds of people that day dropped what they were doing to participate in a live cultural event. What strikes you the most about this video? Was it the sense of "wonder" and "awe"? Did you notice the contagious joy? Did you notice all the smiles?
We all need moments like these. Even if you are watching via online video, did you catch yourself smiling? Did you heart warm? Did you pull out a tissue, like I did? Something inside changed, didn't it?
What we see and believe changes us biologically and chemically.
Biologically and chemically, whether you are present at an event like this or watching it happen via video or hearing it through story, your body changes! Oxytocin (the BEST anti-aging natural substance in the universe) is released into your system. You feel better mentally, emotionally, and physically. It's a mood-enhancer. Just from watching this video alone, depending on your individual response to it, you received up to 3 points of Oxytocin while reading this article. Experts recommend at least 30-points of Oxytocin per day to be healthy.
Conversely, when we watch the news or listen to negative people, our cortisol level is raised… the stress substance. It actually causes us to gain weight! Yikes! What we see and listen to changes our bodies. And if our bodies our changed, our minds change, too.
Why trust the News stations or government-sponsored history texts to paint the picture of your world in 2010? It's really all how you look at things. It's what we choose to believe in and to speak into existence that shapes our lives and affects everyone around us, too.We are naturally contagious!
What we focus on is magnified. It expands and multiplies. It's contagious!
In my own Life Story Book, using the handy "All-in-One Life Story Book Kit," it's been simple and fun to paint a picture of the world I live in today, so that my children's children will learn a little about history directly from the perspective of their ancestors. I'm not talking about fantasy or changing facts. I'm talking about focus.
There have always been elements of society that have wished to rewrite history, to change how people view and interpret historical events… but I want to be a person who rewrites future history by changing what I place my focus on. We shape the next generation by the stories we tell and what we choose to focus on.
How are you shaping the course of your children's lives? If your life story is not being recorded in such a way (multi-media preferably), are you daring to allow other people and organizations to shape your family's future?
Most of us have been "going with the flow" because it's been all we know.
That's why our lives are often so messed up, speaking from personal experience! Recently, though, I've been drawn into the company of people who are history-makers. While in the company of these people I have been learning to rewrite my own future, even at the flip of a switch.
PJ McClure, known as The Mindset Maven, is perhaps one of the best experts on the subject of changing our mindsets to change our world. His new book, "Flip the S.W.I.T.C.H." should be recommended reading in our all of our schools! It helped me so much that I've begun taking coaching with PJ. If only I had this information three decades ago or more! I'm so glad my 20-some year old children can learn these mindset strategies at a much younger age than I!
I have another mentor, Sandi Krakowski, of ARealChange.com who has created a culture of Freedom around her. Sandi is known as a shepherd of entrepreneurs and her company is the place where million dollar businesses are born. Tens of thousands of people follow her every day and we encourage one another to press through all enemy resistance to become the very best we were created to be. With every fiber in her being Sandi lives and breathes freedom, for only as we experience life beyond Fear can we embrace the changes within ourselves that need to happen so we can go out and do our special work, to fulfill our destiny, to live in our God-appointed destiny.
Who are your mentors, the leaders you follow?
Do they care about you and your special identity and destiny? Or are you just one of the pack who are following a leader in building his or her own kingdom? Are you working to build your own dream or to help build the dream of someone else? One way to know for certain, is to ask yourself how you feel about Mondays and Fridays! Which day gives you the most excitement… the day you GET to go to work, or the day you HAVE to go to work?
You can bet I'm putting this into my Life Story Book so that the next generation can soar much farther than me, through benefiting from my life experience! If you would like to travel in the company of people who are focusing on making history and rewriting their future, recording it for the next generation, then meet me on Facebook and tell me a little about yourself. Or download my free All-in-One Life Story Book Kit and receive instant access to the very best resources to help you get started recording your life story.
Together We Achieve More (T.E.A.M.) … join me today in writing YOUR very own life story!
Don't leave history writing in the hands of people who don't have your children's best interest in mind!
Decide your family is worth it!
Give yourself permission to get started today!
Complete the form below to be added to our team and to receive instant access to all the tools, tips, and resources you need to begin writing your Life Story Book!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this – thanks so much, Susan. We so easily forget how interesting our life stories truly are. So often we think ‘I have nothing interesting to write about, nothing that anyone would want to read’. I think of all the stories from my great grandparents, about their lives and trials, and wonder if our children will find our stories as fascinating. I surely hope so!
What an awesome article. It’s your life, write about it, take pictures and scrap book it. Anyway you document it, is awesome. But, if you want to change things for the better and flip the switch on the next generation, this article is definitely a keeper.
Thanks for sharing such insightful pearls of wisdom with all of us. Definitely worth every minute of reading.
Carla
http://CarlasTransportServices.com
Thank you, Carla… I so much look forward to hearing your stories! Thank you for the kind words