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Lonely Focus

I have given up many things to be where I am today in the light of my future goals. I will not be the first to tell you that change is not easy but I can tell you that determination will get you where you are meant to be.

Everything happens for a reason, everyone we meet and everything that happens to us has a great reason that is up to us to discover. I can do anything I put my mind to and if it is too easy I don’t just settle. If it feels natural, then down the line it is certain to be littered with challenges. Seeking out and agreeing to shut off my whole land life to work on a cruise ship was not easy. I was a nervous wreck. I stepped foot on that cruise ship for the first time as a worker and I knew I belonged there. Working on the cruise ship is where I vented out every negative thought I had: It was several emails that would scare the crap out of you, addressed to some of the most amazing people on this planet! This is also where I fell in love with the ocean!

I returned home and for me it was not a happy homecoming. I pulled the plug here, things with me were dying inside, friendships were disappearing, and sadly I was losing connection with my family. I was always the weird one in my family and just when they got me all figured out it was like an explosion of change. I felt like they did not understand what was going on, and sometimes neither did I. Do not misunderstand, I love my family and I know they care about me but I don’t think they understand the magnitude of this change that has sparked a fire in me. Riddled with a life of negatives I wanted out. I am constantly working on a full life of positivism and in order to do that I had to leave. I was granted that window to leave and I moved to Florida! The Ocean was calling my name.

I went from leaving everything temporarily to leaving it for good. Yes for good. I left my family, my friends, my Scout group, my bike rides, my soccer team, my pizza, and about 75% of everything I owned. You know what change looks like? A packed Chevy Cobalt with a bike on the back and a kayak on top, driving 1200 miles straight through with a known history of falling asleep behind the wheel. I pulled away from my sister’s house, set my GPS, then my music and just cried.

So starts my lonely journey south…. where I am meant to be. I started back socially where I was many years ago; with one friend. It has been easy to make work friends but I am a single guy in a world of couples and married woman. I am certain after 3 years here I am meant to be single and part introvert actually. Sure I get lonely sitting at home on Saturday night getting fat on mediocre pizza and writing blogs, but I am meant for greater things and I have to keep reminding myself that. I need to stay focused on my goals.

Goals are what brought me down here, goals run my life. My social life has taken a huge hit but it is an underlining reality that I need the time to make myself bigger each day. It’s an open door to better consider what is best for my future as a motivational speaker. By any means is this lonely lifestyle boring? Anything but that really. The physical journeys have been plentiful with all my travels the last few years but I believe the time has come to focus my mind on my future career. I will never stop inspiring those willing to listen, and I will always be learning from any of your feedback as well. Life is amazing and more amazing as you find your passion and make your dreams come true.

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Figure It Out

It is very inspiring what we can discover through hard times. We just have to be open to receive the messages within the challenges of change in our lives. Positivism, gratitude, empathy and progress should be our main focus to figuring out each of our lives.

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One at a Time

The summer is over. Alaska is in my past and my leg is almost 100%. I have an updated board of goals full of great ideas but I struggle to find the motivation to carry them out. I am at a motivational roadblock. I do not want to force my way through goals if the passion is not there and I do not want to go down the wrong path.

You know the term practice what you preach, right? That is exactly what I need to do. I tell people all the time to take the situations and events in their lives one at a time to lower the stress level and be more successful in the end. I have slowed down my efforts but I have a list of achievable goals that make my life look amazing.

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Teaching myself public speaking, research bullying, start writing and practicing speeches, build a successful TED Talks speech, and volunteer at children’s hospitals. These are only some of the big goals I have laid out for myself and I still have a job to keep up too.

Para professionalism is still new to me. I learned so much last school year but this year there is even more. With my academic level of students with autism, outside of teaching them basic skills, we still have to handle behavior issues, bathroom issues, and now this school year I get to go swimming with one of my students too!

With everything going on in life right now, I struggle to find my forward directional motivation. I love my job so much, but everything outside of it I cannot seem to give 100%. I have given myself an ambitious list of expectations and I need to take them one at a time. I want to jump right in and give 100% to motivating children, but there are so many things that need to happen first. I have started my search for volunteering at children’s hospitals; I believe this a valuable adventure for the children and me. Also found a course book for public speaking and I will start a routine of working through it every Sunday!

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Overall, I have great list of goals and challenges that lay ahead but I need to practice what I tell my followers and take them one thing at a time. This speaks for my career; there are still more adventurous ideas that lie within my reach. I would have never thought being full of great ideas, being open to new things, being part of great adventures and having such a positive outlook towards it all would actually have so many challenges at the front lines. However to alleviate all the lack of motivation and challenges all I have to do is accomplish my goals one at a time. From experience, this works every time. This is why it is so valuable to write things down so you can organize what is more important or what needs to come first. There is no problem having a goal list that is very ambitious, especially when you give yourself the right opportunities to make it happen.

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I have had this plaque sense I was a teenager. I bought it in New Mexico on a backpacking trip. Back in those times I was not always very positive but I did pride myself on never giving up on things no matter how hard they get. This is a big reminder for me when things get hard. One time things in my life got so incredibly hard I took a hammer to this thing. I wanted to break it but you can see how strong it is. You can see were the hammer hits it but never broke. I would say that day life was on my side. Without this sign I would probably not be here today. DON’T EVER QUIT!

Journey Into My Thoughts (part 2)

Journey Into My Thoughts (part 1)

Ship life for me pulls in wild thoughts sometimes. As my life changes and evolves for the better, I realize that I am filtering out the crap and making more room for a better life. I have learned to relax through meditation. When I do meditation, the thoughtless moments I create for myself are just as valuable as the visions that follow. It is all about settling down and listening to what your heart is trying to tell you. The best part is most of my visions will come true if I do everything in my power to make it happen!

I saw 2 very important visions on one of my final nights on the cruise ship:

I am laying in bed, because that it all I can do and I decided to listen to some music. At this point I was getting a little better but I still felt really bad. I was listening to some sad music to push out a few negative feelings. It always works and I was pleasantly surprised with the thoughts that followed once the negatives had left. I was envisioning my success as a motivational speaker. It was not to kids with this one but I know from the bottom of my heart that kids is where my speaking journey begins and may even stay.

I was envisioning speaking in front of thousands. This was a vision I have had many times before. My parents were there. They were there because I promised both of them, before they pass to the next life, when I make it big in my speaking career, they will be there in the front row to see it. My parents are very healthy and I do have time but when I see them in my vision with everyone else it makes me incredibly happy. My parents supported everything idea I ever had, agreeing with it or not. They started out guiding me in the right directions then letting me go to fall and fail and live my life. The best part is every time I need them they are ready to help me. The funny part is I call both of them for everything and every time I struggle with whom to call first. It is something my heart can’t decide so I just switch off each time!

I think about this one speaking moment of my future often but what came through my thoughts next was amazing and brand new. I was envisioning, unprovoked, about going home for Christmas. Standard thought for sure, as I know my mom and dad would miss me otherwise. This was very different. I was not alone! I was holding hands with a little girl. I was telling my family to take any money they had intended to spend for me and make sure they all get her something instead! It was weird that I could see this very clear. There was no attention on any woman or mother to this vision, it was just me and this girl. Shortly after that, my thoughts jumped and I was envisioning asking teachers for play dates, and then it just got more random from that point on. I never have been able to picture this again as clear as I did but I hope in time the world will tell me what this means.

There are many good things in life we can go after: Our hearts, our visions, our goals, our gratitude and much more. Listen to the positivism within yourself and you can live the most rewarding life ever. There is so much more of this world to discover outside your living room and deeper within yourself, but it is up to you to go after it!

Holding hands at sunset

Journey Into My Thoughts (part 1)

I am a strong believer of everything happening for a reason. From the success of becoming an Eagle Scout to the near death experience whitewater rafting It is all meant to give us signs and vision about our life.

I have recently took on meditation and it has really cleared up my busy mind of thought. I always have so much going on in my head and meditation has really helped with organizing those thoughts and turning them in to visions of what is to happen in my life. I might be border lining crazy talk to some of you now but everything big that happens in my life I can see it in a vision. We know life can be very challenging but when I can see what I am reaching for, getting up after I fall makes for a lighter recovery to push forward.

I have another cruise ship story to share with you:
I have realized working for the 2nd time on a cruise ship that ship life for me is a filter for the negative thoughts that are stuck in my head. I stand out on the bow of the boat at night and it is as if the salty sea air can pull the watery tears of sad thoughts right out of me. I love it because I can do it as much as I need to! You can live an incredibly positive life but you will still collect negativity in your head and I am grateful that I have found so many avenues to release all of it.

I was all positives early on for my Alaska trip and then I woke up to a numb body where I could barely move. There is no fear setting in just yet. I waited maybe 10 minutes and nothing changed, my head was pounding and I was shivering uncontrollably. I made my way to the phone to call the ship doctor. They had to come get me. Getting up for the first time, I could feel the shards of pain race down my leg as I almost fall over. I looked down at my leg and realized, right away, that it was cellulitis for sure.

The next day something more serious happened. A new disease started to feast on my left calf. I suffered thru a 104 degree temperature for 3 days as they tried to stop this bacterial infection and bring my temperature down as well. In these moments, I keep telling myself, “This is not it for me”, repeatedly. I began to think about why this is happening to me, and I discovered it was meant to slow me down. Life was moving too fast and I am standing at the front lines of the next big thing in my life and it was time to slow down and take it all in with a bit more time and care.

Yes most of this story has already been told in previous posts, but the part that has not been told is what else happened in the days right after my temperature was going down. I could think again! My body was in and out of numbness, my head started to feel better, and with slow movements, I could at least make my own way to the bathroom. I used this time alone in my room to practice meditations.

With meditation, I was able to funnel out all the negative thoughts. I was able to empty my mind. I was able to throw more hope and gratitude on staying alive. A day before I was to be sent home I had laid back down with some music and closed my eyes. In this very moment, I began to see a clear vision that I have seen a few times already, followed by one I had never seen before. Along with everything I want in life this new vision is something I hope to see again and learn more.

Please check back tomorrow for my next post

https://upwithmarc.com/2015/09/07/meme-monday-make-it-happen/

3 years ago today!

3 years of blogging and so many goals achieved. So many new goals and new experiences. The best part is there are more goals to come, more adventures to live, and more great people to meet! So excited to have kept up with this blog for so long. I was never a big writer before but practice makes perfect! I do not strive to be the greatest writer ever and my grammar and quick writing can show for that, but I do strive to make a positive difference in our world! My writing and Ideas can show for that!

This is where it all started: https://upwithmarc.com/2012/08/29/hello-world/

I LOVE ALL OF YOU WHO SUPPORT ME. I SEE GREAT THINGS IN OUR FUTURES!

So much gratitude,

UPwithmarc

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Your Life Is A Masterpiece!

I think I will be able to finish one more book before months end! I am halfway through “The Carpenter,” by Jon Gordon and it has been an amazing story. It is about a carpenter that helps others not only with his exquisite cabinetry making skills but also with life success skills as well.

The main thing I have already taken away from reading “The Carpenter” is to do everything with gratitude and love. You have to be grateful for the steps to your goals and you need to give gratitude to those that touch your life all the way to the top. Most importantly you need to love what you are doing. You need to love everything. Your many success strategy toward any goal is to love everything on the way there. Every challenge, every step backward, and every fall you need to love just as much as the things that are easy to love about your successes.

This book really puts meaning to what I say in my “About Me” blog post, I am on a quest to love everything in life and I am doing just that! You need to take chances in life but you don’t live by chance alone. You live by love and you need to design your life to become a masterpiece. Take what you see as your main goal and put it in front of your life and then design the steps you need to take to get to that point. You are designing your own masterpiece in life.

I would like to last note a paragraph from “The Carpenter”:
“I see it differently,”said the carpenter. “I see you resting and learning. I see you getting stronger. I see you preparing for greater things so you can take your life and business to a higher level. Always remember that our biggest battle comes before our greatest victory. And I see great victories in your future.”

I certainly see great victories in my future, do you see them in yours?

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Be a Paragon!

A week ago I started a book about how everything happens for a reason. A couple days ago I talked to a good friend about self love. Yesterday I receive one of the best compliments EVER! My new friend called me a paragon. The Irony is I was already going to write about these things anyways!

In “Everything Happens For A Reason” by Mira Kirshenbaum I learned that once you realize the reason things happen, you have to live within those reasons and write a new story for yourself. You need to stop living in the stories of who you once were. You need to love your life, you need to love the changes and the challenges in your life. Most importantly you need to love yourself, heart and soul. Conquer your fears and stand tall, always.

The title of my new life story is “Be a Paragon”. I want to strive for perfection in the eyes of those I inspire and I want to set examples for those who follow me in the future to come. I want to eat and breathe positivism. I want to be the example of positivism. I will tackle as many challenges as are needed to get where I want to be. As long as I am alive I will be striving for whatever great goal is next in my life.

What is your story? Do you like that story? Maybe it is time to change that story. In order to change the story you are still living now you have to close the book and open up a brand new one. Sometimes a complete start over of your life may be in order. The last question is, how badly do you really want those positive changes in your life and are you willing to do what it takes to reach these goals in your new life story?

I am a paragon, I am the next big thing, I am amazing. I am not conceded but I will tell myself these things till the end of my days! I am worth it to me and you should be worth it to you. Be a Paragon.

From The Point Of View Of A Gazelle

“From the point of view of a gazelle, the reason why lions are fast is to make us gazelles faster. And the faster I get, the closer I get to my true gazelleness.”

Mira Kirshenbaum, from her book “Everything happens for a reason”

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I laughed when she used the made up word “gazelleness.” It is always nice to have a little humor to get your point across! We all have evolved from the environment we live in. Just as the gazelle out runs the lions, human learn to out run life’s challenges. I am not talking about running away from the challenges; I am taking about conquering them and moving past them. In order to understand who you are you need to find and except the reasons why behind all events in your life.

My May reading month has been going well I hope you have set some reading goals too. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Dr. Eric Perry’s Blog

Motivate | Inspire | Uplift

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