This is Valentine’s Day, a day we pause and think about love.
Usually we think about people we love. Yet love affects more than our personal relationships. Because when it comes down to it, everything we choose to think, say, or do is rooted in either love or fear. Everything. So let’s take a moment to think about our thoughts and the decisions and actions that follow.
Our decisions in business to (and how to) lead, follow, motivate, participate, compete, market, sell, hire, fire, save, spend, attack, defend, invest, report, communicate, train, merge, divest, evaluate, reflect, analyze, unite or divide … arise from a thought of love or fear.
How we choose to think and act with respect to industry, politics, finance, war, peace, and the education and parenting of our children is based in either love or fear.
Who, and how, we choose to be in any situation, in any relationship, in any moment, is based in either love or fear and we have a choice on which to select.
Love creates, expands, radiates, opens up, receives, includes, shares, soothes and heals. Fear contracts, constricts, closes down, forces, excludes, hoards, covets, irritates and harms.
It is up to us to choose.
When we choose fear, we are choosing to be ruled by our brains, and without awareness, we are choosing thoughts and actions of fight, flight or freeze. We are choosing to survive.
When we choose love, we are choosing to thrive. We are choosing thoughts and actions that are in alignment with who we truly are, who we truly can be, what we truly want, as individuals, organizations, as nations.
When we choose love, we are inspired. And it is when we are inspired that we are in touch with our true nature. It is when we are inspired that we are creative, expansive, energized, happy and at peace. It is when we are inspired that our souls sing. It is when we are inspired that we achieve significant results.
So as you make your next decision, take your next action, take note – are you rooted in love? Are you inspired? Or are you coming from fear? Are you in alignment with who you truly are, what you truly can be? Or not?
How could you choose love?
Mary J. Lore is the founder and president of Managing Thought, LLC, which helps individuals and organizations develop self-awareness and change how they think and conduct business to attain long-lasting success. She is the author of the multiple award-winning book Managing Thought: Think Differently. Think Powerfully. Achieve New Levels of Success and audio book Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World? and stars in the Live Workshop DVD. Mary serves as an expert resource for Vistage, served as a Chair from 2002 – 2010, and was a member during the 1990s when she served as a CPA, business turnaround expert, and entrepreneur. If you’d like to help Mary teach millions of people how to change their thoughts and their lives, go to www.managingthought.com/PBSPledgeSpecial .