In the nine years I worked as a professor, I’ve observed judgement all of the time. Students would judge themselves as stupid if they got even a B on their assignment. Being as though I was teaching basic skills courses, students were very judgemental about how they did not needed the course.

For others not to judge us, we grow up trying to fit into certain circles of friends. This creates us to loose who we really are and who we really want to be. We judge other people to fit the roles we expect them to play.

Today I encourage you to be the observer in your classrooms and when you are hanging around your social circles. What are you saying about yourself? What are you saying about other people? The more you judge yourself, the more you judge others.

If you catch yourself judging, don’t judge yourself for that. Just be mindful that today you are setting an intention to not judge anything that occurs throughout your day. The more you practice this you’ll be less judgemental of your teachers. You’ll be able to communicate with your teachers and your social circles much better. Because you have made the decision that right and wrong don’t exists. All that exists is the story being played out in front of you.

Take the non-judgement challenge today!

To Your Success,

Collegiate Career Coach Mignon Brooks

http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2010/10/20/what-todays-job-seekers-want.html?PageNr=1

This is no surprise. Statistically, a person is more likely to leave their job if they feel unappreciated rather than for pay.

 In my classrooms we do an activity on the first day of class so that everyone can get to know each other. One of the topics they share is their degree major. An overwhelming amount of students are in the Nursing program. It’s in high demand. However, some students are still sticking to industries that they think they will enjoy – education, fashion designers, public relations, and business.

When asked what type of business these aspiring owners want to run, they desire to become a part of an established family owned business or just choose business because it opens up their choices for any industry they choose.

My advice is to stick with what you love. First of all, the economy will turn around eventually. Also, you can make money doing anything you want as long as your are creative. I’m a writer and an educator – both careers that are not known for paying high salaries. But I picked a passioned that embraced both of them, and the high salary is sure to come soon….very soon.

Don’t doubt it for a minute that who you are influences what you do and how you do it. Let’s use a career example to show you exactly what I mean. If I have a student who does not value education and is only in school because his or her parents told him or her that is what he or she had to do after high school, that student is going to do is the bare minimum to pass classes. This is not you’re “A” or “B” student but the student who may or may not pass the class.

The student does this is by exerting only the slightest effort. The student does not study, does assignments last minute, and does not accept tutoring services when offered. The student just described has inner conflict and is not living a fulfilled and happy life in school or in any other aspect of his or her life.

Everyone has a foundation that makes up a part of who we are created from the environment from which we were raised, our families, our friends, the society around us, our religious background, our beliefs, and our morals and values. But what many people do not understand is that our foundation can be changed. Some parts of this foundation might work well for you right now in your life. If that’s the case, keep those aspects of your foundation. But for the parts of your foundation that aren’t working in your life, get rid of them so that you can be who you want to be.

Being your true self is so important, because it allows you to expose the gifts you have to offer to the world. If you keep them inside and don’t share them with anyone else, the world will miss your contribution.

One of the biggest blocks that prevents people from being who they want to be is fear of judgment from others. Some people worry about what their parents might think about their decisions, and others fear what their peers might think about their decisions. Fear of the peers is often referred to as peer pressure. No matter what age, many people feel they have to do what everyone else is doing so they can fit in. Most people think this only happens with teens and young adults, but the truth is that for a large chunk of life we all try to fit in at work, in our social groups, and within our families.

If you fear what others might think of you and your decisions, you are not tapped into your true self. If you live your life they way you want to live it, you’ve found the freedom that has been your right since you arrived on this Earth.

Tapping into your true self takes courage, because it may go against the grain of others you know and love. But if you feel you are living life the way it is supposed to be for you, keep going. You are on the right track.

What in the world is meditation anyway? It is what you make it, but for me it’s an opportunity to tap into my inner self and listen to my instincts without the distractions of life that can sometimes interrupt my flow of thought.

When I first started to meditate, I could not sit quietly without thinking of everything that was on my mind. I thought about all the things on my to do list, all the things that occurred that day, and even thoughts about why I couldn’t quiet my mind.

This experience was a clear indication to me that I was not using my intuition and could not tap into my inner self. But I didn’t know how.

I started off with guided meditations, which I still use quite often because I like it just as much as a meditation that is completely silent. In a guided meditation, the leader usually has a topic matter that he or she focuses on. During the meditation, the leader will give you things certain things to think about concerning that particular topic matter, and then he or she will also allow you time to let your thoughts drift away.

Because it’s not completely silent, this helped me get my mind to a place where I could sit quietly, even for over an hour, and allowing my mind to think of absolutely nothing.

Not only does meditation, in both formats, provide a sense of peace and serenity away from the hustle and bustle of my daily thoughts, but when the meditation is complete, I always find clarity around different areas of my life.

One time I attended a two hour, silent meditation. I was a bit nervous because that was the first time I was going to be completely silent for two hours. And being as though I woke up at 3 a.m. and traveled two and a half hours to get the event, I hoped that I would fall asleep or be too tired to benefit from the meditation. There was so much on my mind at the time. It was the end of the semester, and I had a lot of essays to grade. I was also making a major change in my life, which was moving to Orlando, Florida.

Even with all of that on my mind, I knew that if I let go of my thoughts, let God do His work in me, and get out of my own way, I’d get all the answers I needed. Sure enough, I was able to go home and get my grading done in a timely manner because my mind was clear. I also moved to Orlando, Florida a few months later.

Meditating and letting go of your thoughts is one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself. If you think it’s weird and don’t open your mind to try something new, it won’t do anything for you. It will only be as beneficial as you allow it to be. But if allow it to become a practice in your life, the opportunities it will provide are endless.

Like attracts like. What do I mean by that? It’s this simple. If you choose to hang out with people who get into trouble, you’re very likely to get yourself into trouble too. If you choose to hang out with people who are ambitious, then you’re probably an ambitious person too. There’s much to be said for the saying, “birds of a feather flock together.” It’s true.

The qualities that my friends possess are very similar to qualities that I possess – both the qualities I like in my friends and the qualities that I don’t like so much. If you pay attention to your likes and dislikes in your relationships with your friends and family, realize that somewhere within yourself you have that quality as well. That’s why you notice those qualities in others.

Many of my closest friends are driven in their careers. We strive for the very best because that’s what we were taught to do in the environment in which we grew up. We’re adventurous, like to have fun, and expect the best out of life.

While MOST of my friends are like what I described above, I do have some childhood friends who complain alot. It gets under my skin. Sometimes I’ve asked myself, “Sheesh…can’t (so and so) ever be happy about something?” Then I realized something about myself. When I get in a cranky mood, I find myself complaining too. And when I’ve gotten in these moods, I’ve tended to call my complainer friends because I know they’ll jump right into complaint mode with me.

What did I learn from this? I’ve learned that complaining never helps me out when I’m in a difficult situation. And while I never realized I can sometimes get into a complaining mood, it’s never ever helped me get out of a difficult situation. In fact, it’s when I’m able to lift my positivity level up that I’m on top of the world.

Like Albert Einstein said, “You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” This statement means a lot of things to me. One of them is if a problem arised out of negativity, I surely can’t fix it from a negative mindframe or out of a complaint.

As a result, I choose to spend most of my time around positive people. They inspire me, and I inspire them. 

So be sure,  to pick your friends wisely and carefully because they truly do influence you, whether you realize it or not. Remember that none of us are perfect. We are all human beings. Yet, choose friends that embrace not only who you are now but who you strive to be.

I realize that I could easily choose to complain about cabin fever, having nothing to do, and the tree branches I hear collapsing onto my roof. But I can’t complain because the time off has given me an opportunity to relax and focus on projects in which I’m really passionate about. I’ve gotten a lot of work done on my novel and worked on some business ideas I’d been thinking of putting together for the longest time. I’ve rested my mind and organized my paperwork for school. I am truly grateful!