Have you ever seen a picture of a 350 foot tall Sequoia growing from the face of a cliff? A better question may be; why don’t 350 foot tall Sequoia’s grow on cliffs? It is relatively simple; the laws of nature would prevent such a giant tree from growing in such a place. A Sequoia trying to grow on the face of a cliff has the odds stacked against it. For one, it will never be able to develop a root system under it to support its full weight. The root system cannot be beside the tree to support it as it would be on a cliff, it must be under it. Otherwise the law of gravity will cause it to fall once it reaches a certain height and weight.

Second, the elements of nature would have a negative effect on such a tree in such a place. In the event strong winds came and put to much pressure on it, or torrential rains came and eroded the face of the cliff, our would be Giant Redwood is very likely to fall. And third, there has to be enough nutrients to support the growth of the huge tree. The nutrients required to support the growth of such an enormous tree are not present on the face of a cliff. On a cliff the nutrients that do become available are quickly washed down the cliff and away from the tree.

In short order we have determined why Sequoia’s don’t grow on cliffs. So now where do they grow? In short, they grow on solid, fertile ground. They put down a root system under them to support their size and their growth. And because they have a solid and stable root system in solid ground there are enough nutrients to support the enormous growth potential they have.

In fact, the elements that would have had a negative impact had it tried to grow on a cliff can have a positive impact when it grows on solid ground. The very elements of nature that would have been its demise on the face of a cliff actually blow and wash nutrients in to it. Everything in the potential life of the Giant Redwood changes when it goes from trying to grow on the face of a cliff to growing on solid, fertile ground.

Now this isn’t really an article about Giant Redwoods and Sequoia’s. This is an article about you, your life, and your growth potential. You are like the Giant Redwood though, because the growth process and the growth potential are the same. Where you decide to grow is critical. We all have our cliff faces and our solid grounds. And, we are all different. My cliff face may be your solid ground. Or my solid ground may be your cliff face. You may be on solid ground as an accountant while I would be on the face of a cliff in that profession. You may be on the face of a cliff in my profession as an optician while it is my sold ground. So we much each find our solid ground, but never forget that it must be solid ground or the forces that are constantly exerting themselves on us will make us fall; or at the very least have a negative impact on our growth potential. Solid ground is the first and the most key element to your growth. Without it, everything else will be limited. It is the foundation of your true growth potential.

Your root system must also be large enough to support the growth you are capable of achieving. Without a root system in proportion to your growth rate or potential, you are likely to fall short. Your root system grows relative to the nutrients you give it. Don’t give it enough nutrients, or starve it of some it needs, and it will stay small, and the whole of you will stay small with it. Feed the root and nourish it with all it needs, and the person you can be will grow as you should because the root system can support that kind of growth. For example, if you are an accountant, feed yourself accounting food. Feeding yourself optician food as an accountant won’t help you grow as an accountant. And feeding myself accounting food won’t help me grow as an optician.

And the forces that are at work in your life that would have been your demise on the face of a cliff can actually be some of the most nourishing forces for you when you are on solid ground and rooted in it. The storms you go through bring you experiences that, coupled with the nourishment you have been given lead to insight. Understand that the nourishment of the root allows you to grow and be strong against the storms of adversity. The storms of adversity bring the nourishment of experience. Nourishing experiences, when added to the nourishment you have given yourself is when you begin to bear the fruit of insight. I believe that insight is a key element that helps bring maturity.

Maturity is the point you will start to see the fruit of it all. Many think that maturity is purely the result of time. I disagree with that theory. Maturity is much more the result of being on solid fertile ground. It is nourishing yourself with what you need to grow and developing a root system that will support you as you grow. It is being on solid fertile ground, rooted well enough so that when the storms come you can endure them and gain insight from them. Maturity is being fruitful to the point where you are able to share the fruit of your life with others to help nourish them and help them grow. That is maturity.

So now, do you want to live trying to grow on a cliff, or do you want to live growing on solid ground? Just remember, Sequoia’s don’t grow on cliffs.

We live in a world where contentment, happiness and peace are not the predominant feelings that many people have about life. People go to school and college to enrich their minds and gain as much knowledge as they can. And even though they are very intelligent, they still are not content with what they have.

 Others go to the gym and work our every day. They eat healthy so they can live as long as they possibly can. And even though people tell them how good they look, they still aren’t really happy with themselves.

Still others meditate, pray or do all they can to stay in touch with their souls. They want to know that when they die, their soul will go to the place they we want depending on which faith they choose to follow. But still they never reach a state where they are at peace with who they are.

Could there be a way for any of these people to have it all? Can there be a time when they are content, happy and at peace all at once? They can be if they will develop the “whole person”, not just the mind, or the body, or the soul. It is right here that most people get their priorities mixed up. Instead of mind, body and soul it should be; soul, mind and body.

The soul should be first because it is the most important part of us. I know my soul will live for eternity, but my mind and body will die. When the mind and the body die we say we are dead. But our souls never die, they live for eternity. So why wouldn’t I worry about the part of me that will live the longest? King Solomon tells us in the Bible that; “Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) The heart is used interchangeably in the Bible for soul. Now if my life started there, at the wellspring, that should be the first part of me I start taking care of if I want contentment, happiness and peace.

Do you know how to take care of your soul? If you don’t I know someone who does, God! After all, He created your soul so why not let Him take care of it? Trust me on this one, He can do a much better job of it than you and I can.

Now let’s take a look at your mind. We seem to have gotten this impression that what we learn and how much we know will get us success. What we think we will be can be, right? But of more importance to us should be; Why do we think like we do and how do we use what we know?

We think like we do and do what we do with what we know because our souls tell us we can. That’s right; our minds think what they do because of what is in our souls. We think one of two ways. Now I’m a simple man, so let’s keep it simple! We think as either children of God or people of the world. Now I’m a simple man, so let’s keep it simple! Your soul either belongs to God or the world. And whoever is in charge of your soul is in charge of your mind and your thoughts.

So how does that relate to contentment? If your soul belongs to God, you have already been provided all you will ever need. You can be content! Paul tells us in Philippians 4:12; “…I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want.” What was Paul’s secret? He knew God had his soul, and because of that God would not let him down.

And the world; doesn’t it have an ever moving scale of what you should be content with? You have to have the “The Jones” have! And if you don’t people want to know; how can you be content driving that? I thought you would have a bigger house than that by now. I would never buy my clothes at ____! About time you think you might be content, someone makes it a point to tell you that you shouldn’t be. And many times it’s the manufacturers of all that stuff that tell us we’re not. And the bad news is, we listen to them!

It’s important for us to know that when the soul is right, we want to do what is right because we think it is the right thing to do. When we do the right things for the right reasons we set ourselves up for success. When we do the wrong things for the wrong reasons we set ourselves up for failure. The mind follows the standards of behavior that the soul agrees with. Everything starts with a thought, so you could say that it all starts in your mind and be correct. But it’s your soul that tells your mind if its thoughts are correct. So if your soul’s not right, how right can your thoughts be?  Knowledge teaches what to do; the soul’s wisdom teaches the right way to do it.

Now we are left with the body. The body is the only part of the three that we can actually see. That’s why so many worry about how they look. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, unless you take it too far. A lot of people think that if they look good they are good. But I think we’ve already proven that isn’t always true.  We should take care of our bodies, and it’s not only for the way we look.

You see, it is the only vessel that the soul and the mind have to carry out what they have agreed needs to be done. If our bodies are not healthy we can’t do what we need to do very well. The soul and the mind have the ability to outwork the body every day of the week and twice on Sunday. That’s why we have to keep our bodies healthy. So it can carry out the wishes and work of the other two.

Now here’s something I bet you’ve probably never thought of. We loose the energy to finish what we start because the soul, mind and body haven’t all been taken care of at the same time. When the souls and the mind are at odds, we unknowingly use energy that the body needs to perform. Everything that is the opposite of contentment, happiness and peace zap our bodies of energy. Things like worry, regret, fear or anxiety, hate, sadness and depression use a lot of energy. As the saying goes; our get-up and go has got-up and went.

To be a full person; one that is filled with contentment, happiness and peace you have to take care of mind, body and soul. For you to reach your full potential (the one God put you here to fulfill) you have pay attention to all the parts it will take to make it happen. So let’s get our priorities straight. Instead of thinking mind, then body, then soul, think soul, then mind, then body. When all are working together in unison, you will have a full life. You will be able to reach your full potential. And your life will be full of contentment, happiness and peace.

 If you are anything like me there are things in your past that you never want to re-live. There are things in our pasts that were so hurtful or so unsavory that we would never in a million years go back and do again. I think that is true for all of us. And I think it is also true that many people can’t get on with their future because they can’t get past their past. Mark Twain is quoted as having said: “The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won’t sit upon a cold stove lid, either.” Describes us as well as it does the cat doesn’t it.

Just as the cat doesn’t want to get burned again or experience that kind of pain again, neither do we. I know the pain that cat felt, I’ve been burned by a stove myself. But luckily I’m not a cat! I still go to the kitchen and use the stove. Now here’s the analogy. If you’re like the cat and won’t go back to the kitchen stove because you don’t want to risk getting burned again, is it any wonder that there isn’t anything cooking in the future for you.

What I am getting at is this; don’t let the fear of repeating the past stop you from the blessings of the future. Learn from what has happened in the past but don’t live in the past. Hold on to the learning and let fear of future mistakes and hurt go. As long as you keep the fear of being hurt or having unsavory things happen in the forefront of your mind you are holding yourself back. And if are holding back, how much forward progress are you making? Holding back and moving forward just don’t go hand in hand do they?Fear of making mistakes holds you back, and learning from mistakes moves you forward.

Franklin Roosevelt said; “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” And his wife Eleanor Roosevelt said; “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Experts say that 80% of all the things we fear and worry about will never happen. What Franklin Roosevelt wants us to do is get over our fear so we can “get on with it” and do what we should be doing. And his wife suggests to us that when we learn from our experiences, no matter how horrible, then we set ourselves to do what we once thought was impossible.

Forgive yourself for your mistakes! Mistakes and painful moments in life are a part of life. We cannot, no matter how hard we try, totally avoid having things happen to us that we don’t want to happen. What happens to us is not nearly as important as what happens in us. And if we let what happens to us instill fear within us we will live the past over and over again. Fear has a way of keeping pain alive. And it is the learning we get from our experiences that helps keep fear, and the pain it brings, at bay.

Trust me on this. You will be much better off getting over your fears now so you can live for the future and not in the past. Please don’t let the fears from your past ruin the hopes for your future. No matter what has happened in the past, learn from it! Keep the learning and let the happening go. If you can do that, you won’t be living in fear. Then you will be able to live for the future and not in the past.

We all have our comfort zones, and oh how we love them! We love to be in a place where we feel safe. We like not having to fret or worry about what’s coming next. We can get into our routine, set the “auto-pilot” and “just go” without having to do a whole lot of thinking about what we’ll do next. We get a sense of security in our comfort zones, and oh how we love that feeling!

 As much as we love our comfort zones it’s to easy to stay in them for so long, so much, that they can turn into danger zones for us. And it can happen without us being truly aware that it’s happening. If I had learned this lesson earlier than I did I could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii right not, sipping a cool tropical drink with sand between my toes. Here’s the truth; staying in your comfort zone too much, too long has a price. And the price will be higher than what you would pay to get out of it right now.

 I’m not suggesting you get out of your comfort zone and never ever go back to it. If we did not have any kind of comfort zone we could retreat to every now and then, the stress of life would kill us all.  But comfort zones are a double edged sword. We retreat to them for comfort, but staying in them too long can actually make us uncomfortable. We get uncomfortable when we see the people around us having more success than we have, going further than we are, or getting more out of life than we are.

 Do you feel yourself becoming jealous of other people? Do you envy the things they have or what they are able to do? Are you disappointed that you haven’t been able to accomplish what you want to? If that sounds somewhat like you, those feeling are letting you know you have been in your comfort zone long enough it is starting to become your danger zone!

 I can read your minds…A lot of you are thinking “OK Mr. Smarty Pants, how do I get out of my comfort zone?” Let me help you. Get out of your comfort zone and into the fear zone so you won’t have to live in a danger zone. Now you’re thinking; “the fear zone…you’re kidding me! I’ll stay right here, thank you much.” No I’m not kidding you!

 You won’t experience much growth in your comfort zone. You experience substantial growth in the fear zone. And isn’t it fear that has been keeping you in your comfort zone? More specifically, isn’t it the fear of failure or the fear of the unknown that has kept you where you are. I don’t think we dislike anything more than risking failure. But if we never step out and try new things because we fear failure, aren’t we guaranteeing that we will never be successful at it?

 Did you know that Mr. Macy, the founder of Macy’s Department store failed five times before he was successful? Thomas Edison failed thousands of times to create a working light bulb before he was successful. The Wright brothers built the first airplane to get of the ground and fly, even though many before them had tried and been unsuccessful. What if none of these men had faced their fear of failure or let other people’s failures influence them? We wouldn’t know anything about Macy’s, we may still be lighting candles for light, or we may still be traveling exclusively by ground. Our lives would be different if it were not for the fact that these men stepped out of their comfort zones. 

 In just the last week Kodak Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection. That is sad. Kodak has been an icon in the camera industry for years. How could this have happened to such a successful icon in the industry? The simple answer; they stayed in their comfort zone of conventional film photography so long that it turned into their danger zone because they didn’t enter the fear zone of digital photography. Do you see the lesson?

 So what will it be for you? Will you stay in your comfort zone so long that it becomes your danger zone and wind up like Kodak? Or will you step out and go into the fear zone and risk like John Macy, Thomas Edison or the Wright brothers? Without stepping out of your comfort and facing your fears, aren’t you are in danger of risking your future success?

 We tend to want to know what other people are saying about us. We want to; in fact we have the need to know what they think of us. It is just human nature that we want to know these things. In a strange sort of way, what other people say and think about us is how we judge ourselves. But let me share a fact with you. What other people think and say about us is coming directly from us. They are judging us by what they have seen from us. So the really important question is not what other people are saying about us, but what are we saying about ourselves?

 So, what are you saying about yourself? When you speak, what do you talk about? How do you say it? What tone of voice? Do you chose your words or just ramble on? What I am getting at that what you speak of and how you speak of it tells people your interests and how passionate you are about them. When you talk about other people what do you say about them? Do you talk about them in a good way of a bad way? Or are you just indifferent when it comes to other people? When you start paying attention to what you are saying you will start to see that you are either a positive or a negative person. And what people hear you speak is invariably how they will speak of you, positive or negative. You get to choose. So will it be positive or negative?

 The next time you are ready to walk out of your house take a moment and look at yourself in the mirror. What would you see? Would you see a person who really cares about themselves or one that was indifferent or doesn’t care? We are told that people start to form an opinion of you within five seconds of meeting you. Now five seconds is not a lot of time. In fact it is hardly any time at all, and yet people are already starting to form an opinion of you in that length of time. In five seconds you can’t hardly get a hello out, much less tell them about yourself, but they already have an opinion of you! And they got it from your appearance! So when you are out be mindful of your appearance, it is saying a lot about you without you ever opening your mouth. Again, you get to choose. Will that first five second opinion of you, based on your appearance, be positive or negative? You are speaking with your appearance and people are listening with their eyes.

 There is a non-verbal clue as to how you feel that is recognized the world over. Its importance is realized the world over. How much do you smile?  Remember that first five second impression? Were you smiling in that first five seconds? If you don’t, you need to be! You are dressed from the neck down, now dress your face with a smile. It will make a huge difference. Did you know that 99.7% of people say that a smile is an important personal asset? 74% also say that an unattractive smile or no smile hurts your chance for success. After all said and done, people may not remember much about you, but they will remember the fact that you had a smile on your face. And that my friends, registers in their mind that you were a happy person. Smiling also has health benefits for you as well. There have been studies done that suggest that people who smile are healthier than those that don’t. Another choice; what is your smile saying about you? Are you saying what you want to with it?

 Time and length won’t permit me to go on to all the things we say about ourselves that people readily repeat. Your eye contact, body language, hand gestures and facial expressions all say something. Nearly everything that is said about us came straight from us. We have in some way, communicated what they are saying about us to them. So the next time you get dressed, go out into the world and interact with the people in it, remember that all you do is saying something about you. Please remember; what people are saying about us is probably what we told them about ourselves through our presentation of ourselves. So; what are you saying about yourself?

 I do not know anyone who does not want to be successful in life. We all have the desire to get all we can out of our lives. For some the process of becoming successful at what they do can be very frustrating to say the least. And many times it is not what they are doing that is hindering their success; it is the way they are doing it that is holding them back. They have forgotten or are not mindful of the power of attitude in their lives.

 I have said many time that attitude stops more people than ability. I believe that to be a very true statement. If knowledge were the only precursor for success, then everyone with a high level of knowledge would be wonderfully successful, wouldn’t they? In reality, knowledge is half of success. The other half of success is the attitude you take while using it.

 If you stop and think about that, when you are using your knowledge to do a thing, then your attitude is how you are doing it. Keep thinking with me. If you are doing something, the attitude you take while doing it has a huge impact on what you put into it. If the attitude is bad, or lackluster, then can you expect to get the maximum results from what you are doing? No. You will get bad or lackluster results because your attitude has stopped you from giving it your best.

 On the other hand, what if you approached what you do with a great attitude? Your positive attitude would have a positive impact on your results. When your attitude allows you to put more in you invariably get more out. That is the power of a positive attitude. My friend John Maxwell calls attitude “the difference maker” and he is right on target with that. If you ever have issues with attitude I would highly recommend you get and read his book The Difference Maker, an in depth look at the power of attitude.

If success seems to be always one step away from you, the problem may not be your knowledge. The issue very well may be in the way you are approaching what you do.

The difference in the amount of success you have had and the amount of success you wish you had very well may be attitude. To change your level of success, start by changing your level of attitude. As Thomas Jefferson said; “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

Can I tell you something? If you are old enough to be out of diapers you have stepped in a pile of stupid. We all have. And we will probably do it again at some point. My friend John Maxwell says “we are only one step from stupid”. We all take that one step into stupid sometimes. But doing stupid things sometimes is not what makes us stupid.

 What makes people stupid is stepping into a pile of stupid and staying there. They stay there when they do something stupid then act smart about it.  They make a comment, a choice, or a decision and then even though they know it was unwise, they try and cover their tracks or deny that they stepped in it or did it.

 If it was truly a stupid decision, the people around our decision maker knew it was not a good choice from the time it was made. Now they are waiting to see how long it will take the decision maker to realize their error. And the longer it takes for someone to realize the error or their decision, it gets to a point where people don’t just see the decision as stupid, they see the one that made it as stupid.

 I have seen it happen before that when a decision was made and when it came down to the people it would affect they knew who made the decision before they were even told who made it. Why is that? They know the history of the decision makers where they are. If the decision is wise they know who it came from, and if it is stupid they know who it came from. For me, I would much rather be known for my wisdom than my stupidity.

 If you are a leader and make a bad “stupid” decision, as soon as you realize it get out of it. Let me give you a hint here. Many times you can feel the effects of a stupid decision long before you can see the results of it. Don’t ignore those feeling. Step back and review how it was made and the motives behind making it. Consult with those involved about what should be changed, if anything, and change it! Then you can be thought of as wise due to the fact that you realized you made a bad decision and changed it.

 One of the benefits of being wise enough to realize and change a stupid decision is that it builds trust in you. People trust those who make good decisions. And when you realize a bad decision and change it, people trust you for being open and honest enough to change. Trust is the foundation for real leadership and meaningful relationships.

 Of course the best leaders do everything in their power to keep from making stupid decisions in the first place. They think about the decisions they need to make before they make them, weighing all the facts they have and the people they have. They consult or get feedback from the ones that will actually have to implement the decision after it is made. From thinking first about the decision at hand and the people at hand, and given the facts and the implementation they get insight and intuition into the decision to be made. And that my friends is the best way to keep from “stepping in a pile of stupid”.

 Have you ever noticed that the very people who need motivation and inspiration are the very ones that want it the least? While I don’t think we will ever have a definitive answer for why that is so, I want to share my theory with you. For many, at some point in time they have become convinced that trying a little harder or going a little farther is not worth the effort. For others, they don’t where to start. Still others won’t because they don’t know where it will end.

 For the same problem to affect so many people with such a wide variety of personalities and backgrounds there has to be a common thread issue somewhere. I firmly believe that the biggest de-motivating factor that stops people, and makes them settle for less is fear. Think with me for a minute. I want you to start new tomorrow. I want you to go a little harder and farther than you have ever gone before. No matter where you are in life, start it now, even though you or I either one will know where it will take you or where it will end. That is a little bit of a scary proposition isn’t it?

 I know; what if my friends think it’s stupid? What if I fail? I don’t know if I can do it! Where does that kind of negative thinking come from? You guessed it, your mind. Hang close; it is going to get deeper now. We are going to look at your mind and what it likes. So if you are ready, let’s go inside our minds and look at our fears and why we let them convince us to settle for less.

 Your conscious mind likes the norm. It likes what it knows or has already experienced. And if you know a certain way or thing well enough and have experienced it enough, your conscious mind has convinced your subconscious mind that it is the way you do things.

And when the conscious mind and the subconscious mind agree on something it becomes a belief. Now your mind is actually working against you when you want to do something new. Your minds reaction to the unknown is fear. And the bigger the unknown the bigger the fear your mind associates with it.

 It has been said that 80% of all we do is out of habit. It has also been said that 80% of the things that we worry about will never happen. So it could be said that we are creatures of habit. It can also be said that we are in the habit of worrying about things that we shouldn’t. Now think of your mind again. Is your mind trying to protect its way of thinking by getting us to worry about the things we want to do that are “out of habit” for us? Remember my proposition to start something new tomorrow? It is out of habit isn’t it? So what does your mind tell you to do? Yep, you worry about it.

 To get over your habitual thinking that is making you settle for less, you must start the mind thinking new thoughts until the thoughts become habit. When the new thoughts become more habitual you are much more likely to act on doing the new and unknown you have been thinking about. Your mind is now in the habit of thinking new thoughts, and it and you, will have lost some of your fear of the new.

 The key is to train your mind to think differently. And you do that by thinking of that new and exciting thing you want to do. And justify to yourself and your mind the benefits of it. That is a key point! Your mind wants, in fact it demands, justification of benefits before it will let go of its fear of something new. And until it lets go of its fear of it, it will not let go of you to do it. Given enough thought, the fear will subside to the point where you are able to step out and do it. If you think about it long enough and hard enough, you will “stop settling for less”.

If you think about all the things that go on in your life it can get to be confusing at times. You get bombarded every day with a million things people expect you to do. Then there are the million things you want to do. Well, maybe not a million, but it sure feels like it some days doesn’t it? It gets so confusing that at times we want to throw our hands up in frustration and say; just forget it, I give up!

Given the times we live in, it is all too easy to get confused, frustrated and fed up at times. But instead of watching people be fed up, I started to look for a way for people to be freed up. So let me help you here. When you feel fed up what you really are is confused up. And when you are confused up, you get fed up and then want to give up. So before you get confused up, fed up and give up, let’s get you freed up.

So to help get you freed up and get rid of some of the confusion, I’ve come up with growmatics. So you will know, you say it just like mathematics, but you replace mathe with grow. I know this isn’t a grammar lesson, but hey, I just created a new word! And I wanted to be sure you said it right. So as soon as I finish strutting we’ll get back to it. “Growmatics”-eat your heart out Mr. Webster, your dictionary is now outdated.

Now that you know how to pronounce my new word growmatics, let’s get down to what it means and how to us it every day. Growmatics is as simple as; Addition or subtraction based on how you deal with yourself and others. You can add and subtract so this should be relatively simple to wrap your arms around and use.

To use growmatics you only have to remember one thing, and practice this one principle every day, all day. And yes, you can practice it even when you are by yourself. Every thought you have and every action you take you are already using lifematic, and you don’t consciously think about it. That is what I want you to do, to consciously think about the growmatics principle.

The principle is this; every thought and every action that results from that thought will either add to or subtract from your life or the life of the one you are in contact with. Further, what you add to others you also add to yourself. And what you take away form others you also take away from yourself. It is pretty easy to see that you really want to add to and not subtract from yourself or anyone else.

If you look through out history, you will see that the givers always seem to wind up with more in the end than the takers do. It is a deeper psychological issue than I have time to go into here, so let’s suffice it to say that it holds true. If you were to look back at yourself you would find that if you have ever had the “takers” mentality, at those times you actually felt worse than you did when you had a “givers” mentality. It fits perfectly with the lifematics principle. When you give to others you give to yourself, and when you take from others you take from yourself.

In growmatics a smile is addition and a frown is subtraction. A good attitude is addition and a bad attitude is subtraction. Giving your best is addition and anything less is subtraction. Doing for others is addition and doing only for you is subtraction. Love is addition and hate is subtraction. I could go on and on but I think you get my basic point. Anything that builds people up, lifts them up or helps them is addition. Anything that tears them down, holds them down or hurts them is subtraction.

Now I told you earlier that what you add or subtract form others you also add or subtract from yourself. If you smile at someone and they smile back, don’t you feel better? Sure you do, you added the feeling of a smile to their day and they returned the feeling back with their smile. That’s addition; things are starting to look and feel positive. On the flip side of that is this. If you are frowning you are passing the feeling of the frown to someone else, and then you both feel worse. That’s subtraction; things are starting to look and feel worse.

The smile or the frown is probably the two simplest methods of conveying our thoughts and feeling along to others. What most of us tend to forget is that we are not just conveying our thoughts or feelings; we are also transferring them to someone else. That is a very important thought. Our thoughts and the feeling that result from them are infectious. They will fill a room and infect everyone in it. Do you want to be responsible for infecting people with good thoughts and feelings, or would you rather infect them with bad thoughts and feelings. I hope for your sake and mine that it is the good part.

There is one last thing to growmatics, and that is the multiplier. If you take the simple smile or the simple frown and multiply it with words or actions you drastically increase the result. If you take a smile and multiply it with kind words and actions the results are greater than they would have been with just the smile alone. The same is true for the frown and its effects when you multiply it with corresponding negative words and actions. When you multiply the plus you get more plus and when you multiply the negative you get more negative. The multiplier effect gets the results quicker, whether they are positive or negative. The goal is to multiply the positive, not the negative.

So there you have it, growmatics in a nutshell. I hope you can see that it is better to add than subtract. It always has been and it always will be that way. Unfortunately we live in a society that likes to dwell on subtraction. The newspaper and the evening news are prime examples of this. Once in a while we hear of someone or meet someone who dwells on addition. You know what we call those people? Happy and successful!

You can be happy and successful too. All you have to do is use the principle I just laid out for you and do the math. If you can end your day in the plus column by using lifematics you will be. And the good news is that you can help everyone around you have the same thing, which adds to what you already have. Remember; what you add to others you also add to yourself. You have it in you to create and add good things to yourself and to those around you. All you have to do is learn how to use and apply lifematics every day. The goal is to end each day with more in the plus column and less in the negative column than you started with.

One last thought for you. You may be wondering why I took simple basic mathematics principles and created the term growmatics and the principle I applied to it. If you take the philosophy of adding to life instead of taking away from it, you stand a far greater chance of creating growth. By adding to and not taking away from your life you will grow. By adding to anything you make it bigger than before, and your life is no different.

When you knowingly and willingly apply growmatics to people around you it becomes possible for them to grow. You are helping to grow them by sharing your growth. It is a symbiotic relationship. Brings to mind the old saying of; “one hand washes the other”, doesn’t it.

Applying growmatics may start with you, but by no means does it, nor should it stop with you. You and I are one of many millions of people. But years from now you and I should be the ones that people think of and say; they helped me learn how to live a better life, and I am what I am today because of the help they gave me. Will you help those around you to become better people? Will you be the one that plants a seed that will help them along the way? Maybe a better thought may be this; if you don’t plant the seed, what will come of them without your help? Just remember; a man reaps what he sows.