Lou Tice

What are you afraid of? It doesn't matter whether it's speaking in public or snakes, if you really want to conquer it, you can.

Let's talk for a few moments about fear. Fear can be either a valuable ally or a vicious enemy. It can keep you safe and prevent you from taking dangerous chances, but it can also stop you from taking the risks you must take if you are to grow and change for the better.  

It's important to understand that fear itself can't hurt you. Fear is simply a negative rehearsal of the future. You imagine yourself… >>>

If a Hollywood producer wanted to film the story of your life, would it be an Oscar-winning epic or a direct-to-DVD cure for insomnia?  

How well has your life been going so far? Have you been living your life to the fullest and making good use of your enormous potential? Or, have you been letting other people write your story for you, telling you what you can and cannot do, what your personality is like, and what is good enough for you?  

You know, your life could be a glorious thing - the kind of story Hollywood producers would love… >>>

Have you ever heard the story of the woman who preferred the smell of dead fish to flowers? 

There's an old story of a woman who sold fish all her life and knew nothing else. One fine summer day, she was invited to the queen's palace to help prepare a royal festival.  When she was shown to her room, she found it filled with fragrant flowers. "How disgusting," she complained. "Please take me back and let me sleep near my pile of fish." 

Now why would she choose the stench of her fish over the sweet fragrance of flowers? It… >>>

Do you ever feel let down after you reach a goal that you have worked long and hard for? Let's talk about why that happens and how to avoid it.

Did you know that people are teleological beings? That means that it is absolutely critical for us to have goals and to know what we want in life. But what happens when we get it? When suddenly the goal we have been working so hard to achieve has been accomplished and now there is nothing to strive toward? 

Well, most of us have a tendency to flatten out - we… >>>

Would you like to change your luck for the better? If so, throw away your rabbit's foot and four leaf clover - and I will tell you how. 

Why is it that some people are successful at almost everything they do, while others seem to continually fail? Is it luck, or is something else going on? 

I think what we normally attribute to a force called "luck" is simply the part of our mind that does not see the whole picture. No one creates any condition - health, finances, career, relationships - unless he or she has attracted it by… >>>

Do you know what either/or thinking is? Either/or thinking, or black and white thinking as it is sometimes called, is a very dangerous thing, and it is basically just what it sounds like.

Either/or thinkers don't see shades of gray. They want easy answers and they like to keep it simple. So they see life in terms of winners and losers, good guys and bad guys, success or failure, right and wrong. They fail to realize that right and wrong depend on time, place, culture and purpose, among other things. 

They don't see that no one is all good or… >>>

What would it take to make you happy? 

Now, I know some of you think that if you only had this or that particular thing or a certain amount of money, you'd be happy. Others believe that if you were only in love with someone wonderful who loved you back, then you would be happy. And there are still others who believe that if a miracle would occur and cure you or someone you love of an illness, that would make you happy. 

But I want to tell you something. Happiness is a choice you make, not something that does… >>>

Ever wonder how you can tell if you're living your life in the best possible way? There are some pretty good indicators, and I'll tell you what they are. 

If you know about the work I do, or if you're a regular receiver of this email, you probably know that I believe it's up to you to create a life that works, that feels right, and that makes you happy. But how in the world can you tell if you're living your life to the fullest? Well, there are some questions you can ask yourself that will pretty much tell… >>>

A few days ago, we talked about the possible selfishness of personal growth. Today, I want to add another angle to the discussion about whether pursuing personal growth is, indeed, selfish. 

In my mind, there's no question about it. We must have a caring relationship with ourselves before we can expect others to do so. But being interested in personal growth doesn't mean you're selfish. Quite the contrary.  

In his book, "The Psychology of Romantic Love," Nathaniel Brandon wrote that, "The first affair we must consummate successfully is the love affair with ourselves. Only then are we ready for other… >>>

How big is your comfort zone? Is it growing or shrinking? All of us live inside an area I call a comfort zone. It's the imaginary space containing all the activities we have done often enough to feel comfortable about. It also contains our ideas about where we belong, how we should live, what we do socially, and so on. 

You can visualize this zone of comfort as a circle, if you like, but the wall of that circle is not really there to protect us. It is made of fear and self-imposed limitations. We like to believe that the… >>>