What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0090

4451.  The world can’t give us something that we’re not ready to receive.  Since deprivation thinking keeps a person holding tightly to what he already has, there is no receptivity for receiving more;

4452.  Take a couple of deep breaths and exhale slowly.  Clear your mind.  Once you are relaxed, picture yourself living in an abundant world.  In this abundant world, there are no restraints or limitations.  Good things flow past you continuously.  Imagine every abundant thing you have ever desired – car, home, friends, love, joy, wealth, success, peace of mind and challenge.  Visualize yourself living your life surrounded by this abundance.  Repeat this visualization several times a day until it begins to feel real to you.  Open your arms, your heart and your mind.  Get out of the way and let it happen;

4453.  By taking responsibility for creating the kind of life you really want, you can become all that you were meant to be;

4454.  3 steps to create lasting change: 1.  Get leverage (i.e., understand the reasons why you must change); 2.  Interrupt the limiting (or disempowering) pattern; and 3.  Create an empowering alternative (pattern) and reinforce/reward it (i.e., notice it, give it pleasure, acknowledge it & reward it) until it becomes habit;

4455.  The secret to reinforcing something is give it pleasure give it rewards;

4456.  Until you put somebody in a peak state, everything you’re going to get is going to be less than who they are and what they’re capable of;

4457.  How to keep momentum: 1.  Put yourself in a peak state by radically changing your physiology, radically changing your emotions or both; 2.  You must find your passion (to keep your peak state); 3.  You must decide, commit and resolve what you’re going to do with your passion; and 4.  You must get yourself to take massive action;

4458.  To keep momentum going, you have to take that passion and do something with it;

4459.  A decision made from a “should” is not a real decision because you don’t act on it.  You do it for a little while.  You never really not only decide, but to commit and really resolve that no matter what you’re going to make it happen;

4460.  Starbucks changed the redemption policy for their “Birthday Rewards.”  The redemption period is now four days, starting two days before your birthday and expiring the day after your birthday;

4461.  Barry Trotz (the head coach of the Washington Capitals) is about my height;

4462.  A three-ounce serving of fish is about the size of a checkbook;

4463.  Action is momentum;

4464.  People will do more for others they care about than they’ll ever do for themselves;

4465.  Successful people use stress as fuel.  Stress provides motivation to attack whatever challenges stand in their way.  When you’re stressed out, realize it’s because you’re doing something meaningful.  Learn to enjoy the discomfort of stress and fight through it.  That’s how you improve yourself in spite of stress;

4466.  The less scary option is almost always the wrong choice;

4467.  Be confident in your ability to work.  You don’t have to work hard at everything, but you do have to work hard towards what you want to achieve.  Focus your efforts on your goals.  Never use yourself as your biggest excuse;

4468.  Don’t seize opportunities, create them.  Opportunities won’t always knock at your door, sometimes you have to create them for yourself.  Be resourceful.  Think outside the box;

4469.  Time is your most precious resource, use it wisely.  Time is the only thing we can never get back.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.  Live each moment dedicated to your goal.  Every passing minute is your chance to make your big break;

4470.  Live your life driven by purpose.  Everything you do should be towards your big picture goals.  Be selfish.  Eliminate distractions, obstacles and barriers.  Evaluate by asking yourself, “Will this help me get there?”  “Do I really need this?”  The answers will sometimes surprise you;

4471.  You can always improve.  You can always be better.  Comfort can be a curse.  Never get too comfortable or overly confident about where you are at any given moment.  Imagine if you pushed yourself to work that extra 10% towards an even bigger goal each day.  What would that amount to over a lifetime?

4472.  If it is to be, it’s up to me;

4473.  Working hard is when you stop making excuses for your own laziness;

4474.  The harder you work, the easier life gets.  The more you take the easy route, the harder life becomes;

4475.  6 (human) needs that must be met (for long term fulfillment): 1.  Certainty; 2.  Uncertainty – variety, surprise, have things that we’re not expecting happening, adventure; 3.  Significance – need for a feeling like your life is significant, it’s important, it’s significant, it’s unique in somewhat, it’s special, that your life has some kind of purpose, your life has some kind of meaning; 4.  Connection and love; 5.  You must grow; and 6.  You must contribute beyond yourself in a meaningful way;

4476.  Most of us don’t need to have a lot happen to meet our needs;

4477.  The burnt almond torte from Prantl’s Bakery (PrantlsBakery.com) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a nice, toffee crunch to it;

4478.  People judge you based on how you see yourself.  Not the other way around;

4479.  Nobody has the power to stop you unless you give it to them.  So don’t;

4480.  All talk + no action = a recipe for accomplishing nothing;

4481.  All pain comes from feeling like one or more of your six needs is not being met;

4482.  Three major varieties of white wine, Riesling, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, visualize them as skim milk, whole milk, and cream.  Before you’ve even tasted the wines, you have an idea of where they stand from light to heavy.  Do the same for reds; pinot noir: skim milk; merlot: whole milk; cabernet sauvignon: cream;

4483.  There is some technique involved in winetasting.  What you want to do is pick up your wineglass by the stem (not the bowl) and swirl.  The air will turn up the volume on the aroma.  There are chemical reasons for this, but maybe it's easier to understand by imagining yourself on a hot, listless day.  In the distance there’s a guy barbecuing, but he’s too far away for you to see or smell a thing.  If, however, a strong wind were to blow in your direction, your nostrils might twitch at the airborne molecules of ‘cue.  So stick your nose in that glass and inhale.  But equally crucial are the taste buds aligning the insides of your mouth.  Don’t gulp the juice straight down; the flavors will zoom by.  Let the wine coat the inside of your mouth before you swallow, and you’ll soon be tuned in to the music;

4484.  The winemaker is like a record producer looking for harmony and balance in flavor.  The acidity in a glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc should not squash the fruit.  Nor should the tannins that come off red grape skins, the ones that bring a dry sensation to your palate, block out the fruit in a cabernet sauvignon;

4485.  Wine is simply here to help us celebrate the joy as well as push us past the tragedy.  “Give me wine to wash me clean from the weather-stains of care;”

4486.  If you want to improve your life, it’s not going to be comfortable.  You have to take risks.  You have to face your fears.  You have to do what most people won’t;

4487.  When you know, deep down, that an important life decision is staring you right in the eyes, you just do it.  Unconditionally.  No questions asked.  You make the same choice that your future self (in ten years) would want you to make;

4488.  Once something feels like a chore, it’s impossible to improve;

4489.  People put off what really matters because they’re convinced there is a “perfect moment” later.  There is no “perfect moment.”  That doesn’t exist.  You know what happens to people who wait for the perfect moment?  They never find it;

4490.  Apparently, Poe Dameron (i.e., Oscar Isaac) is a normal guy.  He lives (in a 4^th floor condominium) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn . . . and he likes to play the guitar (at all hours of the day);

4491.  When you completely avoid discomfort, growth is impossible;

4492.  Ironically, by avoiding the pain of awkwardness and rejection, you end up with the greatest pain there is . . . loneliness;

4493.  There’s only one way to solve loneliness.  And that’s by building real relationships.  That requires putting yourself out there and meeting new people.  And in the beginning, it’s going to be very uncomfortable;

4494.  Chipotle shrimp coleslaw is kind of tasty;

4495.  Rose Byrne looks like Gillian Anderson;

4496.  Canada Dry diet ginger ale (actually) tastes pretty good;

4497.  Diet Mountain Dew doesn’t taste too bad either;

4498.  Values are really the emotional states that you and I believe are most important for you to either feel or avoid.  If you value something and you want more of it, it’s probably because you link to it a large level of pleasure.  If you value something that is you think it’s important to avoid, it’s probably because you leads to a lot of pain;

4499.  Your values determine your direction;

4500.  People do more to avoid pain than they’ll ever do to gain;