Airport Beacons! Where's Yours?

Back in the last century, in the 1920s and 30s, when aviation was just getting started, the government realized that they needed a way to mark the location of airports for pilots, especially for those brave flyers who were traveling at night. There were no fancy GPS systems back then, and the precise aeronautical charts that every pilot has today, were little more than hand-written scribbles on sheets of paper that were copied and passed around from pilot to pilot, suffering from the degradation in accuracy that comes from such activity.

So, the government came up with the idea of a rotating beacon on the top of a tall tower that was near the field. Although many color combinations were possible, and still are today, an alternating green and white beacon is what a person usually sees....when they do see one of these beacons at all. The green and white has a specific meaning -- that the airport is lighted, nearby, and clear for landing. These lights can be seen for many miles by a trained pilot, and were probably a welcome sight to many an aviator who was lost, or running low on fuel back then.

Now, you have to remember that this all took place when America was still quite rural. There were no 100 mile wide strip cities that you very often find in the urban areas of modern day America. And, this was before the state-of-the-art "glass cockpits" of a modern day airliner. Today, a passenger jet coming in for a night landing at Los Angeles, or San Francisco, positioned as they are right next to the Pacific Ocean and the impenetrable fog it produces, can use the unerring accuracy of an instrument landing system. If the pilot is lucky, she might be able to see the ground during the last 100 feet, before the plane touches down. Beacon? There's a beacon? The pilot saw nothing until the last 10 seconds before touchdown.

So, in this modern day world with GPS that is accurate to 15 feet, or so...with extremely accurate ILS runways...with autopilots that can fly a plane from lift-off to touch down, why do we need a technological holdover from 90 or more years ago? And, furthermore, what does this have to do with you and your flight through life, if you'll pardon my pun?

Well, we have beacons, because the government says that we will have beacons...one at every airport. More importantly, even though you might live in a large city, with its clutter of background lights that hide any beacon, there are still plenty of small rural airports out there in America, where a pilot still looks for a comforting green and white flash of light that tells him or her that a safe landing spot is nearby.

You have a personal beacon also.....or had one. You started out in life, headed for a destination, back when things were simple...sort of "rural" when compared to your busy-beyond-belief life today. In the clutter of life...in the demands of college, and job, and family, and projects, and even in the worry about international issues that can touch you in the most rural of locations, you may have lost your beacon. And, just what was your beacon? Well, it was your goals. Simple, complex, large, small, important for the world, or important only to you....it doesn't matter really. They were your goals, and they belonged only to you. You didn't need anyone's permission or approval to pursue them. They just somehow got lost...which may be what led you to this article.

However you got here, maybe it's time to sit back for a few minutes and rediscover your own beacon. It's yours alone, you know? You don't need to ask for anyone's approval to set a homing beacon for yourself. Maybe it's that book you still want to write, or the painting you still want to do of some stunning mountain scene. Perhaps your beacon was to run a marathon. There's still time. As long as there is YOU, then there is still time to use the beacon you've set, to reach your goal, or some version of it that makes your life all that you intended it to be. There's still time to find that landing spot...that safe, well-lighted space, where you can say, "Touchdown! I reached my destination."

Take out a clean sheet of paper in the quiet of tomorrow morning, and write down your goal where you can see it. Don't share it with anyone. Then, describe the beacon that will mark your arrival at your destination. Then, soon, I'd like you to come back here and let me know of your success.

By the way, there's one thing that I already know about your beacon...your goal:

You can make this happen!

How Many Thoughts Can You Have?

No, I don’t mean how many thoughts at once. As powerful as the human brain is, few of us can think of more than one or two things at a time, and still give them our full attention.  What I’m asking is...how many things can you think about, in total?

Well, if you give that even a moment of your thinking power, I believe you will agree with me that you can think thousands of things, even millions of things. Over your lifetime, it might be billions, even trillions of things that you can think about. The number is really endless, and probably driven by what you choose to stimulate your thinking....music, art, relationships, sports, space travel, winning the lottery.  Even mentioning one of those phrases triggers thoughts in you, doesn't it?....possibly some you haven’t thought before. And, we haven't even touched on dreams...a time when the brain is still thinking while your body is asleep. That fact alone should boggle each and every one of us! What an incredible organism our body and mind are.

The brain is an amazing and versatile tool. And, here is a basic, physiological truth through which you may find escape and relief from the chaos, confusion, and demands under which so many of us live. I’m going to give you a single most important tool that could allow you to propel yourself from a world where you feel like the fire-hose of life is about to drown you...a world where you often silently scream for relief...for just a few moments of peace and quiet...for the mental bandwidth to just breathe. Are you ready? Here it is: You get to choose what you think about. With approximately 86 billion neurons in the average human brain, you still can usually think of only one thing at a time....and, you get to decide what that one thing is, at any given moment in time.

So, if you accept that as a premise, then you can think about the thoughtless driver who cut you off on the freeway this morning, or you can think about the camping trip your going to take with your family next summer. You can think about the intimidating supervisor who is demanding a full report on your department’s operation by next Monday; or, you can think about the photo-blog you’re going to create about your first-born child. You can think in anger, or envy, or sadness, or retribution, or peacefulness and gratitude. It's your choice. But, no matter how you think, it’s critical that you realize that it’s YOU who gets to determine WHAT and HOW you think about anything. No one makes you think about anything, except you. You are in control of YOU. And, the moment you accept this simple concept, is the moment your life will begin to change.

I’m not suggesting for a moment that you stop thinking about your family, your job, the funny sound that the car is making, the lawn that needs maintenance, the gutters that need cleaning, the website you dream of creating, or that boat you want to build.  No, not for a second!  That’s all part of life. It just is. People who decide to ignore all of those life issues are escapists, who have decided to adopt an attitude of irresponsibility in order to survive the mental onslaught they are feeling. Very often, the tool of their choice is alcohol, or drugs.

I am suggesting, however, that through very simple and free tools, tools that may lie around your home right this moment, or which you can obtain for free over the internet, you can begin to give yourself the breathing room that you long for. You will find more about the tools on our website LINKS page, at www.TheGoalMind.net. Most of these are free resources, which you can begin using in minutes. However, if you’re not internet or software savvy, then consider a simple sheet of paper or a tablet, and make your own version of the tools we’ve found for you.

So, is this just another version of “Don’t worry. Be happy”? Not a chance! If I had to boil it down to a fairly simple list of directions, however, it might look like this:  “Have goals. Acquire knowledge. Get organized. Think about your future. Run your own life. Don’t worry. Then, you’ll be happy.” OK, it’s a bit more complicated than that. However, if you copied down those few thoughts and taped them to your bathroom mirror, to look at each morning as you’re getting ready for the day, then my research tells me your life would begin to change almost immediately...almost magically.

Try this experiment. Print this page, cut out this section, tape it to your mirror, read the words a couple of times per day for a week, and see if things don’t begin to change for the better in your life. I have added the most important thought first, and that is that YOU, and only you get to choose what you will think about.

I WILL CHOOSE WHAT I THINK ABOUT

I WILL MAKE GOALS FOR MYSELF

I WILL ACQUIRE THE KNOWLEDGE TO ACHIEVE MY GOALS

I WILL GET ORGANIZED

I WILL THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE I WANT FOR MYSELF AND MY FAMILY

I WILL NOT WORRY
I WILL LIVE IN THE COMMAND QUADRANT OF LIFE

I WILL BE HAPPY

You just might be surprised at how you begin to feel about yourself, and even about the people around you. If this is helpful, then come back and share your experiences with me. Try the old 7-day test, and see if you find a difference in your life. I think you will.

Just like they say when I visit the nice folks at Home Depot - "Yep! You Can Do This".

You can make this happen!