Thinking – University of Life

The Easy Way to have an Attitude of Gratitude…

by Shaun Roundy

You already know that gratitude is a great thing to have, but it’s not always easy to wrangle that thought/emotion into your mind and heart. Most people wait around for something good to happen to them as if that were the only time they could experience thankfulness.

If that has been your strategy, then WAIT NO MORE! This podcast reveals exactly how you can experience gratitude more often, more effortlessly, more thoroughly, and perhaps even continually.

Give it a listen and let it change your life (the way it is already changing mine!).

Pain is a Problem (and your brain loves problems)

by Shaun Roundy

Today’s podcast discusses the ups, downs, and outs of the problem of pain. Without problems to solve, life would get dull fairly quickly, but when you don’t know to address problems productively, then all you get from them is stress, anxiety, and depression. Adding one more secret ingredient changes everything, so listen up and find out what it is!

With practice, you’ll develop the one character trait that makes life easier and more enjoyable, despite challenges.

Are You Living an Inspiring Life?

by Shaun Roundy

Today’s podcast asks whether you’re living an inspiring life, then explains how to do that by choosing the better of the two motivations (hint: I’m not referring to love and fear). You also get a story of walking with young pioneers in disappointingly pleasant weather and you’ll learn a little bit about self actualization.

P.S. one of the “family” groups spent much of their walking time solving riddles, so I made up a brand new one. See how quickly you can figure this out:

I carry life on my back between the stars,
I’ll fight you both ways, my arms against yours.
No matter how far you walk, or how fast you run,
We’ll never reach our next destination.

Click here for hints

Hint #1: what do you need to keep you alive? Hint #2: stars have rays shooting out from them. Hint #3: what’s the farthest you can ever see (not counting the sky)?

Click here for the answer

A handcart. It carries your survival gear. The wheels and spokes are like stars. Both ways = uphill and down. Our next destination is the horizon, and we’ll never reach it because it keeps moving farther away….

Love 301 Sample Chapter

by Shaun Roundy

Read Chapters Three and Four from Love 301: How to Love Yourself to give you a small taste of what’s in store for you. Order your copy today!

39 chapters and 134 pages will change the way you think and feel about and treat yourself, even if you think you already love yourself just fine.

Read more “Love 301 Sample Chapter” →

Pivotal Moments: Confidence

by Shaun Roundy

blondeprofilewind What moments have changed your life’s direction, for better or worse? What events shaped your future and turned you into the person you are now? Have you ever created major changes in life without some external impetus to force your hand?

What if you could change anything about your life right now? What would you change? Think it over!

One of the most important traits you can develop is confidence. It makes you more attractive. It gives you the courage to live your dreams. It smooths out dozens of small bumps in the road of life and helps you progress much faster toward your inherent potential.

With that in mind, here are a few stories of confidence-related pivotal moments to help you process the concept. PLEASE SHARE your own pivotal moments in the comments sections below! Everyone would love to hear and learn from them.

A Scout is…Confident?

I went to scout camp the summer before 9th grade, and sitting around the fire one afternoon, Coy started spitting watermelon seeds at me as he ate. Coy was one of the “cool” kids and I was not. After several seeds, something in me snapped – something small at first, then bigger. “If you spit one more seed at me,” I warned, “I’ll beat the crap out of you.” Coy calmly took another bite of melon, chewed, then spit a seed at me. Read more “Pivotal Moments: Confidence” →

Spirit & Peace

by Shaun Roundy

Spirituality means many things to many people, yet most spiritual traditions have much in common regarding the experience of spirituality, even when beliefs and interpretations differ. One such commonality is the Principle of Peace.

We live our lives much like a sailboat on the ocean. We may think we’re in control of our lives, yet most everything around us – the sky and sea shifting above and below – remains largely a mystery. Winds and currents shove us this way and that. We can set our sails and grab the tiller to steer a course, but storms and doldrums can upset the best laid plans.

Yet despite the inherent uncontrollable nature of life, and even in the midst of the storm, our spirituality can bring us immense peace.

I once took a 5-week, 2,500 mile ocean voyage from Aruba to Acapulco as first mate aboard a 53′ sailboat. While crossing the stormy Gulf of Tehuantepec, a gale blew for 14 hours and several times, the 50 knot winds and 15′ waves flipped our boat on its side.

To make a long story short, I was getting worried and said a little prayer. I then instantly knew two things – that the storm would continue for a while yet, and that we’d make it through just fine. From that point on, my worries ceased completely.

How does this work? How can we obtain peace and joy even when the world around us is in turmoil?

For one thing, the Divine, no matter what you call it – the Creator, a Heavenly Father and Jesus, the Universe, or otherwise – has such power and wisdom that from its perspective, everything is okay, or at least it will turn out okay in the end.

Our most difficult challenges and trials could be compared to a child who sees life as most certainly not okay when it has to go to bed or when you don’t buy it candy. As an adult, you know it’s not the end of the world.

As adults, our trials seem just as serious as they did as children, and we continue to lack an even more advanced perspective to evaluate them from. The Divine certainly doesn’t enjoy watching us suffer, but from its perspective, our struggles are often no more serious than the short-sighted child’s.

When we make a connection with the Divine, which forms the basis of personal spirituality, we often capture of glimpse of that viewpoint and experience a portion of its peaceful perspective. With experience, we learn to trust that assurance, and we continue forward with greater courage and hope even when all we see are storm waves from horizon to horizon.

Homework: seek a connection with the divine, and when you attain it, reconsider your sense of self and perspectives on the world around you in light of that peace. What does it teach you about ultimate reality? How does it change your perspective and encourage you to trust that everything is ultimately okay despite temporary challenges?

Inspiring Life Quotes Galore!

by Shaun Roundy

In case you haven’t noticed, I recently opened up my quotes database for everyone to enjoy. Find & enjoy it at quotes.UofLIFE.com

I started collecting my favorite quotes to have them on hand for writing projects, or when preparing for workshops or speaking engagements, and to memorize them so I can spout them off in the middle of any casual conversation.

But I soon I caught myself skimming through them most mornings, just to remind me of their great wisdom, and I noticed myself learning from them more deeply than ever. I recommend that you do the same!

So bookmark that page and follow us on Twitter, where we now tweet all new quotes. I’ll keep collecting quotes as I read, research, surf the web, and whatever.

Here’s my favorite addition from this morning: “I have no use for people who have learned the limits of the possible.” – Terry Pratchett, RIP.

Ruthless Self Love

by Shaun Roundy

Today’s podcast discusses overcoming self doubt and insecurity and features this quote from Don Miguel Ruiz: “Love is ruthless; it doesn’t feel sorry for anyone, but it does have compassion.”

We discuss how this reveals an important way to love yourself by not putting up with your brain’s silly doubting games and swap that in for unapologetic belief in yourself and devotion to your well being.

Kilgore Trout-Style Life Transformation

by Shaun Roundy

The following software-translated transcript is rough – I’ll clean this up later:
Welcome to this university life and RapidEnergyHealing.com podcast. Today we’re going to talk about your true identity, Read more “Kilgore Trout-Style Life Transformation” →

Ephemeral Art

by Shaun Roundy

This summer, people started building crazy cairns (rock piles that mark a trail) all along the bike trails in the mountain foothills above my home.

At first they would simply gather rocks and stack them tall; then as months wore on, they grew more elaborate. I started adding sticks for arms and turning them into cairn men. Sometimes others would remove the sticks or knock over the piles, but someone else would always rebuild them.

Now summer has passed, most of the leaves have dried up and dropped from the sky, and despite a long, gorgeous autumn, the snow can’t be too far away. I’ll still run the trails, but the cold won’t let me linger the way I’ve enjoyed for so many months.

Thanks to the change of seasons, every time I pass a cairn, I think about how ephemeral this world is – nothing is built to last. The only thing that will ever endure is the fleeting moment of “now,” and that truth ought to affect your perspective and priorities. Read more “Ephemeral Art” →

Heal Your Mind

by Shaun Roundy

UPDATE: the book is finished and you can find it here: Heal Your Emotions

I’ve been working on writing my next book, which will be one of the best and most important things I’ve ever created. It’s (tentatively) called Basic Intuitive Energy Healing ::: Heal Your Mind ::: A Scientific Approach to Speaking your Brains’ Languages and Turning Pain into Power and it includes over 50 simple yet highly effective healing techniques that you can use on yourself (or if you’re already a skilled energy healer, you can apply them to others for good effect).

I’ve been wanting to write it for about ten years, but the time wasn’t right until now. In hindsight, the reason is obvious – I thought I knew a lot ten years ago, and I did, but I’ve learned so much just in the past year that the book will now be far more complete and useful than it would have been then.

Here’s the introductory story which gives a general idea of what the book is about, and stay tuned as I reveal more details soon!

Once upon a time, you found yourself wandering through a deep, dark woods. You didn’t know exactly where you were headed, but hurried along the path just the same, hoping to escape the unpleasant shadows and the too-cool breeze that made you wrap your arms tightly around yourself and shiver.
Out from the darkness came distant, unpleasant voices in faint, scarcely-audible whispers. “You’re not good enough,” they said, “why even try? You’re a fool if you think you’ll ever be happy again!”
“Nobody loves you,” others murmured. “You’re all alone. You’ll always be alone.”
You pretended to ignore the voices as you hurried along, but deep inside, you knew they were right. Read more “Heal Your Mind” →

The One Essential

by Shaun Roundy

I gave this keynote address on “The One Essential” at the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce Great Kids Awards this week. Watch & learn about Search and Rescue and the key to THRIVING in all areas of your life!!

Transcript: Read more “The One Essential” →