The Power of Intention Part 6 of 10: Gratitude
March 9, 2009 by dr. lam · 10 Comments
I know this is my third blog on gratitude over the course of blog writing, but that is how special I believe the intention of gratitude truly is. The feeling of gratitude is diametrically opposed to the feeling of scarcity. It tells you, “I have enough” and “I am happy” and further “I am thankful.” When we open our spirit in praise to our God for thankfulness, we can receive more. When we turn off the spigot of gratitude, we enter a darker world that is filled with anxiety about the future and of our current situation. The offering of gratitude falls fully in alignment with the intention of abundance. When we see abundance that we have, we should offer gratitude. That is the next logical step after seeing that we are in an abundant state rather than one of deprivation.
Even when we look at our past, we should look at it with gratitude. If you had a negative experience or you went through a divorce, there was a time and reason for everything. You learned from those things and be grateful that you are not there anymore. Too often we look at our past with resentment and resistance, but it is part of the fabric of your life. There was a time and reason for that person or those persons to have been in your life. Look at your past with an open heart and then you can focus on your present and future with gratitude much more easily.
Start with a simple exercise: what are you grateful for? For me, I am grateful to have a career that I am in love with. I am grateful for having wonderful staff that I care about and who care about me. I am grateful that my staff is talented in each of their own unique ways. I am grateful for the abundance and growth of my practice. I am grateful for my loyal readership of my blogs. I am grateful for being able to lead and touch many people even way far outside of Dallas. I am grateful that I have such wonderful, sincere, and motivated patients. I am grateful for the food that I partake, the health that I have, the clothes that adorn me. I am grateful for the love of my family, specifically my mother and sister. I am grateful to have precious in-laws like Matt who gives his love to my sister unconditionally. I am grateful for a building that was created from scratch and which embodies what was once only an immaterial dream. I am grateful that you are connected with me right now at this very moment that you are reading my words. I am grateful for the bounty that God has bestowed upon me, for the love that I feel every day, for the wealth of joy that floods my heart, for the personal growth that I experience every day, and for so much more that would fill volumes of written word.
What are you grateful for today? Stop for a moment, meditate, and enumerate all that you are grateful for out loud and to yourself. Follow forward this very day with the spirit and intent of gratitude and be thankful for your abundance.
The Vision Thing Part 1 of 3: Vision & Action
November 17, 2008 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
My favorite quote of all time is as follows:
“Vision without action is only a dream.
Action without vision is only passing time.
Vision with action will change the world.”
I have used these words to close many of my lectures on leadership. It is the core of my belief system. It is the core of this website. I had a blog entry (you will see that many blog entries relate to one another, partly because I have a finite brain but also because I have deep abiding passions that are focused in nature) that talks about “walking the talk.” I have dealt with a lot of dreamers who have seen the glorious building I have built and who want to be part of the vision. My tagline which has become a bit of an inside joke is “Join the vision now”, which is what I used when I was first recruiting physicians for my building. I found that physicians (pardon me) can be divided into one of two types: the lone maverick whose ethical decision making is circumspect to say the least or the risk-adverse individual who is ensconced in his or her own fears. The first type is a big dreamer but I do not like their actions. The second type is neither a dreamer not a doer, leading ultimately to failure at getting the bigger slice. I infrequently encounter a medical professional in whom I have the rare respect of having both the right vision and the right action. In any case, I have not compromised my vision for anyone (not even for my patients. We’ll get to that on Wednesday.)
A huge reason that I joined Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) is that these are gentlemen and ladies who have a big vision for changing the world and who have put all their risk behind that vision. I slavishly defend my brethren in that organization and have rarely if ever missed a meeting. I missed only September’s this year for our learning event because I was in Montreal at the hair restoration meeting. I have missed no forum meetings this year because I make that a priority. We are all given one miss. I take that to mean zero if at all possible.
Reading this weekend entries from a young gentleman from the UK in my forum postings, I like what he said, “a mentor/friend of mine said that you become the top 5 people you surround yourself with. it led me to change my entire social circle, create a mastermind, and my life has changed so drastically over the last year, and continues to every single day. It’s really hard to get rid of negative influences in your life, especially when you bonded and create some level of co-dependency. So I absolutely agree with thoughts in this post!” Thanks Vince for your wonderful entries. He also offered his apologies for talking about irrelevant subjects on this website. I have made it a point that there is no such things by opening a section called “Tell me about your passions”. This website aspires to be much more than a website on facial cosmetic surgery. It is about a community inspired to change the thinking of the world. Okay, once again I get ahead of myself. Read Wednesday’s blog.
Get Out and Vote
November 4, 2008 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
Get Out and Vote
Need I say more? I will not disclose my political affiliations as this blog is meant to be free of both religious and political overtones (no fights, right?). I will say that I am not a very “political” person and hate engaging in political debate. However, I think we all should get out there (in the U.S.) and do our civic duty to make our voice heard and to participate in our glorious democracy.
Coming from another country and being naturalized as a United States Citizen during my teenage years makes my citizenship more acutely aware for me than for many who were born here and take that right for granted. My parents moved from Hong Kong back to the United States when I was 3 years old specifically so that I could enjoy the freedoms that the U.S. would offer me. Obviously, there are many great countries out there, but my parents chose this one for my upbringing.
Last week on Thursday I cast my ballot during early voting in Texas. Let me tell you a little of the saga I went through to actually vote. First, I went to a township called Addison which based on my computer was where I was registered and only 15 minutes away from my office. After a 30-minute wait in line I got to the front of the line where the lady asked, “Do you still live at the address where you registered?” I said, “No.” That led to me talking to the judge, who denied me (and the lady in front of me) the right to vote in Dallas county. I was informed that I would have to go to Denton, my current place of residence. I plugged in the address on my GPS and headed northward. The GPS indicated that my travel time would be 30 minutes, leaving at 5:50 pm during traffic to make my arrival at 6:20 pm (assuming no traffic) with polls closing at 7 pm. I had to go to that location because I had to vote what was called Limited Ballot, meaning I could not vote for officials in Denton County, which was fine with me. Fortunately, there was not heavy traffic but by 6:40 pm, I realized my GPS had taken me into a blind cul-de-sac, and I was afraid that I would not make it. I called the Denton location moderately panicked and then plugged in the nearest cross street into my GPS that the lady gave me and my GPS read arrival time 6:50 pm. I made it there with a combined GPS and verbal navigation at 6:55 pm to vote, 5 minutes before the polls closed. With an accident in front of me and closed lanes coming back southbound, I faced an hour and a half traffic making my voting experience a 3 and a half hour journey that did not even involve extensive lines!
I hope all of you will have a more pleasant experience than I and get out there and vote!
My Book Is Done!!!
September 2, 2008 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
Well, this may be a boring blog for you guys but I just wanted to celebrate and tell you that I have officially finished my 5th book in 5 years! I need a break. I spent every night until midnight this labor day weekend working on finishing the book, Aging Face: The New Paradigm. I can say this much, I am very proud of this work. It is simply brilliant and reshapes the field of facial plastic surgery once again. I have updated my thoughts on fat grafting with an extremely comprehensive chapter that works as a standalone book and is about the length and breadth of my first book on fat grafting, Complementary Fat Grafting. My hair transplant chapter is extremely massive and is longer than most textbooks on hair transplant and simply better, more original, and truly revolutionary (no bias here). I am so proud of this baby! I guess I said that already. Okay, I hope you understand but that is all for this blog!