How To Stop Making Assumptions

Why do we always assume the worst about people?  Sometimes we don't even realize we do it.  I know it sounds a little crazy, but I always assume people think the worst of me.  I assume people think I am not "cool" or "savvy."  I assume people don't believe in me.  I assume people are laughing at me behind my back.  Now, I am not doing this on purpose.  I am not making a conscious decision to be paranoid.  And I know that these statements are not true.  But these thoughts are the result of years bad programming.  Years of being too hard on myself.  Years of not loving myself.  And even though that has changed dramatically over the past few years, that old programming is still present in my mind.  It lives deep in my subconscious.  It keeps replaying like that really annoying song that gets stuck in your head.  If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, then you know what I'm talking about.

So how do we change this old programming?  How do we eliminate all these lies we keep telling ourselves?  

The answer is you saturate your mind with truth.  

I was determined to not let the negativity overcome me.  So I started doing daily affirmations that spoke truth into my mind.  I started reading books on positivity.  I started listening to podcasts and YouTube videos that would bombard my mind with positivity and motivation.  I started hanging out with positive people.  And over time, the truth was revealed:

I am assuming people have the worst opinion of me.  And this is making me miserable.  It's time for a change.  

So I asked myself "Self, what if I always assumed the best about people?  Or what if I just assumed that everyone loves me?  Or better yet, what if I just assumed that it doesn't really matter what people think?  I can't read people's minds.  That is not my superpower.  So what if I started finding the courage to ask questions?  To stop ASSUMING what people are thinking and start ASKING them!"  

What a concept!  I realized a lot of pain and suffering in my life has come from this one bad habit.  I decided I needed to work on not making assumptions anymore.  I need to have the courage to ask questions and to express what I really want.  What I really need.  And wouldn't you know it, things started to change when I did this.  I started waking up happier.  I started worrying less.  I started finding amazing opportunities right and left.  I started making music again!  The list of changes is endless and I know it isn't finished yet.

Am I fixed?  No.  I am a work in progress for sure.  But I don't think that is the point anyway.  The point is to become aware of the thoughts that are making you miserable and do the work to change them.  And in that work, true happiness is found.  So be strong.  Be confident.  Be honest and you will get the things you want out of life.  The universe told me so. :)

What is the universe telling you right now?  Please share in the comment section below!

Chris Swan
Founder and CEO

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How To Be Perfect

I want to be perfect.  Like really bad.  I want to be a machine.  I want to eat only the perfect foods, exercise every single day without missing a day, and I want my music to be the best music on the planet.  I strive for these things every single day.  And then one day it hit me...

I will never be perfect.

Dangit.  You know how hard that is to hear when you are a perfectionist?  I think I went through all the steps of grieving after realizing this, especially DENIAL.  It took me years to finally believe and understand that I would never be perfect.  But what took me even longer to digest was that it's ok to not be perfect!  It really is.  You can still be great and not be perfect.  As a matter of fact, we are meant to be flawed.  It's what gives us character.  It's what makes us interesting.  And it's what drives us to be better.  Can you imagine a world of only perfect people?  How annoying would that be?!  When you really think about it, that sounds awful.  That is not the world I would want to live in.  So why do I expect myself to be perfect?

Instead of perfection, I strive for greatness.  I strive to learn every day.  To grow every day.  To surround myself with great people every day.  To me, that is perfection.  That IS the world I want to live in.  

So I have learned to forgive myself when I make a mistake.  To laugh when I say something "stupid."  To learn from criticism instead of giving up.  And all these things truly make a perfect life.  And I think that is what I really was striving for all these years anyway.  I love my flaws.  I love the funny little things that make me me.  I love laughing at myself.  And I love the opportunity to grow every day.  I've truly come to love being perfectly imperfect.

Now THAT is perfection. :)

Chris Swan
Founder and CEO

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New Beginnings

Starting over is hard.  Starting something new is even harder.  But what would life be without these new beginnings?

Photo by Abbie Takes Pictures

Hi.  My name is Chris Swan and I am the Founder and CEO of Soul Motivation Records.  Getting here was quite a journey and I am going to tell you my story over the course of many blog posts.  But let's start here...

I love music.  Ever since I was a little kid, I have been singing, making songs and entertaining people.  It is who I am.  Music is what I was made to do.  I have never doubted that for one second of my life.  Sometimes, however, life takes us in weird directions.  Somewhere along the way, music  stopped being fun for me.  I stopped creating and just gave in to playing other people's music for money.  "Hey, at least you get to do what you love?"  I would hear people say that all the time.  But playing cover songs isn't what I love.  I didn't get into music to play Brown Eyed Girl every night.  What was I doing with my life?!

After years of playing other people's music and letting it keep me down and depressed, I decided enough was enough.  I have to create the music of my soul.  I have to share my music with people who need to hear it.  I want to make music that inspires and motivates people.  I want to make music that helps people who are being held down by their choices in life to see all the greatness that awaits them.  All we have to do is decide to change.  And that's what I did.  I decided to change and...

Soul Motivation Records was born.

I can't tell you how much this one decision has already changed my life.  It is not easy to make changes.  It is not easy to create a new company.  It is not easy to tell everyone you are going to do something that they all tell you is impossible.  But it just doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  I know what my soul needs.  I know what the world needs.  I know what I was created to do on this planet.  And no one is going to stop me now.

So here is to new beginnings.  Here is to making that decision to change.  And here is to finding the motivation of your soul.  I believe in you.

Chris Swan
Founder and CEO

P.S.  Good job making it all the way to the bottom of this article!  Reading is hard, isn't it?  As a reward for all your hard work, click below for some free music!

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