If you share the popular opinion on the world’s state of affairs these days, you might be thinking, “Whew… 2009 was really a tough year.”

After all, everyone (everyone!) lost their jobs, their homes, and all of their investments.

Everyone slept on hard concrete in bitter cold, subsisted only on stale crumbs of bread, choked down stagnant water, wore tattered rags, and lived in drafty, cramped huts.

Everyone spent the year looking over their shoulders in fear that they’d be murdered in the streets in cold blood while their children watched.

Everyone was forced into slave labor, beaten, tortured, malnourished and, when at their weakest, left for dead.

I mean, all of us throughout the world suffered immense physical, mental, and emotional torture last year.

... Right?

Obviously, no.

But to listen to the doom and gloom the news media presents, we may as well have.

Now, before you go thinking I’m an insensitive Witch-with-a-B or a ridiculously naïve Pollyanna, I do realize there is a great deal of pain and suffering happening in the world at this very moment.  I realize that all the things I’ve just listed are indeed happening to someone, somewhere in the world right now. I also realize that, over the years, people of many races and creeds have suffered in the name of [insert applicable belief, cause, dogma, or other senseless premise].

I wish it weren’t so. I’m deeply compassionate, and I am in no way denying the existence of pain in the world or the rightness of extending help and care to those who are in it.

But I’m also aware that there are those who have endured unthinkable misery and maintained a sense of inner peace (ever read concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl’s famous Man’s Search For Meaning?).

And I’m aware that most of us Americans at least, who enjoy an almost obscene level of abundance compared to many other parts of the world, experience a great deal of suffering between our ears. That is to say, we’re miserable because of the thoughts we believe and the stories we tell ourselves about how terrible everything is.

The other night I was leafing through a scrapbook my boyfriend’s mom had made for him as a birthday gift.  Part of it contained some original journal entries written by his grandfather, a World War II veteran who survived the Bataan Death March and, subsequently, three years as a Japanese POW.  The horrors he experienced and witnessed during that time are too grisly to mention.

(As a side note, he lived to a ripe age, dying in the late 1990s and holding, as far as his later writings suggest, one of the most optimistic views on life a person can possess.) 

But as I pored over that horrific account of human pain and unawareness - aside from becoming more acutely aware of the tragic consequences of war - I asked myself, “What the f--- makes me think this past year has been ‘tough’?”

True, it wasn’t the most prosperous year for me financially.  In fact, to be honest, I’ve had some serious anxiety about my finances.  And yes, some things in my life have changed because of that (for the better, in my opinion – although that’s for another blog post).

But I’ve had the opportunity to pursue a long-held dream of teaching and inspiring others to live their lives with joy, confidence, and peace.

I’ve also had a warm bed to sleep in every night, three meals a day or more if I wanted them, good wine, a warm fireplace, running water, electricity, my MacBook, fresh air, clear skies, spectacular sunsets, purified drinking water, fudge brownies, excellent health, more books and magazines that I will ever have time to read, and a fairly high-quality curling iron. Among tons of other stuff.

I’ve had the constant love and affection of my 8 year-old son. I’ve had his sweet little body to hug tightly, his goofy smile to bring laughter to my heart, and his soft cheek to kiss goodnight. I’ve had the love and support of many amazing friends whenever I’ve needed it. And I’ve been blessed to share a relationship with a man who matches me so well on a mental, spiritual, and physical level it’s positively mind-blowing.  He’s sexy, too. ☺

(I am, by the way, NOT bragging about my son, my friends, or my man. Or my curling iron.)

I realize some people do not have all the blessings I’ve just mentioned. I am incredibly thankful that I do.

On the other hand, I don’t have some stuff that others do. I don’t have a pile of money to buy anything I want, go anywhere I want, and do anything I want. In fact, I have a pile of debt to deal with.

I don’t have a roomy house and a fancy car. I don’t have a warm, purring cat (yet) or a Chloe bag. I don’t have the new MacBook Pro (yet) or an original Gauguin.  I don’t have gobs of free time to spend however I wish.  I don’t have every Bob Dylan album ever recorded. I don’t even have full, thick, glossy hair - and at this age, I’m betting I probably never will.

And yet, I have LIFE. 

And if you’re reading this, so do you.

If you’re reading this, your heart is beating (miraculously, without your having to think about it!), pumping blood through your veins and, thus, oxygen into your brain.  You have Internet access - at least at this moment. You have the good sense to stop for a moment and read good s#$% mind-expanding blogs. ☺

And every second of every day, something wonderful is happening somewhere in the world. Babies are being born. People are falling in love. Poems are being written, and friends are hugging each other. Mothers are sighing with relief because their children have arrived home safely. Houses are being filled with the warm scent of fresh-baked bread. Violets are blooming. Spam is being filtered.

I was talking with someone the other day about this topic and, for some reason, she couldn’t help returning to the Awfulness Of Life. Every time I mentioned how many good things were happening in the world, she’d say, “Yes, but so many people are suffering!”

Yes, yes they are. I know that.

But a bunch aren’t. Like, a TON. At least not in the sense that we’re being deprived of our basic human needs (and no, a Chloe bag is not a basic human need).

We all – myself included – have a tendency to focus on what’s not working in life, glossing right over what’s working magnificently well. We get upset stubbing our toes, and forget that our lives aren’t being threatened by ruthless enemy soldiers. We take for granted that the car starts when we turn the key. That there’s food in the fridge. A roof over our heads. More paper towels at the store when we run out.

And I think it’s time we pay attention to our blessings.

The thing is, if you and I both decide today that we’re going to focus on what’s right and good with the world - what we can be grateful for (and there’s a bunch, believe me) – then we bring the world’s collective consciousness to a higher level.

Think about it: if you are sad and I grieve, do I take away your pain?  But if you are sad and I (and millions of others) choose happiness… can we bring you there too?

Maybe. Why not?

I have no evidence to the contrary. So for now, I’m rollin’ with that.  No, I’m not denying reality. I’m simply choosing to focus on the reality that seems to serve humanity best.

After all, as Anais Nin said, “We don’t see the world the way it is. We see the world the way we are.” Maybe if enough of us are happiness itself, the past year won’t look so tough after all.

What do you think? I’d love to hear.

Lots of us (myself included) spend years looking for that "peak experience" that can make the ordinary world seem extraordinary.

Funny thing is, the ordinary world is exactly where "The Extraordinary" resides.

It's in your child's hug. Your grandma's stories about life at the logging camp in 1944. The papercut you just got opening the mail. The split second when the traffic light turns from yellow to red. Clouds. Wind. Rough wood. The taste of your lover's mouth.

The Extraordinary is found in the most beautifully mundane, heartbreakingly simple moments. And I have awesome peeps like Marie Forleo to thank for helping me figure that out!

So here you go, Marie- this post is a mushy nod to your utter brilliance. :) Thrilled to be a part of your awesome Rich, Happy, & Hot Virtual Mastery Program!

Here’s the really spectacular thing about success: it leaves clues.

And the best possible way I know to become successful is to model successful people. Not “copy” – model. What’s the difference? A lot, actually.

Copying successful people means you take all of their ideas and simply recycle or imitate them so that your business, website, and message are a cookie-cutter version of the original. This includes things like plagiarizing someone’s copy word for word, following their exact business model to the letter, or purchasing a “turnkey” business that looks, sounds, and acts like a bunch of other businesses.

Even though there is “nothing new under the sun”, there is always an innovative way to create your business beyond uninspired cut-and-paste duplication.

Pablo Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” When he said, “steal” he meant, “take something great, steal it, and make it your own.”

This is what’s called “modeling”. And here’s one of the absolute best ways to do it:

Watch what successful people don’t do.

What do I mean by that? Choose two or three people whom you really admire, and look at what they don’t do that a lot of other people do. Here are some examples of what these superstars don’t do:

• Post spammy links (or endless links of any kind) on Twitter
• Sign up for the latest and greatest moneymaking opportunity
• Lament their poor lot in life
• Send endless invitations on Facebook to become a fan of theirs
• Surf the Internet all day in search of a “silver bullet” moneymaking system
• Spend two hours setting up an eBay auction for a $20 item
• Make excuses for why they didn’t get something done

Please understand, none of these examples is meant to be insulting to anyone. First of all, we all have to start somewhere, which means we won’t do everything perfectly the first time around.

Secondly, we all do things at one time or another that don’t really serve us that well. (Heck, many years ago I thought I could “get rich quick” by selling fire extinguishers door-to-door. Yes, fire extinguishers.) If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that you are not your past, and that every moment brings you another chance to begin doing things differently.

The reason I listed these examples is because I see SO many people doing one or all of them, all the time.

But I really, truly believe that, in your heart, you don’t want to settle for being “so many people”. You are meant to do magnificent things in life. Rise to the occasion!

I’d like to challenge and inspire you to be magnificent. Take a look at what you’re doing with your life and your business (or potential business) and ask yourself whether you’re simply copying what the masses are doing, playing a small-potatoes game – or stealing good habits from great people and making them your own.

Tomorrow: what successful people DO that you may not have noticed. Stay tuned…

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PS – Members of my new Just The Ticket coaching program (you can sign up here – it’s totally FREE and always will be) will receive not only eye-opening, tell-it-like-it-is advice - but a weekly multimedia coaching lesson with a “homework” assignment specifically designed to accelerate new businesses.

PPS - Sign up now because the program’s launching on August 8, 2009 – and I’ve got some special bonuses planned right from the start!