Yesterday morning I was looking out of my office window at the trees in my front yard. The trees were filled with brown, shriveled, dead leaves. These leaves were once healthy and green. They had turned brilliant colors under the fall sky. But now they were old and dead.

The wind was blowing strong yesterday. As the wind hit the trees, the dead leaves came flying off. It looked liked a leaf shower. I could almost hear the trees laughing with glee that the dead things hanging from their branches were finally flying away.

As I watched, the thought hit me that every once in a while, we humans need to have a clean, refreshing wind blow through us to blow off all those dead things - ideas, attitudes, mindsets - that hang on us and weight us down.

What kinds of dead things are hanging off your branches?

Dead Thing #1 - I Can't Do This

Do you realize that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to do? Your mind is a powerful instrument. If you believe you can do something, your mind is a powerful catalyst toward getting it done. Rather than sit on your couch and repeat over and over, *I can't,* start saying out loud (yes, out loud), *I can do this. I am able. Nothing is too hard for me.* Once you say it enough, you'll come to believe it. Then watch out world!

Dead Thing #2 - I Don't Know How

The people who really are rocket scientists didn't know how to build rockets until they learned. It's OK not to know how to do something. The problem is when we let this attitude keep us from attaining our goals. There are many resources on the Internet, in your local library, on your town's college campus. Take advantage of these resources and learn how to do what you need to do.

Dead Thing #3 - I'm Stupid

My husband was told this very thing so often while he was growing up, that eventually he came to believe it himself. Yes, some of us are able to access more of our brain power than others, but that doesn't mean that you are stupid. If you've heard this through your life from others, or if you've been telling yourself this, turn this around by repeating to yourself often throughout the day, *I have the power to learn. I will learn. Nothing can stop me.* It may take you longer than some to reach your goal, but you will get there.

Dead Thing #4 - It Will Never Happen for Me

Hogwash! If you keep repeating to yourself that nothing good will happen to you, then, of course, nothing will. Just like when taking a picture with your camera, what you focus on, develops in your life. There is nothing different between you and the successful person. You can learn to be successful. Success is more of an attitude than a state of being. Get up every morning and say, *Something good is going to happen to me today.* Look for those opportunities that sneak by and jump on them. Be determined. If it happens for someone else, it can happen for you.

Dead Thing #5 - I Have Nothing to Offer

You don't have to be a world-famous, multi-degreed person to be of help to someone else. Each one of us has experiences in our lives that we have come through. There is always someone who is still in the middle of that same experience. Share what you have learned. Let others know what did and did not work for you in that circumstance. You'll be surprised at just how many people want to hear how you've overcome. Your down-to-earth practical counsel based on experience is worth more educated supposition.

If any of these dead things have been hanging around on your branches, it's time to blow them off! You can change the way you thing, how you look at life, and your attitude. It may take some time, but it's well worth the effort.

See, don't you feel lighter already?