In the 80s, Lisa Lisa and the Cult jam released a song called "Lost in Emotion".

It was one of my favorite jams, so imagine how happy I was to find the video on YouTube. As I clicked the link, I took one look at the title "Lost in Emotion" and the acronym L.I.E. jumped right out at me.

Whoa! This was huge, I thought.

Seeing Lost In Emotion spelled out like that was the equivalent of a V-8 slap back to reality, in my opinion.

Lost In EmotionS sometimes happen in a romantic relationship; or on a weight loss diet. Wait, I mean a failed weight loss diet.

You could get Lost In Emotion when you promise to do something to better your situation, but don't.  I even remember promising myself to share Lost In Emotion acronym in a blog, but I got distracted.

So here it is.

On day 3 of '23 Days of Christmas - "Blog Your Gift" challenge, I'm finding I'm not alone when it comes to being distracted by emotion.

The goal of "Blog Your Gift" is to talk about your innate talent(s). When you share these talents they become gifts to the world.

I thought it was going to be easy to get participants in this challenge. Who doesn't want to focus on themselves? "Well Surprise, Surprise" as 'Gomer Pyle' would say, only one blogger agreed to participate.

Blogger "T" wrote, on day two when she joined the challenge, she chose to be distracted by a television program on Day 1.

Another prospective blogger wrote:

“I suffer from Martyrdom, always giving to others and putting me last. ...Everyday is a struggle to survive and yet I still give like there is no tomorrow. It is my choices that get me here so I can't say much.” :o(

I'm not sure if she's going to participate. At least, however, she knows she's the solution to her challenge. The question remained, how do we make different choices.

As fate would have it, prior to starting this "Blog Your Gift" challenge, I came across Motivational guru Tony Robbins' presentation on Ted.com.  Robbins surmised we operate against our Self -INterest (SIN) and are instead led by emotion and this explains "Why we do WHAT we do."

Immediately I had to agree. Think about it, why else would the Tea Party exist. (I kid, I kid)

Robbins believes "Decisions shapes Destiny"

He says our Destiny/Destination is determined by 3 decisions.

1) What are you going to focus on? (Consciously or unconsciously)
2) Whatever you focus on you give meaning.
3) Whatever meaning you give produces an emotion. [energy-in-motion] An emotion then creates what we're going to do next or the action.

Now that may not seem like much but just think about every decision you've made using your personal operating system.

For example, my friend admits she is currently operating against her Self-INterest and stuck in Martyr mode.

To put it bluntly, the destination/destiny for a Martyr is persecution followed by death.

I can't say the decisions I've made were much different. In fact, Martyrdom seems to be the way of the woman.

I decided to change my mind. Instead of focusing on things that will ultimately leave me unfulfilled, I decided to focus on non-material gifts for the next 23 days, at least.

I am focusing on my gift for sharing 'the word'; not to be confused with the Gospel :smile: 

For most of my life I've had an ongoing love affair with all aspects of media (plural of medium - which means, if it’s a communication medium, I know it intimately).

For the last two days I've been sharing media tips on my professional blog. Today, Day 3, I received my first gift. You can read about it on my blog at the LeadStory.

In the meantime, instead of getting yourself Lost In EmotionS this holiday season, why not flip the script and indulge your Self-INterests. Contrary to popular belief, when you indulge in your Self -INterests you make it possible to share from an infinite source, your Divine talent.

23 days of Christmas:

Blog Your Gift Challenge