A Visionary Life

It was something I learned, slowly, over many years. There are no secrets of success – but there are keys to it that can be learned.

There are distinct stages to worthwhile learning:

First, we have to hear or read the information, and we have to understand it. To do this, we need to be open and receptive. Our minds have to be relatively quiet, and we have to be willing to listen and hear.

In the second stage, we reflect on the information, so that we relate to it personally, and assimilate it into our own experience. At this stage, we not only understand it but see its truth in our lives – and understanding becomes knowledge.

Finally, we have to live this knowledge fully, embody it, and practice it every moment of our lives. The words penetrate to our hearts, to our subconscious minds. The words then have power to affect our life.

You have the ability to create the life you want, the life that embodies your deepest dreams and your highest aspirations. Take some time to consider what you want to create in your life. It will be time well spent. Take time to dream, to fantasize, and to eventually develop a plan, a mental map, that will lead you where you want to go.

Everything we have created in our lives was first a thought, and then a feeling. When a thought and feeling are combined and held onto, it results in a focused vision, and finally manifests as something tangible. The key is to imagine your ideal scene. Clearly imagine your ideal scene; write it down on paper, and keep reviewing it.

Imagine five years have passed – or two years, if you’re impatient, or ten, if you’re patient. Imagine that everything has happened to you in the best way you can imagine. You’ve created your dreams; you’ve become a success, in everyway you can imagine, in everything you most desire. And best of all, it’s happened in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way.

What will you be doing, ideally?
What have you accomplished?
Where will you be living?
What does your home look like?
What are your relationships like?
What’s a typical day for you?

Just let your imagination go. Be as farfetched as possible. Shoot for the moon! Let it be ideal! We must challenge ourselves with the impossible. It is better to aim the spear at the moon and strike the eagle, than to aim at the eagle and strike only a rock. The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. And at the same time remember that no matter how high one’s aspirations may be, it must be achieved step-by-step. Even the greatest castle is built one stone at a time. And as we have discovered, it is those single stone – few simple disciplines practiced every day – that actually create successes we achieve.

Be sure to write it down. Don’t worry that writing will make it too concrete. Don’t worry that it’s too big a dream. Take a sheet of paper and write “MY IDEAL SCENE” at the top. Suspend doubts and limitations and let your imagination soar.

Keep reviewing your ideal scene. Keep in your mind. This is the most important work you can do. It’s your visualization of your future. It’s the first part of your map to success - no matter what you define that success to be.

The picture of my ideal - the vision I created for myself - felt so good. Even just dreaming of it was empowering to me in some way. I knew there were voices of fears and limiting beliefs. But I don’t listen to my doubts and fears. They’ll dissolve over time.


At the top of your ideal, write, in big capital letters:

IN AN EASY AND RELAXED MANNER, IN A HEALTHY AND POSITIVE WAY, IN ITS OWN PERFECT TIME.

Then write your ideal scene.

Keep repeating them to yourself, until they sink into your subconscious mind. Before you know it, you’ll be accomplishing everything you need in an easy and relaxed manner; in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time.

Within your ideal scene is your vocation. Don’t just find a job – find your vocation. Discover your vocation and your mission or purpose in life, and write them down as simply and clearly as possible. Everyone of us has a vocation and a mission or purpose in life that is absolutely unique, and it’s up to each of us to discover what it is.


James Allen wrote beautifully in “”As You Think:”

Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. Those who have no central purpose in their lives fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pity and which lead to failure and unhappiness.

We need to conceive of a legitimate purpose in our heart, and set out to accomplish it. We should make this purpose our supreme duty, and devote ourselves to its attainment. Even if we fail again and again to accomplish our purpose – as we necessarily must until our weakness is overcome – the strength of character gained will be the measure of our true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.

These words are worth reflecting on.


By writing down your vocation and purpose or mission, you’ve taken another step to focus your creative energies in the highest and most effective way possible. Powerful people have a calling. They know their purpose - their mission - in life.

We’ve imagined our own ideal scene, we’ve reflected on our vocation and our mission or purpose in life, and we put it all down on paper. Now we’re ready for the next key, one that’s challenging and exciting: making a list of long-term goals.

Your goals should arise out of your own desire and be emotionally exciting for you. The key to real fulfillment is to create the life you want, not the life someone else wants for you. This is not necessary the life your parents or your partner want for you, or your siblings or your friends want for you, or even the life you think you should have, because it is safe, secure, and sensible. It is the life of your dreams, whatever they may be. What do you really want? If you could be, do, or have anything, what would it be?

To live your life in your own way, to reach the goals you’ve set for yourself, to be the person you want to be – that is success.

If the words ‘billionaire entrepreneur’ leap to mind, for example, that’s certainly a challenging goal. Even if you never achieve it, the life you create by reaching for it, stretching for it, will be fulfilling for you.

Take a sheet of paper or go to your computer and write or type at the top:

IN AN EASY AND RELAXED MANNER, IN A HEALTHY AND POSITIVE WAY, IN ITS OWN PERFECT TIME.

Put into the list every worthwhile long-term goal you can think of. Read your list as often as necessary to keep those goals implanted in your mind. Rereading the list keeps you focus on your goals; it keeps them in the forefront of your mind. This put your powerful subconscious mind to work. It helps you to expand and become a more creative person, simply by repeating the goals to yourself. If they’re written clearly, it feels wonderful to repeat them. It’s stimulating, emotionally and mentally. Subconsciously you expand in exactly the way that’s necessary for you to fulfill your dreams.

The simple act of reading your goals also helps you dissolve doubts and fears, limiting beliefs and emotional blocks; it reinforces the fact that you are, in reality, a creative person.

And repeating the phrase, In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time . . . at the beginning of your goals has a great side effect: After reading your list for several days the words sink deeply into your subconscious mind. Before you know it, without conscious effort, things that would have been stressful in the past are resolved in an easy and relaxed manner. The words automatically come to mind, just you need them, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, and you relax and open up to more possibilities, more opportunities. And you find it’s much easier to do things in an easy and relaxed way than in a stressed-out-way.

It’s something we should all learn and remember. It makes life much easier. Repeat that phrase before you read your goals - and anytime you can remember it throughout the day. Repeat it until your subconscious accepts it as absolute truth: to do things in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way.

It’s not only possible, but it’s desirable to create a life experience for ourselves that is emotionally satisfying. We don’t need to be under constant stress at work, or frustrated at home. We don’t need to be adversely affected by our frenetic, workaholic society. We don’t need to be trapped in addictive behavior. We don’t need to feel pressured about money, or resentful about past or present relationships.

In its own perfect time is a reminder that things are unfolding with their own time schedule – and often it’s beyond our control, beyond our power to affect. Even though it’s essential to make specific timelines, it’s just as important not to get frustrated or worse yet, defeated if those goals aren’t reached as quickly as you’d like. The trick is to make clear goals, and yet be unattached to the results.

We live and grow like every other plant and animal on the planet, according to nature’s timetable. Growth takes time. As Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in his great book ‘Letter to a Young Poet’ – “ten years is nothing.” I often think of that. We live in a frenetic, work-oriented, even workaholic culture; many of us feel that looking even five years ahead is an impossibly long time.

When you reflect on any long-term goal, the short-term steps – at least the first one - becomes obvious, for every long-term goal consists of a series of short-term goals. Once you reached the first short-term goal, the next series of short-term goals become obvious. Create short-term goals that move you toward your long-term goals.

Mark Twain put it so simply and clearly:

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.

Developing these goals is an ever-changing process. It involves playing with every possibility that comes to mind, then sitting down and making a list of priorities.

A subtle but powerfully creative process is set in motion when a long-range goal is supported by focused short-term goal activities.

Create long-term goals on paper (or computer), and then break them down into short-term goals. Once you start this process, and focus firmly and clearly on your goals, you’ll discover you’ve begun to release, or connect with a mysterious energy field. The first indications of it working are usually the number of ‘coincidences’ that start happening that move you toward your goal in ways you couldn’t have foreseen. By focusing on your goal and making a step toward it, you’ve set in motion powerful creative forces. I’ve seen this happen over and over.

It’s not necessarily to know why this miracle works. All we need to know is that by daring to stretch out and reach for our highest dream, aspiration, and mission in life, we’ll receive the support we need. Goethe summed it up beautifully in two lines of poetry:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

Genius, power, and magic! All three come from sources beyond our conscious mind. And small steps are powerful because they affirm to our limitless, ingenious subconscious mind that we’ve created a goal of where we want to go in life, and we’ve infused ourselves with power by being willing to take whatever action is necessary to move ourselves toward that goal.

The main work, the most effective work I’ve done, has been within my mind – holding more and more of the vision of my dreams and my ideal scene in my mind. Then I take steps toward those dreams – the steps that reinforce my confidence, hope, and belief.
The most powerful work we can do is visualizing. As you focus on your goal, feel yourself attaining it. Create a picture of it in your mind – see it, as clearly as you can, and feel it as well. Keep on holding it in your mind and heart. Eventually, your visualization becomes so clear that one day you find you can step right into it.

Imagination is a much stronger force than will-power; when the two are in conflict, the imagination always wins. Let’s say you are an inveterate smoker of good cigars and decide to break yourself of the habit. You greet your teeth, shove out your chin, and solemnly declare that you are going to use your will-power to break yourself of the habit. Then suddenly comes the idea of the taste of a good cigar, its aroma and its soothing effects – the imagination goes to work and the resolution to break the habit goes out the window.

Starting with our ideal scene, we’ve created a clear mental map of where we want to go in life, and we’ve started moving step-by-step, goal-by-goal, toward it. We’re visualizing our success, and keeping the visualization fresh in our mind. Most of these keys have involved mental processes – focusing our thoughts. Now we’re ready for another key – creating what we want emotionally.

As soon as we create a worthwhile goal, we’re challenging ourselves to expand, to explore new territory - and new territory can be frightening. We’re forcing ourselves to be creative, we’ve begun our conscious evolution, and it means growing and changing and doing new things in knew ways. This brings up a lot of emotional resistance in most people.

Every goal involves taking risk, and taking risks is frightening. Every risk we take, after all, has the possibility of failure. We should be students of failure. It is part of the world experience – part of the life experience. Failure also means gaining the other side of experience that is also valuable, sometimes invaluable. It makes us grow and expand.

Failure serves an invaluable purpose: it creates the foundation for success. Failure is far more educational than success because we learn more with every failure than we do with success. Every failure I’ve had has contributed greatly to my success. My failures are the cost of my education and education is essential to succeed.

George Bernard Shaw said it very well: A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

The experience you gain from your failures, miscalculations, and poor judgment will inevitably lead you to success, if you keep at it.


All of us have psychological blocks that affect our attitudes and behavior in some ways. These blocks are built on various fears usually conditioned during our lives – usually quite early in life. They prevent us from taking risks, trying knew things, making positive changes.

Doubts, worries, and fears inhibit us. They create low self-esteem and an overly critical attitude toward ourselves and other as well. Much of what we ‘consider’ normal behavior really stems from fear: worried parents, frustrated teenagers, and highly stressful work environments are often accepted as ‘normal,’ or even inevitable, yet this situation can be changed. No universal law says that parents have to worry, teenagers have to be frustrated, and work environments have to be stressful. These emotional states can be changed. The challenge is to take an honest look at them, and discover how to move beyond them.
If you haven’t created the kind of life you want, if you haven’t attained the kind of success you dream of, then some psychological blocks need to be examined, and to let go of.

Core beliefs are self-fulfilling prophecies. If you believe you can, or if you believe you can’t, you’re right. Henry Ford said that. He knew what he was talking about.


Watch what you say. So many people constantly repeat negative, limiting thoughts and words, and then wonder why their lives are a mess. “This job is killing me.” “That makes me sick.” “I am so stupid.” etc. These words, like all words, send powerful messages to your subconscious mind and eventually manifest in your life. Words have a great deal of power, for good or for ill.


Ultimately, by doing what feels right, in every moment, we’re led step-by-step to the greatest success we can imagine. Our feelings are our guide - and they are much more reliable than our rational, logical mind. The voice of our intuition is directly connected with our feelings. Simply tuning in to your feelings - to the voice of your intuition. Our intuitive voice is always calm and clear. It’s supportive. It’s always positive. It always feels right.

Over the time it became perfectly clear to me, whenever I let the “compass” within guide me, life always seemed to work out. The decisions I made turned out right not only for me, but also for other as well. I will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle me.

Trust your intuition. Trust this loving, subtle voice at the center of your being. Your intuition can be your constant companion, and it will always guide you to your highest good. Life is not only magical when we live by our inner voice but also extremely efficient. From the life-changing to the mundane, your intuition is always your best guide.

When our head is guiding us, we THINK we know what’s going on, but when we’re being guided by intuition, we KNOW what’s going on. And that knowing comes from the place within us – as the Bible says “the secret place of the most high.” Our intuition always knows what’s best for us and our circumstances. Intuition is inner knowing.

Talk to your inner wisdom throughout the day, and ask for guidance whenever you need it. Turn off the radio and television once in a while so that you regularly have periods of silence. Take time away from people, so that you can focus within at times. Spend some quiet time each day getting in touch with the powers that watch over you. Solitude, away from the everyday distractions, opens channels to an intuitive inner voice.

There are so many forms of mediation, active and passive. Taking a walk alone can be a wonderful meditation. So can gardening, driving – anything where you’re alone with your thoughts.

For many people, life is so chaotic and demanding that they lose their focus as they move through each day. The most concrete block to a person’s intuition is having a disorganized life. If too many responsibilities are burying you alive, there will be no opportunity for reflection, as you will be too busy frantically holding everything together. Frantic, disorganized, dramatic people have very low levels of awareness. This kind of chaos creates an emotional anxiety and shut down all intuitive ability. A life lived that way is a life lived in drama and frustration.


Desires are natural, desires are wonderful. Desires are the driving force in our endless evolution. It’s our attachment to those desires that causes the problem. It’s when we can’t accept things the way they are. Learning detachment makes your life a lot easier. Relationships are smoother, because you’re not insisting that the others have to change for you to be happy. Things are less frustrating in your work and in your relationship with money, once you learn detachment.

Keep visualizing, keep affirming that your goal is being created in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time. And be detached to the results. Enjoy yourself in the present moment, enjoy who you are, and what you have, enjoy the others around you.

It’s a matter of balance, as always, the middle way: You need to be passionate about your dreams, to desire your goals, but you also need to be detached to the results, to whatever unfolds day-by-day.

If you get too passionate and serious, you can get too attached to wanting certain results – and happiness will slip by you. You forget to enjoy the journey because you’re always wanting to be at the destination. The key to your happiness and fulfillment is by following your true desires and enjoying the process.


An exercise in visualization

Take a deep breath and relax. As you relax, enjoy the feeling of simply breathing, simply relaxing.

Now picture whatever you want to create as clearly and as detail as you can. Imagine your ideal scene as clearly as you can, as if you have already created it, and you are enjoying it . . . Picture as many details as possible . . . . Spend a minute or two focusing on it, enjoying the scene you’re creating.

Take a moment to enjoy and savor whatever vision you’ve created. Add a few more details and visualize until it feels as if it already exists in your life.

Finish by taking one more deep, relaxing breath and affirm to yourself, “This or something better is now manifesting for the highest good of all concerned. So be it – so it is!”

Repeat this exercise – focusing on the same thing – at least four or five times a week, preferably everyday. Soon within two or three weeks you will have absorbed your visualization deeply into your subconscious mind, and you’ll begin to see results in your life. Some exciting ‘coincidences’ (synchronicities) will start to happen.

Living Consciously

Two broad areas in which the issue of living consciously arises for all of us are relationships and work. When we deal with another human being, we can bring a greater or lesser level of consciousness to the encounter. When we confront the tasks of the day, we can do so mindfully or we can bring minimal attention and thought. In both cases, we have choices and are responsible for the level of awareness we generate.

All of us are moved by ideas and values of which we may or may not be consciously aware. When asked to articulate their beliefs, people have often difficulty. Their philosophy is largely subconscious and has never been brought into the light of full awareness. This makes it more difficult to check against reality or to revise; they are stuck with old thinking that might not even have been theirs in the first place but merely absorbed uncritically from others. The unexamined idea is not worth holding. Independent and critical thinking need to be cultivated in our daily life.

What would it mean to say, “I love you,” if I neither see you nor know who you are nor exhibit any desire to do so? It can only mean, “Please don’t distract me with the reality of who you are. I am preoccupied with the dream of you.” Many people have an affair with or marry not a person but a fantasy – then resent the person for not being like their fantasy. They do not examine the mental processes that led to their selection of a partner. One of the ways I know you is by observing the ways you affect me. One of the ways I discover who you are is by identifying the ways I experienced myself in our interactions. If we’re willing to look without blinders, if we’re willing to see everything that’s there to be seen, shortcomings as well as strengths – and we still love passionately – that’s what it called mature, romantic love. If I do not know my own values, I am unlikely to be able to articulate what I value in you. If we are strangers to ourselves, others will be strangers to us.

If we love consciously, we are aware that how we respond to our partner entails a continuing process of choice. Talk to people who have remained deeply in love over many years and you will find that they operate at a high level of mindfulness with regards to their partners. They do not take their partners for granted. They remain conscious of the values and traits that initially inspired their love, and they note those values and traits in their daily encounters and interactions. They have retained the capability to see and to appreciate. Their love is mentally active. If people are mentally passive, no excitement can last, neither romantic love nor any other passion. The more we operate consciously and benevolently, the more we nourish our self-esteem. And of course, the reverse is also true. Through learning to meet challenges, we evolve as a person. This is one reason why a relationship can be a vehicle for personal growth.

It is generally recognized that in our modern information economy, a far higher level of knowledge, education, and skills is required of employees than was true in the past. What is less well understood is that what is also required is a much higher level of self-esteem, self-responsibility, and mindfulness. Organizations today need people who are willing to think, act on their own initiative, exercise independent judgment, be creative, and take responsibility for solving more and more of the problems that confront them without referring those problems to “higher ups.” The muscle worker has largely replaced by the knowledge worker. This means that, to be economically adaptive, we need to be not merely able-bodied but also able minded – to bring a high level of consciousness to our tasks. People who function at a heightened level of awareness actively seek to learn everything they can learn about the business, looks for ways to work better and more productively, seek to take on new challenges and responsibility as a path to growth and advancement. They make work as a source of joy or a means of self-expression or self-fulfillment, or a path to self-development.

Life has always meant growth, but never so obviously as today. Not to move forward is to move backward. Not to expanding in consciousness is to be contracting. What business organizations need today are people who are willing and able to think – to be self-directing and self-managing – to respond to problem proactively rather than merely wait for someone else’s solution – to be initiators – to be, in word, self-responsible. The employees with the brightest futures are those who, having mastered the challenges of today, are studying to meet the challenges of tomorrow. These are the men and women for whom learning is not a response to crisis but a way of life. They know that the only real source of security in this world lay in their knowledge, skills, and competence – which they could carry with them from one job to another.

The simplest application of mindfulness: being present to what I am doing while I am doing it. Stated in negative, being present to what I am doing means not act while my mind is somewhere else; not acting mechanically. Stated in the positive, it means acting in a mind-state appropriate to being effective.

If we are present to what we are doing, we tend to be alert and sensitive to incoming information that bears on the situation with which we are dealing. Our consciousness is open to receive. Mentally, we are proactive rather than passive. In such circumstances we are not operating mechanically; that is, we are not running old automatized routines with no fresh participation of mind brought to the occasion. In this moment of time, we are alive in the full sense. Life is not happening while we are somewhere else.

Being present to what we are doing does not mean “being in the now” in a way that drops all connection to past and future. We are in the moment but not trapped in the moment. The injunctions like “be here now” are sometimes interpreted /or misinterpreted to mean a shrinking of awareness to encompass only the immediate moment, with the rest of one’s knowledge cast into oblivion and with no concern for the future consequences of one’s acts. The ultimate absurdity of this understanding of “be here now” is captured in the cartoon showing a man falling from a skyscraper who remarks in mid-flight, “So far, so good.”

We can use the sentence completion exercise to illuminate the issue of being present to what we’re doing. For instance, “If I were to be more present to what I am doing . . .” The endings could include:
- I wouldn’t make so many mistakes.
- I’d see more.
- I’d see things I might not want to see.
- My family would feel more visible to me.
- My children would feel heard.
- I’d get more things done.
- I‘d know what was going on.
- I’d become aware of my emotions.
- I’d have to face what I was feeling.
- I’d feel stronger; at first I think I’d be more anxious.
- I’d feel I was living my life.

One of the themes one can notice in these endings is fear that, if we are present to what we are doing, emotions we have been denying or avoiding may rise to the surface of awareness and we will have to confront them. Often, a flight from the present is a flight from the reality of our inner state. This is not the only motive, to be sure, but it is one of the most common.

To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals - to the best of our ability may be - and to behave in accordance with that which we see and know.

The practice of acting in accordance with one’s knowledge is essential. If I do not act on what I see and know, if my awareness is not reflected in my behavior - if my behavior contradicts my knowledge - I am in that regard not operating consciously. On the contrary, I am betraying consciousness. I evade what I know; I evade the motives for my evasion; I evade the fact that my behavior continues to defy my knowledge. Among other things, this is a sure formula for the undermining of self-esteem. It is also sure formula for the undermining of one’s long-term happiness and well-being. And yet people practice this betrayal every day, and when things go wrong, they wonder why life is so malevolent or why they are so “unlucky.” Thus: “ I know I ought to be giving more to my job and that I’m really unfair to my employer, but . . . ; I know it’s wrong to abuse my children, but . . .; I know our policies are causing the business to go to hell, but . . .” To some, “living consciously” may sound like an abstract idea, but in it’s consequences, it is as real as life and death.

And too often when we suffer the consequences of our unconsciousness, we do not ask, “How can I learn to be more conscious?” Instead we ask, “Why is life so difficult? Why do unhappy things always happen to me?” To remain stuck in this predicament is humiliating. It is offensive to one’s dignity. It deprives one of the experiences of personal power. There is no better beginning for personal power than a determination to choose and act consciously and take responsibility.

If we wish to parent consciously, we need to be aware of what we say to our children, remembering that what we say to them, they may later say to themselves - and in fact often do. Before we call a child stupid, sloppy, a coward, or bad, we need to ask ourselves:
Do I really want my child to think of him- or herself in the terms I am about to use?
Will that contribute to my child’s healthy development?
Will it foster growth and self-esteem?
Does it serve my child’s interests to learn self-contempt?
You may recognize some of these examples uninformed parents have told their children:

“You’re just not good at that.”
“Your room is always a mess.”
“You’ll never be an artist.”
“You’re lazy.”
Etc., etc., etc.
And some children are being told the most assuredly destructive words:
“You’ll never amount to anything.”

In doing so, by using words which program the child in the wrong way, parents unwittingly direct the child in the wrong way, they unwittingly help the child create a self-identity which believes that what they are saying is “the truth” - the parents create a picture portrait of how the child sees himself or herself inside, and eventually become. If we wish to live consciously, we need to be conscious of and take responsibility for the words coming out of our mouths.

It is quite common for husbands and wives who love each other to nonetheless say terrible things in the heat of an argument - things that they will regret, apologize for, and perhaps feel mortification at having said. Yet we know that words wound. Long after a quarrel has seemingly been resolved, we remember the abusive, hurtful things said to us, and sometimes they fester in the soul for a very long time. Worse still, we may come to believe them -believe that we are “mean,” “rotten,” “stupid,” “cowardly,” - and then act accordingly. Insults that are internalized have the power to generate self-fulfilling prophecies.

So in the sphere of human relationships, it is a mark of high consciousness always to be aware of the issue: Am I willing to take responsibility for the words coming out of my mouth? Do I intend the reaction I am likely to evoke?

This consciousness is merely an instance of a wider issue: Am I conscious of and willing to take responsibility for my choices and actions? The tragedy of many lives is that we make the most fateful decisions with little or no awareness that our choices will change the shape and direction of our existence. This is one of the meanings of the idea that often people are sleepwalkers through their days and years of their time on earth. They make choices without conscious awareness of doing so. They commit themselves to actions without projecting the consequences down the road. They are ruled more by impulse or routine or conformity than by critical reflection. This does not deny that their impulses may sometimes be good ones. Nor does it deny that their uncalculated actions may sometimes produce positive results. But as a basic way of life, their policy is dangerous. Choosing blindly is dangerous. Leaping without looking is dangerous. Living mechanically is dangerous. Letting others write one’s life script is dangerous. When you make choices and actions ruled more by impulses than by critical reflection, you’ll have the same success as you do in poker game if you bet without looking at your cards.

When people elect to operate without appropriate thought, they often profess astonishment at their unhappiness, as if the problem were that life is malevolent. “Why me?” they wonder, and of course the answer is easy to escape from self-responsibility by retreating into a tragic sense of life, or they might say, “It’s so hard to have to think about consequences.” But not as hard as what they’re going through now.

Life consists of the pursuits of goals. The goals maybe short-terms or long-terms, simple or complex, or anywhere in between: getting married, acquiring money for new home, raising a child, establishing a successful career, developing a business, preparing one’s organization for the challenges of the twenty-first century, etc. To the extend we live consciously we ask questions:
If such is my goal, what do I need to do in order to achieve it?
What information do I require?
By what criteria will I judge whether I am on course or off course?

If, for example, I want to raise a happy, well-functioning child, how do I propose to do it?
Is knowledge on this subject available?
Are there relevant books I ought to be reading?
What other useful resources exist?
What do I need to know to do a good job?
And what are the limits of what it is realistic to expect of myself?
What is in my power and what isn’t?

To the extend I operate consciously, I continually reach out for information relevant to my purposes. To the extend I don’t, I assume knowledge is unnecessary, that I know all I need to know, or that what I don’t know won’t hurt me. So here the questions are:
Do I stay alert to any information that might cause me to modify my course or correct my assumptions, or do I proceed on the premise that there is nothing new for me to learn?
Do I continually seek out new ideas that might be helpful, or do I close my eyes even if it is presented?
Mindfulness leads to increased effectiveness and possibility for success; its abandonment leads to failure and defeat.

During the last and this decade, many companies lost market share or went out of existence entirely because their leaders chose to ignore evidence that old ways of doing business were no longer appropriate,
just as employees remain stuck and are passed over by colleagues because they choose to ignore evidence that they need to acquire new skills to remain adaptive in a rapidly changing economy,
just as married break down because one or both partners choose to ignore evidence that their behavior is destroying the relationship,
just as children grow up without learning self-responsibility or self-discipline because parents believe all they have to do is feel “love” and that no knowledge or skill is needed to raise children properly.

If there is one certain indication of unconscious living, it is indifference to the question “What do I need to know (or learn) in order to achieve my goals? Such indifference is intimately related to the absence of a sense of reality. When that sense is lacking, when there is little or no grasp of facts or objectivity, goals (it is imagined) are achieved by wishing, not by appropriate action.

A relationship of reciprocal causation exists between the practice of living consciously and self-esteem. Just as living consciously strengthens self-esteem, so self-esteem inspires living consciously. If we have confidence in our mind, we are not deterred by challenges of new learning. Persevering, we tend to succeed in our efforts, which reinforces our initial confidence.

Just as living consciously entails taking responsibility for learning what is needed to achieve our goals, so it entails knowing where we are, relative to our goals at any time.

If one of my goals is to have a satisfying married, what is the present state of my married?
Do I know?
Would my partner and I answer the same way?
Are we happy with each other?
Are there frustrations and unresolved issues? If so, what am I doing about them?

If one of my goals is to build my business and increase the market share, what am I doing about it?
Am I closer to the goal than I was a year ago?
What are the signs that I am on track or off?
What are my criteria for measuring progress?

Think of some long- or medium-term goal of your own. Ask yourself where you stand in relation to it, as compared with a year ago. Are you making progress? What are the indicators?

Living consciously entails paying attention to the relationship between our professed values, goals, and purposes and our daily behavior. Sometimes there is a lack of congruence between what we say our goals are and how we invest our time and energy. If we are mindful, we monitor our actions (how we spend our times and energy) relative to our goals.

In pursuing our values and goals mindfully, we pay attention not only to our actions but also to their outcome. Are our actions producing the results we anticipated?
Our actions may be perfectly in alignment with our values, goals, and purposes, but the problem is that we miscalculated what our actions would achieve. If we are operating mechanically, it is very easy to be oblivious to this fact and go on repeating what does not work without ever drawing nearer our destination. Doing more of what doesn’t work doesn’t work. So we need feedback from our environment to be able to adjust or correct our course when necessary. To be open to such feedback is one of the meanings of being mindful - paying attention - living consciously.

If we are operating a business and our ads are performing calamitously below expectations, we may need to rethink the content of the ads, the media in which we advertise, our assessment of the market, or even our offering itself. What we do not do is ritually keep running the same ad.

If our child’s behavior is unacceptable to us and our sole response is to give lectures and make threats and the behavior does not change, the solution is to discover an alternative way of responding that yields better results. This requires that we bring a higher level of consciousness to the situation.

If we are a legislator who sponsors programs that not only fail to solve problem addressed but result in a worsening of that problem, the solution is not to spend more money or pass more laws. The solution is to reexamine our premises. However, when programs are paid for out of public treasury, there is no great incentive to pay attention to outcome or to painstakingly rethink our assumptions. When there is little accountability, there is little felt need to raise the level of our consciousness.

If we are wise enough to base our self-esteem not on being “right” but on being rational - on being conscious - and on having integrity, then we recognize that acknowledgement and correction of error is not an abyss into which we have fallen but a height we can take pride in having climbed.

Sometimes we need to do things that scare us. Sometimes we need to look at things that are painful. If we don’t, the consequences will be bad for us. Understanding this, we know that sometimes all we can do is draw a deep breath and proceed. One application of mindfulness is that of learning to manage the feeling that pulls us away from where we need to look. We can will ourselves to stand in the presence of that which we need to understand - we can choose to remain conscious. We can rule rather than be ruled by our avoidance impulses. We can value growth above immediate comfort. A simple sentence completion exercise that is usually helpful in this context (done daily for at least a week) consists of writing at least six endings of the stem “If I bring more consciousness to my fear (anxiety, pain, sadness, this situation, this problem, or whatever) . . . “ Radiating the dreaded area with awareness tends to reduce discomfort and generate deeper levels of understanding of what needs to be solved or healed.

Indeed, new light can be cast on almost any problem one has been avoiding by doing the exercise “If I bring more consciousness to X . . . “ (where X is the problem we need to confront). Thus: If I bring more consciousness to
- my emotions . . .
- my needs . . .
- my deepest longings . . .
- my deepest frustrations . . .
- my anxiety . . .
- my depression . . .
- my relationship with my boy (or girl friend) . . .
- my relationship with my spouse (or child, or supervisor, or friend . . .etc.) . . .
- my fear of self-assertiveness . . .
- my passivity . . .
- my procrastination . . .

And then write endings as rapidly as one can, allowing the unfamiliar and unexpected to emerge, stimulating the mind toward new understandings and new integrations and, ultimately, to the kind of mind shifts that result in new behavior.

Creating A Life with Passion and Purpose

I will not die an unlived life.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me more accessible,
to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a commitment
to live fully, on purpose,
to live a life with passion,
to live so, that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom,
and that which comes to me as blossom goes on as fruit.

Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense of how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will at least be a little bit different for our having passed through it.

All great individuals are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of the spring day, or in the red fire on a long winter’s evening. Some of us let those dreams die, but other nourish and protect them; nourish them through bad days until they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true. Passion is the fuel that helps us nourish and protect our dreams. Once you discover your passion, tap into it!

As living organism, we stretch, learn, and expand or we shrink and deteriorate. Think of how different older people can be. I have met alert and energetic 90-year-olds who bowl, swim, and take college courses. I have also met frail 70-year-olds who don’t even leave the house. Let alone take college courses.

If we are not growing, learning, and evolving, we will begin to wither inside. Our energy will wane and our vitality will weaken. To enhance passion in life, try moving toward new horizons as they appear. Do not wait for them to come to you. Make room for something you have not done before by doing less of something that neither expands your mind and experiences nor tickles your soul. A sense of aliveness is reinforced every time you move out of your comfort zone. When we expand, we feel alive. When you take a risk, learn something new, or move into places you haven’t known before, your life is never the same.

We have an opportunity to act and learn, thereby growing to a new level where we can act and learn again, and then advance to yet another level. If we learn, we grow and evolve. If we do nothing, our system will not stay the same, it will deteriorate. People who seem younger than their years often make learning a lifetime adventure.

Another way to feel exquisitely alive is to stop and give thanks for all the blessings in your life. It’s nearly impossible to feel deprived when you are showing appreciation for the bounty at your feet. All abundance is based on being grateful for what we have. True happiness, and well-being are found in the fine art of gratitude. Being grateful for what you have. If we do not know how to appreciate the things and people we have now, why would we be able to appreciate more things, people, and power when we get them? We won’t, because we have never worked on our “gratitude muscle,” we never learned or practiced being grateful. Instead, we will think, “this second million dollars, this bigger house, this luxurious car, are still not enough. I need more.” And so we will live, continually wanting more or wishing things were different than they are, playing the game of “more” instead of being grateful for all we have.

Plato said, “A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.” A tremendous insight! A grateful person is great because he or she has turned on all the lights within. The grateful heart actually opens the way to the flow and becomes an attractive force to draw to itself great things.

The grateful heart will always attract to itself in one way or another, through human hands or through wonder-working ways, the great things needed to solve the particular situation. It is an outworking that you can stake your life on. You do not need something to be grateful for. You need only the desire to feel grateful. As you feel grateful, you become attractive, not only in your beauty and radiance, but in your relationship with people. More important, you release a vital energy that draws to you opportunities, employment, and a secure flow of money.

We seldom hear a dying says he wishes he had made more money or had more professional success. More often we hear are regrets of relationships not fully realized or life not fully lived. They wish they had spent more time with loved ones and appreciated what they had more fully. Reflecting on this we begin to search for more meaning and to develop more direction from the inside out. Meaningful activities go beyond earning a paycheck.

People who are happiest in life seem to have mastered the art of living from the inside out. Instead of living as others think they should, they live a life that feels right. They passionately pursue what they are drawn to do, envision what they intend to accomplish. They seem so focused and so good at what they do. It’s as though they know a secret to living a fulfilling life and they do.

Define your purpose and how you can use your unique gifts to the benefit of others. Reflect on your positive traits and how you enjoy expressing them. Even a work-for-income job has meaning when it enables you to do what you love and keep your dreams alive. Try to reflect on these three questions:

· Do you love what you’re doing so much that time flies and you feel exceptionally alive?
· Are you presently expressing what you intuitively know are your positive personal traits?
· Are you serving human need . . . somehow making the world a better place to live?

If your answer is “yes” to those questions, you probably would describe your life as being fulfilling. It is likely that you start each new day with focus, energy, and sheer delight.

To finding your purpose, sit quietly, relax with a few deep breaths and then when you are still and focused simply pose this question to whatever you recognize as the source of love and wisdom. “What is your will for me?” Do this exercise again and again until you know intuitively just which path is right for you. Your soul came here on earth for some very specific reasons and your intuition knows what your soul plan is. The Infinite Intelligence has a plan for us and is always trying to get us in touch with that plan, it creates a deep desire in us that we feel through our whole being. When we’re asking for guidance, we need to quite ourselves enough to hear the still, small voice within. By listening to the still, small voice within, we are led to fulfill our dreams and our highest potential. Take time to listen to your intuition and answer the following two questions:

· For what have I always had a natural inclination or talent?
· If I could improve just one thing in this world, what would it be?

When unique talent is applied to meeting some human needs, the results will be uncommon and effortless wealth. When we express our unique talents and use them in the service of humanity, we lose track of time and create abundance in our lives as well as in the lives of others.

If you want material affluence, help others become materially affluent. In fact, the easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. Expressing your talents to fulfill the needs of others creates effortless wealth and abundance. Focus on asking yourself how you can serve humanity and asking yourself what your unique talents are. Because you have a unique talent that no one else has, and you have a special way of expressing that talent, and no one else has it. You are the sum of your own personal experiences. No one in the world has had the same experiences. Your background and life experiences make you a unique and valuable human being.

Ask yourself, if money was no concern and you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do? If you still do what you currently do, then you are in your purpose, because you have passion for what you do – you are expressing your unique talents. When your creative expression matches the needs of your fellow humans, then wealth will flow easily to you in avalanches of abundance. Affirm,

“Wealth flows to me in avalanches of abundance” Be sincere and mean it, and your subconscious mind will respond.

“Day by day I am prospering spiritually, mentally, and financially. I am open and receptive to new ideas; therefore I am successful; very successful; very, very successful. The law of increase is working for me now.”

“God wants me to be happy and prosper. God’s will for me is life, love, truth, and beauty. I mentally accept my good now, and become a perfect channel for the Devine. I am divinely directed in all my ways, and I am always in my true place, doing the things I love to do. I am always poised, balanced, serene, and calm, for I know that God always will reveal to me the perfect solution to all my needs. God’s ideas unfold within my mind in perfect sequence. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want for any good things. I am divinely active and divinely creative. I sense and feel the rhythm of God. I hear the melody of God whispering the message of love to me.”

Once you reflected on your ideal life, your purpose will become clear. When you are ready, begin creating a clear and compelling picture of the kind of life you’d like to have. With this clear and compelling picture about the kind of person you are in the process of becoming and the kind of life you are in the process of creating your life feels more like a journey. You will know exactly what your priorities are and do more of what you need to do to create the life you want. Your relationships will deeper and you’re taking better care of yourself.

Do not impose your idea of how things should be and force solutions on problems, thereby creating new problems. Participate everything with detach involvement. Giving up your rigid attachment to a specific result and live in the wisdom of uncertainty. The harmony is achieved not through control but through surrender to life’s flow. Surrender to the womb of creation, trusting that when things don’t seem to go your way, there is a reason and that the cosmic plan has designs for you much grander than even those that you have perceived. When you step into the field of all possibilities, you will experience all the fun, adventure, magic, and mystery of life.

A passion life is founded on purpose, structured on core preferences, and embellished with personal desires. The more detailed your vision, the more likely you are to see it. We receive what we desire by imagining what we want and knowing why we want it. Winners focus on what they want.

You are your deep, driving desire. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. When you have a few moments, focus on all that you desire. Make a list of all your desires, carry this list with you whenever you go. Look at this list before you go into silence and meditation. Look at it before go to sleep at night. Look at it when you wake up in the morning. Whatever you pay your attention to will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate, and disappear. Intention is the real power behind desire. Your intentions and desires have infinite organizing power. Intention organizes its own fulfillment. Your intent is for the future, but your attention is in the present. Action in the present becomes the fertile ground for the creation of the future.

If you want to be courageous, act courageously. Use the self-starter DO IT NOW! And then get into action. The self-starter is the self-motivator: DO IT NOW! When the self- starter “DO IT NOW!” flashes from your subconscious into your conscious mind, then follow through with desirable action: Act! It’s the habit that will make you an outstanding achiever.

Self-starter “DO IT NOW!” can effect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you should do, but don’t feel like doing it. It can keep you from procrastinating when an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you to do those things that you want to do. Keep your mind on the things you should do and want and off the things you shouldn’t and don’t want. The secret of getting things done can change a person’s attitude from negative to positive. A day that might have been ruined can become a pleasant day. For the truth is NOW is the time. NOW must be seized before it becomes “yesterday I could have . . ..“

Successes are not born out of fear or from negative focus, but out of the power of strong intent and desire to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Following your goals releases great energy from deep in your soul. Goals focus your energy and keep you on the path to your destination. Try to list several goals that - if achieved – would bring you closer to a life that tickles your soul. To know when you have achieved each objective, which will bring you closer to your goals, add a time deadline. It will create a sense of urgency and avoid procrastination. At the same time, reflect, meditate, and focus on your intent to strengthen your belief that you can be, do, and have anything you wish. There is four Cs for success. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and consistency. The greatest of all is confidence.

For highest motivation, you must believe that your goals are attainable and that they will result in a reward that you desire. See if your goals are related to something that is really important to you. Ask yourself why you want to accomplish them. To feel confident and capable of influencing your life, try to become more internally motivated, seeking self-validation instead of approval from others. The happiest people all demonstrate a commitment to do whatever it takes. They decide. If your desire is great and your intent is clear, you are unstoppable.

A clear direction and a list of goals can only guide you to success if you are aware of which behaviors support your growth and which will block any progress. With such sharpened awareness of any habits that are getting in the way, you’ll better prepared to direct your energy in constructive manner. If you continue to do what you have always done, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got. So if you want a different life, you’ve got to stop doing what isn’t working and establish new patterns of behavior. Raise your awareness of life pattern that might be blocking you from creating the life you want.

Explore your past to uncover unconscious self-defeating habits that sabotage your life and change any negative pattern that are getting in your way. You can choose and design incredible future and act in alignment with that intent and create whatever circumstance you need.

How many of us talk to ourselves? What is it that we often say? Are our internal dialogues uplifting? We typically play the same mental “tapes” day in and day out without considering either the quality of the messages or the impact they have on our attitudes. Positive thoughts, prayer, and meditation have a positive impact on our health and well-being. The more you fill your mind with positive self-talk, the less room there will be available for negative talk. Our thoughts create our reality. Thought is the cause and manifestation is the effect.

If we can recognize self-defeating behaviors such as negative self-talk, self-blaming, always need to be right and perfect, projecting our perceived “flaws” onto others, blaming other for our own unhappiness, etc., we have a good shot at changing them. If the past memories were particularly painful counseling professional can guide you through the process of releasing strong feelings and allowing old wounds to heal.

It is easy to look at the lives of those around us and wish we had it so good. Whatever it is, other people seem to have it easier. The grass is always greener on the other side. The grass may be greener on the other side, but it’s just as hard to mow. When we are longing after someone else’s life, we need to remember that every result is the consequence of an action. What we get out of life is usually in direct proportional to the choices we make and the actions we take. When we are thinking how great it would be to look as fit as our coworker down the hall, are you also thinking of how great it would be to work out at 5:30 every morning and maintain low-fat diet? If not, you’re only seeing half of the picture – you’re only seeing the end result without the action that participated the result.

Your future is generated by choices you make in every moment of your life and actions you take. Witness your choices you make in each moment. When you make any choice ask yourself two things: what are the consequences of this choice that I’m making? And will this choice bring happiness to me and to those around me? If yes, then go ahead with that choice. If you are unclear, then pay attention to the body sensations and feelings. Your body experiences two kinds of sensations: one is a sensation of comfort, the other is a sensation of discomfort.

At the moment you consciously make a choice, ask yourself, “If I make this choice, what happens?” If your body sends a message of comfort, that’s the right choice. If your body sends a message of discomfort, then it’s not the appropriate choice. You should pause and see the consequences of your action with your inner vision.

Over the time it became perfectly clear, whenever I let the “antenna” within guide me, life always seemed to work out. The decisions I made turned out right not only for me, but also for other as well. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us – trust your intuition. Trust this loving, subtle voice at the center of your being. Your intuition can be your constant companion, and it will always guide you to your highest good. Life is not only magical when we live by our inner voice but also extremely efficient. From the life-changing to the mundane, your intuition is always your best guide.

When our head is guiding us, we think we know what’s going on, but when we’re being guided by intuition, we know what’s going on. And that knowing comes from the place within us – as the Bible says “the secret place of the most high.” Our intuition always knows what’s best for us and our circumstances. Intuition is inner knowing.

Inner voice is not a chatty voice or an intellectual voice and, in fact, it doesn’t really come in the form of sound. It’s more like a thought that comes from deep within you. It’s usually quick and to the point.

If you are searching for your soulmate and wondering if you should join a dating service, go to a single group at a local church, or search the bars for Mr. or Ms. Right, ask to whatever you recognize as the source of love and wisdom and then just listen to what your inner voice, inner knowingness tells you to do rather than doing what everyone else is doing.

If you want to meet someone significant, you need to tell God you’re ready and then you need to pay attention. Your inner voice will give you a nudge to call so and so, or maybe direct you to go to a certain place, or join a specific dating service, or put an ad in the paper. It nudges you through your gut feelings to take the steps you need to in order to meet that certain someone. Remember, all you need to do is ask and then listen.

There is nothing in your life that intuition can’t help. Your intuition really is your best ally and your key to living a more enchanted life. Your intuition will guide you to deal with all the challenges and opportunities that come your way. Look within, and you will find every answer you need. You’ll get a feeling, an inner knowing, when you ask and pay attention to the answer, and it will always feel like the right thing to do. When we don’t listen or we go against the inner guidance, there is a nagging feeling in the pit of our stomach that we’re not on the right tract and that never feels good.

As the years have passed and the quiet inner voice has never misled me, my mind has gotten better at accepting direction from my intuition. The mind sees things from a limited three-dimensional viewpoint; intuition is based on higher, more comprehensive reasoning. Your inner guidance knows what’s going on at all times.

Your goal is to have the two parts of you work in an exciting partnership with each other, with our intuition – the “antenna” within – receiving inspiration, guidance, and divine wisdom from the Infinite Intelligence and our minds then creating and manifesting based on that guidance. The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We need to go to our intuition for guidance and then to our brilliant, creative minds for support and implementation.

Talk to your inner wisdom throughout the day, and ask for guidance whenever you need it. Turn off the radio and television once in a while so that you regularly have periods of silence. Take time away from people, so that you can focus within at times. Spend some quiet time each day getting in touch with the powers that watch over you. Solitude, away from the everyday distractions, opens channels to an intuitive inner voice.
For many people, life is so chaotic and demanding that they lose their focus as they move through each day. The most concrete block to a person’s intuition is having a disorganized life. If too many responsibilities are burying you alive, there will be no opportunity for reflection, as you will be too busy frantically holding everything together. Frantic, disorganized, dramatic people have very low levels of awareness. This kind of chaos creates an emotional anxiety and shut down all intuitive ability. A life lived that way is a life lived in drama and frustration.

Disorganization is energy leak. We need to simplify and restore the balance in our lives.
Remember that everything in our lives requires attention and energy. Are your attention and energy being drained away on vast accumulations of old, unnecessary, outdated, disorganized, useless stuff surrounding? Realize the importance of simplicity in your life and clear out of your life what really contributes nothing. Rethink your priorities, goals, and values. Focus on the necessary and give up trying to be all things to all people, meeting all demands at once. The truth is, we are responsible only for ourselves.

Find the courage to let go of whatever doesn’t serve you anymore, weather it’s your job, old possession, a relationship or beliefs and emotions you’ve been clinging to. Ask yourself these questions:

· What is it that I’ve been holding on to that I need to let go of?
· What is not longer serving my life that I need to release?
· In what area of my life right now do I feel the need for some change?
· What area has been trying to change, but I’ve been resisting?

Practice “zero-based-thinking” in every part of your life. Ask yourself continually:

“If I was not doing this already, knowing what I now know, would I get into it again today?

Examine each part of your personal life and work activities and evaluate it based on your situation today. If it is something you would not start up again today, knowing what you know now, it is a prime candidate for abandonment.

There is a classic Buddhist story about a man who was traveling for many years on pilgrimage to holy places. At one point he began walking along the side of a wide river. Now, the side on which he walked was very rocky and dangerous, thus slowing his progress and making his days strenuous. When he looked across the river, he noticed that the other side of the river was flat and smooth, appearing to be much easier to walk on.

“I want to go to that side of the river,” he decided, “but I have no way of getting across. What should I do?” So the aspirant sat down to meditate and received a message to build a raft out of braches and mud. And this is what he did. He spent days constructing a raft, drying it in the sun until finally it was ready. Then, he laid the raft in the water, stepped onto it, and safety crossed to the other side.

As he pulled the raft out of the river, the man thought to himself, “You know, this raft has been so useful to me, and I worked so hard to build it. I cannot just abandon it here on the riverbank. The wood will rot and the rain will wash it away until it disintegrates. No, I cannot do this to the raft. I’ll carry it with me.” So that is what the man did. He pulled the heavy raft onto his back and began to walk, dragging it behind him as he struggled to take his now even more difficult steps.

The teaching of this story is that even a good thing that has been useful to us becomes an unnecessary burden when we no longer need it. That which we longer need should be set aside, or it weights us down. And when we leave behind what doesn’t serve us anymore, we do it with gratitude, not with condemnation.

A lot of things that we see as so important here in the material realm are not that important at all in the bigger scheme of existence. We so often get caught up in appearances and in what others think – we allow others dictate our worth, and we judge our worth by external standards that simply aren’t that important in the long run. In the long run they have nothing to do with who we are. It may seem easier to follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing – following what appears to be the safe road in life – but the truth is that road doesn’t encourage individuality.

Since 95% of people are imitators and only 5% initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer. When people are uncertain, they are more likely to use others’ action to decide how they themselves should act, they look to the actions of others to guide their own actions. We seem to assume that if a lot of people are doing the same thing, they must know something we don’t. Especially when we are uncertain, we are willing to place an enormous amount of trust in the collective knowledge of the crowd. Quite frequently the crowd is mistaken because they are not acting on the basis of superior information but are reacting themselves to the principle of social proof. A snowballing effect occurs.

Search for superior information within you. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. That is a truth! You will look inside and recognize the guidance within. You will stop living by someone else’s thoughts and values and you will stop looking for your reflection in the eyes of others. You are coming home to your true self. You enjoy the freedom to be yourself and to be true to yourself. You develop what it called firmness of character. The firmness of character is to act on one’s belief.

When you stop living by other people’s voices and begin to get your guidance from the calm and clear voice within you, you become aware of a magical flow at work with all the people you interact with. You constantly find synchronicity and coincidences happening. The Infinite Intelligence has an awareness of everything that’s going on and can guide you accordingly. The more we are in touch with our own intuitive voice, the more “in the flow” we will be.

Divine timing naturally occurs when we follow our intuition – our divine guidance. When we live according to divine guidance, which also means we live our lives in harmony with the whole universe, we always end up in the right place and at the right time and all the right pieces fall into place. The pieces of life experiences fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle.

In LBL session (www.spiritualregression.com) when people see their guides for the first time a strong emotional response is usually happened. Many become tearful or break down and cry over being in the presence of this loving teacher who has been assigned to them. Other clients will laugh for joy at what they are seeing and feeling after recognizing their guides. They soon realize this pre-eminent beings their own personal teacher who has been assigned to them from their beginnings rather than a great prophet from one of the world’s major religions. It is no wonder some people call personal guides “guardian angels.” These floating beings don’t have wings but sometimes the halo of bright white light around them gives this impression.

It is my belief that guides are assigned to each soul because they have some particular affinity toward the strengths and weakness in the immortal character of that soul. It is almost as if the teacher’s character is similar to their student, or that they struggled at one time with the same tasks. The love our guides feel for us is overpowering. They are never rigid or controlling. During our lives often what we think is intuition or instinct is actually our guide trying to tell us something. They help keeping us on track according to what we came here to do. We need to be focused to accomplish what we came to do.

If we don’t manage our own time, there will be no time for us. Most truly successful people do not see any virtue in being overworked, overscheduled. They have a clear picture of their priorities and aim for a balanced life. They know how much time something will take to accomplish. Their direction is crystal clear. What they intend to achieve is always in the forefront of their minds. They know what their goals and are intent on achieving them. They recognize which actions will move them forward. They wake up in the morning knowing what they need to do first. They know what points they want to make and what outcome they hope to see. They know on Friday what their next week’s goals are, and what they will have to do to accomplish them.

To take responsibility for a fulfilling life is to choose how we use each day of our lives. Check any sabotaging habits, let go of old anger and resentment, become responsible and take care of yourself, and manage your time intentionally. Whenever you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, remember we have two incredibly helpful tools available to us at all times:

· Living by the help you get from your intuition, your divine guidance.
· By taking life one day at a time.

Ask The Infinite Intelligence for daily guidance and listen throughout the day to your internal voice, you will truly live your life to the fullest. And then, when you do leave this lifetime, you will leave feeling completely fulfilled. Each morning before you leave the house to work, affirm:

“Devine Intelligence inspires, directs, and governs me in all my undertakings and instantaneously reveals to me the answers to all things I need to know. Devine love goes before me, making all roads a highway of peace, harmony, love, joy, and happiness. It is wonderful!”

Keeping a sharp focus means surrounding ourselves with reminders of what it is that we want in our lives. Visualizing a positive outcome as if it were already a reality increases the probability of success. Use whatever method will remind you several times each day of the kind of person you are in the process of becoming and the kind of life you are in the process of creating. To see it, repeat it in your thoughts, images, words, and daily deeds. You might think of visualization as a series of affirmations in pictures. If you acquire of using both, you will soon see many positive changes in your life.

People who live a happy and fulfilled life radiate an inner confidence, a capacity for joy, and unusual generosity. Feeling loved and appreciated gives us an inner richness that does not come from success or possessions. Relationship begins with the respect and flourish with trust. To demonstrate love and respects we must pay attention to what others need and honor what they value most. This understanding of the needs of others is important to all relationships including business partnerships. For instance, you are not ready to negotiate with someone until you can state their needs accurately and convincingly than they can themselves. Only then should you come to the table.

Through paying attention of what other needs by asking, listening, and observing, we forge strong bonds with people when we show interest in them, letting them know that we care about them. We can be more successful in relationship if we honor the need of others, as we attempt to meet our own needs. In fact, the most powerful forms of giving are non-material. The gifts of caring, attention, affection, appreciation, and love are some of the most precious gifts you can give, and they don’t cost you anything.

If trust is low, there will be little synergy; connections will be weak and intermittent. We can build trust with positive intent, emotionally honest and open, and keep commitment. If you’re afraid, worried, or confused let those close to you know. How else can they help and support you? If you don’t ask what you want, your best supporters won’t know what to give. The key to satisfying relationships is communicating what you do want. Being master of your own fate does not mean doing everything alone. It often means securing the support you need to achieve professional and personal well-being. We also need to keep commitment and do what we say we will do. We trust those who do as they say, people we can count on.

We can learn to become experts in what Buddha called “the right speech.” Buddha said that we should learn to say things in such a way that others always feel loved, until we can figure out such a way, we should maintain “noble silence.” The great spiritual teachers like Jesus and Buddha become great because of their revolutionary and life enhancing teachings.

You can wish for thing to be different in the future, but in this moment you have to accept things as they are. Having accept things as they are, you take responsibility for your action and for all those events you see as problems. You know that every problem is an opportunity in disguise, you can transform it into greater benefit.

Once we truly know that life is difficult, once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. Most of us do not see this truth that life is difficult. Life is a series of problems, continuous succession of problems, large or small. They never stop. The only thing about problems you can change is your response to them, positive or negative, helpful or hurtful.

Self-discipline is the basic set of attitudes we require to solve life’s problems. Without self-discipline we can solve nothing. With only some self-discipline we can solve only some problems. With total self-discipline we can solve all problems. Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.

What makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. Indeed, it is because the pain that events or conflicts engender in us all that we call them problems. Yet it is in this process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. And since life poses an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and full of pain as well as joy.

Most people wish to have a comfortable life. That’s awful because nothing can be learned and you cannot grow through it. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. It is through the pain of confronting and resolving problems that we learn. Things that hurt instruct. Nothing is more effective in showing us where we are stuck, where we need to work, where we need to grow, and what lessons we need to learn than the obstacles that cross our path. It is for this reason that successful people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems. Self-confidence, fulfillment, contentment, and even happiness are the byproduct of the succession of solving problems.

Fearing the pain involves - to a greater or lesser degree – attempt to avoid problems. The result is procrastination. We procrastinate in hoping that problems will go away. In case we avoid dealing with problems, we also avoid the growth that problems can offer us. We become stuck. Self-discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. That means face the problems and work them through to solve them successfully, learning and growing in the process.

You’ve got a problem? That’s good! Why? Because repeated victories over your problems are the rungs on your ladder of success. With each victory you grow in wisdom, maturity and experience. You become a better, stronger, more successful person each time you meet a problem, and tackle and conquer it.

Everyone has problem. Why? This is because we and everything in universe are in a constant motion and process of change and growth. Change is an inexorable nature law. If you are looking to experience a life without problems, visit a graveyard and rest in peace. Being alive means movement or change and growth. What is important to you is that your success or failure to meet the challenge of change is dependent upon your mental attitude, positive or negative. One man said, “I have a problem. That’s awful!” The glass is half-empty. The other said, “I have a problem. That’s good!” The glass is half-full.

People who seize upon their problems as opportunities in disguise and scrutinize them for the good element that is going to be there, are people who understand the very core of positive mental attitude. People who develop an idea that can work and follow it with action will turn failure into success. Time after time the pattern repeats itself: Problems and difficulties turn out to be the best things that could have happened to us – provided we translate them into advantages.

When you are faced with a problem that needs a solution, regardless of how perplexing it may be:
1) Ask for Devine Guidance.
Ask for help in finding the right solution. As you ask for help you set the Universal Forces in motion in helping you. Affirm,

“There is only one power of creation, and it is the power of my Deeper Self. There is a solution to every problem. This I now decree, and believe.” As you claim this truth boldly, you will receive guidance pertinent to all your undertakings, and wonder will happen in your life.

2) Think
Engage in thinking for the purpose of solving the problems. Remember that every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit for those who have positive mental attitude.

3) Define the problem and analyze it.

4) Adopt the positive mental attitude, “That’s good!”
5) Ask yourself some specific questions such as:

What’s good about it?
How can I turn this adversity into a seed of equivalent or greater benefit?
How can I turn this liability into a greater asset?

Keep in searching for answers to these questions until you find at least one answer that works. It often takes only one idea, followed by action to turn failure into success. Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualize what can be done and what can be in the future. Don’t be stuck with the present.

When you don’t succeed at something, you are being presented with an opportunity to learn something important about yourself. If you don’t pay attention, you will most likely be presented with a similar mistake again and again until you learn the lesson. Those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

We’d recognized that some very painful experiences were simply designed as a wake-up call to make some changes in our lives. Such experiences are not accidental. There is a spiritual lesson to be learned in all of them. What happen to you is not important but how you react to your experiences, including your mistakes, is the all-important thing. Claim your divine right to be what you want to be and begin to take charge of your life and, to greater extent, control your destiny.

People with self-mastery take responsibility for their choices; they do not blame others for their decisions or their problems. Mastery is about taking charge of our own emotions and controlling knee-jerk reactions that we might later regret. It is about taking responsibility for all of our actions and deliberately deciding how to respond to the behavior of others. You can deliberately choose which response to the situation is the right response. Focus on what you can influence.

Very often, what seems like a bad experience at the time proves to be the perfect thing necessary to help us grow and evolve more quickly and create a life experiences that is more satisfying and fulfilling. Always knowing that no matter what happens to us during our lifetimes on earth, we’re here for our highest good and our experiences are providing us with invaluable life lessons. We are here not by biological chance. There is order and purpose and we have a part to play in this scheme.

Seeing the larger purpose behind all our experiences gives us greater perspective and we’ll address the more significant aspects of our lives with greater focus. We see life as an opportunity for learning and enrichment and feel a greater confidence in ourselves. Above all we realize that our reality has order and purpose. We look at every experience we go through as a tool for learning and learn as much from the experience as we can. We see life here as a series of experiences to learn from.

You should spend time alone. Not just minutes and hours, but days, and if the opportunity presents itself, weeks. Time spent alone will throw you back upon yourself in a way that will make you grow in wisdom and inner strength. Deep within you there is the still pool where life is more than the chatter of the small affairs of the mind. Once you arrive at the place in the center, you will be able to look out at the circle of your life that surrounds you with all its facets and things much more clearly. There is Buddhist saying: “When the lake is churned up, nothing can be seen. When the lake is still, all can be seen.”

In solitude silence becomes a symphony, we are one with the pulse of life and the flow of time. When we find part of ourselves that is firm, confident and piece, we don’t need another person to fill us. That is the peace that one finds only in solitude. You can increase your awareness of your inner self and deepen your connections beyond yourself by regularly making time to reflect in silence. Purpose and passion go hand in hand with a sense of inner peace.

During life we can become so distracted by the roles we play that we never learn who we really are. The benefits of solitude provide a time for self-evaluation and inspiration through personal energy restoration (renewal). Find the peace in yourself in the silence of solitude, and you will never know another moment of loneliness in your life. And you’ll discover who you really are and what your purpose in life is and you’re no longer to be dependent on anyone else for your happiness. That doesn’t mean that you want to be alone, but rather that you are not afraid to be alone. If we need anyone else for our happiness we will never be happy, because no one else can possibly meet all our needs or expectations. But if we are autonomous and feel whole, we can have a good and loving relationship with others.

Developing your spiritual self does not take great effort. In fact, to the contrary – this type of stretching flows naturally when you are all alone, with a still mind and an open heart. As you free yourself from all outside clatter, your inner voice will speak, you will know intuitively just which path is right for you and what you need to do to create the life you want. All you need to know is available to you; practice regular silence, so you can hear your intuition speak to you. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Whenever you go in the midst of movement and activity, carry your stillness within you, access the reservoir of knowledge and creativity. The more deeply you are able to go within, the more powerful and effective you will be when you come out. You will be clear and powerful.

When you fashion a life where the decisions you make and the actions you take are considered, deliberate, and in harmony with what’s important to you, you are living an authentic life. What you do reflects what you believe, how you feel, and what you know. It is not necessary a life that others admire or think is right for you, but a life that you know in your heart is right for you. It is the kind of life that makes you greet each day with enthusiasm and sleep peacefully at night. When you live authentically, you know what you stand for and make conscious choices. When you are complimented, you feel personally validated because it is the real you that is being appreciated. For high self-esteem and inner peace we must know at our core that we are enough just the way we are and all by ourselves. You are lovable just the way you are. You have value to others in the cosmos, regardless of your present surroundings in life.

You realize that some events may occur outside of your control, but you can choose your response to those events. You take responsibility for the choices you make and how you spend your time. You feel as though your are producing, directing, and starring in your own masterpiece. You set achievable goals and reasonable schedules. You are able to say “no” to unreasonable requests and honor your own priorities. Because you do so, you find time for renewal and reflections and invest in relationships that are important to you.

If you’ve reached a high level of mastery you’ll have a strong faith. You take responsibility for your actions and seek guidance through prayer and meditation. You employ the best strategy for the most productive life. You go after what you want by taking risks and continuously improving your competence. With clear desires in mind and a belief that a power greater than your own will guide you, you move confidently toward the life you choose.

Also, since an accumulation of things can come at a high price for maintenance, you choose to simplify your life by lessening your attachment to things that you don’t need … all of must-haves that gnaw away at your precious time.

When you become master of your own fate, a river of calmness flows through you. You don’t panic when adversity strikes. You trust that you will work things out. After all, you are the master of your own life.

When you tickle someone else soul, you tickle your own soul.
Good luck is nothing but preparedness meets opportunity.

“There’s No Such Place As Far Away”

Richard Bach's bewitching classic: “There’s No Such Place As Far Away”
Can miles truly separate us with our loved ones. If we want to be with someone we love aren’t we already there?

There’s No Such Place As Far Away

Rae!
Thank you for inviting me
to your birthday party!

Your house is a thousand miles
from mine, and I travel only
for the best of reasons.
A party for Rae is the best
and I am eager to be with you.

I began my journey
in the heart of the hummingbird
you and I met long ago.
He was friendly as ever,
yet when I told him that little Rae was growing up
and that I was going to her birthday party
with a present, he was puzzled.

We flew for a long while
in silence and at last she said,
“I understand very little of what you say,
but least of all do I understand
that you are going to the party.”

“Of course I am going to the party,” I said.
“What is so hard to understand about that?”

He was quiet,
and when we arrived at the owl’s home, he said.
“Can miles truly separate us from friends?
If you want to be with Rae,
aren’t you already there?”

“Little Rae is growing up
and I am going to her birthday party
with a present,”
I said to the owl.
It felt strange to say going like that,
after talking to Hummingbird,
but I said it that way so Owl would understand.
He, too, flew in silence for a long time.

It was a friendly silence, but as he delivered me safely to the home of the eagle,
he said, “I understand very little of what you say,
but least of all do I understand that you call your friend little.”

“Of course he is little,” I said,
“because she is not grown up.”
“What is so hard to understand about that?”

Owl looked at me with his deep amber eyes,
smiled and said, “Think about that.”

“Little Rae is growing up and
I am going to her birthday party with a present,”
I said to Eagle. It felt strange now to say going and little,
after talking with Hummingbird and Owl,
but I said it that way so Eagle would understand.

We flew together
out over the mountains,
and soared the mountain winds.

At last she said, “I understand very little
of what you say, but this word birthday.”

“Of course birthday,” I said.
“We are going to Celebrate the hour
that Rae began, and before which she was not.
What is so hard to understand about that?”

Eagle curved her wings into steep dive-flaps
and stepped to a smooth landing on the desert sand.
“A time before Rae’s life began?
Don’t you think rather that
it is Rae’s life that began before time ever was?”

“Little Rae is growing up and
I am going to her birthday party with a present,”
I said to Hawk. It felt strange to say going and little and birthday,
after talking with Hummingbird and Owl and Eagle,
but I said it that way so Hawk would understand.

The desert poured by far below us
and at last she said,
“You know, I understand very little of what you say,
but least of all I understand growing up.”

“Of course growing up,” I said.
Rae is closer to being an adult,
one more year away, from being a child.
“What is so hard to understand about that?”

Hawk landed at last upon a lonely beach.
“One more year from being a child? That does not sound like growing!”
And she lifted into the air and was gone.

Seagull, I knew, was very wise.
As I flew with him
I thought very carefully and chose words so that
when I spoke he would know I had been learning.

“Seagull,” I said at last,
“why do you fly me to see Rae
when I know in truth
I am already with her?”

Seagull turned down over the sea,
over the hills,
over the streets,
and landed gently
upon your rooftop.

“Because the important thing,” he said,
“is for you to know the truth.
Until you know it,
until you truly understand it,
you can show it only in smaller ways,
and with outside help, from machine and people and birds.

“But remember,“ he said,
“that not being known doesn’t stop the truth from being true.”
And he was gone.

Now it’s time to open your present.
Gifts of tin and glass
wear out in a day and gone.

But I have a better gift for you.
It is a ring for you to wear.
It sparkles with a special light and
cannot be taken away by anyone;
it cannot be destroyed.
You are the only one in all the world
who can see the ring that I give you today,
as I was the only one who could see it when it was mine.

Your ring gives you new power.
Wearing it, you can lift yourself
into the wings of all the birds that fly.
You can see through their golden eyes,
You can touch the wind that sweeps
through their velvet feathers,
You can know the joy of going way up
high above the world and all its cares.
You can stay as long as you want
in the sky,
past the night,
through the sunrise,
and when you feel like coming down again,
your questions will have answers and
your worries will have gone.

As anything
that cannot be touched with the hand
or seen with the eye,
your gift grows more powerful as you use it.

At first you might use it only when you are outdoors,
watching the birds with whom you fly.

But later on, if you use it well,
It will work with birds you cannot see,
and last of all you will find
that you’ll need neither ring nor bird to fly alone
above the quiet clouds.

And when the day comes,
you must give your gift to someone you know who will use it well,
who can learn that the only things that matter are those made of truth and joy,
and not of tin and glass.

Rae, this is the last day-a-year,
special-time celebration that I shall be with you,
learning what I have learned
from friends and birds.

I cannot go to be with you
because I am already there.
You are not little because you are already grown,
playing among your lifetimes as do we all, for the fun of living.

You have no birthday because you have always lived;
you were never born, and never will you die.
You are the child of the people you call mother and father,
their fellow-adventurer on a bright journey to understand the things that are.

Every gift from a friend.
is a wish for your happiness,
and so it is with this ring.

Fly free and happy beyond birthday and across forever,
and we’ll meet now and then when we wish,
in the midst of the one celebration that never can end.


A new edition of Richard Bach's bewitching classic with wonderful new illustrations by H Lee Shariro.