Wouldn’t anyone exchange a mediocre life for one of happiness, great relationships, and wealth?

Of course you would, and you know what? Anyone can do it!

“Opportunity never knocks. It appears, flickering, like faulty neon at a nondescript fork in the road.” ~ Roy H. Williams

I will let you into a secret I discovered 6 years ago now.

To exchange one life for another takes nothing less than a total change to your outlook on life. What the guru’s call a Paradigm Shift.

You see, where you are today is a sum total of all the choices you made in the past, and if you continue to make the same choices, guess what? You’ll end up with the same life.

That’s right… nothing will change!

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” ~Dale Carnegie

The #1 secret to changing your lifestyle is to forget the past, leave the future to itself, and focus on today.

Because ‘today is the first day of the rest of your life’ as the old saying goes.

Now, to change your complete outlook on life is no mean feat, I can tell you from bitter experience, but man, the rewards are worth it.

The journey you are about to undertake will not be easy, and is littered with pitfalls, but if you want your dream life, then you do not have a choice other than to take it, take a hold on your life now, and change.

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom,”  ~ Anais Nin

Why must I change you may ask? Change is inevitable, there is nothing so certain than change, it is a great constant of the universe. And there is no need to be afraid of it for in change lies your future.

You may be skeptical, you may also be wondering ‘change to what’, well I will tell you.

The #2 secret to obtaining your dream life, is knowing why to change, how to change, and where you need to be at the end of the journey.

Visualize being in possession of your dream life, hold on to it, imagine you are already there, this vision is where you will be at the end of your journey. This vision is the key to changing your paradigm for when combined with emotion it will sink into the subconscious mind where the paradigm is held.

You will encounter resistance both from within, and from family and friends because they will not understand your need. You must resist to succeed.

With everyone telling you to just accept your lot in life and to make the best of things, to play it safe, how can you find your way to personal growth and development?

The #3 secret to your dream life lies in allowing yourself to change. Conquering fear with strength and endurance.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” ~ Helen Keller

There is much more I wish to show you to help you realize your dream life, but I am sure these three simple secrets will embolden you to start your journey. They are the key to a successful beginning.

Sincerely,

P.S. To help you realize your dream life I have written a special report entitled
Unlocking The Puzzle To A Dream Life which you can obtain by following the link. It is packed full of content and exercises to help you get started. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Why You Should Not Fear The Future
2. Do You Know What Really Matters – The Answer Is Simple
3. Do You Need To Take The Life Test?

Defining your life goals at an early stage is important if you wish to achieve anything substantial in your life. Setting out your goals gives you a desire and purpose, a road to tread, and can be applied to any area of life.

Here are a few examples…

• Your Education
• Your Career
• Sports Achievements
  
• Personal Development
• Financial Development
• Weight Loss

…all you need to do is to decide what area in your life to target, then to define your goals and to make a plan to achieve them.

To help you define your goals think on your beliefs. Your destiny is a direct result of your actions which are derived from your beliefs.

This is how your destiny is formed according to Mahatma Gandhi…

Destiny Circle

• Beliefs lead to values
• Values lead to thoughts
• Your Thoughts determine your words
• Words lead to actions
• Actions form habits
• Habits enhance your beliefs

You ARE what you think and do, so your goals should reflect who you are now, and where you want to go in the future.

The idea is to flourish and grow into your future self via goal setting, assessment and achievement.

Aristotle originated the concept of eudaimonia, that is ‘human flourishing’, which is composed of two elements…

1. Virtue
2. Health, wealth and beauty

Human flourishing could not be achieved according to Aristotle, unless the person has…

…”the capability to consider the mode of action in order to deliver change, especially to enhance the quality of life.”

…a concept which he named phronesis.

To help you in considering your mode of action, I have devised the ‘Goal Setting Plan’ shown below with a simple example.

Goal Setting Example

You should define major goals on one page, then break them down into minor goals on further pages. When your destiny is mapped out in front of you, you can take great pleasure in closing out your goals, the sense of achievement will be palpable!

Sincerely,

P.S. You can download your free Goal Setting Plan here in PDF format, print it off and start filling it in! Good luck!

More on goal setting at Jessica Feliciano’s site.

Related posts:

1. Personal Goal Setting
2. Do You Need To Take The Life Test?

We Are One World, One Race, One Life.

Or don’t you believe that?

This simple statement has been the dream goal of many free thinkers over the ages, from Christ to John Lennon.

The truth is, they were right!

Planet Earth is shrinking, a fact becoming more and more apparant as the human population approaches 7 billion in the 21st century.

We face such problems as…

• Reduction in Biodiversity with threatened mass extinctions
• Greater Famine is threatened by climate change
• Dwindling Energy Resources is threatened by increasing demand
• Shrinking Ice Caps causing Rising Oceans
  

…which are more and more in the news today than they ever were in the past.

As a consequence, we are all drawn closer together – joined by the global commons of atmosphere, oceans and climate.

You see, we humans have been taught throughout our existence, that the Earth and all other living things on it, are simply resources to be used for our benefit and comfort.

If we carry on with this attitude what will the future hold? When will we reach the limit of the resource base, when The Earth no longer has the capacity to sustain our growing consumption?

Make no mistake, when this stage is reached it will not be Earth that suffers. It has survived 5 major extinction events, a Snowball effect where almost all the surface was glaciated, and a runaway Greenhouse effect where there was no ice at all in the polar regions.

It will be the human race that picks up the bill with many other organisms along with us. This gives everyone of us a stake in sustaining the planet, a common goal — One World, One Race, One Life.

You see dear reader, The Earth is not and never was a resource. It is primarily our home, environment and society being interdependant, we therefore have a stake in keeping it habitable. That means not interfering with natural processes, in particular the natural distribution of temperature, namely solar energy, across the planet. This is automatically regulated by…

• Weather Systems
• Ocean Currents
• Atmosphere–Ocean coupling
• Forest/Plankton Photosynthesis

…involving many positive and negative feedback systems too involved to get into here.

Deforestation and massive anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide production directly influence these processes.

So what are we gonna do about it?

What indeed can any individual do about global issues?

It is my opinion that our personal growth brings to us an open mind, which in turn, makes us aware of other peoples and of the environment we live in. Global issues, our uniqueness, and our vulnerability become our concerns. We are able to accept complicated concepts that affect our actions.

You see, an open mind brings awareness bringing concern which leads to action — this is a mark of how far our personal growth has progressed.

Our journey of personal growth ultimately leads us to conclude that our existence is futile without the people most dear to us, those whom we depend on for our happiness and well-being.

Our destiny, our life is irrevocably intertwined with our own social group, and with all the unknown people with which we share a kinship by virtue of calling planet Earth home.

What can we do about it? Make every single day the best you can. In nurturing our home, our environment, we serve not only ourselves, but our One World, One Race, One Life

Sincerely,

P.S.

Check out live carbon dioxide emissions and global population growth figures. Some beautiful images of our home Earth for you to enjoy from NASA.

Related posts:

1. Why Are People Apathetic Towards Personal Growth Development

As someone keenly involved in the personal growth development movement, the apparent apathy of the majority of people towards the subject has been worrying me of late. I have been continually asking myself why? Are people more interested in ‘the material’ than in their own self?

As I recall, none of my extended family have ever expressed a desire to improve themselves. Neither have any of my friends and colleagues from over all the years, ever expressed such a desire.

I embarked upon an open university course to study the environment from 1999 – 2004, but did this improve me as a person? Beyond the field of study, I don’t think so, I was only educating myself. Self improvement wasn’t the agenda anyway.

I suppose people assume they will become wiser and a better person as they get older, or don’t they even think of it at all?

Even if someone does think they wish they were a better person, it’s so easy to say “but this is the way I am” and accept the status quo.

I remember, whilst in regular business for someone else, I never considered that I needed self improvement studies. When you are in full time employment, perhaps with kids to look after, meals to cook, a house to clean, or a game to catch on TV, where is the time for self indulgence?

Because that’s exactly what introspection is – a form of self indulgence.

Yet in google, many people are searching and looking to improve…

• Self Improvement-                      90,000 + global searches / mo
• Personal Development-           135,000+ global searches / mo
  

Who are these people, 225,000 searches out of a world population of 6.785 billion (as of Sept 09), is no great percentage. Is it that introspection only occurs when one has free time on hand?

Certainly the greatest self-thinker of all time – Buddha – who was a noble prince, had the time for introspection because he was privileged and beyond subsistence living when he started his life long journey.

If we look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs we may begin to see the answer.

Deficiency needs must be met before an individual can focus on higher needs. The necessity to house, cloth and feed ones family has to be achieved firstly before any other need.

It is not until the fifth growth need of Self Actualization that an individual can focus on introspection. People in self actualization have a psychological drive for personal growth, they are the seekers of knowledge. Maslow himself thought that only 2% of the world’s population were predominantly self actuating.

So unless you are a student where you may be exposed to the idea of personal development when young, you will probably be in your 50s, where the kids have flown the nest, or when you have achieved your position in life, that you will be attending to your growth needs.

What Maslow recognised is only human nature; the hierarchy is a natural progression through which we all must strive, where some will never go beyond their Physiological and Security needs because of external influences. But what I am asking is – why wait this long before introspection and self evaluation? Cannot we recognise the importance of the characteristics of personal development goals before we enter the second half of our lives…

• Seek, Find and Follow Through Your Passion
• Recognise Your Talents
• Seek, Find and Nurture Your Inner Calm, Your Centre
• Never Allow Yourself To Become A Victim
• Take Responsibility For Your Life
• Gratitude
• Openness
• Be The Best You Can Be Every Single Day

…and how much better might our children’s lives be by being exposed to these influences earlier rather than later?

It is my hope and desire that the 225,000 seekers in google will increase by 1 after you’ve digested this post dear reader, and that very soon the figure will increase to millions. You see, I don’t think people are apathetic, they are just too busy living their lives to see beyond their immediate needs.

But oh what a better life they could lead if they only had the time to step back and indulge in a little introspection.

Sincerely,

P.S.

Beyond self actualization is Transcendancy – people whom have reached this level have a need to help self actualize others,  which is one of the key purposes of this blog. For your information, here is more on Maslow’s Pyramid of needs and Abraham Maslow.

Related posts:

1. Environmental Awareness Is Part Of Our Growth
2. Your Personal Path To Freedom, Part 2
3. Your Personal Path To Freedom

This is a continuation of “Your Personal Path To Freedom” series. The first part can be found here.

Step 6

SELF-EMPOWERMENT is a result of your success as you journey along your path to personal freedom. As you tick off each challenge and your circle of comfort increases, your self-confidence will increase in direct proportion.

As you tick off the steps and goals in your ‘Plan of Action’ and you win through, you empower yourself with energy and a will to succeed, in the knowledge that you can overcome all obstacles placed in your path.

These are the building blocks of empowerment in the physical sphere of today’s modern society. Recognise and FEEL yourself growing tall as you place these building blocks under your feet.

Step 7

Here we shall address your SPIRITUAL GROWTH which is equally important along your journey. Thoughts mingled with feeling and faith, are how you transfer your thoughts and desires to your subconscious. Your subconscious mind then transfers your thoughts to the spiritual equivalent, but ONLY when mingled with feeling and faith.

As your spirit grows fear diminishes. Fear of failure, fear of poverty, fear of ridicule, all fear cannot exist when your faith and spirit are in the ascendancy. Peace of mind, understanding, and spiritual harmony are all a result of faith. Be that in your personal path and abilities, or something else. This harmonious state is transferred to the physical sphere where it will be clear for all to see and to admire.

Step 8

With fear banished your LIBERATION has arrived! With an open mind and open hand you have a warrior like power that allows you to expand your mind. Power is the ability to control your mind, thoughts and actions. Now you WILL run your life in exactly the way that you have dreamed it.

However, you must never forget to keep fear banished. Fear limits our growth, our capabilities. It is allied with anxiety and stress, all of which contract the spirit.

Step 9

Your FINANCIAL freedom completes your extraction from society’s grip. In following your passion you may remain in the main-stream, earning a salary to provide you with financial security.

There is however, a different way. You see, if you sell your labour (no matter how skilled you may be), your earning potential is limited by the number of hours you can work in a day. The smart way is to have money work for you! This way there is no time constraint. Money works tirelessly 24/7.

The monied people of investment city play stocks and shares and various other investment opportunities to make their money work. But investment pre-supposes that you have money to play with in the first place, doesn’t it?

The third way is to become an entrepreneur. There are, many ways open to the entrepreneur to make good money, also many success stories as examples. The way I chose, was to make the INTERNET EARN MONEY FOR ME. You see, the initial investments are relatively low, the returns are enormous, the time input is relatively low, and again it works tirelessly 24/7.

The internet market is open to everyone, you don’t need large wads of cash, you don’t need to be a sales person, and the skills can be taught to anyone. SUCCESS is the reward to all whom have a will to learn, and a dedication and persistence to carry through a plan of action.

We have only scraped the top of a huge subject here, but my hope is that these articles have given some of you an insight into a different way. The message is that, you don’t have to continue to live life as you are, simply because you can’t see any way out.

All you have to do is to take one small step. DECIDE to live life to the full, and to leave your old life behind you!

Related posts:

1. Your Personal Path To Freedom
2. Your Personal Path To Freedom, Part 2
3. Do You Need To Take The Life Test?

This is a continuation of “Your Personal Path To Freedom” series. The first part can be found here.

To have any power in this modern society, you must be perceived to have value, and this comes directly from your personal growth. The more knowledge you can accrue, the greater your value. I don’t just mean knowledge in your particular field of expertise or chosen path, I mean knowledge about yourself and how to live life.

Here is a direct example of personal growth. Define your comfort zone. Draw a circle and write down in the centre everything you are comfortable with. Write down on the outside of the circle everything that you are uncomfortable doing.

Now, seek a challenge every day that includes the things you are uncomfortable with. Be courageous, and hit the challenge head on until they no longer challenge you. As you move each note from the outside to the centre, watch the circle grow as you are. Re-define your comfort zone each month and take up new challenges. You will find that life is exciting again, you are alive!

Step 3
Learn as much as you can about your passion, your chosen path to freedom. Find out what is required to become successful. Set out goals in a ‘PLAN of ACTION’, little steps that although small, will propel you along the path to success. More on Goal Setting!

A definition of power is “organised and intelligently directed knowledge.” Learn something new every day about your passion and incorporate it into your plan of action.

Step 4
REMAIN CONFIDENT, do not allow any outside influence (perhaps a friend or relative), to divert you from your path. Ridicule and sarcasm cannot hurt you. As people see this, they will begin to perceive you as rock steady, someone who is in control!

This represents further personal growth, you see how this can escalate until all will perceive you as valuable, and therefore powerful. Never forget that you are a being of light and energy, an amazing creation of the universe! This step fully understood and implemented will set you up for achieving true success.

Step 5
Master PERSISTENCE and you will succeed, do not and you will fail! It’s as simple as that. Persistence is the opposite of procrastination. Procrastination is the way of those who drop out, those whom under achieve. Their lives are miserable and poverty stricken.

The best way to define persistence is to use Napoleon Hill’s excellent causes of persistence:

• Definiteness of Purpose
• Desire
• Self-Reliance
• Definiteness of Plans
• Accurate Knowledge
• Co-operation
• Will Power
• Habit

Be persistent and tenacious in taking action to complete each small step, each goal outlined in your plan. Do not be deterred by any setback, but continue to take persistent action and you WILL succeed. Examine yourself to see if you have all the virtues listed above. If any are missing, be sure to cultivate them immediately.

Donald Trump made a fortune, lost it, then made another one! To make a fortune twice over, is the result of a motivated man who had a plan of action that was executed with continuous persistent action.

Now you will find yourself no longer simply wishing for your desire, instead you are willing it, driving it, and moving down your personal path to freedom, step by step by goal!

Part 3 will chart the next steps on your personal path to freedom. If you wish to subscribe to receive the next post directly, please use the ‘Subscribe’ form to the right.

Related posts:

1. Your Personal Path To Freedom, Part 3
2. Your Personal Path To Freedom
3. Entrepreneurial Freedom

When I had finished writing “Your Personal Path To Freedom” it came out at over 2000 words, so I decided to publish in 3 parts. This is the start of the series.

Before I explore this splendid journey, I would like you to consider what your own idea of freedom is?

• Freedom of speech perhaps
• Freedom to travel
• Freedom to choose your political leader
• Financial freedom
• Freedom to follow a life of your own choosing

These are all worthy notions, but aren’t they all a little constrained by the pressures modern society places on us? Which ones are most important to you as an individual?

We are free to speak our minds, but we must be careful of what we say in public.

We are free to travel, but this freedom is impacted upon by our financial situation.

We are free to vote for the political party of our choice, but isn’t it true that the 51% majority can rule over the other 49%.

Does not our financial freedom depend upon how much money we can earn, when 1% of the population has 99% of all the money.

We are free to lead our own lives as we wish, but is the career you are now in, the one you planned for yourself? Or did you plan at all, just taking the first job that you could get.

If you think I paint a dour picture dear reader, I use it to merely illustrate how difficult modern society can be, if we live life on its terms.

You see, personal freedom doesn’t just happen, our life is a journey and the point where you find yourself right now, is a culmination of the choices YOU made along the way.

Personal freedom comes from WITHIN, from how you view yourself, from how you relate to those around you, how you relate to your partners, and how you relate to the outside world.

Some people have what it takes to live a prosperous and generous life from the outset, but most of us have to learn via the hard knocks school of life as we go along.

For those of you whom are not one of the small minority, here are the steps that will set you on your path to freedom.

Step 1
You must Take Responsibility For Your Own Life, and do not let your life be dictated to you by society! How do I do that I hear you ask, at this point you need do no more than to make the decision.

However, it is not sufficient to just make a statement in your mind, but you must transfer it to your subconscious mind by mingling the thought with feeling and emotion.

If you do not do this, then you will fail at this first step because your belief comes from the subconscious. So you must really want to take the responsibility on, to START down your path to freedom.

To aid you in this, think deeply for a few minutes on the life you want to lead, when you first wake in a morning, and lastly before you go to sleep.

Step 2
Decide what it is you want to do. By this I am not talking simply of a job, I’m asking you what lights your fire! What is your passion, your burning desire! Do you want to be an entrepreneur, a dancer or an actor, a doctor or a nurse. Is it money you desire, or to be more expressive.

At this point education or whether you can afford it has nothing to do with it, remember, Henry Ford and Richard Branson both started their empires with no qualifications and no money.

You must simply identify your desire without any boundaries.

I must note for you at this time that, personal freedom is not just a matter of taking responsibility, and deciding what it is you want. Personal freedom is not just a money chase either, as I mentioned earlier, it comes from WITHIN.

Personal freedom is a two tier journey. As you pursue your outward targets, you must grow inwardly as a person at the same time. Indeed, your success will be directly linked to your personal growth!

Part 2 will describe this more fully, and chart the next steps on your personal path to freedom. If you wish to subscribe to receive the next post directly, please use the ‘Subscribe’ form to the right.

Related posts:

1. Your Personal Path To Freedom, Part 3
2. Your Personal Path To Freedom, Part 2

What is your life like right now? If you’re having a great time then you can consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

If however, you are finding life a bit tough right now, then you may need a life change, so take The Life Test.

I have arranged a small questionnaire below, in which you can determine whether your life is in a positive situation, or you are in negativity.

Take a few moments to determine which question in each of the six life categories fits you right now…

1. Your Financial Life

a. Do you have an abundant mindset?

b. Do you see lots of money as the cause of happiness?

c. Are you miserable through lack of money?

a. Do you like your job?

b. Are you stressed out all the time?

c. Is it difficult to get out of bed in a morning?

a. Do you never worry about the future?

b. Do you hope things will get better in the future?

c. Do you not have influence over your future?

a. Do you feel freedom right now?

b. Do you often feel overwhelmed?

c. Do you feel you have untapped potential?

a. Are you in a happy and fruitful relationship?

b. Do you argue a lot with your partner?

c. Do you feel constrained in your relationship?

a. Do others ever comment on how happy you are?

b. Do you ever say ‘One day I would like to do that’?

c. Do you feel like life is passing you by?

You may find however, that you answer Yes to more of the b. and c. questions than you would like!

If so, this doesn’t mean that you are a bad person or anything like that, it simply means that your energy is not aligned with your desires and passions. It means that you are focusing your energy in the wrong places, instead of those areas that will bring you abundance, prosperity and happiness.

It means that your daily actions are probably mundane, boring, repetitive and not what you would prefer to be doing. We’ve all been there right? Of course we have, but the key is realising that what you’re doing is not right, then changing. By taking a new course of actions you can radically change your life for the better!

You may not believe it, you don’t have to, but I do, and that’s what matters!

How do I know? Simple, because I have been in that dark place where you are now, and I overcame, I changed my actions with a simply thought process like this one below…

• First, find some favourite quiet spot, then meditate on what it is you desire in your life.
• Second, infuse your thoughts with feeling and emotion, this is most important.
• Third, remember everything is possible in this world of infinite possibilities.
• Fourth, make a list of goals that will bring your desires to fruition.
• Fifth, break the goals down into a plan of actions.
• Sixth, consistently perform the actions on a daily basis.
• Seventh, persevere until each goal is ticked off, then move on to the next one.

Now you have direction and drive in your life, and as you tick off your goals the more fulfilled you become.

But remember, without infusing feeling and emotion into your thoughts, you will fail in your actions, this is simple truth. You need feeling and emotion to generate your faith. Faith in your own abilities to succeed!

So you see, you can change your life, and you don’t have to carry on as you are if you don’t wish to. Not in the 21st century!

I’ll leave you with a favourite Benjamin Franklin quote of mine, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Related posts:

1. What Change Feels Like!
2. 3 Secrets To Realizing Your Dream Life
3. Your Personal Path To Freedom, Part 3