Excerpts

Chapter 1 – Give Yourself Permission

At different times, we will re-encounter people at a different stage in their lives. What is sometimes surprising is who these people have become over time. Many of them have changed and grown for the better, some have taken a turn for the worse. Depending on the time that has passed, it can be like meeting a brand new person for the first time. This is not dissimilar to our own self-discovery. As we live, we learn, we experience, we grow, and we change. We continually transform into a version of us that did not exist before. Consequently, our path to purpose is a lifelong re-introduction to the many versions of ourselves we will become. Our ultimate self, however, must be one that is bred of our own volition. This version of us is born when we realize that what was once thought to be a collaboration between us and our higher power is and has always been a singular existence. Regardless of what you believe, be it God, the Universe, or no deity at all, it is when we connect to that singular consciousness that we find ourselves being guided to be that which we were predestined to be.
 
Chapter 2 – The Possibility of Potential

While potential is the existence of possibility, it is far from a promise. Our gifts entitle us to nothing other than the opportunity to do exploits in our lives. It is this misconception of potential that tends to stifle people. The gifted often feel they are owed something based on their capability. We must set our mindset to a trajectory of usage, there is no need for conservation when it comes to potential. We are all endless reservoirs of possibility waiting to be poured into the world. The manifestation, however, is up to us. The release of our potential is merely a choice. We can do anything we put our mind to do if we believe it possible. The question however is, will we? Will we tap into the inner resources of our being and use what we have been blessed with? Will we overcome our fear of failure and unlock the power within us to realize our heart's desires? Will we change the lives of those we come in contact with? Will we help to unlock potential in others and usher in a generation of creators seeking to also contribute to the well-being of our world?

Chapter 6 – Changing the Lens

It is difficult to find our way out of the perils life offers when we cannot either recognize or acknowledge what got us there, to begin with. We cannot always change the picture, sometimes we must simply change the lens through which we see the image. The funny thing is that we have to be honest with ourselves in admitting that we are also the artists who created the picture. We are the authors of our fate. Every day our existence presents a series of quick but necessary decisions, and every moment is a result of a prior decision. Our lives are the sum total of the decisions that we have made. When we become accountable for our choices, we can trace the origin of our circumstances and begin the process of changing the cycle of our lives.

Knowing where we have been, gives us perspective on where we are, and where we are headed. Many times we put so much of our energy and focus on what we have been through that we do not allow ourselves to recognize how far we have come. You may look at the pain of your past and see it as something that has inhibited you. Changing your lens will help you to see that the pain of your past has strengthened you. You look at your history and become angry and hurt at the countless times you almost died. Changing your lens will help you to look at your past and see all the times you survived. What you perceive about your trouble is what will either prolong it or cut it short.

Chapter 9 - Unrealized

The world is plentifully stocked with people grandiose ideas. People sit around and plan on how to change the world, or maybe just the condition of their own lives. Somewhere in the world, someone is developing a cure for cancer. Somewhere else someone is devising a way to teleport from one point of the world to another. Someone is even thinking of a means to travel through time.  As of today, these ideas are widely still considered impossibilities. But this is only because the results have not come to fruition. For all we know, there has been a cure for cancer for years. But if the idea is not executed and mass produced, it is all for none. To the world, an unexecuted idea is as beneficial as no idea at all. Execution is the only valid proof of an idea.

Manifestation is a product of energy. We choose what manifests in our lives. The concerted effort toward any end will manifest itself, even if that effort is nothing. Contrary to popular opinion, nothing is still something. A lack of movement is always movement, just in no particular direction. There is still, however energy being expended in doing nothing. Because this is so, when power in doing nothing is put forth, it, in turn, manifests nothing. But energy put toward executing opens the door to a positive unknown.

 Chapter 12 – The Happy Struggle

 We are conductors of energy. We attract that which our mind focuses on. When we train our minds to alter its focus, we train our minds to draw something different in our lives. Our state of being changes when we come to the understanding that our mindset is not a result of our circumstances, but our circumstances are a result of our mindset. Look at a man’s life, and you can always tell what he thinks about. Our thoughts manifest into things. We must guide our thoughts in the direction of the things that will bring us peace and prosperity. When you believe you can or can’t do something, you are always right. The body must, and always will obey the mind and follow the trajectory in which the mind sends it.

Our propensity to experience happiness is a result of our ability to conceptualize, visualize, and create the type of life we want for ourselves. Satisfaction is an experience that occurs inside out. Our ability to conceive and create happiness from within is the blueprint to what we can manifest extrinsically. Internal happiness is created by being content not because of our circumstances, but in spite of our events. The focus must shift to be what we have as opposed to what we don’t have. Being grateful is the foundation of being happy.