Are you tired and fed up of your life zooming by, where every day is the same routine: you wake up, you struggle as you climb out of bed, you drag yourself to get that caffeine burst, the bacon and eggs, the leftover pizza, then you force yourself to get ready, go to work, go home from work, watch some TV and go to sleep...
... in preparation of doing all this once again the next day?
Days, weeks and months fly by, perhaps even years, before you wake up one day and wonder where your life has gone.
Your life has gone into what I call 'routine mode'.
Your life is running on automatic.
You didn't even realize that each day is like the next, until one day the dark realization surfaces and you are shocked at the reality that your life is whizzing by and you have not made any progress in life for you to be particularly happy or proud about.
This can be a huge problem if it's not dealt with quickly and appropriately.
If it's not dealt with today, you could miss out on a great many things that life has in store for you.
So how can you change your life for the better?
How can you start to live life to the fullest?
For you to change your life for the better, for you as your first stepping stone to live life to the fullest, you need to first be in charge of your life.
And the first step to being in charge of your life is to become aware of your day-to-day thoughts, feelings, actions and behaviors.
Get on that journey today by following the 4 steps below.
They will open you to have that all-important part of the equation.
At bedtime, spend a few minutes to ask and answer the 4-steps-to-change questions:
1. What are two things I am grateful for today? Go through your day and search for two things you are grateful for. They could be anything; from being grateful that you're alive, to being grateful that you have a job, food, a roof over your head, water, clothes to wear.
Recall your entire day and fully feel and appreciate at least two things you are grateful for that you would usually take for granted.
2. What could I have done differently? If there's something you did during the day that you're not too happy with, think what you could have done or could do to turn round the situation.
If you responded rather harshly to a colleague, friend or spouse, think of a way you can make up for it. If you ate that extra-large burger, could you have replaced it with a small sandwich or salad?
3. What are two things I look forward to tomorrow? Spend some time thinking about what's going to take place tomorrow. Think of the good things the next day has for you.
If only negative things come to mind, take a few minutes to convert them in your own mind to bring about an outcome that you would like. Imagine and picture the situations turning out that way you would like.
This way you will feel more enthusiastic about tomorrow, where you will wake up feeling more optimistic that you might normally.
4. What do I want to dream about tonight? If you hold on to a particular thought until you fall asleep, more than likely that thought will play a significant role in your dream.
With added practice, you will be able to direct your dreams, enjoy them and remember them fully. This is a very powerful method that could bring about phenomenal changes. It's called Lucid Dreaming.
Get into the habit of going through this 4-step method every night.
You will discover that your life will change dramatically and quickly. And once it has, you can step up to the next level by asking:
"How can I change my life for the better so I may live life to the fullest?" and you'll be amazed at the next set of answers that will move you forward to the next level in your now amazing life.
Before we continue, let's dig a little bit deeper.
Do you feel insecure or pessimistic about what your future may hold for you?
When you think about what you would like to be, have or become in the future, do you feel anxious and frightened that it won't materialize?
Are you anxious that you won't be able to live life to the fullest, or that no matter how hard you try, and how hard you research, you will never discover the true and realistic best ways to live life to the fullest?
Are you worried that this 4-step method will work for others but not you?
Which begs the question:
Are you worried about your future?
And are you worried about the present?
If you are apprehensive and fearful about your future, about achieving, becoming and having what you would like, I then ask you to start, as of this day, in fact as of this moment, to allow yourself to see that there is an alternative to fear and apprehension.
Yes, there is.
And you can begin to work on that right now.
The process is very simple, effective and will only take you five minutes or less.
So, let's begin.
What's the most important 'worry' or 'fear' that you have at this moment that you feel needs to immediately change?
Do you want to change your financial situation, your relationship situation, your health, your fitness level, your lifestyle, your job or career?
Decide which one area in your life you would like to change.
Let's say you want to lose weight.
You want to find the best ways to lose weight; those ways that you will find rewarding, fulfilling, and that will allow you to healthily lose that weight, and perhaps a little later down the road you may want to consider opening your own lose weight business down the road so you may guide others how you managed to be successful at it.
Now here's the process that will allow you to release the negative thoughts and feelings that are holding you back; the inner fears and doubts that stop you from even doing the research to discover the best ways to lose weight.
When you think about the best ways to lose weight, when you search the Internet and visit some websites dedicated to this topic, or you use any other means available to you, what do you feel?
Anxious, worried, scared?
Do you avoid reading the blogs and articles, the eBooks, because they make you feel uncomfortable?
When such a feeling surfaces, when you sense the fear, doubt or unworthiness of losing weight and having that body that you desire, immediately sit back, close your eyes and go deep inside that thought and feeling.
Do not analyze that feeling and do not discard it.
Notice the first feeling or thought that came up, for you will do the process on that very feeling or thought.
It's not necessary to 'name' the feeling, as in, "I feel scared" or "I feel tense". The point is to just feel the feeling or the thought.
Experience the feeling or thought deeply for a short time.
When you're ready, move on to the next step which is where you will ask yourself:
"Could I let this feeling go?" Now the answer may be a Yes or No, either one doesn't matter. They'll both work.
Then ask yourself: "Would I let this feeling go?" Again, the answer could be a Yes or No.
And lastly ask yourself the question: "When?" to which you respond: "Now."
You should feel less fearful, doubtful and less unworthy after this first round.
Should you, however, still have some remaining feelings, repeat the process a few times until you are completely free of that feeling.
This is an extremely powerful process derived from The Sedona Method which I highly recommend you use to release any unwanted feelings that are keeping you stuck where you are.
I use this short, simple and extremely powerful process immediately, literally, as soon as I feel a negative feeling or thought.
Within a couple of minutes I feel much more relaxed having released that obstructive feeling or thought.
Quite quickly my negative thoughts and feelings transform to positive thinking which, in turn, make me feel more optimistic.
Still worried or concerned about your future, your weight challenge, or even your life as it is?
You shouldn't be.
Release on any concerns that you have. In fact, if you're doubtful this process will work, release on that, too.
Release what's been holding you back from having the future, and present, that you have always wanted, fast and with great results.
Are you focusing on what you want in life?
Let's imagine you are enjoying a Sunday drive down a narrow country road and all of a sudden a truck appears round a blind bend.
The truck is heading towards you, going fast. Your eyes widen, and your heart is pounding rapidly.
What do you do?
In that moment, your life depends only on where your focus is.
Many people in such a situation focus their attention on the truck; the object they want to avoid. And in doing so, the inevitable will happen; the head-on collision.
If you, however, place your focus on what you want by looking away from the truck and seeking an empty space to drive into, or any way you can avoid the head-on collision, you will find that way and be safe.
Use this analogy to think about life.
Your life depends on what you focus on.
When you focus on the things you don't want in life, you are steering directly towards them, and, worse, you will get more of them.
Simply put: you get more of what you focus on.
For example, if you are unhappy with your body, you probably repeat things like, "I don't like my body. It's ugly" or "I feel uncomfortable and fat meeting David's children tonight. What if they don't like me?"
Where is your focus?
Your focus is on the things you don't want; you are focusing on the body that you hate and on the uncomfortable feeling you have meeting the children.
So, you will naturally attract more of the same, and in doing so, you will increase your hatred for your body and you will increase your level of uncomfortable feeling.
As human beings, we tend to place our thoughts, attention and feelings on the things we don't want, and we wonder why nothing changes in our lives!
We wonder why we can't live life to the fullest.
Our minds are programmed to bring about more of whatever we focus on.
Actually, if you think about that for a moment, that should be great news, for all you have to do is focus on the things you do want, and when you do so with feeling, they will come to you in due course.
Your mind, or more specifically, your subconscious mind, will work on bringing to reality what it is that you feel you want.
The good and the bad. Be careful!
So, for you to live life to the fullest, pay closer attention to your feelings and to what you're focusing on.
As often as you can, ask yourself this question:
"What am I now focusing on right now?"
If it's on what you don't want, change it to what you do want.
Are you ready to make positive changes in your life?
Have you decided to stop being a couch-potato and actively look for the best ways to live life to the fullest?
If you have, that's great.
The question now is:
Have you done anything about it?
Many people decide to make changes in their lives, yet they don't realize that nothing will change until they take action.
Sure it's easy to sit back and dream about the new lifestyle, but where most people get stuck is in the taking action part.
Look at it this way, when you want to build a house, where do you start? You find an appropriate piece of land, you buy it, you locate and hire an architect, design the house, go over the plan, and so on.
You cannot conceive the idea of building a house and have it miraculously appear.
It's the same when you want to design and build your new healthy lifestyle.
Much like the house, you need to design exactly what your lifestyle will look like; you have to go over the plan by setting goals, and you have to take action to ensure it is built to completion.
Unfortunately, most people want to change their lives yet do nothing about it. They become expert complainers and they wonder why they remain stuck.
When you are ready to take action, you may face some mental blocks, such as, you feel you don't deserve that lifestyle that you desire, you don't deserve to live life to the fullest, or have that dream car or home.
That's fine. You've identified some of your blocks to taking action, now you work on reducing or eliminating these blocks.
How do you do that?
You call your architect, your subconscious mind, and come up with a plan.
This will take some deep deliberation, which you may spread over a few days. When you think about making the positive changes, what are your thoughts and feelings
about that?
Do you feel a sense of unworthiness?
To help you out, try this. Write down these sentences and finish them off:
"I feel unworthy because... "
"I am scared because... "
"I'm alright where I am, I feel safer that way because... "
Come up with any thoughts or feelings that surface. Absolutely no editing. It is imperative that you allow all your thoughts and feelings to flow freely. Write them all down.
Once you have a full list of blocks, work down your list. Choose one block every day and take a specific action, one that is the opposite of your block, until you feel that the thought or feeling has been reduced or no longer holds you back.
Utilize 'positive thinking' as well. Turn the negative into a positive.
If a certain block does not clear in one day, keep at it until it has no power over you.
Keep the power of 'positive thinking' going strong and allow it to gain momentum.
When done, move on to the next block.
Stepping up to upgrade your lifestyle does require effort, and the more committed you are, the more you will enjoy that new life.
Every day choose the actions that will bring about what you want to create.
The great news is that once you begin the process, it will get easier for you to choose the appropriate action, the 'positive thinking' that will work against your block.
Take your time; identify the block and take counter-action.
In a short while you will find the best ways to literally live life to the fullest.
