do you LIVE or simply EXIST

If you’ve ever driven long distance on a quiet road, you may know what it means to be “road hypnotized” - that state of being where you are simply driving, with no real awareness of your surroundings. You might be passing a beautiful countryside, but it passes by unnoticed. Your mind is lost in the simple act of driving.

That is how many people go through life.

Many people simply EXIST. They go through their day-to-day routines just as they did the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. You could say many people are “life hypnotized.” They have forgotten the basic truth that life is not a destination, but a journey.

WAKE UP!

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Life should never be an uneventful, boring ride ending in a 6-foot drop in a wooden box. That’s not the way I want my journey to go, and neither should you.

Life should be an extraordinary journey, filled with one happy memory after another. The journey should be an exploration of the world around you, never missing a moment, never missing the opportunity to find a new friend or a new experience.

Many of us don’t even realize we are in a rut until it’s too late. In the book, Wanderer, Sterling Hayden writes, “We are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.”

Hayden ends the passage, saying that each of us has a choice: “Bankruptcy of purse, or bankruptcy of life.” Here’s where I disagree with him. I don’t believe a rich, fulfilling life must mean poor in money and security.

I think it’s possible to have both.

What are you waiting for?

Is is possible to live such a life? Absolutely.

• Resolve, TODAY, to enjoy the little things in life.
• Decide what kind of life you want. If you are unsure, use the list of 100 items technique to help decide.
• Seek advice from others who are living the way you want to live.
• Read action manuals to help you along the way. (I suggest The 6-Week Extreme Life Makeover)
• Most importantly, TAKE ACTION! Life doesn’t happen on it’s own. You must make it happen.

To LIFE!

• I found a cell phone in the middle of the street today.

Rather than think, “cool, I’ve got a new phone!”, I did the right thing. I went through the phone’s phonebook and found an entry that looked like a responsible adult, ‘dad’. He’ll be here to pick up the phone soon.

 It’s not the first time I’ve found something useful that belonged to someone else.  Twice I’ve found someone’s credit card. Just think of the fun I could have had with those! But instead, I turned them in. One I found at the Salt Lake International Airport, so I turned it into air port security. The second one was issued by a credit union that was only  a few blocks from where I found it, so I took it there.

 Niether time was I offered a reward, but that wasn’t the point. Good things should be done just for the sake of doing them.

I believe in Karma. Eventually, everything will come back to you. I’d rather have something good come back to me, rather than something that comes back to bite me on the *ss.

This got me thinking about some general rules we should all live by.

• Look for the good thing, then do it
• If you want to LIVE, don’t leave behind memories you’ll regret later
• Everything has a consequence - good or bad, so Think before you Act
• Be selfless.  It’s not about reward, it’s about someone else.
• Be an example. Others WILL be affected by it, even if they publicly say things to the opposite.

Have you noticed the Law of Attraction in everything?

Lately I’ve been listening to The Secret book on tape. I’ve read about the law of attraction and find it fascinating.

But now that I know about the law of attraction, I’m seeing it in other places and other advice. For example, the classic Think and Grow Rich, is all about the law of attraction.

I listened to a wealth-building conference call by Robert Allen this week, and the techniques he discussed for vivid vision were also very similar to those technniques in the law of attraction.

Over the years I’ve often heard that when you set a goal, don’t just say what the goal is, but VISUALIZE it as if you already had it. FEEL it. SMELL it. Again, the same as the law of attraction.

After reading some the articles on the law of attraction and listening to The Secret, I started to put it to use. I intended for myself to find more business opportunities I can take advantage of. And right away, three things happened to make me believe The Secret is valid.

First, you have to understand a little about me. I’ve been “dabbling” in real estate investing. I’ve made a couple referrals to an investor I know and make $1,750. Not bad for writing a couple emails and talking to a couple people!

I also started a bulk candy vending business after reading about it from Brian Lee at Geniustypes. I grossed $50 in 90 days with one double head machine. That’s not a great income, but that money recouped the investment of the machine. If it keeps earning the way it has, I’ll start seeing profit in another 30 to 60 days.

So what happened to make be believe in The Secret? First, I made the decision that I wanted more business opportunities. Over the weekend I visualized it, thought about it, and became happy with it. The next day I found a bulk vending route of 12 machines being sold locally. I emailed the owner and have begun negotiations. Second, as I walked into 7-11 for a hot chocolate, two ladies walk in right behind me talking about how one is behind on her house payment and may need to sell the house to keep from losing it. Third, my sister sends me the address of a boarded up house she found accidentally.

Coincidence? You can call it that. I call it proof that The Secret is real.

I will test this further. Similar to Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment, I will begin my own purposeful intention to build wealth and security. I will give you a monthly report.

I strongly suggest you learn about the law of attraction, or read The Secret.

Sunday’s are self-help Guest Column day where I find an article I think appropriate for this site.
Today’s article is from Mark V. Hansen, Push Yourself to Excel  

Push yourself to excel. Go beyond your idea of what is possible. If you lift weights, push yourself on from the 10th repetition to 11, then to 12, and then 13, and so on.

It is in those additional repetitions that the advancement and growth occur.

Do the things you didn’t think were possible for you to do.
Read more »

Happiness is a direction, not a place.
- Sydney J. Harris

Where do you find happiness?

For far too long I’ve looked, occasionally finding it, but often lost in the perpetual search.

Like the song, Looking for love in all the wrong places, my search for happiness had me searching for a place, a thing, a possession, an object, a job that would make me happy. Once I found these things, my happiness slowely waned.

I’ve come to realize it was the journey, not the goal, that makes one happy. The wanting of something, and the search to get it can be more fulfilling than having it.

Too many people never search for happiness. They are trapped in the cycle of simple EXISTENCE. The same cycle I have been trapped in for so long.

Far, far, to long I simply went from work to home to work to home, completely missing the point of living: to LIVE. To EXPERIENCE.

I agree with tealtan at Walking Through Glass when he says “…it’s annoying to see people whose PENTULTIMATE GOAL IN LIFE is to lead “as normal a life as possible”.”

Normalcy is not living. Normal is that boring sidewalk that leads, not to where to want to go, but the path that convinces you: This is where you need to be.

To fight normality and find happiness requires you to step off that path. To politely ignore when your friends and family tell you to get back on the path like everyone else. It requires risk! For only those who take risks “… shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

• Carpe Diem - sieze the day. The only thing in life you can be absolutely certain of, is that it will end. Use this day to LIVE.
• Make a list those things you want to accomplish. Then start checking them off. Don’t be afraid to add to it or delete from it when needed, but always strive to have a list of accomplishments that you can look back on one day and say “This was my life”.
• Forget petty differences. You are who you are and so is the guy next to you. Forget the little things that set you apart from him. Hold out your hand, introduce yourself and learn his story. Build a friendship with a great many people.
• Do you have a purpose? If not, find it. (A topic for another post). Do that which you where meant to do.
• Live with the end in mind. No one wants to think about their final journey being a six foot drop in a wooden box. Instead of ignoring it, accept it. We each have only a limited number of hours. How many of them do you want to waste waiting for the end. USE THEM!

To LIFE!