Ignore the naysayers and follow your dreams one step at a time.  Trust in yourself and an abundant universe that is always looking to lift you up.  In this trust, victory is assured even if it is not apparent at this moment…All matter of things are well, all is well.

5. Drive.  Do you have the drive to meet your goals?  Here’s the thing, we all have dreams, but can you transform them into reality?  Or do you find excuses, reasons why your dreams are deferred?  Is it someone else’s fault?  Are there responsibilities standing in your way?

Frankly, those excuses are crap.  Each of us is responsible for our own happiness.  Yes, duties, jobs, bills and family may complicate things – seemingly standing in your way, but no.  The delays, the discomfort force you to witness the truth – this isn’t working.  Instead of trying the same strategies over and over, I invite you to try something different – what is your dream?  How would you like your life to feel?  Now, what is one step you can take towards that dream today?

Do you need to change your attitude?  Do you need to stop taking life so personally and just do what needs to be done?  What stops you?

For some like myself, anger helps me connect to drive.  If anyone tells me, “No, you won’t be good at that,” you can pretty much guarantee my success.  But for others, any negative words keep them locked down – they don’t want to fail or be seen failing.  It’s safer not to try.

A variation of one of my all-time favorite quote is, “Screw your courage to its sticking place and do.”  Each of us has to discover our own unique sticking place.  Maybe the pain of a situation makes you move on; maybe it’s in the doubts of others; maybe it’s frustration; maybe it’s God…

It is not that the fear isn’t present when you do act, it’s that you do it anyway because you must.

For many folks, happiness feels like some far off place, for someone else, but it waits for you.  If you are struggling to connect to deep happiness from within, I invite you to examine five different areas in your life today.  Maybe you will discover where you stumble and possibly block happiness unwittingly…

1.      Inner dialog

2.      Faith

3.      Intuition

4.      Support

5.      Drive

1.  Inner dialog, or more specifically, what you say to yourself all day long.  Do you encourage yourself or tear yourself down?  Here’s the rub, you are interpreting your life every moment.  What you focus on becomes your life.  If you have a negative attitude, it frames all your beliefs.  Hence if you think life is hard, guess what?  Life is going to be hard. 

So first, examine your inner dialog.  Do you point out faults in others or yourself?  Do you look for solutions?  Do you learn from your mistakes or do you keep repeating them?  Do you ask anyone repeatedly if you look fat and/or attractive?  Any bells ringing?

If so, you are looking on the outside for a better way, instead of within.  Our life is created by our thoughts; how we think about people, places, our childhoods, ourselves, our families, our success…If you change your thoughts, things change. 

Instead of thinking you are trapped in a pattern, a relationship, a job, a car, debt, whatever…I encourage you to look again and ask yourself, What For?  What do I need to do today to move into balance?  How can I follow my dream?  What one step can I make today?

Tomorrow we shall look at 2. Faith.