We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
Life begins with you.
It’s not the other way around. You’re not meant to live a life where you’re simply reacting to things that “happen to you.” You’re meant to live a life where you’re the one that’s making things happen; the one where you’re creating opportunities, manifesting realities. But somehow, somewhere along the way, we resign ourselves to a life of simply reacting to things that happen in life.
Whether it’s dealing with deadlines at work, feeling victimized by a boss who doesn’t care, bailing out your friend who can’t seem to pay his rent on time, yelling at your two year old who took a sharpie to the wall – again… life just seems to hand us things that we have to deal with. After a while, we forget who we wanted to be or how we wanted to show up in the first place, because we get caught up putting out fires.
Then we begin to hear a voice that says, “if only [insert lie here]…. then I’d be happy.”
If only….
I had more money.
I had more time.
I had more friends.
I had less stress.
I had a better boss.
I had a better body.
I had more energy.
Then I’d be….
happier.
free to do what I want.
more peaceful.
less stressed.
a better dad.
a better friend.
a better spouse.
But you know what? This is backwards. It’s the same mindset as your 3rd grader asking for his lego set first, and then he’ll learn to clean up his room. Remember: you’re the one writing the script of your life. That means, what you see in your life is simply the result of what you’ve been thinking, feeling, and nurturing on the inside.
Here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter what you think you want in this life right now: your ideal partner, a million dollars, a beautiful vacation home, children, well-behaved children… the list will always go on.
The Universe can step in right now and give you all of those things that you want, and after two weeks, you’d still come right back to where you started: finding a huge gap between where you are, and where you want to be.
Do you want to know why? It’s because…
we’re led to believe that we’re smaller than we truly are.
We’ve been deceived into believing that our happiness is controlled by outside factors. That we’re just a chess piece in this game of life. When in reality, we’re the chess players.
Consider this:
What if… life was a movie you’re co-creating with the Universe?
All of your experiences right now, are a result of all of your thoughts that came right before. There is a special connection between your brain and your heart creating what’s called an electromagnetic field – and like a magnet, it polarizes or attracts things into your life.
What if… you could have everything you wanted in life?
You’re much more capable of writing the kind of movie you want: a comedy, sitcom, drama, sci-fi… you name it, and it’s yours. You get to decide what kinds of characters belong in your movie, what kind of adventures, what kinds of lessons, etc.
What if... everything that’s wrong in your life now is the only thing that’s right?
The struggles, the difficulties, the lessons… all of the “bad stuff” is actually what matters. To the extent that you are here to grow, evolve, and experience life, the stuff that makes you uncomfortable is everything that you’re meant to overcome. This is the stuff that matters – how you respond to it determines whether you’ll move on to the next level, or whether you’ll have to repeat the same stuff all over again (think: patterns in your life, especially in relationships with other human beings).
All this to say: life begins with you.
Specifically, it begins with how you see yourself. Are you a chess piece? or the chess player?
I have a challenge for you. Respond to the questions below, and set intentions on how you’ll follow through. Set reminders throughout your environment (e.g., post-it notes) to remind you of who you are.
How do you get up in the morning?
How do you respond to angry people?
How do you treat your body?
How do you treat your environment (when no one’s looking)?
How do you create opportunities?
With love and all that matters,
Live with intention. Lead with inspiration.