“The next level then, is the awareness that now is all there is. Today is the only day of your life. You do not have to be imprisoned or restricted by your personal history.”
— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Your Sacred Self

Memories. We all have them: How we grew up, the friends we have made, the jobs we have done, the relationships we have created. These memories make us who we are, correct? Most of us would say, yes. However, by allowing our memories of the past to define who we are in the present, we are allowing ourselves to be imprisoned by labels and past events that may not be appropriate or accurate for your present state of being.

Today, free yourself from your past. Let go of all the limiting beliefs, roles, and expectations that you and others have placed on yourself. They may have served a purpose up to this moment, but you can now open up to all the other possibilities for your life. Rely on the way things are, the way you feel, the way your act, right now in this very moment. A New Day. A New You.

“I think I let go of the need for approval. It certainly feels good when you get it, but I used to be more desperate for it. Once I felt better inside about myself…I could do everything based on how I want to do things.”
— Ellen DeGeneres

Praise, appreciation, compliments. I was an approval junkie for many years. And like any other “addiction” I found myself needing it so much, I no longer knew how I felt about myself, unless someone told me how to feel. That meant that if someone thought I was great, I felt great. And when someone thought I was terrible, I felt terrible.

My inner guidance and self-esteem shut down and I was at the mercy of everyone else’s opinion. And with the amount of people I had to deal with everyday, my emotions and feelings about myself were in a state of constant yo-yo.

Thankfully, I have given myself a couple of well-needed gifts since those days. I have given myself the gift of forgiveness and I have given myself the much-needed gift of self-love.

I now allow myself to be my own guide to feeling good by doing good things. I still enjoy hearing positive feedback from others, but I don’t need it as I used to. Also, the good part is that when the occasional critique comes my way, I am less likely to take it personally. I have found the balance between outside opinions and my own internal guidance system.

“When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inward and examine ourselves.”
— Confucius

Every now and then we have moments where we come across people that we don’t agree with or their life situation seems so obviously easy to change or correct in our eyes. However, the reality is that we will never have enough information about people to judge them accurately. Judgment leads nowhere helpful as it blinds the person making the judgment.

It is not very easy to refrain from making quick judgments about others, especially when everybody else is doing it. But only you are responsible for your own growth and change, not others. The next time you are about to cast a quick judgment, ask yourself the following questions: Is it true? Is it useful? Is it necessary? Do I truly know that person’s life or their life journey?

Then the final step is to turn inward and ask yourself: What is it in that person or that situation that reflects my own life, or my own attitudes? Often we will surprise ourselves with the discovery that we are judging in others what we should be addressing in ourselves.

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.”
— Robert Frost

Improvement and change occur when you do things repeatedly and consistently. Stopping and starting all the time will kill any of the momentum you need to succeed. Find ways to keep yourself on track and motivated. It is easy to create reasons not to stick to your goals. We get sick, we get tired, we have to travel, we get discouraged, we are stressed.

Here are some tricks to staying motivated and keeping change consistent in your life: Be reasonable with your goals by not taking on too much too quickly. Write your goals down in your calendar and make them as big a priority as every other appointment you have. Find support near by — a friend, a spouse, even a virtual computer buddy to keep you on track. Keep things fun — when it’s fun, it’s that much easier to do. Keep a journal so you can see your progress.

Now that the lightening and thunderstorms have passed and we have our internet connection back up — here’s the daily inspiration again!

“Laugh at yourself, but don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself.”
— Alan Alda

Don’t take yourself or all of life’s ups and downs too seriously. Lighten up. We were designed to live by our senses, not by our brains. Be bold and trust your inner guidance without hesitation.

Always follow your instincts, your intuition, your gut. And when things don’t go the way you thought it would, laugh at your mistakes. Being able to laugh at yourself is the key to self-actualization.

None of us is in control as much as we would like to think we are. Go with the flow. Forgive yourself. And move forward.

“Self-esteem is a huge piece of my work. You have to believe it’s possible and believe in yourself. Because after you’ve decided what you want, you have to believe it’s possible, and possible for you, not just for other people. Then you need to seek out models, mentors, and coaches.”
— Jack Canfield

Do you ever feel like you are working so hard to please everyone around you that you lose yourself in their expectations? It is sort of like fitting our lives into little boxes. There may just be one box. Or there may be many boxes… which can really tire you out at the end of the day.

What do I mean by a box? Take each relationship you have or situation in your life and see if you are being your authentic self with them or if you are squeezing yourself in (or trying to squeeze yourself out) of a belief system that is not yours.

It can relate to any part of your life, your career (I am a team-player that likes everyone I work with), your family (I am a super-mom that can do it all), your romantic relationships (I am a passionate lover).

These are all fine… great even, if they are truly you. What if you like working more independently? What if you need help from the rest of the family to get everything done? What if you are too tired at the end of the day to be passionate all the time?

It’s up to you to stay in the box or to feel free to move around and enjoy life as you are…

“Think of cause and effect like watching a video. Imagine that you rented a video, and it was terrible. You just hated it! Would you take a hammer and smash your television or would you change the video tape? If you smashed the screen, you would be dealing with effect. If you changed the video, you would be dealing with cause.” — James Arthur Ray

How many things in our life we attempt to change at the “effect” level of being instead of the “causal” level?

What does this mean really? Well, a lot of it has to do with our thoughts to begin with. What are we focusing on when we want to create change? Are we thinking of the undesired outcome? Or are we focusing on what we want?

It’s like wanting to move to a new apartment that has no cockroaches, no loud neighbors, and is not expensive. When really what we want is a clean apartment with good neighbors, and affordable rent.

Here’s a bit of “tough love” for you. I am simply going to quote Dr. Robert Anthony completely for today’s inspiration because he says it so well.

“If you feel that you were off to a good start but are currently stalled, you need to admit to yourself that you have probably slipped back into your comfort zone.

More than likely you have been deceiving yourself that you are making progress, but at the same time you are really not getting anywhere.

What you need to do is take action. Even if it is a very small action.

Nothing you can tell yourself, nothing you can say to others, nothing you can think or feel or imagine is going to get you out of the mental bog you’re mired in.

The only thing that can rescue you is - to take that next step.

Maybe you know what that is. If you know exactly what it is, DO IT!

If you don’t know, or aren’t sure, allow you intuition to guide you. Do whatever you feel compelled to do, but do it NOW to get yourself going again — even if it means entering. . .

. . . your discomfort zone.

– Dr. Robert Anthony

“In order to grow spiritually, feelings must be communicated. Otherwise, they build up inside and the energy gets denser and lower, denser and lower, until a person is only half-conscious.”
— Marian Eileen Charlton, Life on the Causal Plane, A Glimpse of Heaven

Have you ever had something or someone really bother you, but instead of dealing with the issue, you let it slide by? It could be because you don’t like confrontation. It could be out of politeness that you don’t want to voice it. Whatever the reason, you feel it is better left unsaid. Then something else adds to the pile. Then something else. Before you know it you are full of these past issues and you don’t even know why you are feeling so terrible.

What’s worse is that by this time the slightest irritating thing will, out of the blue, make you either explode or bring you into complete depression. One person explained it to me by comparing it to a bucket. Eventually the bucket gets full and when things keep getting added to it they begin to overflow.

By expressing your feelings you can actually help yourself to heal. Honor yourself and your health by living through honest communication. Just remember to communicate your feelings to the right person — it’s not about taking it out on innocent bystanders either. And you don’t have to be nasty about the things that bug you or get you down. But being honest with others is also being honest to yourself.

“The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.”
— John F. Kennedy, (1917 - 1963)

Take control of your life by finding exactly what you are passionate about and living it in excellence right this very moment. When we allow ourselves to live each day to its fullest, our appreciation and gratitude for life increases.

Find the joy in the moments of life and have passion for what you do every day. This is our only opportunity to live today and express ourselves to our fullest potential.

Don’t keep waiting, wondering, and wishing. Your life is in your hands. What do you want to do with it?