We live in an inside-out world. Most people are living from the outside-in, which means they believe  a certain outcome or circumstance outside of them is needed in order to rearrange or manipulate the thoughts and feelings that they have inside of them. This is just playing victim, and refusing to take control of what's happening in your mind and body. 

When we don't know better, ife has a way of helping us get stuck in a constant state of worry, fear, and doubt. If you look around at that people in your life living in a state of struggle,, most of them believe "that's the way it is."

It's doesn't have to be. You've trained your mind and body how to live in a constant state of worry, fear, and doubt. If you want better, you can retrain your body to feel peace, love, and joy. But you can't keep living the same life, doing the same things, and expect different outcomes. You must do the things that will create the results you want.

Repeat after me:

"If I always do what I always did, I'll always get what I always got."

Pretty simple concept, right?

I work with a lot of people. I watch some of them change their entire lives and recreate their circumstances, and some remain stuck. There's a vast difference between them, and there's nothing anyone can do to help the ones that remain stuck. They might say they want better, more, or different, but when it comes time to get to work, they choose to remain the same. 

Let me explain the difference between the two groups. 

Have you ever noticed that out of the 8 billion people on the planet, that the majority, I’d say 95% or more, are trying to get what they want, avoid what they don’t want, feel pleasure, not feel pain, feel safe and secure, not feel uncertainty or risk, feel loved, not feel lonely, and most importantly most are trying to create and rearrange circumstances in their life in an attempt to be ok? Have you ever taken time to notice how frantically people are running around in an attempt to do more, have more, and be more, and they do all of this to try to manage their mental and emotional states?

I've been thinking about my own death a lot lately. The Stoic philosophers taught a very important lesson that has helped me get clear about creating an exceptional life - if you don't fall in love with your own death, you'll never truly allow yourself to live. I've been feeling this lately. 

For most of my life I was convinced that once I decided who I was - my identity - I was committed to that forever. I'm glad I was wrong. 

I spent decades being an out of shape, beer drinking, televised sports addicted, Christian, right-wing, gun carrying, flag waving Conservative Republican whose job it was to sacrifice my own health and happiness to climb the corporate ladder and provide an awesome life for my wife and kids. 

I remember making the conscious decision to increase the difficulty of my life in every way possible. I look back and remember believing that if life was fun and enjoyable - easy - then I needed to crank up the difficulty. If I was exercising, I needed to punish myself more. If work was too easy, I needed to make it harder or take on more. If I was enjoying my day, I wasn't pushing hard enough. 

Wow. I remember those times like it was yesterday. In fact, there are still times where I question if it's ok to enjoy my life. It seems old habits are hard to break. 

When I was 300 pounds, suicidal, abusive to my family, and drinking at toxic levels, I thought I had it all figured out. I judged others who didn't believe what I believed, and heckled others who saw life differently than I did. It didn't matter how much chaos I was mired in; I would defend my beliefs, perspectives, and opinions to the death. If you didn't believe what I believed, I would make you wrong.

If you've followed along with my blog, I usually tell a story, present a concept, or offer a perspective different than accepted perspectives. My goal today is to help you think differently. Your best thinking got you here, and if you want to shift to higher levels of wealth, success, and happiness, you must think differently.

A few weeks ago, one of my wife's friends reached out to me and asked me the difference between religion and a cult. I feel uniquely qualified to answer that because I've seen the insides of a cult - but most don't understand that it's a cult. 

In response to the friend asking the question, I simply replied, "Religion helps you create a relationship with God, a cult makes you dependent on the dogma and the cult, and keeps you trapped inside the structure of the cult."

Do you have the courage to speak your own truth?

I used to feel that there was only one truth, and I questioned if I knew that truth. In fact, since I questioned whether I knew the truth, I felt that I shouldn't or couldn't share my perspectives. Here's what I've learned since: your perspective is your truth. All truth is subjective and changes. Some point to statistics and data as truth, but even statistics and data rely on interpretation and explanation. 

This week I found inspiration to begin my next book project. The working title is Spiritual Liberation: The Path from Internal Conflict to Internal and External Prosperity.

I plan to pour my soul's work into this project. I'm so excited about it that I'd like to share the prologue in this week's blog article. 

Enjoy!

There's a lot of people who keep sticky notes all over their office. I don't. I haven't had a sticky note in years. But I do have notes all over my laptop and phone. When inspiration calls, wherever it strikes, I'm ready. 

Each week I try to write an article that provides some insights that might positively impact your life. Many weeks when I sit down to write my wife Angie says, "Why don't you use some of your old writings?"

She's right. 

On my laptop I have 2 books that I began some time ago that are "in process." That means that when I get inspired I add to them. The challenge for me is that I've got 4-5 books working in my mind at any time, and committing to a single book is very difficult. As I'm evolving, so is the content rattling around in my head. On my spiritual journey, I have evolved aggressively, so the messages I wish to share change rapidly. 

This week I want to share a section in one of the books I have in process. This is from my book with the working title "The Art of Joy." Enjoy!

This past weekend we held our summer Inner Game of Wealth Intensive Workshop. It was super powerful with many life-changing breakthroughs. 

One participant felt peace and love for the first time ever. One committed to and started prioritizing her own needs and wants so that she had more to give others. One said "I care about you" to himself for the first time ever. Everyone looked different and their energy felt different when they left the session. It was powerful transformation. 

I'm proud to be a lifelong student. I am constantly accessing new knowledge and wisdom so that I can better understand life, and be more useful in helping others navigate life and business. 

I've faced a dilemma over the past 6 years. When I learn something new, I want to teach it. I get excited. I plan and plot how I'm going to immediately incorporate the new concept into my business and my teaching. This sounds responsible, but it has done a great disservice to those I serve. 

I've worked with a lot of people. Frankly, when I started the journey of this personal development business, I didn't even consider I'd be at this point so soon. 

Anyway, I see a pattern that I want to share. 

There's a simple difference between people who are wealthy, successful, and happy, and those who struggle financially, hate their vocation or career, and are miserable and unhappy. One difference:

You ready?

When my daughter Meagan was little, we would say: 

"Meagan, what are you?"  

She would reply: 

"Awesome!" 

She was awesome. She is awesome. And I will continue to influence her to believe, think, and feel awesome.  

She just scored in the 97th percentile of all High Schoolers in the U.S. who have taken the ACT college exam. She crushed it. I'm super proud of her. She's one of the smartest and most talented people I have ever met. I believe she is this because we encouraged her to know how awesome she really is. 

I recommend a lot of books. I like to think of myself as the book prescriber. Dr. Book, if you will. ;-)

Anyway, one book that I really enjoyed when it was recommended to me is Third Circle Theory by Pejman Ghadimi. I found a lot of wisdom in it, but I must be honest that many people I offered it to didn't enjoy the book. The author sometimes comes off a bit brash and arrogant which is exactly the opposite of what the book is trying to convey, but I always look for the pearls. I found many. 

Last week we held the summer retreat for our highest level mastermind group. We spend 3 days in a room together sharing our dreams, goals, and our deepest fears, struggles, and challenges. There were a ton of laughs, just as many tears, and countless personal breakthroughs. 

The retreat solidified why we run our business. We make a real difference in the world, and people live higher quality lives because of us.