My Long Overdue Thanks

This minipost is dedicated to those who have supported me through this quite tumultous, difficult, and exciting time in my life.

In no particular order:

Mark (My father) - For believing in me, teaching me a running technique that didn't kill my ankles, and suggesting the Breakfast Trial to me. He also tolerates my weirdness daily, such as barely raising an eyebrow after finding out I dragged a full-sized vinyl office chair half a block, saved it from the dump, and brought it into my room as a new chair.

Rowland - Also for believing in me, for encouraging me to start this blog, for teaching me C++, for all his support and belief, for being a friend, and for commenting on every single post, whether he had something to say or not, until I told him he didn't have to do that for me:)

Caleb - For keeping me honest. Although I don't see him offline anymore, he's a reminder to not go too far from my roots as the person I once was.

Melody- (My mother) - For introducing me to some spiritual paraphernalia like Tarot early in life when I was too young and stupid to accept it, and spiritual paraphernalia like the Celestine Prophecy recently when I was smart enough to accept it.

Phoenix- For introducing me to the concept that spirituality wasn't a bunch of crap in the first place. After all, I could either call one of my best friends a liar, or accept that I might be wrong. I'm lucky I decided I might be wrong rather than cling to my opinions.

Those are the major ones, but there are also others: all the teachers in primary school who encouraged me to follow my own path and not society's, all the teachers in high school who put up with me, and all the people who read my blog, especially those who spread my message. I'd also like to thank Steve Pavlina, but since it's unlikely he'll actually read this post, I'll send him my thanks in e-mail form as well.

Until next time, may you realise nobody truly stands alone: or at least shouldn't have to.

30 Day Trials Now Has A Success Story!

Happy day! The trial that started it all has been won, and I now have a success story to add! I'm not going to rest on my laurels however: the next 30 days is going to be much better (I'll probably reach 10 trials at one point!).

Before I mention the three trials I'm going to begin tomorrow, let's have the progress report:

Midnight Trial: COMPLETE. Will no longer appear.

Programming Trial: Day 26

Blogging Trial: Day 26
Exercise Trial: Day 17

No TV Trial: Day 12

I think I've been pushing my ankles too hard in exercising, so I'll lay off for the next couple of days and walk instead, which still keeps me on the trial.

The other trials have no meaningful changes.

Well, for today I was on only four trials for the whole day. I feel like such a slacker:) Starting tomorrow I'll be moving up to 7 though. The completion of the trial by itself isn't the biggest thing: as Rowland said, I had it won by Day 10, all I needed was time to pass. But the big thing is: it's a milestone. I figure it's appropriate for a blog about 30 Day Trials to have the author, you know, actually COMPLETE one. And now that's happened.

But the past has happened, and while it's nice to bask, I can't bask for too long. People have long wondered about the key to success, and the answer is moronically simple. Keep moving forward. And that's what I'm going to do. So now, presenting the three trials I shall commence.

Sleep Cycle Trial - Go to bed at 10:30 pm each night, and get up at 6:30 am each morning.

This trial is to further optimize my sleep habits, and improve my productivity. With this approach, I can be exercised, showered and breakfasted by 8 am every morning. I'll have, on average, at least an hour of extra time every day. That's like living an extra 3 years if I do it for a lifetime.

No Soft Drink Trial - Consume no soft drink (soda for Americans) for 30 days.

I originally planned to give up caffeine, but then I realised that soft drink wasn't healthy in and of itself. Now, I don't believe diet soft drinks in reasonable quantities (a can or two a day) can cause serious harm. But I do believe that they are unhealthy: it's just a matter of degree. Since it'll also test my self-discipline and break the only real addiction I have, it's a no-brainer for a trial.

Breakfast Trial - Eat breakfast every day for 30 days.

I almost never eat breakfast. It's a terrible habit. It needs to stop. Since I'm attempting to build physical health (you'll notice that all three of these trials are physically geared) this is a good one to go for. Since I'll be getting up early, that removes half the challenge (getting up early enough to actually eat breakfast at a decent hour).

So that's the lineup. Together these trials should test my self-discipline, and completely overhaul my life. Let's take these 3 things in isolation. What would you say, all other things being equal, is the difference between someone who gets up at 9-10 am each day, doesn't eat breakfast and drinks soft drink every day compared to someone who's up at 6:30 am, eats breakfast before 8, and never consumes soft drink?

In my mind, the latter appears to be a healthy person, and the former is not. While these three do not combine to make me fully healthy, they give me the inward and outward appearance. I want to become a healthy person, thus I must change my reality to reflect that. This is precisely what I'm doing. That's my aim, and the primary focus of my trials, for the next few months. Become physically healthy and fit. I've been neglecting my body for too long.

So now I'm moving on to a new phase of my development as a person. I started out on the path as a good runner, but I didn't pick where to run. Now I've decided on a particular area to build, and I'll focus on that for 2-3 months or until I feel I'm sufficiently healthy. Then I'll find a different area and go after it, and rise it up (probably my social life).

The thing about personal development is that a gain in one area helps other areas. Going with the social life possibility, if I get healthy, I'll lose weight and improve my appearance, helping me obtain more friends and perhaps even a girlfriend. From there I could choose to improve the blog's traffic. I could get my social network to visit, and spread the blog by word of mouth, and the gains keep coming.

So that's one trial down: and probably several hundred or thousand to go if I keep this up for a long time. So here's to a lifetime of growth: I hope I never stop.

Until next time, may you complete your goal and use it as a stepping stone to a greater challenge.

You Must Believe In Yourself

Do you believe in yourself? No matter what? Even if everyone says you're wrong? If you can't, you'll need to learn that to truly be the person you were meant to be. But first, the progress report:

Day 30 - Midnight Trial

Day 25 - Programming Trial

Day 25 - Blogging Trial

Day 16 - Exercise Trial

Day 11 - No TV Trial

Last day of the midnight trial. Life is good. Life is very good indeed. Sunday night I'll enjoy the fruits of my labours, and starting Monday, I'll start a new group of trials: a 10:30 - 6:30 sleep cycle, giving up soft drink, and eating breakfast each day. I'll also switch exercising to a morning thing.

I successfully reached 1,000 lines of programming in my game. I'm a day ahead of schedule in my plan to have it finished on Day 30.

Over the last couple of days, when I made jogging a majority thing rather than a 1 in 3 thing, I started experiencing a lot more ankle pain than I should. I asked my Dad what that meant, and he told me my technique was wrong. I'm supposed to come down on the heel of the foot, not the toe. I'll have to try that.

My family now uses the table for storage. I've cleared my own area for when I eat messy dinners like bolognaise that I don't want to let near my keyboard, or greasy foods like pizza that grease up both my hands. I was worried about missing the communication, but in the 10 minutes I spent eating at the table before heading to my room today, not one of them uttered a single word. So I'm not missing much.

Now, on to today's topic.

Starting personal growth is the hardest thing. You're entrenched in your old habits. Everyone knows you as who you are right now, and if you decide to change, they'll try to knock you down. They'll say you can't do it, act like you're joking, wish you good luck with a smirk and generally do everything except say "I believe in you."

The only thing that's gonna convince people is ACTION, but it's hard to start when everyone thinks you can't do it. That's why self-confidence is SO necessary. If you can't face up to the world's negativity, don't tell anyone what you're doing til you've gotten a bit of success. After I continued to take on more trials without failing, the doubters slowly faded away. And now, in less than 12 hours, I'll have beaten my first trial. And I was the only one who thought I could do it. To their credit, Rowland and my Dad were both convinced after just a few days: but I haven't told my parents I want to help people for a living by working on my blog!

Having your parents thinking you can't do something if you live at home is a VERY, VERY difficult situation. Here are the people who guide you through life, who help you, and who support you: and you tell them your dreams and they say you can't do it. Well guess what? If you don't believe them, they're probably wrong. But it's self-fulfilling. If you start believing they're right, they will be.

Find some people who believe in you. For me, that's my friends and my father. One kind word can outweigh a hundred criticisms, which is one thing I aim to do: spread that kind word. 99% of musicians fail to make it big. But that's Rowland's dream, and I support him every step of the way, and if he keeps up with it, it may (heck, probably will) take him years, but I believe he can do it.

So next time your friend tells you his goal, his dream or his passion, recognise it for what it is. He's saying 'I trust you so much, that I'm going to tell you what I truly want. Will you support me on this?'. So what you say is 'Good on you for having the courage to follow your dream. I'm with you!' Not 'Yeah, right', or 'You won't make it' or 'It's a waste of time'.

Don't let the herd keep you down. Break free, and be the person YOU want to be, not your friends, partner, siblings or parents. Be who YOU want to be and live how YOU want to live. It may be hard, but the rewards are oh so sweet.

Until next time, may you prove everyone wrong, and forgive them for doubting you.

Skepticism Leads To Stupidity

Disclaimer: This is a fairly confrontational post. At various points I can and will state my opinions as facts. If you don't like it, you don't have to read this post.

But first, the progress report:

Day 29 - Midnight Trial

Day 24 - Programming Trial

Day 24 - Blogging Trial

Day 15 - Exercise Trial

Day 10 - No TV Trial

Almost done with the midnight trial! Finishing a trial is gonna be AWESOME.

I've lost the heart for the programming trial. To build my self-discipline I'll do it to the end, but it's a slog, and I probably won't do another C++ trial unless I have a good resource. If I learn more C++ it'll probably be in a proper class.

Exercising is going well. A day or two ahead of myself, I successfully jogged the long sides of the rectangular block for 6 laps. Man was that hard. And painful. But oh, so worth it.

Now: on to today's topic.

Many people think that intelligent people are more skeptical. It seems to make sense really. The smarter you are, the more you understand, and the more you understand, the less credible things are.

Wait what?

The more you understand, the less credible things are...so the more intelligent you become, the less sources of knowledge you can tap?

This is complete crap. Skepticism is in fact the enemy of intelligence. Allow me to explain. The more experiences you have, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more intelligent you become. Therefore, to stay intelligent and to become more intelligent one must be exposed to all sorts of different things.

Now here comes the part you'll probably be skeptical about (ironic, no, considering the subject?) For a number of years I was quite skeptical. After my awakening, I realised what it was doing: limiting my view of the world. I will now underline the following sentence so it's underlined in your mind.

Gaining knowledge from all sources means seeking knowledge from topics such as spirits, higher entities, divinity, different religions, and other spiritual / religious areas.

That means, if you're not willing to entertain the possibility that spirits, angels, God, and aliens exist: you fail to even allow the possibility: you're cutting yourself off from lines of thought. In fact, you're making yourself stupider. An intelligent person considers more options than a stupid person. Thus, someone who curtails their own options is literally making themselves stupider than they are.

I'm not sure I believe in any of the four things I mentioned (except aliens: I believe in them but I'm not sure if I believe that any aliens have ever contacted Earth in any way) but I am willing to keep an open mind so that if I did have a spiritual, religious or extraterrestrial experience, I would not simply dismiss it as a delusion or other inadequate explanations.

Thus, if you truly want to be intelligent, sincerely open your mind to the possibility of things you didn't believe in before. That's what I did with both the universe's power and spirits. Of spirits I haven't seen any evidence yet: but you can surely tell by now if you read this blog regularly that I believe in the power of the universe.

One thing I find weird is that I see more coincidences than people who don't believe. Thus, people can state that there aren't enough coincidences to believe in the universe: but if they opened their mind and looked, they'd see a lot more.

The important thing is, you can't do it half-assed. You can't say 'Okay, I now believe in the possibility of ghosts.' while thinking "Yeah, this is never, ever going to work." It's still being skeptical. I understand if actually releasing all your skepticism about certain things is hard. But here's something you might think of.

I tell you the universe has powers. You tell me I'm wrong. Now, think of times you've been absolutely sure of a fact: and been found wrong. Now that you can show some humility about it: realise that if you were wrong about that, you could be wrong about other things. And then, it's only a matter of sincerely believing that.

Who knows what's out there? I can't wait to hear about what you see:)

Until next time, may you question your beliefs and find them wanting.

Until next time, may you question your beliefs and find them wanting

Notworkers

Welcome to my first mini-post. I'll be writing these whenever the mood strikes me in addition to my normal daily output of blogging goodness!

The term 'notworker' was coined by my friend Caleb, and essentially it means 'someone who is neither a lightworker (dedicates their life to serving others) or a darkworker (dedicates their life to improving themself)'. Note that a darkworker is a perfectly acceptable thing to be, even if 'dark' has negative images attached to it. In other words, a notworker is average.

Most people are notworkers. If you're wondering if you're a notworker, you probably are. Non-notworkers are perfectly sure of their path. I am a lightworker. I don't know any non-notworkers but my friend Rowland is well on the path to lightworking. I'd like to know a darkworker, to get an idea of the other side of the spectrum.

Most notworkers aren't generally happy with their lives, but are unwilling or too apathetic or scared to admit it. Notworkers live their lives quietly and then die: unless someone rises them up. Most people you meet will be notworkers. If you only know notworkers, and don't get any lightworking or darkworking influnce, you'll probably stay a notworker. The good news is, by tuning in to my blog, you're getting an infusion of lightworking influence:)

Most notworkers will die notworkers. They'll never experience the profound joy of helping others grow, or the exuberant happiness of unleashing their inner power. But now that I've told you all that you can be: it may be too late for you:) The idea of not being a notworker will infect you. Other notworkers will instinctively try to keep you in the herd, like cattle. But are you alright with being in a herd your entire life?

Do you intend to die a notworker?

Personal Growth Changes Part Two

Welcome back to Personal Growth Through 30 Day Trials. Today we'll be going through changes in my life that are unrelated to any particular 30 day trials. But first, the progress report.

Day 28 - Midnight Trial

Day 23 - Programming Trial

Day 23 - Blogging Trial

Day 14 - Exercise Trial

Day 9 - No TV Trial

Only 2 days to go until my first trial is completed! This isn't a celebration of less work though, since I'll be skipping my regime for exactly one night before enforcing a much stricter schedule. But it'll be a great milestone to tick off.

770 lines worth of C++ code is now in Guide Dang It. The first room is about half done. I believe that I won't be making Guide Dang It after all: it's becoming tedious. However I will aim to finish the first room, and I will find another mental trial to keep me occupied.

I managed to, with extreme effort (i.e, almost hit my physical limit) complete Jog 1, Walk 1 for 3.9 km, or 6 laps, in just 40 minutes. I know this isn't a big deal for some of you, and some of you will be quite amazed, especially since I managed about 2-2.1km of actual jogging, but to ME, it's an excellent affirmation of my fitness. Because my block is like a rectangle, I'll gradually move to doing all laps jogging on the longer sides of the block before I start the Jog 2 Walk 1 phase.

In the No TV Trial, I don't eat with my parents any more. I eat at the table alone, or at my desk, depending on the compatibility of my food with eating it with one hand while handling it near computer equipment. I may voice my desire to eat together tomorrow, and see if that breaks the hypnotic spell of television. I tell you, I am not regretting this for a second. I talk with my friends far more now, and am exercising my mind with games and debates rather than zoning out for 2 hours a day in front of the screen. Now I know why people hate television: it's insidious. You don't know how much time it sucks up until you stop watching.

Now, on to Part Two:

Compassion:

I would like to say my compassion has increased, but that may not be the right word. I'm experiencing love towards all things more often now. If the word 'love' is too much for you, simply imagine it as feeling positive towards everyone and everything on earth. It's a good feeling, and it improves the quality of my work quite a lot. I find that when I'm in this state, mere insults cannot bring me down: it takes time or my thinking to change to do that. I'd like to experience this state with more permanence, but that will come naturally as I increase my consciousness.

Spirituality:

I've become a lot more open to trying new spiritual things. Certain things I've read about that seemed fantastic but I was willing to keep an open mind are: astral projection, communing with spirits and (less fantastic) lucid dreaming. Because the best way to test spirituality is to test it with an open, skepticism-free mind, I'm going to attempt to do Tarot readings on myself, use meditation to commune with spirit guides, and anything else that won't cost me too much time or money to try (my mother owns a set of Tarot cards, so no cost there).

My theory is: I thought a universal power existing was impossible. I was wrong. Who knows what ELSE I would normally consider impossible that is in fact perfectly possible? In fact, some of this ties in with my post tomorrow, where I'll talk about skepticism and the proper approach to it to increase your knowledge and intelligence.

Willpower:

Tremendous increase. It was as much as I could do to get out of bed in the morning: now if I set my mind to it, obstacles seem to melt before me. Speaking of which, I'll be giving up soft drink within 7 days of this point: probably after the programming and blogging trials conclude (but I will be extending the blogging trial, and also starting a trial to promote the blog).

Like I said yesterday, to get maximum willpower, your head and heart must be behind it. Maybe I had willpower all along: I just never took on something that was supported by my head and my heart because I'd locked my heart up in a cage by over-intellectualizing. That's a dangerous trap.

Energy:

Excellent, in two senses of the word. I seem to have a lot more energy each day, which comes from the empowerment of truly living my purpose. I'm still prone to bouts of laziness, especially during activities my head and heart aren't behind, but in terms of purpose-driven work, I have a lot of extra energy, such as with writing this blog, and 30 Day Trials.

In terms of energy as in positive and negative energy, this is increasing every day, especially in my ability to sense it's presence and movements. One thing I've noticed today that I've never noticed before: as I type this post I can feel energy moving from my fingers into the keyboard. Can positive energy be transferred electronically? That's something I'll have to ask someone more knowledgable on the subject about: but I know electricity itself has an aura (a very strong one too) so why not allow it to conduct positivity?

Courage:

Courage is a big bonus: Things that used to scare me are now within reach. I was scared of connecting with people, of confrontation, of my greatest fears (well OBVIOUSLY.) and of the things that happened that my belief system could not explain, such as paranormal things. I'm no longer scared of these things. I can connect with people deeply (if they allow me too) I confronted my greatest fear, and I'm not scared of the supernatural: in fact I'm very curious and eager to explore this new facet of life I've never tapped before.

I also have the courage to wrestle future trials and goals from the 'in a few years' zone to the 'in a few months' zone. Rather than push the polyphasic sleep challenge off, I've set up 3 trials to do in preperation: learning sleep techniques, giving up soft drink, and going vegetarian. If I can pull all three of those off, I'll be ready for the attempt. If not, I'll try it again in a month or two after getting some more successes.

Confidence:

Words can barely describe how I feel here. I'm confident about all the things I wasn't before: my life, my purpose, my beliefs, how I could improve, whether or not I was a good person, whether or not I was a worthy person, etc. All this doubt has been removed. It's like removing a blindfold. I can see the world for how it truly is: and despite what all the cynics will say, it's a wonderful, beautiful place.

While there are many other, smaller, areas I have improved in, these are probably the major ones, and I'd just be rehashing old ground on a new subject if I kept going. This post is already well above average for me, so I'll bring it to a close.

Until next time, may you not know what it feels like to have an ordinary day.

Personal Growth Changes: 30 Day Trials And Otherwise

Greetings, new readers and old! I put up my blog on several feeds today, a practice I intend to continue to gradually attract more traffic and help more people in personal growth. I've also begun learning search optimisation. There will be no progress report today because the entire post is like a gigantic progress report. Some people would say that this content will be obsolete within a month: but I think a year from now people would enjoy seeing where I was now relative to where I will be back then. So, on to the post, and on to the 30 day trials!

I'll start with the 30 day trials themselves, then move on to the personal growth that may or may not have emerged as a result of said 30 day trials.

Midnight Trial - Day 27

I almost have my first completed trial: so I actually have my post on Sunday, the postmortem of the Midnight Trial as well as the introduction of my new trials that start on Monday. This trial has been quite useful, because I am much better rested. While this hasn't SEEMED to make too much difference, I'm certain that if I went back to my old habits, I'd feel the difference. I'm 90% sure it's helped my personal growth efforts behind the scenes, subtly aiding every part of my life.

Blogging Trial - Day 22

I'd like to say I've found my stride, but I'm aware that there are three types of bloggers: those that give up after less than a few weeks, those that blog for a few months but don't quite get there, and those that blgo for years after they finally get it.

A post I read on www.stevepavlina.com about Calibration (I won't link this here, since it's 8600 words and by the time you finish reading it you'll have completely forgotten what this article was about and why you were reading that one in the first place) said that on average it takes a blogger 200-300 articles to really hit their stride and start providing strong value regularly, as opposed to weak value where people say 'Great post, Jay' and forget about it a week later.

Some people might be daunted by this (You mean if I write every day for six months, I STILL won't have hit my stride?) but on the contrary, I'm excited. I came into this blog with a knowledge that I probably would take a long time to get good: but now I have a decent target, and an excuse for the fact that I haven't written any posts I would declare 'life-changing' (Your Greatest Fear might, at a stretch, but How To Be Happy is pretty unoriginal). How To Succeed At 30-Day Trials is my favourite post because it incorporates some of my own ideas that I came up with myself and haven't seen in other places.

Plus, like I said, I'm in this for a long haul. 25 sucky posts down, several hundred to go:)

Programming Trial - Day 22

Learning programming was quite interesting. I can now type 150 lines in half an hour, which is about 600 words. So in short, I can program almost as quick as I can blog: as long as it's simple programming. I've gotten about 600 lines worth of my text adventure done, but it's progressing slower than I thought. My new aim is to get the first room finished by Day 30 of this trial, and after that I'll probably continue to work on it daily for another 30 days.

Exercise Trial - Day 13

Today was good: I managed to jog 1 walk 1 for a good part of it. I think I can fully transition in 2 days or so! I've noticed my fitness improving, but I've also become acutely aware of the fact that I'm overweight. It happened so gradually that I didn't even notice: but it's impossible for me to take a REALLY deep breath, so I get short of breath easily while jogging. This is a problem. Self-denial did nothing for it. The only thing that will stop it is action. It really drove home what personal growth is about. You can deny it all you want, but the problem's there til you fix it, and there's no quick fix.

But rather than get angry or depressed, I'm determined to fix my problem through exercise and a gradual diet transition. I always made up smart-seeming excuses like "I don't need to look after my body, I'm a mental person." But now I've come to realise that the best way, and the ONLY way to approach personal growth honestly is to take it holistically. If one part of your life is bad, everything else gets dragged down. So I need to work on my weakest areas, rhat is, my social life and my physical body (which may well go hand in hand. Who wants to go out with a short fat guy?)

So take this lesson: if one part of your life is bad, you can't neglect it or pretend you don't care, or you're happy with it, or it's not so bad. And until you face up to it, you'll never reach your full potential. So you simply have to improve it.

No TV Trial - Day 8

Not watching TV is quite easy, and today I realised why. Some people have called me an android or a robot (jokingly, I presume:)) and other people wonder how I can possibly do five trials at once. Let me give you an example here. I enjoy these trials because they resonate with my purpose in life, which is personal growth. Think about something you enjoy. What would you say if I said this to you?

Me: "Well, I'd really like to sit here and do nothing all day, but I know I should play an hour of video games. Leisure time is important after all. Well, let's get the damn thing over with."

You'd think I was insane, wouldn't you? I don't think people are insane for not wanting to do trials though: it doesn't resonate strongly with them. The difference between two guitar players: one of them doing it because Dad wants them to learn an instrument and one who loves the guitar and would love to be a guitar player professionally is IMMENSE. Nobody from the first category would want to play guitar 3 hours a day but the second category might love it.

Similarly, nobody from the category "I'll do 30 day trials because my friends think I should lose weight and nothing else has worked" will manage 5 trials very well, if at all, but the category "I love the challenge and want to improve myself" will have much better luck.

Shifting your mindset may help, but if your heart's not in it, it'll be hard. You need to get your head AND heart behind you in what you want to do, else you'll be pushing against resistance you simply don't have to. It would be like trying to lift a weight with one hand. It's much easier if you use your whole strength. If you don't, you'll find it far harder than it needs to be.

Unless you know that what you're doing resonates with who you want to be, you'll find it hard going. So take on the challenges that line up with what you want, and obstacles will melt before you.

Alright: This post turned out to be far, far, longer than I expected, so tomorrow I'll write about the changes I've experienced that were not directly related to 30 day trials. I never expected to write so much about the topic, or link it to personal growth lessons!

Until next time, may your heart and soul be in whatever you do.

What Do You Do With Problems That Are Just Too Big To Solve?

Sometimes you'll encounter a problem so big, you just can't seem to solve it. When that happens, what do you do? But first, the progress report:

Day 26 - Midnight Trial

Day 21 - Programming Trial

Day 21 - Blogging Trial

Day 12 - Exercise Trial

Day 7 - No TV Trial

In exercising today, I went from just walking to Jog 1, Walk 2. I intend to gradually move it up each week.

The only real development is that I've decided to take it easy and not take on any more trials for the next 4 days, until the Midnight Trial has it's postmortem. I've figured out my reward: a late-night (2 am or so) gaming session with Rowland. I'll get the blog done early Sunday night, and then have the gamefest online. After that, I'll begin the 10:30 pm - 6 am sleep cycle and the 'eat breakfast each day' trials. I'll also introduce a new wave of trials after the programming and blogging trials are done.

That's right: Only doing five trials at once is taking it easy. Look at how lazy I am. It's positively indecent:)

Now, on to today's topic.

I mention a lot about how you have to solve problems to improve your life. But what about problems that seem too big to solve, or that you can't seem to find a method to solve them with?

Depending on the problem, there are a few things you could try to either solve the problem or minimize it.

Problem: I have a gigantic problem, and I don't know how to make significant progress on it. I know how to start, but there's too much work involved.

Solution: Chop the problem down into manageable states. For example, if someone were not just overweight, but incredibly overweight, and wanted to lose, say, 30 kg: that wouldn't be easy. (66 pounds for American readers). But the key would be to chop it up into stages.

Step 1: Research

First, you would find people like dieticians and personal trainers who know what they're talking about, and get their expert advice on proceeding.

Step 2: Diet

The first step to losing weight is to stop piling so much on, by swapping to a healthier, lower-fat diet.

Step 3: Exercise

Now that you've cut off the stream, it's time to drain the lake by going on an exercise regime.

Step 4: Habits

Once the weight's off, you need to instill habits so you can keep it off for life.

Each one of these problems is decent-sized: but it's not insurmountable. Breaking down problems into easy chunks is a good way to solve some problems.

Problem: Everything seems to be going to hell at once! What can I possibly fix?

Solution: Priorities. The first step is to assess your problems, and see which ones aren't that big of a deal. Then see which ones you can afford to put off, and which ones need to be done soon. If you have a lot of REALLY important problems, it may take quite some time to get your head above water: but most of your problems aren't quite as important as you think, in most cases.

Problem: I have a problem: no matter how much energy I put into it, I can't seem to fix it. I don't think I'm making any headway.

This problem most often occurs with either a project, or a relationship. So we'll tackle each one in turn.

For a project, first ask yourself, does this really have to be done? If the answer is yes, ask yourself if you're doing it in the best possible manner. If the answer is yes, and you still can't do the project, you may need to enlist help. If you can't do THAT, you may need to can it, however important it is. But hopefully it won't come to that.

For a relationship, if it's a relationship that's turning bad, you need to be honest about the situation with the other person. If that turns out good, brilliant! If it doesn't, the relationship may need to go. Unfortunately, this situation happened with my own stepmother, but those are the scars of battle. If I'd had the courage to be honest 5 years ago, this wouldn't have happened.

If, on the other hand, it's an unequal relationship, and you're feeding too much energy into it, such as with a friend who's in a rough time, and it's affecting you badly, you may need to either end the relationship, or, preferably, reduce the amount of energy you're putting into it. That's something I have to do, even though it goes against my instincts as a compassionate person: but I'm putting too much energy into one of my relationships, and I'm just not getting enough back.

And then you have the rarest category: problems that absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, be solved in any way I've mentioned. If it's possible, try to minimize the problem's impact on your life. If it's not, you may have to take the hit and move on. And if that's impossible: I suggest you look elsewhere, because it's beyond my ability to solve. But if you look long and hard, most problems aren't that bad: the problem that can't be solved, dealt with, or endured is one in a billion.

Join me tomorrow, when I go more in-depth about my trials, the benefits I intend to get out of them, and the significant changes I've made since I started this blog.

Until next time, may you make your mountain into a molehill.

Channelling Mental and Emotional Energy - Part Two

Welcome back to Channelling Mental and Emotional Energy. Let's do a progress report and then jump right in!

Day 25 - Midnight Trial

Day 20 - Programming Trial

Day 20 - Blogging Trial

Day 11 - Exercise Trial

Day 6 - No TV Trial

No real changes in any of my trials today, actually. I'm back at my Dad's house, with the temptations of Foxtel and the ease of walking at night in a neighborhood with actual streetlights rather than doing weight training with a cylindric fan.

Right: Yesterday, we talked about the difference between the states, the importance of both, and the difference between bad and good states. Today, we'll talk about improving those.

First, you need to know the difference between bad energy because you're feeling bad, and bad energy that's trying to tell you something. If something's bothering you, it's something you should try to deal with. If you've just had a crummy day, that's different. But you need to be honest with yourself about the true cause of the energy, or else you'll continue to be negative. If you're negative for a period of a few days, or just experience one 'bad day' after another, something needs to change, whether it's a specific problem in life, or just your attitude towards life. What do you feel worst about, right now? And how can you help that situation?

Secondly, we need to fix it. This is obviously the most difficult part of the process. After you've identified the problem, and identified that it IS a problem, it needs to be fixed. It's here that I advocate the direct method. Basically, it's the personal growth equivalent of a sledgehammer. Build up the courage and slam that sledgehammer into the wall! If a relationship is souring, go right up to the person and confront the issue. If it can't be solved, end it. (Or if it's a family member, try to find a way around the issue.) If it's your job, quit! If it's your education, try a different path, or switch what subjects you're doing.

99.99% of excuses made at this point are just made out of fear: the fear that results from confronting what you really need to do. Fear is sneaky, if it can't overpower you, it'll try to undermine you. Just keep moving forward, and crash into your obstacle. Just like in Your Greatest Fear, where I advocate using this tactic to smash into the greatest fear you have (something which I succeeded at, after using an immense amount of willpower.)

The more you get in touch with them, the more you'll realise mental energy and emotional energy are two sides of the same coin. You need to be in touch with both to fully improve yourself. I didn't get in touch with my emotional energy until recently, and I suffered for it. So think...are you too hotheaded or coldhearted? If so, maybe you need to get in touch with a different side of yourself.

Once you've fixed the problem, TRULY fixed it, you'll feel at peace. If something still nags at you, you probably have a sub-problem or haven't fully fixed the original problem, in which case you'll just have to go through the process again until you do feel at peace.

And that's not the end either. Life will keep throwing problems at you, forcing you to deal with them. But you just need to keep charging through them, and proving to life that you have the strength and courage to do what has to be done.

Until next time, may you channel your energy to fix the problems in your life.

Postscript:

One thing I've liked having today is having picked out my topic the day before. If I can always stay one day ahead, it'll be a lot easier for me. Having said that, inspiration for tomorrow's topic popped up, both in my life, and in this blog article. I believe the universe is telling me to write a post I've been meaning to for some time. Tomorrow, I'm going to write about how to approach problems that seem far too big to solve. Hopefully this will provide value to some of you.

I'm also still taking post suggestions!

See you next time,

- Jay Bailey, alias Salivanth.

Channeling Emotional and Mental Energy - Part One

Which is better, fiery passion, or cool calmness? We'll explore both sides: but first, the progress report:

Day 24 - Midnight Trial

Day 19 - Programming Trial

Day 19 - Blogging Trial

Day 10 - Exercise Trial

Day 5 - No TV Trial

No changes in the midnight trial.

In the programming trial, I've been working on my text adventure, and now have 350 lines of code. My schedule, if it turns out to be practical, is to finish the first room in 5 days, then begin testing.

I'm beginning to have trouble finding blog topics. I'm taking it one day at a time: sometimes not figuring out my topic until I've already started writing the progress report (Today was one of those days. As I wrote this line, I still didn't have my topic.) I don't know how much of a problem this is, however. I'm just going with my intuition.

For exercise today, I did weight lifting, using my portable fan as a weight. It's a rectangular prism, so it's a good dumbbell. It was pretty light, so I did plenty of reps. I repeated that for 30 minutes.

No TV was quite easy today as well. I finished the book I was reading, played some games, and generally did other stuff. No problems.

Now, on to today's topic.

I got especially interested in this topic yesterday. Magic: The Gathering is an intense hobby for me. I custom-build my own decks rather than take them off the Internet, so a lot of myself goes into them: as I've well noticed.

Whenever I play an aggressive, win-the-game-quick-or-not-at-all deck, I'm fired up, and passionate. I actually gave this type of deck up a month ago, because I couldn't deal with the anger I'd get, because I channeled my emotions negatively. On the contrast, when I play a slow, control-the-game-and-win-in-my-own-time deck, I'll cool, calm and collected.

On the surface it appears that control decks are far better for my mental state. But recently, I've become a lot more positive: and so I decided to put my negative thought-blocking to the test, by building a new aggro deck.

It did alright. It went 2-2, even though I faced THREE of the OMG team, who I mentioned earlier I could never beat. Yes: that does mean I beat one of them. Either way, the deck performed well: and mentally, so did I. I only started to get angry and impatient after the tournament while playing Magic afterward, so I whipped out my control deck and got back into a good mental state. So it looks like I can handle the emotions now: and when I'm in the passionate state, I put more energy into the game, which can freak my opponents out and make me better at fighting back from a losing position, or keeping a winning one.

So, in the end, the aggro vs. control debate is a battle of emotion vs. intellect for me. Thus, I'm going to keep both decks and alternate them in order to better stay in touch with both sides of myself. The experiment was a success, for the most part. And if I keep playing the deck, I should manage to keep control of the emotions, especially if I use my control deck in between rounds to play casual games, to keep myself calm enough to channel the emotions positively.

The reason I told this story in such detail was because it's symbolic. What Magic deck I use is symbolic of the tools we use to do battle in the real world. How about you? Do you use emotion, or intellect? And more importantly, how positively do you use it?

Emotion, at it's best, makes you determined, passionate, and courageous. At it's worst, it makes you angry, short-sighted, and stubborn (badly so: thickheaded is more appropriate).

Intellect, at it's best, makes you calm, collected, and reasonable. At it's worst, it makes you condescending, dismissive of others, and cold.

Do you recognise these traits in yourself yet? We need both. We need to be able to reason, and to keep our cool: but we also need passion and courage to live our lives to the full. At the same time, we must attempt to channel our energy positive, so we don't become angry or arrogant, which blocks positive energy from flowing to you, such as in the form of a good idea. If someone presented me a good idea for a trial, let's see how I'd react in each of the four states:

Emotion - Good:

"Alright, let's try this! It might be hard, but I can take it on!"

Intellect - Good:

"Hmm...you're right. That would probably be beneficial in areas X and Y. Good idea."

Emotion - Bad:

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing!!"

Intellect - Bad:

"These are my trials. I can do it myself. I don't need your help."

So you can see how BOTH good states precipitate the giving and receiving of positivity, and both bad states block positivity from all sources.

One of the reasons I was unhappy in my old life was that I blocked my emotions by trying to dominate them mentally: creating an imbalance. Don't let this happen to you.

Join me tomorrow, when I discuss how to get from bad states to good ones, how to maintain the good states, and more about combining emotion and intellect for the best results.

Until next time, may you balance your two sides.

Today Is Your Time

When are you going to start working on your business? When are you going to start that diet and exercise program? When are you going to get out more? When are you going to buckle down and study? Tomorrow is incorrect. The answer is TODAY. But first, the progress report:

Day 23 - Midnight Trial
Day 18 - Programming Trial
Day 18 - Blogging Trial
Day 9 - Exercise Trial
Day 4 - No TV Trial

In the home stretch of the midnight trial. I'll need to think of a reward to award myself, as a reward for finishing my first 30-day trial! I'm also considering adding a linkbar to the site: a list of trial postmortems: the posts that I dedicate to Day 31 of trials. It'll serve as a list for everything I've accomplished. I'll get some different opinions on that: I've got 8 days:)

Programming's going well: I have 200 lines of Guide Dang It written. I have 3 objects out of about 20 fully coded, and over the next 12 days should reach about 1000-1200 lines and the completed first room.

I went walking today: not alone, but with my sister. My sister is quite erratic: one moment she won't want anything to do with me, the next day we'll be talking like old friends.

No TV was easy today: my entire day save about an hour has been heavy in activity: Get up, dress, eat, Magic, eat, get home, exercise, one hour, watch movie, program, do blog post. Tomorrow should be less fast-paced.

Now, on to today's topic.

Putting things off for tomorrow is fine if you can't achieve them today. Not won't: can't. I decided to start my No TV trial tomorrow when it was 11:30 at night. Else it would have been cheating. But the power of today is truly incredible.

If you can achieve a small step today, that gives you leverage to take a bigger step tomorrow. Eventually, you'll be able to take on the biggest tasks required to do what you want to do. But the important thing is the power to take the first step. Saying I'll do things tomorrow works for me because I took the time to gain the discipline to allow myself to actually do what I tell myself I will do. But if your commitments tend to dissolve, get as much done in a day as possible. The more you get done, the more motivation you will have to continue and complete the project.

Putting things off for several months or years into the future is a dangerous trap. "I'll start my exercise next month. Things are hectic this month." "I'll build my business next year. I need more financial stability." If something can't exist in some form now, it probably won't. A month goes by: you still haven't started your exercise. Three months: Six: A year: and five years from now, nothing's changed.

I would never want to live a life like that. That's why I constantly push myself: life is exciting and challenge. Just surviving isn't enough: I want to thrive in life. And to do that I must keep improving: and so must you. Stagnation is the enemy. Stagnation leads to apathy: and the longer you don't change, the less resistance it will take to force you back to your previous state. Consider your progress like a bullet. If you drop a bullet from ten centimetres in the air onto a table, it'll be stopped, because it's barely moving. If, on the other hand, you shoot it, it's moving so fast it blows through the table. The more you grow, and the faster you grow, the more resistance you can handle. It'll take a lot of resistance to turn me from my path since I'm so committed to it. I'm running downhill: almost out of control:) It'd take a big tree to wipe me out.

On the other hand, if you're moving slowly, it'll take a lot more effort to get through a shrub then if you're running so fast you burst through it. Either way, you could get scratched, but don't let that discourage you. Start on the easy trails, before moving on to the wilder ones. But keep moving forward: never stand still. That's the key to a boring life: and constantly challenging yourself leads to a dynamic and interesting one.

It takes courage to strike out from the clearing you've set up camp in, but there are things out in the world that can change your life.

Believe me. I know.

Until next time, may you strike your own path.

Byproducts of Accelerated Change

Today I intend to talk about the byproducts of my radical change recently. But first, the progress report:

Day 22 - Midnight Trial
Day 17 - Programming Trial
Day 17 - Blogging Trial
Day 8 - Exercise Trial
Day 3 - No TV Trial

I decided to abandon the Teach Yourself C++ course. It's done it's job and given me a thorough grounding of the basics. I'll spend the next two weeks trying to code the first room of my text adventure, Guide Dang It. It's basically going to be insanely hard, turned up to 11. Even the first room requires a convoluted solution process which is quite counterintuitive at points:)

I watched a DVD with my family today, which we hired. After the family suggested hiring a DVD I went over in my mind WHY I chose to do the TV Trial: it's because TV is often an unconscious thing I do: I waste time because 'Show X is on' or 'I'm bored.'

Watching the DVD was a conscious choice and would also be a family activity: so I decided I would do it, and the trial stands. In the end, it's about the intention behind the trial, and I stick by my decision.

I couldn't go outside to exercise today, so instead I developed a custom routine to do in my room, which I repeated for 30 minutes.

Now, on to today's topic.

Today, I was talking to my mother, whom I see for 2-4 days each fortnight. When I tried to summarize my fortnight for her, the topic turned to spirituality, and we spent much time talking about it. I'm not going to go into the details: but we talked about the nature of unconditional love, lightworking (dedicating one's life to helping others) and where I intended to go with my life.

The important thing is, this is one of the precise things the No TV trial is supposed to incubate: although it could simply be a byproduct of my higher spiritual awareness in the last two weeks. Either way, we connected on a level higher than that I have ever experienced. It's an excellent feeling, and I'm glad I can now have these kinds of conversations.

Another byproduct of these changes are I'm less apt at small talk. When I'm small talking, I'm apt to just immediately swing the conversation around to serious topics. I'm going to try a more radical version of this tomorrow: if I catch myself in small talk, I'll immediately ask a serious question, such as 'What do you believe your life's purpose is?'. It's a much better manifestation of my previous 'Wake the Sleepwalker' project, as I spoke about in A World Full Of Zombies.

I've additionally lost the ability to empathize with people who think life sucks, that there's no purpose to it, and so forth. I feel like saying 'Snap out of it! There's more to life than the little box you're stuck in!' But I don't. Instead I try to gently steer the conversation.

I feel happier, more content, and more peaceful every day. I find it harder to think in terms of 'disappointments' and 'problems' but rather 'opportunities that didn't work out' and 'challenges'. It's pretty good: I almost never have a single negative thought anymore. It's like my old self has been locked out of my bubble of happiness.

The change was scary at first, because I felt lost in an unfamiliar continent, but now I've learnt to adapt to my new home in terms of my personal development. I can make long-term plans that align with my beliefs again and now I do it far more intelligent.

I've also finally polarized, and reached the productivity stage of consciousness. I'm now a lightworker: dedicating my life to helping people, fully and completely. I've also realised that productivity doesn't mean spending all my time working: it means having the willpower to continue to grow, innovate and try new things. And therefore: I am productive.

I have a new identity: and it's a very good one. I feel more mature, more philosophical, and better able to help people. I no longer think 'This person won't want my advice. Who am I to feel that I know better than people?' Now I am confident in my own abilities, and they are growing every day.

Until next time, may you see the positive changes in your own life.

P.S: I would like to direct you to the Best of 30 Day Trials sidebar in the upper-right of the blog. It contains links to the three posts that I believe are my best work so far. If you're new, you should definitely check it out.

Reaching For The Stars

Jay Bailey is back. I've gone through the loss of clarity in my life and come out stronger than ever on the other side. Now I'm able to set definite plans again: and I thought I was going to the next level BEFORE! I'm reaching for the stars now. But first, the progress report:

Day 21 - Midnight Trial

Day 16 - Programming Trial

Day 16 - Blogging Trial

Day 7 - Exercise Trial

Day 2 - No TV Trial

The No TV challenge isn't as challenging as I thought. The hardest part is making sure I remember I have the challenge when I walk past the loungeroom as the TV is on, so I don't just pop in and see what people are watching.

In the exercise challenge, I'm starting to measure my results. I'm walking slightly faster each day. Over a few months I intend to slowly go from walking to running for 30 minutes straight by gradually speeding up, then incorporating jogging, then running.

Programming's going well, but I think I might stop doing the course after Day 11: Arrays. That gives me 10 days to work on the text adventure I want to make in C++, and I'll have a solid grounding of the fundamentals.

And I've decided that 10:30 pm - 6:30 am will be my sleep cycle challenge for when I finish the Midnight Trial. I did some fine tuning of what times would be challenging but not overwhelming.

On to today's topic. I want to discover the limits of my self-discipline. Therefore, I've decided to, through several difficult, intermediate steps in the form of 30-day trials, go for nothing less than the culmination of building motivation, self-discipline, willpower and physical health.

I'm going to aim to become a polyphasic sleeper.

Polyphasic sleep is a form of sleep where you only sleep 15-20 minutes at a time, 6 times a day: thus giving you more than 20 hours a day to be awake! The theory behind it is that a sleep cycle lasts 90 minutes, and you need six REM sleeps per day. 90 minutes x 6 cycles = 9 hours: the recommended amount of sleep.

But by napping 15-20 minutes a day, and never sleeping longer than that, you FORCE the body to adapt and go into REM sleep immediately. Six naps, more or less evenly spaced around the clock = six REM cycles, in a fraction of the time.

Adjusting to polyphasic sleep requires a HELL of a lot of willpower and discipline to fight through the sleep deprivation of the adaptation period. It also requires a bunch of lifestyle changes:

• No caffeine. Caffeine interrupts the body's sleep patterns, and when you need to learn to go to sleep quickly and sleep restfully for short periods, any caffeine at all is a big no-no.
• No (or very little) meat products. They take far longer to digest than plant foods, which also makes it take longer to sleep, and increases your need for sleep. Hence why many vegans report they only need 4-6 hours sleep per night.
• Scheduling. This is the most difficult for many people, but I think I can make it work. The longest I actually have something scheduled I need to do is 3 hours at TAFE. Factoring in travel time that still makes for less than 4 hours. So that won't actually be a CHANGE for me.
• Learning to fall asleep quickly and get up with the alarm. Steve Pavlina has some techniques for these, but I'll still need to learn them.

Thus, I have a bunch of difficult intermediate trials to truly test my self-discipline, even before I get to the big one. I'll have to give up caffeine again: but this time I'll go for the payload, and give up soft drinks. I don't know how bad they are for you, but they can't be a positive influence. I'll have to become a vegetarian: maybe even a vegan. I'm actually looking forward to a trial of this, because people I know who went vegetarian said they felt much better physically and mentally on that diet.

Learning to get up with the alarm, an almost insurmountable task for many, is actually shaping up to be the smallest thing on my plate.

I still have most of a case of Pepsi Max (I buy one every couple of weeks until it's all drank, then buy another one) left, so I won't start the soft drink trial for probably close to a fortnight. One trial I will have to start is the trial of practicing Steve's early riser techniques for 20 minutes a day. That should sink it in fairly quickly.

One of two things will happen: I'll reach my self-discipline limit, and then I'll have a goal to aim for, or I'll actually go the whole hog and become a polyphasic sleeper. I personally think that's unlikely, but every intermediate step I take is going to improve my life regardless of whether I achieve my ultimate goal: so it's a very positive step.

And this is me sending out a signal to the universe: I'm ready. I'm going to continue to take on bigger challenges, and I'm stronger than I was even a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to grow as a person and improve, and continue to help people as much as I can. I'm ready for the next step. And I'm gonna take it.

The epiphany I had today was: Setting goals to complete off in the future is a way to make sure it doesn't get done. Make a commitment to take the first step immediately. Even if you fail, you have something to work towards. In one swoop, I've moved my efforts from 'in a few years' to "If I succeed at each step in turn, I'll do it in 3-4 months, at the 2-week spring holiday." That's much more specific: and having a deadline is certainly empowering. I know what I'm going to do, and now I can take steps towards it. So take a step today: and take that goal from that distant place it's been dwelling, and make it real.

Until next time, may you reach for your ultimate goal.

Are You Doing What You Truly Want?

Today's subject is about how to align your life with what you truly value. I couldn't think up a decent teaser for it, so let's go straight to the progress report.

Day 20 - Midnight Trial

Day 15 - Programming Trial

Day 15 - Blogging Trial

Day 6 - Exercise Trial

Day 1 - No TV Trial

My Dad said that the next 30 day trial I should do should be eating a decent breakfast each day. Because he's one of the few people who support me in my new changes, I've decided to take his advice. The next trial I do (in a few days) will be to eat a decent breakfast (decent to be defined) each day for 30 days. And the trial after that will probably have to be an upgrade on the Midnight Trial since I'll have finished it by then.

Classes are awesome in C++. Finally I understand how to create objects like containers and items: with this, I'll have the ability to actually make a text adventure in C++ if I so desire. It's the tool I've been waiting for!

In the No TV trial, I estimate that I probably saved 2-3 hours today. Admittedly about 80% of that time went towards gaming, but I'm happy in my progress in that area:) I also spent some of it talking to Rowland, and brainstorming about the idea for this blog post (which I thought up two and a half minutes into my daily walk).

I'm liking the benefits already. My mind feels clearer without that influence, and I'm already wondering why it seemed so important to me. It's not that great! Gaming is more fun, and just about ANYTHING is more interactive or productive. TV is me being too lazy to think up real entertainment. If I'm too tired to do anything but watch TV, I can just take a nap or just relax for a while instead.

Now, on to today's topic.

What do you truly value? Only you can answer for yourself, but your answer is probably within spitting distance of one of these:

Physical fitness

Financial abundance

Intellectual ability

Inner peace

Service to others

Service to yourself

Once you've figured it out, we can go on.

...

...

...

...

So have you thought of what you truly value yet? Good. Now ask yourself...am I living my life in accordance with my beliefs? As an example, I want to help people grow and become better people. I help people with their problems, and I write a blog to empower people to grow. I believe that my life is aligned with what I value. Now, a sport fanatic who's unfit and overweight is obviously NOT aligned with their values, nor is someone who values productivity but can barely get up in the morning. I could go on, but you get my point.

In order to improve your spirituality (living your life in accordance with your beliefs, not neccessarily religious, but what you believe is most important) the process is very simple.

Step 1: Think of a way to do what you value most.

Step 2: Do it.

But seriously. Step 1 is quite easy. It's very simple to think of a way to get closer to your values. Physical fitness? Exercise. Intellectual ability? Do puzzles, solve problems. Inner peace? Meditate. Help others? Show kindness to people you already know.

If you're genuinely having trouble with this, feel free to e-mail me at www.salivanth.live.com or leave a comment on this blog.

Step two is the rub: Progressing from thought to action is hard. (Okay: I am GOING to get to work on that cleaning project.) Because of the subject of this blog, you can probably guess what I'm going to say next. Say it with me guys: Start a 30-day trial. A 30-day trial of working on what you want for 30 minutes a day is an excellent start. As for me, I value both helping others and growth itself, so I do a lot of trials. They help me grow as a person, and give me experience I can use to help others!

But of course, you're different to me. If these steps don't work for you, contact me and we can discuss it. But for most people it will work: but everyone has a way to make their lives closer to the lives they truly want to live and were always meant to live.

Until next time, may your life empower your beliefs and your beliefs empower your life.