How to Have and Do Anything You Want

When we make the decision to re-design our lives we have a rare, rich opportunity. An opportunity to choose what we do, what we have, especially what we imagine.

The mind is a strange creature. The saying “I’m of two minds about that” truly expresses what happens within those little gray cells. Your mind thinks about what it is thinking. (An interesting read on this subject is The Imp of the Mind by Baer.)

When we are mired in debt, stressed about each moment of our lives, both present and future, it is difficult to imagine anything but doom.
Our mind argues us out of it...

Suppose you’re reading a brilliant novel and the thought crosses your mind “I should get that old short story out and see if I can turn it into a novel like I always wanted…” Your second mind chimes in with all the reasons why you can’t do that and you dismiss it as, “not in this lifetime.” You sigh and go to bed refusing to imagine any other possibilities.

When you decide to re-design your life you are expanding your life exponentially. You can have and do anything you want.

What if, instead of going to bed after having the argument with yourself, you decide to hunt for the story and spend the next hour and a half sketching out what you could do with it?

You feel exhilarated. You dismissed the negatives, focusing on the possibilities–the dream. What if you become so involved with your writing that you decide to take a summer writing workshop that will cost several hundred dollars? You set your priorities of getting out of debt (because you now feel–and therefore know–that you can break away from it) and you begin setting aside money each payday for the course.

Life becomes joyous. Life becomes dreams turning into realities. Debt is no longer an option as it drags us away from that place we really want to be. By taking actions toward our dreams, and feeling the thrill of these small successes, we discover where we really want to be. We see it, we feel it, we carry it with us like a wonderful secret.

By deciding not to let debt rule our life any longer we are now free.

Keep your dream foremost through times that will tempt you to give up. Whatever your dream, make a collage of what that future will look like, and place it predominantly in your home.

I know there are some doubting Thomas’ out there who are dealing with bill collectors, lawyers, perhaps foreclosure, etc. And I do not mean to diminish your feelings. These are real, and very painful.

The only light to these conditions is the fact that they are temporary. Don’t let these traumatic times kill what you really want in your life. As long as there is a heartbeat, a breath, there is hope. Do not give up.

I recently had surgery. And I have had quite a bit of pain. I don’t like pain. But I keep reminding myself that in “one week it will be better, in two weeks I’ll probably be walking a bit, in two months I’ll be out and about again, in one year I will hike in the woods…”

NOW HERE’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE FABLES:

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away…or maybe it was in England somewhere…
A kindly gatekeeper sat on the wall of his village.
A young family approached. Their wagon was overflowing with all their worldly possessions. The man called out to the gatekeeper:
“Could you tell us what kind of village this is?”
The gatekeeper smiled.
“What was it like where you came from?”
The young man smiled as did his wife.
“It was wonderful,” she said, her husband nodding, “the streams ran clean with so much fish they’d jump into your boat, the crops were bountiful, the people warm and caring.”
The gatekeeper smiled.
“That is what you will find here.”
Later in the day another family approached, their wagon equally full.
“What is your village like?”
The gatekeeper smiled.
“What was it like where you came from?”
The man scowled. His wife turned her face away.
“Horrible. No game for hunting, crops burnt in the ground, people were stingy, selfish, petty…”
The gatekeeper shook his head in sympathy.
“That is what you will find here.”