Are You Living
the Life You Want?

Once upon a time there was a man who had destroyed his life by the age of 32.

On June 10, 1996, he stood motionless in the prison cell that served as his home, devastated over the news that his father had died. He looked deeply into the eyes that glared at him through the stainless steel mirror in his cell. He saw the reflection of an unemployed high-school dropout and a three-time loser who had spent his entire adult life in a hopeless state of despair. For as long as he could remember, he had known only this life of prison, poverty and struggle. He was the ultimate loser.

He had no money, no hope, and by all accounts, no future. He had never had a steady job. He had abandoned his three-year-old son. He had never owned a home. He had never done an honorable thing in his life. As he grieved over his dead father, pondering his abandoned three-year-old son and his wasted life, he considered the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which he had just discovered:

"We become what we think about all day long."

He thought about the words intently as he gazed into his own miserable reality. He stared at his reflection and noticed he was getting old. His teens and twenties had raced by at warp speed. He wouldn't see the streets again until he was nearly 40 years old.

He considered Emerson's words once more.

He wondered...was there more to life? Was he even remotely capable of altering the course of his seemingly forged destiny? Was it possible to become something different by thinking something different? Despite insurmountable odds, he decided to find out.

He set out on a journey of creating a plan for his life--what he later called his Personal Prosperity Plan. He focused his thinking on a new, productive, meaningful life and taking actions that were consistent with his new thoughts. The prospect of changing his life by changing his thoughts seemed preposterous, but he was desperate to change his life.

He became obsessed with changing the course of his destiny. And he did.

By the time he was released from his third and final trip to the penitentiary in 2003, he had earned a Bachelor's degree and an MBA. In 2002, just one year before his release, he was credited with saving the life of a prison guard.

After his release he created a new life and raised his son to become a remarkable young man. He started a small company from scratch and grew sales to $20 million in just 60 months, earning a spot on Inc Magazine's 2009 list of "fastest growing privately held companies in America." He purchased beautiful homes in the mountains of Colorado and on the beaches of Maui.

This man went on to write a memoir called The Upside of Fear: How One Man Broke the Cycle of Prison, Poverty, and Addiction, which won numerous awards and was endorsed by Stephen R. Covey and Tony Robbins. He started teaching individuals and businesses the process he used to transcend 25 years of poverty and misery and create an exceptional life of wealth, happiness and peace of mind.

After living a desperate life of poverty and struggle, including 13 years behind concrete walls and razor wire, he emerged a transformed man and built the life he once dreamed about in his gray, cold prison cell.

This is the paraphrased story of Weldon Long, shared with his permission.

Last month I attended an excellent personal development seminar presented by this remarkable man. Weldon Long talked with us about the power that limiting beliefs--the "junk in your trunk"--can have over your life, and how each of us can alter the course of our future by changing the internal things we consistently say to ourselves.

Your life is a perfect reflection of your thoughts and emotions. Whatever is in your mind--your beliefs, thoughts, expectations, feelings--provide the ingredients for whatever recipe you create. The key to creating a life of abundance, health, happiness, and peace of mind is to evaluate the thoughts you focus on and replace the "junk in your trunk" with thoughts that represent and support the life you desire.

When you change your thoughts, you change how you feel. When you change how you feel, it changes how you act. When you change the way you act, you will get different results.

Changing your thoughts alone will not change your life. Empowering thoughts, combined with the right consistent actions, will create the results you desire.

Are you living the life you want? If not, the first step is to get clear about what you really want and then identify some action steps you will take to make it happen.

An "I AM" statement is written in the present tense to reflect something you desire to be, do or have in your future. It's important that you visualize these things in the present tense, as your subconscious mind does not know the difference between fantasy and reality. Your mind will focus on whatever you feed it.

We are bombarded with negativity all day, every day. Although we can choose to limit what we listen to, watch or read (TV, movies, video games, radio, news, Facebook, etc.), the best way to counteract the negativity is to bathe your mind in positive and affirming thoughts that will keep you focused on what you desire.

I'll share some of my own I AM statements with you from four important areas of my life: Health, Prosperity, Relationships, and Contribution.

HEALTH: I am healthy, toned, trim and energetic. I enjoy an active lifestyle.

• I am making healthy food choices and eat what my body needs to feel satisfied.
• I am taking a 30-minute brisk walk daily.
• I am joyfully experiencing time for self-care, including weekly massages and personal training sessions.
• I am delegating many tasks with ease and confidence. I have all the time I need for what's most important to me.

PROSPERITY: I am creating wealth while serving others. I am enjoying an annual residual income of $______.

• I am sharing my business offerings globally with passion and purpose, with no attachment to what others decide to do.
• I am supporting others to generate residual income so they can enjoy time and financial freedom. I am joyfully giving high value to others, and I give away more value than I receive in payment.
• I am traveling the world with my husband. We are enjoying new mutual interests we have developed as a couple. We are enjoying short weekend getaways monthly.
• I am wisely investing a portion of my monthly residual income to create even greater leveraged income.

RELATIONSHIPS: I am a dream life partner, parent and friend.

• I am experiencing passion, intimacy, and fulfillment in my marriage. I do something daily to let Doug know that I cherish him.
• I am emotionally deeply connected with my daughter. I am an active listener, suspending judgment and unsolicited advice. I am the mother I wished I had.
• I affirm those I love on a daily basis by expressing gratitude and affection.
• I am a master of "Right Now" moments, fully present with those I am with. I am fun and joy! I am the highlight of the day for people I meet.

CONTRIBUTION: I am a divine messenger of peace, compassionately infusing balance and harmony.

• I am helping people discover what makes their heart sing so they can give it away to others.
• I am helping others learn how to see beyond their limiting beliefs, become empowered, dream big, and create the life they choose.
• I am enthusiastically and generously giving to organizations that make a huge positive difference in the lives of others by promoting and supporting education and self-sufficiency.
• I am joyfully serving under-served communities.

IMPORTANT: Notice that the statements above begin with "I am..." rather than "I am going to..." The most powerful statements are written in the present tense, as if they represent the way things already are. Remember that your subconscious mind does not know the difference between fantasy and reality.

Once you've written your I AM statements, carve out time at the beginning of each day to review them. Here are three creative ways to form this new habit:

1. Create a Dream Board with your I AM statements and photos. You can create a poster dream board for your wall, or if you prefer to have one on your computer, you can create a desktop dream board with free web-based applications found through a Google search (search "vision board" or "dream board"). Oprah offers a free application on her website, called the O Dream Board.

2. Read your I AM statements aloud and record them for repeated playback. Load the recording onto your iPod or iPhone or burn it on a CD to play in your car, on the go, while fixing breakfast, etc. You can keep it simple or make it more elaborate by playing background music that inspires you. If you Google "affirmation recording software" you will find several programs to help you with this, or you can just make a simple recording on your computer or phone. Most smart phones have an app called Voice Recorder.

If you would like to have your affirmations professionally recorded, I recommend that you connect with Voice Over professional Marnie Martin.  She has given me permission to share a sample of her work:  I Expect Miracles (2 minutes).   Visit her website here.

3. Mail yourself a greeting card with your I AM statements written inside, and an inspiring picture on the front of the card. Carry this card with you wherever you go and read your statements at least once daily. If you'd like to create your own FREE customized card and mail it to yourself, schedule a few minutes on my calendar here. I'll walk you through the steps to help you create and send the card to yourself. (Although you can schedule the phone appointment now, please prepare before our call by having your personal I AM statements written and an inspiring photo or two already selected.) Below is a snapshot of the card I recently sent myself.  If you want to see a larger view, click here.

Remember that whatever you focus on, you get more of. Begin this new habit of visualizing or listening to your I AM statements--what you desire in the present tense--at the start of every day and throughout your day.

If you're really serious about attracting what you desire in your life, do all three of the above.

Take Action NOW!
(homework assignment)

1. Clarify what you want. Go deep inside of yourself and imagine your life exactly as you choose it to be, in the areas of health, prosperity, relationships, and contribution.

2. Create your I AM statements in each of these areas to help you consistently focus on what you desire in your life, using present tense language.

3. Visualize daily what you desire by reading your I AM statements, viewing inspiring images, or by listening to your recorded I AM statements. Use one or more of the methods suggested above to help you with this daily review.

4. Take inspired consistent daily action. Remember that vision without action is simply a dream. You must take action in order to be, do or have what your heart desires. And remember that those little seemingly inconsequential day-to-day decisions have a cumulative effect that become important over time.

Doubt takes you out of action;
action takes you out of doubt!"
-Author unknown