Most of us are secret dreamers. Most of us, in our hearts, yearn for lives that are sweeter and more succulent, juicier and more tender than the lives we have. It is one of the unspoken rules of civilized life that we keep our dreams secret.

Break out of the mold

You know there is more to you, more to your destiny. Stop pretending this is it.

Let go

There is much more to life than going through the motions, making a paycheck, and paying for the life you’ve created.

To find that “more”, however, we must be willing to wake up, come to, and come out of the anesthetic of a mindless life lived by default.

“Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor
<http://www.ted.com/speakers/view/id/203> had an opportunity few
brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she
was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her
brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement,
understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is
a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to
the world and to one another. “

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

When he couldn’t find his way out he became more frantic as he flew head on into the screen. I opened one of the doors very close to were he was but he didn’t even go close to it.  Instead he continue to fly into the screen in the corner he was in.

He didn’t have a true perspective of his situation. There was a wide open door for him to fly through and onto freedom, but he  didn’t see it.

How many times do we get stuck somewhere in our lives that we never expected and we continue to try to move forward by doing the same thing over and over?  There can be a wide open door to freedom just a few steps away yet we become frantic and don’t see it.

When we lose perspective and cannot seem to be able to get unstuck, we need to slow down and listen to other’s perspective. We need to stop doing what we naturally think will work and fly in a totally different direction.

If you are stuck or confused then relax, breathe, and fly in a different direction. change your perspective and you can see the open door.

I just spent the week in Washington DC with my family. I was deeply struck with how forward thinking the founding fathers of America were. They were dreamers who took chances, lived big, and didn’t listen to the nay sayers around them. I think I would have liked them.

Let me remind you of Jefferson’s famous words – “All men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life , liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These words sound a lot like the declaration Jesus Christ made when he said that He came for the very purpose of making it possible for all men to live life abundantly.

There is a theme among great leaders and visionaries that we are not to settle for a life lived by default but we are to strive to live our Neverland.

I believe we all need to be reminded from time to time, and sometimes more often, to shake things up and go after the life we want.

What is your neverland?

Go get it!

Give in to your true self but don’t give up to self defeat.  Millions are unaware that they have totally given up. How do you tell a quitter? a quitter…..

• Imagines he is normal when he is anything but.
• Has crisis days because he doesn’t believe that all things can be for his good and that. his truth can turn anything that appears negative into a raging positive.
• Fills her emptiness with trash. She doesn’t believe she is worth more.
• Has learned to love his ill tempered nature.
• Shades the truth when she explains her life.
• Drives himself crazy with self defeating thoughts.

Don’t follow the example of these millions of crazy people. You don’t have too.

Give in to your truth that can make you whole and set you free. It is as easy to do as reading this blog post. Just let go and give in.

Now here’s the deal with Tink. If people don’t believe in her she dies. It is that simple. What you may not know is that if she were to ever stop believing in herself she would die almost instantly.

Why am I telling you all this? Because the same danger Tink faces we all face, just not as quick. You see, if you don’t believe in yourself then other won’t believe in you either. When that happens you begin a slow death. Just like those people I talked about in the last post.

You must believe in yourself at all costs. I mean really believe in your true authentic self. The self God dreamed up when He danced across your DNA.

If you don’t. If you begin to believe the pirate naysayers around you. You may just begin to die. You may be already in the middle of it but I hope not. Never the less there is hope.

Believe, Believe, Believe

I believe in you!

Last night I went to a dinner of a local group of people in the town I live in.

I spent the night among 25 or so people who small talked, chit chatted about little to nothing, and sometimes stared as they were thinking of what next to talk about it. I am going to be blunt here. They were people who had no real life coming out of them. They were smart people, they had families they loved, they had good jobs, but they had no life.

They were boring. But here is the real kicker – they have no idea that they have no life. they are oblivious to the lack of life in them. they have been lulled into a deep sleep.

Now this wouldn’t get under my skin if it was just some random group of people every once in awhile. BUT

I live in an entire town of dead people and I see dead people all over the world. Zombies walking around pretending that they have a life.

WAKE UP!

As you can tell I am not a big fan of dead people. They just give me the heebbee jeebbees .

There is more to you and this world than death warmed over.

Finding your design is an adventure worth undertaking. The truth of the matter is that to be ready to start this kind of adventure you must be willing to let go of your securities. The drive to find true success must be greater than the drive to be comfortable. When you have nothing to lose you gravitate to what’s true. The more you have to lose the more you are willing to settle to protect it. I talk to people all the time who really want to stop existing and find real success, but have not taken stock of the securities that they have built in their life to protect themselves from “reality”. Once your motivation surpasses your desire for comfort then you are ready to begin the journey.

Two essential ingredients to a successful journey to find your true success are: trusted friends who share the journey with you and a guide who is at least a little bit further along on the journey then you. While it is possible to go it alone, it is not advisable. There are too many dark moments when friends provide needed support and too many weak moments when a guide can keep you focused and on task. Then the next step is to just jump in.

Below, I have provided a brief outline of key stages in the journey that I use in my personal coaching and in my workshops to help people find their true success. I model it after a treasure hunt where you are looking for the underwater treasure that is your true success. We each have a treasure chest filled with true success. The problem is we often don’t realize we have it and if we do we don’t know what kind of key would unlock it.

Stage one: Getting Wet!

This is where you begin to acclimate yourself to the process of hearing your heart. This includes reframing how you see things like work, career, goals, and a job. It is re-learning to connect with your dreams and confronting the abstractions that take over your life. Finally, it includes beginning to generate ideas for what your true success looks like. This is a fun time of essentially getting used to the water and the idea of an adventure.

Stage two: Exploration.

Once you are acclimated it is time to get down to work and start searching for where your treasure might be and what it might look like. This is basically exploring all around your life to find clues to what your treasure looks like and where it might be. Once you find it you are ready to see what’s inside. This stage involves quieting your mind so you can train yourself to hear your heart once again.

Stage three: Designing the right key.

Only one key will fit your treasure chest and only you can design it. During this stage of the journey you narrow the focus of your life to your true success and the strengths you were designed with. Then you create goals to achieve your design and a map to guide you once you start living it. This is an important stage because without it you will eventually get lost or give up.

Stage four: Turning the lock.

This is where you create the supports necessary to live your design and start following the map you designed. After this you are in the middle of the journey and as Dory said in the movie, finding Nemo, you “just keep swimming”.

Extra help for finding your neverland can be found in the following posts:

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too Part 1 and 2

A spiritual journey

Universal Energy Audio

Vistas spread out like a picnic blanket on a springtime lawn.

I want to see!

What do You see?

What do You treasure?

What makes Your heart flutter?

I fear we have been looking through the wrong window all this time.

Your treasure is surprising.

Colors so vibrant they give us goose bumps.

One who had nothing and has everything.

Strange freaks with alarming beauty.

The outcasts and strangers.

Your own glory revealed through the design of your kids.

Freedom, Love, Dancing, Love, Peace, Love, Creativity, Love, Order, Love, Crazy Faith, Love – the greatest of these is LOVE!

I know your heart sings when your kids love well.

You treasure me.

I am Your treasure.

How can this be true?

I don’t compare to You.

You could treasure anything.

You should treasure yourself.

You are the real treasure!

What was that?

Did I hear You right?

You made me with You in me?

I look like You?

You must be mistaken.

My eyes struggle to see through this window.

Change my vision.

I want to see Your view.

I want to see You in me.

You are worthy, You are breathtaking

I want to be Your beauty!

If you have kids, or kids nearby, or people think of you as a kid then you will love this blog.

My wife has been a children’s specialist for years and a children’s author. I finally talked her into joining the blog o sphere. Every week she posts a new children’s story and they are wonderful and inspiring. (okay, I am a little biased but honestly she is good.)

Check it out and  let your imagination soar.

My imagination