Start With A Blank Page

What would you do differently in your life if you were ngiven the chance? What would you change now if you nwere able to wave a magic wand and start from scratch?

No ties, no burdens, no limits, no memories, and no past.

What would that life look like? If the answer that comes nto your mind is different than what you are doing, why is nthat? Why are you not doing what you want? Is it nbecause of someone else? A spouse, a parent - children?
I think the ultimate test is to close your eyes and place nyourself on your deathbed. (Fun, huh?) Now, look back at nyour life as you are currently living it. What will you nthink then? Will you be satisfied you lived completely?
Or will you wish you had done differently? Here is a clue.
Very few, if any, of our senior citizens look back on thei
life and say, "I sure wish I had spent more time at the noffice!" I do not think anyone says, "I wish I had watchednmore TV!"

They say things like "I wish I had been bolder. I wish I nhad given more to others. I wish I had tried harder to see nmore, do more and feel more." In other words, people wish nthat they had lived more.

I, for one, have to admit to a certain amount of holding nback on dreams and goals because of our two boys.
As my life progresses I realize there is no reason nto hold back.

On the other hand we have not been exactly standing still neither. We have done our best to live our dreams. We nbuilt a sailboat and lived aboard for 7 years traveling nabout 15,000 miles. We lived in the snow in Aspen Colorado,nand on the beach in Hilton Head South Carolina. We lived onnan old brick mill in Long Island, and on the dock in Palm
Beach Florida. We have written books and music, acted inn the theater, and home-schooled the boys. We have built a nhorse farm, and businesses! Yet, there is so much more nwe want to do!

Surely it is a balancing act. There must be sufficient nfinances to support a comfortable lifestyle, (although nmost of us tend to spend way too much on lifestyle).
Part of this balancing act comes from finding what we nare passionate about doing so that work becomes a joy ninstead of a burden. I think this is a major reason of nlost dreams and goals. Many people find a job, call it na job and make a living at it begrudging every minute of nit, and sometimes going as far as using the job as a nreason for playing the martyr. Find something else!

There are many, many teachers of the attraction nphilosophies of "making a life". With as many opportunitiesn today in every field imaginable, somewhere, something is ncalling to you.

Another part of the balancing act is to include those naround you in frank and open discussions in what it is nyou want. I find some of my coaching clients have kept ntheir wants and needs bottled up inside them forever!
They had already decided for the other person in their nlives there was no interest in whatever it was theyn themselves wanted to do! How absurd! How can we npossibly know what someone else wants! Would it not nbe tragic to spend your life in a big city for 40 years, nworking at a job you despise because you thought your nspouse liked it, even though you wanted to live in the ncountry and be a farmer? Then one day you overhear your nspouse tell her best friend all she ever wanted to do was nlive in the country? 40 years!

Sure this is a bit far fetched but you would be amazed atnwhat I hear!

My point here is simply this: make an attempt today to nstart with a brand new page. Write your life story how nyou want it. If there are others in your life to be ninvolved, have them do the same exercise. Then compare nwhat you have written. If what you have written is what nyou are living, congratulations! You are one of the few.
How can you make it better?

However if your written life stories sound like someone ncompletely different, then you are living a life of nconflict. Here is the good news. Your life is your life.
No one can take that away from you. You are not indentured.
You are not a slave. You are free to go, do, and be whoeve
you wish.

It might not be easy, but it sure might be worth it. I coachnpeople daily who are changing their lives. There are so nmany things to be grateful for, and so many things open ton us. We owe it to all the ones before us who gave us this nopportunity to take advantage of it.

Today.