“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman
Have you ever felt truly alive? and I mean your body is shaking and you just cant stop smiling because the world has never been so beautiful as it is right now in this moment, and you swear you could just spontaneously combust and end up in Heaven right now, yet you are wondering, wait am I in Heaven? cause life couldn’t be any better than this.
I think of that scene in Fight Club, the one where Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt, drags the guy from the convenience store and points a gun to his head, threatening to kill him. Why? He wanted the man to get to the point where he was more scared not to live the life he had always imagined than he was to die. When asked why he did it, Tyler Durden says, “Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessell’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal he has ever eaten.”
For when you are facing your own mortality you look back on the things that you feared and you can hardly fathom why you were so afraid. The only thing you can see is regret for not following your heart, your soul, and the one thing that would have made you come alive. And I mean ALIVE.
What is it that makes you come alive? That makes you jump out of bed in the morning? That consumes your mind that you can barely eat? That makes you forget how much you love wine cause nothing brings you as much joy as this? That one thing that if you looked back on your life, you would say, “why didn’t I go for it?”
There are no good excuses. Fear isn’t real, it’s just your perspective. Go for it. Live. Dream. Imagine the possibilities and GO for it.
You say that your priorities are to get in shape, that your family comes first, that you want to publish a novel. Yet, are these things built into your schedule? Your schedule doesn’t lie.
Your schedule reflects who you are more than anything that you say about yourself. You might say that you want to get into shape. Yet, if you are not working out 5 days a week, I would wonder if that truly is a priority.
You can talk and plan all you want, but in the end it is what you DO that matters.
What are your priorities? Are they reflected in your schedule?
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
Alice: …so long as I get somewhere.
The Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.
Where do you want to go? If we do not set goals for ourselves, it becomes very hard to achieve much of anything. Sure, we will end up somewhere, eventually, and we may have a lot of fun along the way. Yet, what if that somewhere is so far from where you really wanted to go.
“Don’t Exist.” Live
I look at this quote every morning. Three powerful words. They make me question. They make me ponder. They make me Live. And I mean really LIVE. I look over my life periodically and reflect on where I am at. Am I living the life that I dream? The life that I had always imagined? Or am I living someone elses life?
It’s ignoring convention. Questioning the rules. Breaking the rules. Creating your own rules.
In our society the ‘right thing to do’ is to go to college, get a 9-5 job, date, get married, have kids, buy a house, buy a car, buy all these items that I have to work my a** off to afford. Yet, none of that made sense to me. I could buy a lot less. Work a lot less. And enjoy spending time with my friends and family. Thats what I wanted.
What I wanted more then anything was to experience joy, love and pure happiness. Ecstasy. The joy that brings you to tears. I wanted passion, adventure, excitement.
What are your goals? What drives you? For many it is the college, job, get married, and have kids. But, for those of us that don’t share these dreams, that life will slowly suffocate us. I have seen it happen to many friends and it hurts to watch. Many believe the lie that that life is the life to live. Yet, the only life you have to live is yours. Live life by your own terms, be true to yourself, and LIVE.
So, once I determined what was important to me I really started living. I set out to travel the world, open my eyes, meet new people, challenge myself, break thru my self imposed limits and feel the life rushing thru me. I traveled to 35 countries, climbed mountains, bungee jumped, sandboarded, lived in South Africa, lived in South Korea, learned basic Korean, learned basic Spanish, slept in airports, slept on beaches, spent many days seasick on boats, sailed around the world, slept in the nicest hotels, slept in places that still haunt me, ate meals that I swear are still in my intestines, got attacked my mosquitos (worse night ever, pure torture), experienced getting everything stolen in the middle of a foreign country and the peace that came from knowing I didn’t really need anything, made life long friends, pet a cheetah and worked just enough in all of that. 
I lived. I experienced love, happiness and the joy that brings you to tears.
Are you living the life you always imagined?
I use the must have list a lot. When planning vacations, job searching, business planning, dating, and searching for places to live. It helps you to get at the core of what you want, find that which is for your highest good, and saves you from a lot of bad dates!
The Power of Intention:
“When you set an intention, when you commit, the entire universe conspires to make it happen.” – Sandy Forster
When we live with intention all else that doesn’t align with our purpose falls away. Making a list is a powerful tool to creating intention and manifesting change in our lives. It creates focus, clarity, and energy. I created a must have list for my new home and then forgot about it, yet it still created the space and the energy for me to find my dream home. I recently found my list and my new place has everything that was on my must have list, half of what was on my would be nice list, and a couple of the things on my gracious touches. I have met many people that do these lists, and they continue to do them because it is such a powerful tool and the evidence is very tangible.
The Three Categories:
Must Haves: This is where I put those things that I absolutely cannot live without. When I made my dream home list it included large outdoor space, location where I could walk to everything, a social building, easy parking, low taxes, low assessment…These are those things that are deal breakers if they are missing.
Would be Nice: These are those items that it would be great to have, but when it comes down to it you could live without it. On mine I had items such as garage parking, vintage character, radiant heating…
Gracious Touches: The items that are pure bonus, such as an Italian designer kitchen with an Aga stove…Or the spiritual, meditating, yoga practicing, fantastic cooking, wants to farm, super funny, down to earth, hot guy that happens to live nearby.
Making your list:
When you sit down and make your list, be sure to put a good amount of thought into it. Get to the core of what you are searching for. I originally had on my must haves 2 plus bedrooms. Yet, as I looked at it longer I realized that what I wanted was a social place. I didn’t want the alienation that often comes with living in a big city and living in a small space. I thought having a roommate would help that, but so would living in a social building with great neighbors. So, on my must haves it changed from a 2 bedroom place to a social building. I ended up actually getting a studio which I absolutely love. It is so much cheaper, and I live in an amazing building that entertains a lot.
Creating for your Highest Good:
At the top of every list, I write for the highest good of all concerned and then I circle it. Over my life I have come to realize that as much as I think I know what I want or what I need, in reality Spirit knows best and I need to trust that.
My words of wisdom: Believe in love, in possibility, in going after your dreams, in never stopping, in not existing but living - fully, unapologetically and wildly, believe that all is good, and always trust your gut. 
