Deepak Chopra & 7 Tips to burst out of a straightjacket

Deepak Chopra raises inter-cultural awareness about ways we each perceive and influence our own health and well-being.  He draws from traditional and alternative medicine, mind-body and spiritual approaches to health.  Born in India, he has pioneered unique approaches to modern scientific thought in America and brought them into mainstream debate.  He has authored over 40 books, touching on vast spiritual and health topics, from bestsellers on aging, the "Seven spiritual laws of success," the existence of God, arguments for the afterlife and world peace.

In his latest book, Life after Death: The Book of Answers, he offers the thought-provoking idea that our present consciousness shapes our perception and existence after death.  He believes the afterlife is created uniquely for each of us by our own awareness in this life.  He invites us to reflect on issues confined in our mind today which frame our vision of the future and beyond.  Choose to burst out of the straightjacket of what you think you know. Expand your self-view:

1) How do you see yourself?  Your life is defined by more than events you influence.  Consider sources of your conditioning, mindset, why some memories stick, and others conveniently fade?  Your self-image and self-worth are shaped by those illusions you permit to influence you.  Many components, choices and interactions shape the pace and development of your identity. 

2) Grasp the basis for your expectations.  Whether or not you're ambitious with goals and why certainly merit reflection.  Why you're satisfied or not with each of your efforts tells you much about unconscious limits you have set (or decided not to set) for yourself.

3) Identify your sense of purpose.  This runs deeper than material desires, status and luxuries.  Your purpose draws from your primary motivation.  This is why you'd be willing to compromise and sacrifice beyond what others consider rational, because of the fulfillment it represents and the exhilarating feelings it triggers.  Meaning is immeasurable and unquantifiable.  Discovering your true passions and learning to market them tends to bring opportunity and money, but they matter far less than devoting yourself to what defines identity. 

4) Determine your final destination.  As you evolve along with your evolving purpose, you will gain a sense of what contributes to greater fulfillment.  This enables you to feel good about you.  To imagine a destination is a way you begin to recognize almost infinite possibilities.

5) Which roads will you follow?  Once you discover which life pursuits make you feel good and enable you to make a contribution to help others, and the direction of your desired destination, you will make choices to give you a sense of moving forward.  The roads you follow may build and expand on many areas of your life including, personal, professional, spiritual, to others.  You'll choose paths that get you where you seem wish to go. You may also diverge from what you have known to change course.

6) Who or what prevents you from success?  A variety of obstacles may seem to prevent you from reaching goals.  Do you permit yourself to be intimidated or bullied by certain people? Do you allow yourself to be discouraged by circumstances beyond your control?  Although physical blocks may get in your way, your mindset and attitude determine whether you'll allow other people to influence your feelings. Honest self-reflection will reveal fear is the ultimate adversary.

7) Who mentors your journey?   You attract people into your life based on lessons you may need to learn or guidance you desire to help you move closer toward your goals.  As you learn to recognize your needs and desires, you'll also seek out mentors who have experience in industries and environments you hope to break into.