Valentine

When was the last time you told someone how much they meant to you? In the Western World, Valentine's day has become somewhat commercialized, yet the occasion still encourages people to express how they feel. You may know people who feel as though it's risky to express their true feelings because they fear rejection.  At the same time, if you do not take the chance to tell someone how you feel, they may never know and you could lose out on the opportunity for a very fulfilling relationship.

Back in high school, I recall how friends would encourage friends to share love notes because they were too afraid to deliver them in person. Remind yourself that it doesn't have to be Valentine's Day to compel you to do something impulsive or special for someone you love. Consider sharing some of your own romantic efforts and whether they worked as you'd hoped.  What inspired you to do what you did? How did the other person respond?

Pull yourself out of a rut

If you feel stuck in a rut, you may only be observing what is, thinking of what is, and dwelling on what is. Your current circumstances are the product of who you were.  Focus on the future or you will find that you merely reinforce the past and have the sense you're not moving ahead.

Don't define yourself by your current state of affairs. Discover instead, the astonishing power of your imagination.  If you wish to acquire the spirit of persistence, confidence and perseverence, visualize that you have learned these things.  If you had the choice, from whom would you like to learn more about these character traits? Where would you be when learning?  

Reach out to people you admire. Explain why you'd like to learn from their distinguishing traits and qualities.  State this aloud even if the individuals you admire are deceased. Write out traits you associate with particular people and what you'ld say to them if their spirits were right beside you.  Feel their presence. Sincerely desire their positive influence in your life.  When you believe you can get out of a rut, you'll share their energy.

You are what you think

The more I feel good about who I am, where I am and what I'm doing, the more I attract people and conditions that raise me higher and higher and assist me to evolve in positive ways.  Your job is to facilitate your own creative process.  You must ask for what you want.  The universe will react to your thoughts.  Explain the answer you wish to receive.  Accept that the universe will realign to make it happen. What will enable you to generate the feelings of what you wish to make happen? Life is self-correcting.  What you visualize will then materialize.  The universe will take your choices seriously. Each life is the product of our awareness and sense of truth. 

What would you do right now to turn your life around? Make a list of things you wish to change. When you do this exercise, you start to feel grateful for all the things you feel good about.  As soon as you feel differently about the things you already have, you will begin inviting more good things, people and opportunities into your life.

Do yourself a favor and dwell on the end result you envisage.  Become aware of what you want and imagine the consequences of your action.  What will you do? Make each thing you do as real as possible.  Put yourself in a deeply feeling place. Feel utter happiness.  Feel the excitement and exhilaration.  Energy isn't exerted or expanded randomly.  The 'how' to achieve will materialize.  Give your undivided attention to those things you do want. People in life reflect aspects of yourself.

In the Book of Secrets, Deepak Chopra reminds us what we observe, imagine and think is activating images and events. You can stop being ruled by those things you don't want and redefine the evolution of your life.  Attract people, events and lifestyle.  Here are useful tips:

1) Focus on positive feelings and how you will meet your expectations

2) Tell yourself you're no longer offended by things, that each thing enriches you

3) What you think and feel has the power to shift your awareness

Protect your dream

If you aim to realize some project and gain a new sense of success, then you're more likely to experience it if you identify exactly what this project means to you.  Qualify and quantify it as much as you can. It's funny how the older and supposedly more knowledgable people become, the more eager they can be to deny the impact  and usefulness of intuition. Intuition questions your aims and views of success.  Delight more in pondering possibility and expressing feelings to shape the final picture.  Your choices and expected results are time dependent.  Your success is likely relationship dependent as well. What do you do on a regular basis to nurture and protect your dreams? What have people around you done in attempt to discourage you or turn you off your dreams? How did you react? What became of your dream as the result?

I have found that the best way to protect my dreams is to focus on them and on ways that enable me to realize them. Protecting my dream means talking about it, writing about it, believing in it, learning about my reasons for aspiriing towards it and interatcing with other people who can help me to understand it.

In the case of my desire to experience the Trans Siberian Railway, I've been reading about all the stops in between, from Beijing through Mongolia and throughout rural and central Russia. I find clues about my rationale in what I read, in videos I've watched, in people who've been there to whom I speak, and in travel agents whom I contact about my various options. 

The more I focus on believing my thoughts, the more I act, which leads to results, and strengthing in my belief that I'll go sooner rather than later. I develop patience at the same time as I plan my days and live my life to get closer to realizing this dream of a new kind of adventure. What I get out of the experience, and who I help and entertain as the result of sharing the stories I plan to write, will be comparable to at least as much energy, enthusiasm and learning that I put into trip preparation. I ask myself Why? When? How? By which means? Which lives can I enrich as I go?

"Wall street is the only place to which people will go in a rolls royce to seek advice from people who take the subway." -Warren Buffett

Make it happen

In his book, "Think & Grow Rich," Napoleon Hill outlines six ways to turn desire into gold.  If you're a person who aims to make dreams a reality, you need to do more than think about it.  Go the next step.  Break down exactly what you wish to do and what it will require to realize it:

1) Clarify the exact amount of money you desire and why

2) Determine what you will give in return for the money you desire

3) Establish a definite date when you intend to possess this money

4) Create a definite plan for realizing your desire and begin now

5) Write out a clear statement of the money you intend to acquire (summarize 1-4)

6) Read your statement aloud twice daily (feel and believe you're already there)

So, upon reflection, what exactly do I want to make happen? I regularly list out things I wish to accomplish. Perhaps one of the most inspirational books I've read is called "1001 Places to Visit before You Die."  My life has been intricately connected to places because of people I've met. I'm currently focused on reflecting more on why Japan has so much appeal for me.