If you could have anything in the world, or do anything you want, or be anything, which would you choose? This podcast helps you explore your options and decide which one is best and how to go about getting what you want! (and avoid common pitfalls along the way).
It also provides a brief introduction to the upcoming course, The Power of Identity, currently in production and soon to be available here on UofLIFE.com.
Today’s podcast asks whether you’re living an inspiring life, then explains how to do that by choosing the better of the two motivations (hint: I’m not referring to love and fear). You also get a story of walking with young pioneers in disappointingly pleasant weather and you’ll learn a little bit about self actualization.
P.S. one of the “family” groups spent much of their walking time solving riddles, so I made up a brand new one. See how quickly you can figure this out:
I carry life on my back between the stars,
I’ll fight you both ways, my arms against yours.
No matter how far you walk, or how fast you run,
We’ll never reach our next destination.
Hint #1: what do you need to keep you alive? Hint #2: stars have rays shooting out from them. Hint #3: what’s the farthest you can ever see (not counting the sky)?
A handcart. It carries your survival gear. The wheels and spokes are like stars. Both ways = uphill and down. Our next destination is the horizon, and we’ll never reach it because it keeps moving farther away….
What moments have changed your life’s direction, for better or worse? What events shaped your future and turned you into the person you are now? Have you ever created major changes in life without some external impetus to force your hand?
What if you could change anything about your life right now? What would you change? Think it over!
One of the most important traits you can develop is confidence. It makes you more attractive. It gives you the courage to live your dreams. It smooths out dozens of small bumps in the road of life and helps you progress much faster toward your inherent potential.
With that in mind, here are a few stories of confidence-related pivotal moments to help you process the concept. PLEASE SHARE your own pivotal moments in the comments sections below! Everyone would love to hear and learn from them.
I went to scout camp the summer before 9th grade, and sitting around the fire one afternoon, Coy started spitting watermelon seeds at me as he ate. Coy was one of the “cool” kids and I was not. After several seeds, something in me snapped – something small at first, then bigger. “If you spit one more seed at me,” I warned, “I’ll beat the crap out of you.” Coy calmly took another bite of melon, chewed, then spit a seed at me. Read more “Pivotal Moments: Confidence”
I recently came across this inspiring letter written by a new teacher and she gave me permission to share it here:
So, I’m a brand-new 7th grade English teacher. I work in a school where something like 80% of the kids live below the poverty line. Many of them have families who are barely making it. Many of them wear the same clothes to school multiple days in a row. For many of them, school lunch is the only meal they will eat that day. Many of their parents struggle with drugs, alcoholism, or are incarcerated.
And here I am, some 25-year-old white girl who saw Freedom Writers and wanted to make a difference. Want to know a secret? Some days, I feel like I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Read more “Thank a Teacher”
When I was 5 years old, I went to a church Halloween party dressed as a little devil. I wore a red mask, a black cape, carried a red plastic trident, and the only thing I now recall about the party is the Box Maze.
In hindsight, I see that the mistake I made inside that row of cardboard boxes taped together into a long, dark tunnel was the same costly mistake I have repeated all my life. This mistake has been the cause of inexpressible sadness, frustration, confusion, loneliness and failure after failure.
I’ll tell you what that mistake was and I’ll bet it’s the same one you’ve been making all your life and the primary source of your own sorrows. Unfortunately, telling you won’t solve your problems, but it will give you a place to begin.
All those decades ago, I got down on my hands and knees, and clutching my fiery trident in one fist, entered the maze. Everything turned pitch black but I crawled and scuffled bravely forward anyway. Read more “The Most Important Words in the English Language: “I was wrong.””
I’ve known Bridger Barksdale all his life. I am *awed* at his dedication to his pursuits and the *excellence* he achieves in them.
I produced this video to show off some of his inspiring skills, and to help him raise money to attend the Bolshoi Theater’s summer intensive program in New York this summer, where he was awarded a 90% scholarship when he tried out at the Grand Prix in Denver this winter. His family is not rich and could really use your help. I guarantee that any help you can provide would be a VERY GOOD cause!
What I am grateful for today (among other things) is that I finally finished writing the last book in my Courage, Love and the Meaning of Christmas series!
The Art of Heart finally wraps up the trilogy with the most exciting book yet. Click any of the books above to view them on Amazon.com and click the book image there to read the first dozen chapters or so and see if you get hooked by the interesting characters and engaging style!
Have you ever wanted to write a book? If so, GET STARTED!!! I wrote Courage, Love and the Meaning of Christmas after reading another popular Christmas book and deciding I could do better. Now it has sold thousands and thousands of copies and climbed as high as #442 on Amazon’s overall best seller list.
If you need some tips for how to write and how to get started (the writing process will save you much time and frustration), also pick up my writing textbook, The Art & Craft of Writing: the ultimate step-by-step guidebook to the writing process and effective composition.
Imagine for a moment* that you have a dream.
Imagine that you feel excited about that dream. Imagine that attaining/accomplishing/becoming your dream would make you happy and satisfied and excited, and that it would give life meaning.
Clearly, living your dream would be a good way to live.
So why haven’t you reached your dream yet? Why haven’t you accomplished it? I’m guessing you haven’t, because once you reach a dream, it becomes reality, and then it’s time for a new dream, unless your new dream is to continue enjoying the old one. Read more “I Love Work”
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman
When was the last time YOU came alive? Watch this video for five tips on how to make that happen more often! Read more “How to Come Alive”
This ones for anyone – author, artist or otherwise – if you ever think you have nothing worth saying. Read more “Express Yourself!”