Living the life you want

Living the life you want: what does this mean to you? Is it
possible ? is it available to some people but not others? What
are the differences between those who do and those who do not
live the life they actually want to live?
We would argue that you can have exactly what you want in
life if you also believe in that. Your beliefs play the biggest part
in creating your reality. Most of us are taught to think much
more in terms of limitation and low self-worth than we realise
until we start to ask questions. Do we deserve a better life? Or
do we get the life we deserve because that is what we believe we
are entitled to? That is, we get what we envisage life holds for
a
us.
Can positive thinking really make all the difference? Do
what
you think and believe really affect the daily realities of
life? Most of the spiritual psychologies say all of this, and more,
is possible if you learn to explore your own consciousness and
see what is really lying there.
For my parents' generation, to seek psychological analysis
was to admit that 'you had something wrong with you'. To be
introspective was to be selfish and self-indulgent. The middle-
aged hippy generation of today grew up believing that all you
needed was love. The trouble was they thought love meant
specific types of behaviour, free sexual expression, breaking
down old systems, old attitudes and old beliefs. That was
throwing the baby out with the bath water. No generation gets
it all wrong and none so far in history has got it all right.
Recent changes in thinking show more and more people
recognising they do have real choices in life. We can now
choose many different lifestyles in western society without
being deemed deviant. We have the notion of consumer choice
and have had our eyes opened to the psychological tricks used
in marketing. We have seen more people seeking a spiritual
identity away from the traditional religious structures. We have
recognised that war and aggression achieve little and now talk
in terms of keeping the peace. The whole thinking
society is slowly turning.
Society is made up of people - you and me so if we
thinking of our
change our own inner structures, the social structure in whic
we live will also change. Many have called this the new age of
enlightenment, but as many traditions teach "before
enlightenment, wash dishes and sweep floors, after
enlightenment, wash dishes and sweep floors. The difference is
in the feelings we have towards what we do in life, how we do
it and if we are doing what is right for us.
If society is made up of us all, everything we do affects
everyone else equally. Everything is interrelated. It's rather like
when are at school and the whole class is put into detention
because one classmate will not own up to hiding the board
rubber from the teacher. One person does not have the courage
to admit they made a mistake and accept responsibility for
their own behaviour so the rest of us suffer. Unless, that is, we
all start telling the truth. No one wants to be the first to tell
our mates they need to change. We have no right to, either.
But we can change our selves and act as examples of how
change brings benefits beyond comparison into our lives.
It is up to each and every one of us to stop blaming the
people around us for our limitations in life and to start creating
the life we really want to live. It might not be easy, it might
take some time, but anything really worth having is worth
Dutting some effort into, and that starts with recognising that
vour life is worth it too. This book cannot tell you everything
of or do it for you, but it oes provide most of the directions and
perspectives that will enabl you to make real changes in your
own life - because we are all worth it.