If you want something, your only job is to take steady, courageous action. It’s that simple.

We love to complicate things to avoid the fear of doing something new. The good news is that fear is just one choice away from excitement. Harness the energy your body is creating to take your action and then the next one, the next one, and the next.

Have you been sacrificing what you want by making it more complicated than it is?

It feels easy to fantasize about the choice you should have or could have made that would have ensured that life would be perfect right now. However, we have no idea what would be happening right now even if you had made the choice you wish you had, or if x, y, or z hadn’t happened. It simply feels easier to live in the fantasy of what could have been than to take responsibility for our lives right now.

The nature of life is that it is imperfect, no matter what. Every choice, action, and decision has downsides. Our happiness comes from realizing that imperfection is perfect, which is how this whole thing was designed. The thing we are looking for, wishing we could rewrite the past, is right here if we choose to show up right now with awe and wonder for this imperfectly perfect miracle called life.

What might be possible if you, and all of us, took responsibility for the present rather than hiding in the past?

Although you cannot control which thoughts, body sensations, or emotions arise within you, you can still create the experience of your life.

Your words, which you say to yourself and out loud, are an indescribably powerful, vibratory force. What you say in response to what arises is what creates your life and the opportunities you will see and be able to seize. The first step to choosing what you say is noticing what you say automatically as a reaction to what you experience, which is the thing you can’t control. Once you notice, you activate your power to choose.

It is our birthright to continue expanding what is possible for ourselves and others. And we aren’t obligated to do it while it is our birthright. However, if we want to live more vibrant, abundant, fulfilling lives and support folks around us and the world in doing the same, it is our responsibility to use our language to co-create our lives.

What might it feel like to release any need to control and instead take authority over the creative power you have?

And none of us can accurately describe it or understand it. It is beyond what our minds can comprehend, yet we are all a part of it.

While language may not be able to capture its essence, it seems like the Truth has a resonance to it and that we can all tap into it, draw from it, and experience aspects of it. Our job as people willing to help things evolve for the better is to focus on the Truth, and understand that the world of opinions, beliefs, dogmas, battles, and so on is a distraction from the Truth. This doesn’t mean we should stop standing for justice, healing, revolution, and evolution. It means we can focus on being who we need to be to have justice, healing, revolution, and evolution happen where we are, rather than lowering the frequency of loss, competition, violence, and hatred.

Maybe Love is another word for Truth, and maybe Love isn’t even big enough of a word to describe it. However, it seems that anything that isn’t a part of Love is not a part of the Truth. Remember, though, Love is not passive; it is a powerful force that takes action from its wisdom.

Where have you been focusing on the distractions instead of the Truth?

We feel a lack of fulfillment and frustration because we are trying to build a life on a weak foundation.

Our most simple and profound responsibility is to focus on being someone who positively impacts the people we touch. We will never be perfect, yet if we make this our priority and forgive ourselves and others when we falter, we are setting ourselves up to do our best work in the world, which leads us to our happiness. And the excellent news is that we can shift from being a burden to being a blessing in a single moment by choosing how we listen and respond.

Where might it be time to pull back and inspect the foundation so you can feel the beauty of being alive?

What we are unaware of creates us more powerfully than what we are aware of.

We always have the opportunity to make life better, not by fixing it but by receiving and being a greater and greater blessing.

Suppose we become willing to be curious about the unseen obstacles causing the discord in our lives. In that case, we allow ourselves to become aware of glitches and roadblocks that were previously invisible.

We can all have a smoother ride, opening up what we can enjoy, how we can respond, and where we can go.

What invisible forces might be waiting for you to see them?

It always feels easier to fight with someone else than it does to resolve our inner pain, so we take it out on one another.

You don’t need to take it out on anyone. You are created from love and intricately connected to it. You have all the love you need available to go inward and see what there is to resolve and dissolve.

Might it even be possible that, keeping your focus on love as the pull to go to war arises, the love you choose to express begins to dissolve the war within you?

You don’t need to be a victim of anyone or anything, including your past self.

It can feel safer and easier to hide behind guilt, self-blame, and other old stories. Your true power lies in your willingness to own that you are fully capable of growing and serving at higher and higher levels, regardless of your past mistakes.

What fear has been keeping you from giving yourself the grace you need to begin again and make a more significant difference?

Make it a practice to only discuss your problems in relation to your goals, transforming your problems into obstacles that can help you reach them.

If you have conflict in a relationship, could you see it as a way to fulfill your goal of becoming more focused and loving? If you are supporting someone having a tough time, could you talk about the healing you are moving towards?

What if talking about a problem as if it were a problem was keeping it a problem?

The simplest and profound way to find clarity when you feel like you can’t decide:

Ask yourself what is the thing that would make you most proud.

And then do it.

When you love, you will be pulled in many directions. Don’t ignore the tension. Embrace it, be curious about it, and tap into your creativity.

The tension is required to stretch the canvas so you can create the unique work of your life. Your fulfillment comes from your creativity, not from a convenient set of circumstances.

You can love the many things you love in the many ways you love them if you are willing to do the work that will fulfill you.

You can become free from something when you no longer fear it. To release our fear of it, we often need to know something intimately or trust its role in our process. To learn something or to trust its contribution, we usually must experience it firsthand.

Failure, falling, heartbreak, relationship breakdowns, big transitions, and even big successes are all waiting for us to be willing to experience them so that we no longer have to fear them. When we understand that an experience doesn’t change who we are at our core, we grow through it exponentially.

What is it time to open yourself up to so you can find freedom?

There will always be multiple demands for your energy and attention, and you will never be able to say yes to all of them.

One of the skills to cultivate to live a happy and fulfilling life is becoming completely content and grounded, knowing there will always be outstanding demands for your energy.

To cultivate this skill, you must discover for yourself and embrace what it means to be human and what it doesn’t mean. As you engage with this inquiry, you will likely find that your happiness is more closely related to how easily you can let go rather than how tight you can hold on.

What demands do you need to say no to, or not right now, so you can do the vital work of being who you are meant to be?

1. Ground yourself in unconditional love (which allows space for discernment).

2. Clarify boundaries (understand where you end and someone else begins and accept free will).

3. Take action (do what courageous and compassionate love would do even if you are scared).

4. Release the result (realize the fulfillment is in the commitment and the loving action, not the result).

We are influenced by the people we spend time with and focus our energy on more than we know.

We also have the power to transmute any negative energy of others into positive growth for ourselves if we are willing to respond to it rather than react to it. If we cultivate our discernment skills, we can see harmful behavior for what it is and let it help us become even clearer about what we are committed to.

It is easy to get dragged down. It takes energy to reach a new level. We are constantly being influenced. The question is, how would you like to be influenced?

When you find yourself craving advice, beware. There is lots of advice out there, and when there is a lot of anything, that means most of it is bad.

Instead of going to the person closest to you in proximity for advice, pull back and envision the person who has demonstrated what to do or who to be in a situation similar to yours. Take your inspiration from here.

If they don’t have what you want, why want the advice they have?

When we celebrate weddings, babies being born, and business ventures beginning, we are essentially celebrating all of the problems we are committed to solving ahead of time.

Anything that makes life better also makes it harder, guaranteeing newer, bigger problems. Don’t let these problems confuse you into thinking you shouldn’t have celebrated. You are developing the strength to hold more joy.

What if you stopped looking for the thing that would come with no problems and instead chose the one with the best problems? Wouldn’t that be worth celebrating?

Experiencing failure

Quitting drinking

Starting your workout routine

Having that uncomfortable conversation

Doing the cold plunge

Putting yourself out there to be judged

Taking a pay cut in favor of a different kind of wealth

Leaving the relationship

Commiting to relationship

Eating the vegetables

Sitting your but down to meditate

Apologizing to that person

Forgiving that person

Forgiving yourself

Loving your kids exactly as they are

Loving your spouse exactly as they are

Loving yourself exactly as you are

Understanding that life will be absolutely, completely imperfect forever…

Whatever that thing is, that you are sure you just can’t do because it will be miserable… what if you knew for sure it will make you happier? Would you do it then?

It probably will if you are willing to endure some discomfort to get there.

If you avoid what you don’t want, then what you do want will avoid you.

That said, avoiding is different from authentically choosing. You can choose not to spend time with someone, yet if you avoid them because of something unresolved in yourself, you are guaranteeing that you won’t be open to receiving the truly amazing things you want in your life.

Even the best things come with downsides and challenges. Until you have nothing to avoid, you will feel like you are missing something.

Where is it time to be open to what you don’t want so you can have what you want?

A significant part of your responsibility as a human committed to thriving is knowing when it is time to move on to the next step and then taking action based on that knowledge.

Graduating from high school, medical school, or completing a designated curriculum is more straightforward, as the path has been set for us. However, the timing of natural graduations is nuanced, as we are the only ones who can sense when a personal season is coming to a close.

The ideal timing for a completion tends to be right in the space where things are still good, like a ripe fruit, yet we know it will start to decompose shortly, like a fruit left on the vine for too long. Our job is to lovingly harvest and enjoy the fruit, trusting in the natural process so we can be complete and begin again.

An essential part of graduating from one curriculum and moving on to the next is honoring the one you are completing so you are clear, grateful, and available for what is next. Our work is not just to end things and move on but to end them well.

Where is it time to have the discipline to trust your internal timing and complete this phase of your education?