Ask yourself this: If you could have, do or be anything, absolutely anything (and time/money was not an issue whatsoever) … what would your life look like? What is that vision?

Now, before bedtime this evening, purchase yourself a notebook or journal. And begin to put that vision into words, and those words into actions.

First take 3 deep breaths; relax and center yourself. Then take 5 minutes and write down 10 or more things in your life that you are grateful for. The more you can think of the better.

Next, take 5-10 minutes and write down 2, 3 or more things that you want to see happen in your life. It is important to be very specific with as many minute details as possible! Write as though these things are already happening. For example, use phrases like, “I have” or “I am” rather than, “I want.” This is because you want to be in the mindset of doing, not wanting. You can also write in “Thank You” form: “Thank you for the great such-n-such opportunity, thing, event that I have been wishing for.”

While you are imagining and writing, take note of your emotional state. Explore the idea of doing what you desire. Allow yourself to feel that, emotionally and energetically. Feel the happiness, joy, and energy are coursing through your veins when you are mentally place yourself in the place of doing what you want to do with your life.

Writing out what you want to do will help you internalize that notion and you will begin to do those things naturally.

Do this every single day for a minimum of 21 days (doing something every day for three weeks creates a sustainable habit). Over the next few weeks, watch how things begin to suddenly show up in your life… the very things you have been writing about.

A couple years ago, I partook in this weekend seminar that was all about “being” and “creating” from our authentic self. One of the interactive exercises we did, after writing what our dream life would look like, was called, “What Do You Want?!”

We sat across from a partner, and our partner would scream over and over really loudly, “WHAT DO YOU WANT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” While the other person screamed out everything they had written in their “dream journal.” An example of something I wrote and screamed out was, “Snoop Dogg is performing at my custom designed lake-view home, house-warming party!” The sentence may not read very well… but you get the point!

This was an extremely powerful exercise for everyone, including myself. It raised my energy so much so, that I felt myself LITERALLY vibrating, like I was floating on a cloud. It also raised the bar. Will Snoop Dogg ever perform at my house? I’m telling myself that one day he will! Reaching out to that fantasy allows me to float among many more measurable goals which bring happiness, joy, and satisfaction. Once those goals are met, the dream goals become easier to attain.

The daily writing of your goals is one of many extremely powerful ways to keep that vibration UP! Doctor Gail Matthews is quoted saying, “People who write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve success than those who don’t write down their goals.”

This also forces you to focus on positive outcomes rather than negative circumstances. When you focus on what you don’t want or what you don’t like in your life, have you ever noticed how much more of what you don’t want or like shows up? Well the same thing happens when you focus on what you do want!

****You can also do this 1st thing in the morning or just when you have time during the day. The key is to get in this “good” habit!

We all know that when we reach a stop sign that it means to STOP, however, if you “run” the stop sign, knowing it meant to stop means absolutely nothing.

The stop sign here is synonymous for the areas in our lives in which we clearly know that we should make a different choice. How many stop signs do you run in your every-day life?

Ponder the following questions…

1. Do you make the time every day to prepare healthy meals, cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables which you know add needed nutrition to your body or do you rush through your day, throwing frozen dinners in the microwave or going through drive-throughs and think you’re feeding your body with “food”?
2. Do you take the time 3 or more days per week to fit some form of heart-healthy and fitness enhancing exercise or do you make every excuse in the world why you “can’t”…kids, not enough time, too tired, etc.?
3. Do you read books that enhance your mind and deepen your awareness of yourself or watch media that inspires and enriches your life or do you mindlessly fill your free time watching more than an hour of TV per day that is filled with mind-numbing reality shows, violent images and people embarking on doing the things in life that you wish you were doing, while you sit there and make excuses of “why you can’t” do, have and live the way you want to do, have and live your life?
4. What types of people do you surround yourself with? Do you surround yourself with people who make you, “stand on your tippy toes” -Lisa Nichols (make you want to be a better person) empower you, inspire you, and encourage you to “Be” more, “Do” more and “Have” more or do you mindlessly surround yourself with people who are drama, gossipy and settle for mediocrity in their lives, people who enable you to feel either “superior” or to settle for mediocrity in your own life?
5. What types of romantic relationships do you get into? Are they with people who again, enrich, inspire and empower you or do you settle for “what you can get” with people who bring drama, pain and misery?
6. Do you live life from a sense of purpose? Do you know your worth and value? Do you show up in a way that screams, “I RESPECT MYSELF!” Or do you meander through life just getting by and never taking the time or putting in the effort to better yourself, or bring more meaning and value to your life?

When you take a good deep look, and ask yourself these questions, what answers do you come up with? Aren’t you deserving of every possible positive, healthy, and amazing thing that you can bring into your life? If you are not living your life on your own terms and with a sense of purpose, what can you do to implement the necessary mind-set that will enable you to do so? Are you not worth the necessary fortitude and self-respect it takes to “be” the best version of yourself possible, hence allowing you to live a meaningful, prosperous, fuller, and more abundant life?

A couple years ago a friend of mine, who was 84 years old, crashed one of his personal planes and walked away with minimal injuries, just a few scratches on his nose! Yes! I just said, an 84-year-old man crashed a plane and walked away barely scathed! After the crash, he was transported to the hospital. The following day a friend of mine and I went for a visit. While we were visiting him, I was showing his wife a picture of his plane that had been posted on Facebook by their son. She took my phone, walked over to him and showed him the picture.

The words that followed out of his mouth were and I quote, “Ohhh, I can put that back together.”

My point here is, what is Your state of mind? Is it negative or positive? Is it complaining and whining or is it optimistic and filled with tenacity? The only thing my friend was complaining about was wanting to get out of the hospital and go home. He had been placed in the ICU upon being released from the ER; I mean, he did crash a Fa-Rekin plane!!! However, all he wanted to do was get home, so he could start putting his plane “back together”!

So… If you were in a plane crash, regardless of your age, would you survive it…barely scathed?! The “plane crash” here can be used as a metaphor for situations that happen in our every-day lives. How many “plane crashes” do you survive barely scathed on a daily basis? How do you put your “plane crashes back together”? What do you allow to derail you and squash your joy?

Our state of mind and how we “show up” in the world is in direct correlation to how amazing or not so amazing our lives are. My friend is one of these unique people who would most likely tell you that his life is amazing because he lives his life to the fullest, doing every day, that which makes him happy! He never developed the mentality of, “well, I’m too old to do what I did in my younger days.” I am most positive that when this guy leaves this world, he is going to leave it doing what makes him happy and nothing less!

Living a FullFilling life is key to quality of life and life satisfaction! Your mindset is also key to developing quality of life and life satisfaction. It is important to have a “growth mindset” rather than a mindset that is based on what is wrong, could go wrong and dwelling on what went wrong. You get what you focus on. Your mind controls what your eyes see. What do you want to “see”?

My friend does not even let a real plane crash derail him!

So, most recently he was working on the engine on another one of his planes; he is now 86 years old, when the oily rag he was using, fell into the engine. He bends down to get it and the propeller, which was running, hit him and lopped off the tippy top of his head! Fortunately, it was again, a minor scathing. The story goes; he grabbed this dirty, oily rag and placed it on top of his bleeding head and drove himself home, which is less than 5 minutes away. He walks in the house and says to his wife, “Getrude, we gotta go back to hospital again…”

Your mindset is also in direct correlation to how quickly you bounce back from negative happenings in your life!

There are numerous stories of centenarians that attribute their longevity to the quality of life they generate due to self-care, connection with others and keeping themselves busy doing things they enjoy! The many elderly who allow themselves to become sedentary, look upon their later years as a burden to others and just allow themselves to “die” pass a lot earlier than those who keep themselves young by playing and enjoying life!

Like I mentioned above, when my friend leaves this world, he will probably leave it doing something he enjoys, which for him has everything to do with his planes!

To be honest, he will probably out-live us all.