Choosing Your Path of Life

INTRODUCTION

If you could project yourself fifty years into the future and have an opportunity to review your past life, what would you see? What would you like to see?

Did you live the life you wanted? Was your life a meaningful one to you? To your family? Did you really love them? Did they really love you? Did you have close friends? More importantly, did you earn their respect? Did you make any contributions to society, or did you live a life of no accountability - where society supported you? And here is the most important question - did you serve your mission on Earth as God wished?

In the end-stage of life will you be able to review your life and say that no matter what - rich or poor, single or married, male or female, homemaker or employee, that your life was full and meaningful?

The answers you find just may shock you. They shock so many.

This book is simply, about enhancing your quality of life. For each phase of life you enter, the quality of your life should strengthen, not weaken. It should increase, not decrease. It should expand the positive features and attributes of your life, not shrink or contract them.

This book is about helping everyone find the path to a better Quality of Life. This book is not to be read. It is to be consumed, digested, and reflected upon in an attentive and thoughtful manner. When read in a conscientious way, and reflected upon and re-read, the messages will become rich and more apparent and meaningful, and the themes and subject matter will be much more deeply understood and appreciated. Subtle reasoning will become more understandable and the significance solidified. Do it justice. Give time and patience, and put yourself into this book. It may be a lifesaver.

We, at TeenSoulPower, want to help you to identify what makes a happy and healthy life. More importantly, we want to help you to make a fulfilling life. Most of us think we know how to do this, but the truth is that if you do not know how then your life is in free-float. It is moving ahead - but may not be making any progress. In fact, your life may even be headed in the wrong direction! If you do not know the basic elements of a fulfilling life and strive for the specific dynamics that make your life healthy and happy, your life can be free floating, aimless, drifting, with neither rhyme nor reason, with neither purpose nor goals, set adrift and vulnerable to the whims of fate.

Many will tell you that you learn from the errors of your ways, and many will even tell you that the best way to learn is from trial and error. Certainly, experience is one of the greatest teachers but it also subjects us to the negative consequences of failure as we learn and are subjected to repeating the same mistakes over-and-over again.

What we really need is a Guide to Life. Ultimately, everyone chooses a path to and through life that either leads to success or perhaps to failure. There are no absolutes, but in general this book presents the principles that have been recommended by research, by social scientists and by counselors that help one develop a positive life and lifestyle that leads to a higher quality of life.

Consider this book an Instruction Manual. If you are learning to drive a car you need a driver's manual. Pilots have an aviation manual. Engineers have engineering manuals. Lawyers have criminal and civil procedure manuals. Doctors have medical journals. Teachers have training manuals. There are manuals for plumbers, electricians and automobile mechanics.

So, too, as with any procedure manual for technology, we should have a Life Path Instructional Manual to offer advice, support and guidance along the journey of life. This is how the most effective learning occurs, We read, we study, we hear advice from our teachers and our parents, and our friends and mentors. Then we think, plan and act. Then we evaluate our decisions and the effects of those decisions. We adjust our attitudes, emotions and behaviors - and try life again the next day.

In this regard, everyone has a choice. Do you want to leave your life to Fate, or would you rather choose your own Destiny? There is a significant difference, and that is in consciously choosing a directed life, one based upon proven positive attitudes, heartfelt values, sound decision making, and appropriate behavior, one that has purpose and direction.

So what is it you truly want in your life? Is it money? Fame? Fortune? Power? Sex? Alcohol? Drugs? A life of parties? Maybe not. If history teaches us anything, it certainly teaches us that these dynamics can lead to self-ruin, to a life of wrong choices, wrong decisions, and ultimately to negative consequences and a life of self-ruin. Suppose instead, you can have a life more fulfilling than you ever dreamed, a high quality of life - a real treasure. Wouldn't it be worth it then to learn the secrets of those who successfully made it into a higher quality of life?

Some people may think that this book is just common sense. Others may reject it because it is not contemporary thinking. But for those who crave true wisdom this book will speak to you - and the themes will be significant and life-changing.

For instance, do you realize that everyday a person is offered blessings. But how many you receive depends upon how much you believe. So don't just sit back and dismiss them. Count your blessings. Seek them. Earn them. Treasure them. They are jewels that will light your path in life. Ask and they shall be granted. Believe and watch them grow.

The Quality of Life

When confronted with old age and a reminiscent nostalgia, many older people look back on their lives. The interesting point is that everyone has some regrets. There is no escape. Everyone has made mistakes. Everyone has made some wrong choices along the way.

But there is a significant difference. Many look back upon their past life with deep remorse, while others look back with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Many look back critically condemning themselves or their circumstances. Others look back in gratitude for their gifts and choices. Many look back and see that they had a poor quality of life, even with all the material goods, family and riches they possessed. While others look back fondly upon their past life experiences, even with the pain, misery and suffering they inherited as a result of this experience called life. For these people the obstacles and challenges of life were ultimately part of what made life so meaningful to them. They suffered the same trials and tribulations, yet, they were able to successfully navigate through them with little damage - or even learning and growing from the experiences.

This book is dedicated to helping people find a road map to a better Quality of Life. It is designed to offer advice, guidance and support, with helpful tips and directions to help young adults avoid the unnecessary pitfalls of life and to maximize their potential for a fulfilling and successful life experience and life journey.

Life is not perfect. Life is not fair. Life is unpredictable. Life can be painful. In life, we don't always get what we want. We suffer losses, sometimes many losses. But life is worth living. Life is beautiful. Life is a gift. Life is hope. Life is faith. Life is a butterfly flirting among flowers. Life is a warm breeze blowing across your face. Life is laughter among friends. Life is love for your family. Life doesn't have meaning, life is meaning.

But look at life today. For many millions of people, life has not delivered on its dreams and promises. In fact, the Quality of Life in America is in a state of rapid decline. Teachers know this. So do the police, judges, social workers and family therapists. The assurances and the ideals that we once held for an enlightened and stable society seem no longer valid. It seems as if the playing field is no longer level and the rules have changed. For many, life seems to have become more unpredictable and even chaotic.

Each generation of Americans has successfully experienced a higher quality of life than the previous generation, except for this present generation. Today, the educational system is seriously flawed. There are pockets of abject poverty throughout America. Crime is rampant in the cities. Over twenty million people have an alcohol problem. Drugs are out of control and an epidemic throughout the country.

Sexually related diseases, including HIV and AIDS, are at an all time high. One in every two marriages ends in divorce, and the number of single parent families is teetering at a threshold level quite dangerous for the continuance of a civilized society.

Our families, our communities are in great crisis. Society has slowly been deteriorating. Our jails are full, our schools are faltering, our families are failing, and our children suffer—so often needlessly, and too often without any awareness, concern or action by our public leaders.

We have a terrible problem in America, but it is not an economic problem. No, America has a quality of life problem…and it is a real crisis for families, for our neighborhoods, and for the whole community, and the quality of life will only will further decline if we allow it.

Just in one local county there are over 30,000 crimes each year, over 1,100 youth in foster care, and some 6,000 Child Protective Service petitions filed each year for child abuse and neglect. In one year in this one county there are over 2,500 divorces, and hundreds of hospitalizations resulting from self-inflicted injuries.

According to data recently released, this one local county exceeds the state average in homicides, in numbers of emotionally disturbed youth, for school absenteeism and school suspensions; and for teenage pregnancies and teenage abortions. There is a high level of family dysfunction and a high level of community disorganization.

Certainly, there is a tremendous problem with drop-outs and academic under-achievement in the national educational system. In one recent year about 400,000 young people dropped out of high school across the nation. One national study showed that the graduation rate is only 71 percent, and lower for African Americans (58 percent) and Latino (54 percent) students. In addition, the number of youth taking 4.5 to 6 years to complete high school has skyrocketed, as well as the number of youth who have dropped out to enter into G.E.D. programs.

According to one analysis, the math skills of 83 percent of 12th-grade students were below proficient levels, and when one disaggregates the data by race and ethnicity, the crisis appears even more urgent: the math skills of 97 percent of African-American students and 96 percent of Hispanics were below proficient.

As well, this report showed that 82 percent of 12th-grade students performed below the proficient level on science assessment.

The nation's quality of life has been slowly deteriorating, and it is because of known environmental carcinogens and powerful risk factors, known risk factors that jeopardize family stability and a healthy and strong community lifestyle that society needs to build and maintain.

Some of these social dynamics spread like cancer, like an epidemic, leaving broken lives, broken families and broken communities in its path. They are some of the most destructive dynamics that can be introduced into a community, but too often by the time they are recognized it is too late. Once introduced, communities cannot reverse the trend and control the dynamics or the consequences that are decimating society. Our children are hurting. They suffer needlessly. They suffer profoundly. We know this. It is time to reverse the tide.

Yes, there is still hope for America, but everyone needs to respond. Everyone needs to get involved and to do their best. Everyone needs to improve the quality of their own life, and then work to improve the quality of the lives of others. It is mutually reciprocal and mutually beneficial. Everyone needs to remember that you are part of the problem, or you are part of the solution. When it comes to building a high quality of life, you cannot grow complacent, you cannot grow apathetic. Action is needed, Dreams are good, but initiation is what fulfills them and brings them into reality.

In a way, this premise is similar to global warming. The signs of global warming have been present for decades. The symptoms of global warming have been there. Scientists have known it and the media has documented it. One study has shown that 50 North American glaciers have completely evaporated because of increased global heat levels. Another study has been documenting the rate of ice loss in the European glaciers - over two feet per year. Most recently, over 600 scientists and 600 experts from over 154 countries reviewed findings and are in virtually complete agreement.

For numerous reasons, however, political, financial, or idiosyncratic, government has simply refused to recognize and address global warming. Now, several notable scientists have concluded that it is too late, that we have run a course of irreversible self-destruction.

Similar to seeing and not addressing global warming, here, too, we are running a course of irreversible self-destruction with these other social maladies. But there is still hope. There is still hope and time to correct global warming, and there is still hope and time to improve the quality of life for so many millions. There is still time and

there is still hope, as long as the desire to change is strong.

The quality of life we all want is well within our reach but only IF we follow certain principles, certain rules, only IF we follow certain guidelines. As with any instruction manual, there is a right way and a wrong way to assemble or operate machinery. Professionals spend years studying technology and application, engineering, research and development, to prepare manuals for the most efficient directions - and for directions which do no harm.

In a similar style, one needs to have a set of instructions on how to live a full and meaningful life, a quality life. That, then, is what this book hopes to accomplish.

Before discussing how to increase the quality of life, one must also assess if they are destroying their quality of life. In life development, this happens far more often than people suspect. People adopt attitudes and behaviors which are self-destructive and self-defeating. They both consciously and subconsciously destroy their quality of life.

People are quick to blame bad luck for their misfortunes, but when you examine the circumstances you will see that it was not bad luck at all. More often the bad luck was not addressed in a positive or pro-active manner, or more often the bad circumstances were brought upon people by themselves.

More often than not, people, themselves, bring on their own bad luck. For instance, every year there are 5.25 million driving accidents in the United States where some 2.35 million people are injured, disabled or die. Invariably, the drivers will say It wasn't my fault, it was an accident. But upon investigation, you will find that fewer than 10 percent of the car crashes are truly accidents. Over 90 percent of these are due to human error. The driver was not paying attention - he/she was too busy talking, listening to loud music, texting, or checking their facebook. They were driving too fast. They missed a stop sign, ran a red light, or passed a stopped school bus. The car blew a