3 Steps to a Better Life

"Many of us live life as if it was a race. A competition of value. A breeding of humans within finite space and time; surely our days are numbered, but our creative resources are not."

_Get Rid Of Resistance_

These words first came to me through a moment of inspiration, roundabout the time I was getting sick of my job, my relationships with others, and life in general. It all stemmed from a job I had at the time which was, for all intents and purposes, a way to pass the time, get paid and nothing more. I got paid well, the work wasn't that difficult for me, and my colleagues could be stresseful at times but trumped any previous co-workers in terms of intelligence. I began to look around me. Where were these people heading in their life? Why were they choosing that direction? Were there any philosophies they lived by? Many of those questions were answered by a colleague whom I shall refer to as John for simplicity's sake. John was an older fellow, well past middle age, and driving himself into the ground at work. His attentiveness to issues made it all the worse for him as he had a predilection for anger. I noticed when John would try to "rally the troops" on a project or fight the incoming flow of work and seemingly endless work drama, he would put on a hat I call a "bushmen's hat". Simply put, a bushman's hat is one that is worn while waiting in the trees, fields, and other fauna waiting for prey. It's used to disguise and complete a camoflauged hunter. In other words, his game plan for dealing with life and others was "better you go down first, than me." He didn't use this on his co-workers all the time, and in fact, John was seen as the father figure of the team. He was well liked by his cohorts despite any previous battles. But when dealing with other departments and clients outside the 1

team, John was rather paranoid about their personal motivations and social situations. His strategy was a figurative, and sometimes literal, resistance to life. You may ask, "What's the problem here? I do the same thing." The takeaway: A week before I was hired on to the team, John had a massive heart attack and spent quite a while in recovery. He battled various symptoms, juggled work schedules with an onslaught of medications and doctor appointments, but continued to wear the "bushmen's hat". He had another heart attack a few weeks after I left the team. He ultimately had to leave the team due to these ongoing health issues.

Resistance is, for most of us, a natural inclination to life's various dealings which are not planned. The trivial problems (i'll get into a way to see problems as opportunity a bit later in this book) we encounter along the road of living are hard to deal with because of our resistance, not because of their inherent negative value. That value is an illusion creatd by the mind coupled with a lack of creative thinking, or as philosophers would call it, critical thinking. I'd like to do an experiment with you: Think of your last minute problem and detail why it registered as a problem. Maybe you spilled your coffee on the way to work. Maybe one of your kids discovered how to open the cabinet with restricted goodies. Maybe a debt collector got a wrong number and was rude from the beginning of the call. These are all things that plague us in the modern world and can slow us down every day if we allow them. Go ahead and take a moment to think of your problem.

If you are like me, and chances are we aren't that different, your problem hovers somewhere on a scale of 1-to-10 at about a 2 or 3. Am I right? It was an annoyance; easily solved, but still not planned, and the fear that it may happen again accompanies it. Thoughts lurk in the back of your mind and torture you every so often. This is resistance. It is the concept that if we fight something long enough, it will be defeated. It's the practice that some things belong in the "trash" or "do not want" category of the mental arena and so we go about fearing these things in order to stay alert and on the defensive. We think that if we strive for a better day and fight against daily bumps in the road, eventually it will come about through persistance. This is prevalent in all societies but particularly in Western culture. In truth, there is really no such need for any of this type of madness and unproductive behavior! But as humans, we take memes and incorporate them, some more easily than others. I will now describe how to 're-wire' yourself so this irritation becomes less intrusive on your daily life.

Let us first put a face to resistance. Resistance could have the face of a child, a spouse, a friend, or a boss. Make sure the face is someone that actually resists you on a regular basis. Now let us imagine that this face, this being lives in your mind and only surfaces when it is least convenient for you. Conjure up your problem we went over earlier. Think of it and really get a sense of how agitated you were, or may be, when this event occurs. That little 2

voice of resistance appears doesn't it? In all truth, the voice is you, and you know that, but I am separating the voice from you in order to show you that it can be done, not only temporarily, but permanently. It is not a part of you, it's a choice that is quickly and silently made when these events occur. Now let's go back to your face. That person probably thinks they are helping you, maybe even pushing you to engage life with due diligence in the endless pursuit of happiness, perfection, and productivity. What they are actually doing is using you as a tool of flagellation, egoism and creating despair over needless items. They certainly aren't helping you on the path to happiness, and productive levels don't go up if your busy mucking about trying to be perfect all the time. That borders, and may even qualify for obsessive-compulsive behavior. I think we can both agree that such action is not healthy and needs to be confronted. Now let's couple this face with you again. Your problem and your voice go hand in hand. Something happens, you get upset because you resist. If you were to instead, take that voice, seperate it from you, give it a face, and tell it, "No thanks, I can accept that these occurences are part of an imperfect humanity. My negative reaction to this will not change this as it is now in the past, but my acceptance will make it easier in the future. I can only change me and so I will not resist.", the voice would go silent. Try it sometime. Take your situation, and go through the steps aforementioned, and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

_Accept Personal Responsibility_

Once we rid ourselves of resistance, life becomes much easier. We quit fighting at every turn and spend more time enjoying life rather than conforming it to our, or society's, baseless desires. We spend less energy on analysing everything and putting a value judgment on it, which leaves more resources for things like.. creative thinking! However, the effect of ridding this resistance does leave a vacuum and it can create issues for those of us whom the struggle of life is an addiction. In easy to understand terms, what this means is a large percentage of people are unaware that they use their mental faculties to plan out what they consider an ideal life, but when the component of resistance is taken away from the equation, they fall into what I call, "dire laziness". They mistake the act of resistance for productivity and become sloths. Let me emphasize, that purging yourself of resistance does not mean taking a casual approach to achievement, but rather a non-violent mental approach to life itself. This is something I will coin, "acceptance of responsibility". Once you accept things as they are, imperfect and seemingly at random, there logically comes the acceptance of responsibility of self in action and deed. If you make this your mantra, then it also demands that you create your own happiness and do not rely on others to manufacture it for you at will.

In addition, an acceptance of responsibility should not only concern happiness but it should also implement integrity in other venues of life. When we as humans stop poking each other in the eye, and realize that if we accept things are not equal as we see them, it is because of the looking glass through which we peer. Everything in the cosmos must be seen as a moment into infinite possibility to evolve and not an interlude to capitalize on others. We may take from their experience as they share with us but it is not up to us as individuals to be the living equilibrium to the universe. The universe performed this function just fine before we were around as humans and it will keep doing so if we cease to exist. In our acceptance of responsibility, we must learn to understand that integrity is not just action but also thought. Let us have the willingness to acknowledge this and consider for a moment. Our minds are the entity which we are, and through them we create the world we live in. Without imagination, nothing in the physical realm we have created would exist; our thoughts have become habits, and our habits have become us. Designers design and destroyers destroy. Which one are you? Accept the responsibility to nurture your own life and have a foundation of integrity that shines through because you are helping create a world which is manifesting through you, in conjunction with millions of others like you.

_Create Positively_
Creating can often be a tiresome task. After a long day at work or a rushed holiday vacation, many of us retire (or want to retire) into a long slumber and the comfort of our residence. I can freely admit the dread upon reaching this state of temporary bliss, only to be jolted into a panic at the thought that it will end sooner than I'd like it to (resistance is futile, every day must bring new acceptance!). Unfortunately, many of us also exhibit this as a philosophy of life. They run through their days, not stopping to take a glimpse of anything outside their pre-built mental walls. This type of limiting belief, that "someone else shoud create and I will consume if I'm interested" as a creed is lazy at best and dangerous at worst. If everyone took this sort of approach to life, nothing would ever be created of any value. Inherent value would always be based on a 3rd party and inflation would be a substantial problem. Creation of anything is relegated to much more than just the arts and sciences. It is the stage of life. Within this, we create, we paint our reality and with whatever brush we use is what we see. If we peer through our looking glass and see negativity, we will most likely create negativity and vice versa for positivity. This is why it so important for us as humans to have integrity, a fortitude to accept, and a determination to create ourselves with a positive passion that surpasses anyone's wildest expectations. If we take our personal inhibitions 4

and frame the world in that context, we are missing a large part of life, and ultimately creating a new surreality for someone else. This is where conflict happens, when we resist the "storyline" others want to hand us without any compassionate personal review.

This negativity can stem from a large source, like a global group, or it can flow from an individual who does not have the acceptance of responsibility and the willingness to create. Hatred and jealousy can be byproducts, and they often are, with tragic results. We humans belittle others on their quest for love, fame and riches, all the while grabbing the rung beneath them as if it was any sturdier for us to climb up and support our weight. With a heavy ego, this is not only unlikely, it is impossible. This presents a problem which many ignore to their own demise. It is herein, I would like to shortly discuss problems and their positive alternate name, opportunity.

As mentioned earlier in this text, we encounter and experience events which could be labeled as problems. I went over the scenario of such events and how to rid yourself of the negotiations that happen in the mind, thus ultimately leading to a negative resistance. Naturally when one does this, they find themselves constantly in a state of irritation at the minor things at the presentation of anything contrary than what they expect. A positive path of living implements problems and turns the negative looking glass into a microscope. We begin to see, if we study that within every problem lies opportunity, and if we are diligent in our efforts, if our means are substantial, we discover that the whole is merely the same as the microcosm. Simply put, life is opportunity, not problems nor the achievement of conquering them. Technological feats withstanding, many of our modern problems lie in choice, and thus opportunity, and not in actual lack or suffering. When we come upon an event that befuddles us or sets into an uncreative mode (mood), it would serve us well to turn on our internal microscopes and really examine the event. I will venture to guess, many of us if we are willing to create with intent, our dispassionate and inept selves would metamorphisize and we could go about seeing the lessons that present themselves for our enrichment instead of a garden of thorns for us to prune.

With this knowledge in mind, let us finish with the topic of creation and how a positive mindset can manifest a new you, and through that, you create a new world. Obviously, now we know that a negative mindset is a limiting belief and leads to inhibitions which affect more than the self. It is creation, and it may utilize acceptance of responsibility, but that responsibility stems from a need to control and equivocate personal vendettas and fears with universal fact. Alternatively, positive mindset, a thriving within and throughout the self, does not control or conform, but rather it fluctuates with the rhythm of life. It adjusts to the traffic with which life is, and has always been. The ripples in this pond we call reality, are set about when we interact with our environment, and it is with all 3 steps that we may begin to aggregate some astounding human achievements while we are alive. Why not create 5

with positive intent rather than seek to destroy what others pursue? When we do, we will not have the desire to go through life with reckless abandon, but appreciate that which we are creating in us and around us because we have used our intelligence to evolve and not our primal instincts to survive. It may be tiresome at times, yes, for we have created a world tangled in its own web. But therein also lies a world full of opportunty. It will be all the more worth it, to be vocal champions of our own collective positive truths. The sooner we begin by creating ourselves and using life as an opportunity to share ourselves in manifestos of freedom rather than chess pieces ready to die for an empty temporary cause.

Upon finishing this book, it behooves me to publicly recognize my physical mentors and sources of inspiration. Without them, I would not be who I am today and this book would certainly not be a recreation of their positive values. These words are a testament, an exercise iand exhibition in joyful creativity. How rare and wonderful, that I might be able to experience these things, these people, and be able to share them with you. This is my creation and I thank you deeply for allowing yourself to be open to new horizons, new ideas, and a new you.

Quotes: What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it. If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. -Jim Rohn If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Writers & Philosophers: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bertrand Russell, Friedrich Nietchze, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Martin Heidigger, Sren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky, David Hume, John Stuart-Mill, Rene Descartes, Shakti Gawain.

People: My father, by whom my work ethic was ingrained; it's relaxed in recent years, but it hasn't become any less fervent when I truly wish to express myself. My mother, whom without I would not have a definition of love and respect. My uncles, one of them being a positive example of mediocrity and one of them being an example of negative example of achievement. All the lovely faces that have supported and loved me in their role as friend, companion, pseudo-criminal witness, and fellow human.