Is It Time To Get Off Your Buts???

There comes a time in life when we have to stand still and be honest with ourselves and maybe even someone else. We all have dreams, desires, passions, interests – things we’ve wanted to do, have, or be.

And, yet, often when I talk to people about their lifelong dreams a sort of resistance emerges along with the excuses for why dreams have remained unfulfilled.

It’s what I call the “Yes, but” syndrome. Yes, I have my dream, my desire, BUT … and then what seems to be a logical reason comes through. The timing isn’t right, I’m too young, I’m too old, I’m too fat, I’m too thin, I don’t have enough money, I’m not talented enough, I don’t have enough time, and the lists go on.

Now, the truth is that the negative programming from our past, full of thoughts of lack and limitation, has the power to hold us back. In fact, the purpose of our subconscious mind is to help us survive and it operates on a pain-pleasure syndrome.

Anything that is known to it is pleasurable because your subconscious mind knows what will happen and knows you will survive. You may not like it and the experience itself may not be pleasurable, but you are in the comfort zone of life where at least you will survive. Anything new, on the other hand, is painful to the subconscious mind because it doesn’t know what will happen.

We can listen to those voices of worry, doubt, and fear or we can make a decision to create a new inner dialogue of supportive self-talk and then take the actions to demonstrate that we are ready to move forward to live the life we may only have dreamed of.

By setting our intention, becoming clear on what we choose, and taking the appropriate actions, we are letting our subconscious mind know that we are ready to change. We literally create new neural pathways in our brain and that’s when we open the doors wide for miracles to happen.

We can stop saying “Yes, but” to our life and simply start saying, “YES!”

Have you felt rejected? Join the crowd. English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. Author Norman Vincent Peale is reported to have thrown his book The Power Of Positive Thinking into the trash after he received yet another rejection. Thankfully his wife rescued it because his book transformed lives and sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Have you tried but feel you’ve failed? R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store caught on in New York.

Do you have health challenges or feel that life is unfair? Ray Charles was completely blind by the age of 7, and was challenged by racism and heroin addiction. He went on to set new standards for excellence in music in a 58-year career and starred on more than 250 albums. Lance Armstrong triumphed over testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs, and then went on to win 7 straight Tour de France titles and is now the author of 2 books.

Are you feeling challenged financially or by social circumstances? Nido Qubein, one of the best speakers I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear, came to the United States with only $50 as a teenager and he couldn’t speak English. Now a multi-millionaire, he is the chairman of four corporations and a published author.

Feeling like it’s never going to happen for you? Michael J. Fox was selling his sectional sofa piece by piece for money to live on and was ready to leave Hollywood to go to Canada to work for his brother’s contracting business when he got the call for his big break with a role in the television show Family Ties. He negotiated his contract of $3,000 a week from a pay phone at Pioneer Chicken.

Have you been telling yourself you don’t have enough education or family support? Irving Berlin was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who ran away from home to live on the streets of New York at the age of 8. He never knew how to play music and only used the black keys on the piano, yet he was one of the greatest music writers of the last century with more than 3,000 songs to his credit. Among his best was “God Bless America”, and he is also famous for “White Christmas” the best-selling single in any music category for more than 50 years until it was knocked out by Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind” rendition for Princess Diana in 1997.

Do you think you think you’ve been a failure? Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times and yet he also hit 714 home runs.

Stop talking about what you can’t do. Stop telling those old scary stories of why you can’t do it, be it, or have it. Stop focusing in on the idea of who did it to you or what’s held you back in the past.

Start TODAY to create the story of your great success by living it, being it, one day at a time, one moment at a time, one breath at a time. Move forward with clarity, vision, commitment, and determination to turn your dreams into your reality.

Get off your BUTS and begin to live your life with passion. Thank those old thoughts and beliefs for serving a purpose in the past, for keeping you safe, and announce that you’re ready to let go and grow.

This IS your time and, most of all, YOU deserve it!