Getting Started!

Grab a blank notebook and utilize it while progressing through the steps within this blog. Use real paper, not a computer. The physical act of writing completes your thoughts and precipitates a finalized understanding of those thoughts. Words on PAPER become an end-point, and facilitate action.

Answer all questions and complete all steps fully. Dump everything down onto the paper, even if it doesn't make any sense while you're writing. Don't leave anything in your head. Through the process of introspection and.......

.......writing, be honest with yourself and get to the bottom of the more challenging parts of your life. Some of the questions and action steps might seem simple to you; others will certainly challenge the very nature of your self-awareness, relationships, your mind and your soul.

When prompted by each question or action step, raise your head, take a few deep breaths and then begin to think about not just the answer you want to apply to your notebook, but also the process by which you've come to your answer. Where do your ideas come from? Are they learned; are they inherited; or are they your own?

Understanding, acknowledging and then verbalizing one's process of reason and emotion is sure to elicit moments of frustration, and possibly even confusion. Those particular emotions and sensations are from the ego. It wants you to remain in your comfort zone. Realize that those are the times when you've struck a resonating chord within yourself. That is a 'trigger' to something you haven't yet acknowledged. When a strong emotion or confusion arises, simply say aloud, "Thank you for sharing," and then move quickly into the action of reason. Acknowledging and then moving past the emotion while becoming more objective is at the center of self-responsibility.

When confronted with challenging questions and action steps, the easy thing to do would be to put this book down and never pick it up, or to become absorbed only in the stories of this book. I challenge you to take the lessons from the stories, and then rigorously apply the relative points to your own life. Now is the time. To put off this gift an further is to be irresponsible to yourself, your family and to humanity. This book and the processes within it will allow you the wonderful opportunity to step up to the plate, and to make YOUR life a purpose-driven, conscious representation of your ideals. The most powerful way to change the world is truly to understand ourselves, and to act first from responsibility. This is your chance to become everything that you know you are. We need your shining light.

The following quote, by Oscar Wilde, says it all: "Be Yourself. Everybody Else is Taken."

- Mark Svetcos