Often people begin on the path to their purpose, and they come across a barrier that holds them back from accomplishing what they want to. Sometimes this barrier presents a huge weight on their shoulders, constantly reminding them that they cannot make much of a difference after all.

This tends to crush our spirits. Sometimes we have studied many, many years and obtained multiple degrees, or worked our way up the chain of command to finally get to the position we had dreamed of.

A problem many of us have is that we are our own greatest obstacle. We have denied our own purpose rather than pursued it.

Most of us have a good sense of what we are supposed to be doing with our lives, we just don’t know that we know. Years of denying our true self, our true feelings, and our own hearts have gotten us to the point where we don’t know what we were meant to do.

It was always a struggle to try to figure out what to do with my life when I was younger. The decision seemed so big and overwhelming, and there was so much pressure to get it right.

One wrong turn, and I felt my life would be ruined – overly dramatic perhaps, but it’s how I often felt.

I sometimes think back to the 5th grade because it was a tough year for me but I learned some great life lessons that year. My teacher, Mr. Strombeck, taught me so much, and most of what I learned wasn’t even a part of the curriculum. He had a reputation for being one of the hardest, most strict teachers in the school, yet I’m glad I was in his class.

"Diffferent Thinking:

1. Thinking which is unlike in style, type, form, process, quality, amount or nature; dissimilar.

2. Differing in thinking from all others, unusual.

3. Thinking which reverses basic assumptions and accepted logic or reasoning.

4. Weird thinking."

- Rolf Smith (“The 7 Levels of Change”)

We tend to throw around words like “success” – and usually I think it is assumed that we are talking about bigger pay checks, faster cars, and gated communities. But is this really all there is to success, or is there something we are missing here?

Whenever someone mentions success, I always find myself thinking to myself: What is success, really?

How do you deal with it when you feel a heavy resistance in you, of not wanting to move forward with your current life path?

You may find that you live for the weekends, or that you are often bored or miserable in your daily tasks. Perhaps you want a short break, a vacation, or to forget about your life altogether.

Reflecting on some of what I learned in school, I feel that often the material was either not practical, or the case was not made for how the information could be used in a practical way.

I can only imagine that if we examine aboriginal societies, that they would laugh in amusement at any ideas that would not be concrete and immediately applicable.

When someone tells you about a difficult situation or experience they’ve gone through, no one wants to be the one who thinks or says “I don’t understand.”

We would rather say – “I see,” or “I know how you feel.” However, this is unlikely to help anyone if you do not actually understand what someone is going through.

Thinking is an interesting activity, because it seems to be done on our own, yet we also borrow thoughts from the people around us. Sometimes if we are not careful, we may be borrowing other people’s thoughts too heavily, rather than thinking on our own.

One of the worst things we can do is assume that our thinking is perfectly fine. There is always something we can do to improve the way that we think.

Most of us are following someone or some type of group in our lives. As humans, we have strength in numbers and so it is natural for us to belong to a group, or to a variety of groups.

There are all kinds of groups – your country of origin or ethnicity, age group, hobbies, religion, politics, ethical beliefs, athleticism, occupation, income, and so on.

Take a slow and deep breath in and out right now and see how it feels.

It feels good, doesn’t it? We should do it more often with conscious awareness.

Taking a breath can help avoid some tricky situations, as it provides an action that gives you a few seconds to relax and stop reacting to what is happening to you as if you were a machine.

When someone is faced with a difficult situation, this presents us with a critical moment.

If today someone begins to harass you, to get in your face, appearing immensely agitated and perhaps looking for a fight, how will you react?

Good people will battle on a regular basis between doing good that is convenient, versus doing the higher good. Higher good involves doing what is truly good in itself. This may mean giving or helping someone even if you don’t have that much to give. Convenient good will mean mainly doing good when it is convenient for you, or only when it provides some benefits for yourself.

I have meditated on and off, and to varying degrees for over 10 years now. On average, I meditate once or twice per week, about 10-20 minutes per session. I don’t view myself as an expert on meditation, but I have had some interesting experiences from it that may help you, or that could make you curious enough to try it.

These are 7 reasons to meditate, based on my experiences practicing it.

All lies are not the same, so today I want you to consider how some lies can be better or worse than others.

On the path to seeking Truth in our lives, I think it’s important for us to think about this, because if we don’t put any conscious attention on how truthful we are, or how truthful the people around us are or the systems around us, then our lives can descend into falseness.

Allow me to take you back to my middle school years (7th and 8th grades). One day toward the end of the year, teachers began handing out this piece of paper with a checkmark on it. On this paper they had made their decision as to whether we would take remedial, regular, honors, or advanced classes in high school.

The paradox of the model citizen is that he has to know all the rules (e.g., laws, ordinances, regulations, etc.), and these rules are constantly growing, adapting, and changing – making it impossible to know them all. Then he has to obey all these rules unless it is more appropriate to not follow the rule. Rules that may be broken are those that are completely trivial, or those which are unjust in their purpose.

Quite often, I see that people are not equipped with the right mindset to win, succeed, or to resolve the problems in their lives. Of course there is no magic solution. What I am going to present here may take a lifetime to master, but it will provide a pathway toward accomplishing more than many of us even would have thought possible.

Children can sometimes question endlessly, can’t they? They have been known to ask what something is, and then when you explain it, they may ask “Why?” over and over, to try to learn more deeply.

As adults, we have often reached a point where we stopped questioning. This is sad and unfortunate. As I can see that this habit of not questioning has taken a toll on society.