How do you view your life right now? Are you where you thought that you would be? Are you where you want to be?

Life is funny. When we were children, our lives and thoughts were filled with the hopes, the dreams and the desires that nobody could take away from us! True or false?

You know, as I was growing up, I had this crazy idea of being an astronaut or being a world renounced runner and even being this great leader that helped millions of people. So did I end up doing any of them?

Well I pursued a couple because one of them was pounded right out of me....to be an astronaut. Why? What happened?

You know as well as I do that when you are young, you are at the most impressionable point in your life. It really doesn't take much for someone to start saying negative things to you before it sets into your subconscience as what it considers fact. Well, I had plenty of people tell me that I was too short, not smart enough, not this or that. It works especially quickly when you hear it from an adult, whether it be a teacher, coach, parent or any other authority figure.

I was pretty lucky in having some older siblings that encouraged me with other areas of my life. I didn't become a world renouned runner, but I gave it a good shot. Could I have been more successful? Had I known and understood the technique that I am going to share with you now, I believe that I would have had much more success. Now don't get me wrong, I don't live in the past and I don't have any regrets in my pursuit of my dreams, but the things that I have learned have helped improve my life tremendously and have helped me to make an impact in the lives of others. I have always heard about the saying, "You become what you believe". Ok, but HOW do you learn to believe what YOU really want to believe?

There have been times in my past when I wished that I could do this or that, but at the time, that is ALL it was, A WISH! How do you turn that wish into something much more powerful that will drive you to succeeding?

What I am going to share with you can absolutely change your life for the better, IF you are willing to stick with it DAILY! It won't sound like a hard thing to do, but it does take work. Trust me, there were days when I was rushed, tired, sick, frustrated or whatever that made me not want to stick with it. And you WILL have those types of days, but you MUST be persistent and do this every day. If you do this twice a day, it becomes easier and more natural, much quicker. Likewise, three times a day will propel you to believing that much faster. Like I said, it will sound simple, and you may think, "I have heard this plenty of times and it just doesn't work!". Friend, I am here to tell you that it DOES work. It did for me, and it can for you.

So, why would I share this with you so freely when I don't even know you? Let's face it, this is public for the whole world to see, critique, agree, disagree, etc. That's ok, because it is not about just me, it is about HELPING others in their own personal lives. Helping people get out of the same old rut, helping people break the chains of mental bondage that has been past down from generation to generation. If I can help one person out of one million, that's ok, because I helped someone.

Ok, enough of the soap box stuff. Let's get started.

What can you do to help you become more successful, happier and start on the road of creating the life that you really want? What I am going to share with you is one of the basic things for you to put into practice, for now. There are many more techniques that I will share with you in later issues, but for now let's start with just one.

The first, and by far THE MOST IMPORTANT technique that you must do daily:

Get in the habit of VERBALLY giving thanks for the things that you do have.

"What? That's it? How is this going to help me? How can this possibly make a difference?", you may ask. Stay with me. Remember your dreams as a kid? What was it you REALLY wanted to do? Do you remember? Did you do it? If you didn't, why not? For most of us, it wasn't any physical issue or mental issue (even if it was, there are lots of people worse off who have accomplished great things). Somewhere along the line, someone who was important to you told you, in one way or another that you couldn't do it, or to just give up because you weren't meant to do that. So many times, not even realizing what they are doing to us, people we love and people who love us can destroy our dreams with non-supportive, non-encouraging words. We don't even realize what it is doing to us, and our mind starts to listen and repeat it without us even knowing it, until our subconscience accepts it as fact. Over time, we start to think about why we can't do this or that, rather than why we can. We start to verbalize all the negative things in our lives, how we got there, all the bad choices, all the bad circumstances, EVERY bad thing that has happened to us. We VERBALIZE it every day to everyone we know! We don't even realize that we are doing it anymore, it is just natural to "complain" about stuff, rather than look at what we do have, and VERBALLY recognize them! Am I right? Ask yourself, honestly, how often do you verbally complain and how often are you verbally thankful? It is easy to get caught up in society today, wanting everything for nothing, wanting things for free or little effort, and to just go with the flow and join in on a complaining forum!! Friend, take a look at the things that you do have, no matter how little, but you do have things to be thankful for.

Here is a challenge for you: make a list of 10 things that you have in your life that you are thankful for. Every day, at least once a day, verbally acknowledge thanks for those things. Now I say verbally, not in the quietness of your head (that will become a natural part of it) but from your mouth, let the words come out..."I am so thankful for_________". I promise you, the more you do this, the more persistent you are with this on a daily basis, the more things that you will see that you have to be thankful for.

Ok, now remember that I told you that you WILL have days where everything seems to be going wrong, PLEASE remember that these are the most critical days to do this, as a matter of fact you should do this more than once this day!! On a day like that, the last thing before you go to bed, turn off the television, turn off the radio, turn off the lights and just relax in darkness, eyes closed. Think of your list and let it run through your head several times, and then verbally give thanks 2, 3 ,4 even 5 times. These thankful thoughts and feelings will be the last things being sent to your subconscience before falling asleep, and from there your subconscience takes over. Soon, more good things will start coming into your life, giving you more things to be thankful for. Just remember, that it is always darkest before the dawn. STICK with it, change your perspective and your life!

Start this today and keep doing it, because it will change your life for the good! Remember VERBALIZE IT TO INTERNALIZE IT!!