[Y80]Your Love Is Better Than Life

If you're like me, you probably could care less about these people. After all, they often come across as vain, shallow, and narcissistic. They seem to have it so easy and yet they seem to want to blow it all down the drain rather than enjoying what they have. It really is hard to be sympathetic. However, I do think we can learn from their lives and not make the same mistakes.

I honestly believe that although these people are rich in a financial sense, they are "financially bankrupt" in every area of their lives that really matter. This includes their health, relationships, and their lives in general. It's the reason you see so much anorexia/bulemia, alcoholism and drug abuse, and marital breakups.

You can avoid making these mistakes in your life and find real happiness by taking the following steps. You can implement each step over the course of seven days. This will put you on the path of having the life you want. Ask yourself these questions to help you get started.

1. Do you know your purpose?

You may have little direction in your life right now. You may even be miles away from where you really want to be in your life. Depending on your belief system, as this is a truly spirtual question, you may have a lot of trouble answering this question. You can look closely at your life to help you answer this question.

Do you know what your passions and talents are? What are you really good at? What do you like to do? Think back to situations where you were doing something you really liked to do. By nailing down your passions and talents, you can go further and look at the desires of your heart. This will help you in answering this question and move toward living a life of purpose.

2. What are your values?

What's really important to you? What really matters most to you in your life? Do you need to change your values to bring them in line with what you really want?

In his book, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind," T. Harv Eker mentions that some people make the mistake of comparing love and money. Love and money really are apples and oranges.

Although love is important, it won't pay your bills. This is why, when answering this question, you really need to take a look at values that might not be serving you.

I was raised in a home where I was taught that "Money is the root of all evil." Unfortunately, this is a value that is not only wrong, it's a misinterpretation. ("The love of money is the root of all evil.")

The point is this, your values are crucial. However, you need to be realistic, and if you have values that aren't serving you, you need to change them. They are important. Once you know, then make a list. Then you can use these values to see what aligns with your passions and interests. This will eventually lead you to what you really want.

3. What do you really need?

I don't just mean money here either. What about your relationships? What about your health? Are you really doing what you need to do to take care of yourself?

Now, this may be an extreme example, but I think it's worth thinking about. An example of unmet needs is an abusive relationship. You may be in a relationship where you're being abused. Deep down, maybe you think you deserve it, or you don't see a way out. Maybe in some perverse way, you're getting a need met.

However, is this really good for you? You need to think about it. You need to think about what you really need to be happy. To have the life you want. If you're in a bad relationship, or a work environment where you feel like you're being destroyed, maybe it's time to make a change. If you want to get what you want, then you need to take care of yourself. If you have unmet needs, you won't be happy.

4. What are your passions?

I talked about this earlier in the question about purpose. However, it's worth mentioning again. What are you really passionate about?

Maybe you like taking care of children, or you have a hobby that you just feel like you could do 24 hours a day. Whatever it is, you need to write it down and then try to find a way to turn that passion into a career. If you're currently suffering from lack of enthusiasm, or your life just doesn't feel like it's everything you want to be, then it's because you're not doing what you want to do. What you need to do. Find your passions and then honor them. It's the only way to be who you want to be, as well as truly enjoy your life.

5. Are you living from the inside out or the outside in?

Many people think that if they just had more money, or they had the right spouse, or if they had this or that, they would be happy. They think that by changing their outside circumstances, it will change their inside circumstances.

Here's the problem with this kind of thinking: if you weren't happy with yourself the way you were BEFORE you got the big paycheck, or the dream spouse, or whatever it is you wanted, you won't be happy once you have it. There will always be that inner craving. You have to believe first that you deserve to have whatever this thing is that you desire.

It's one of the reasons so many in Hollywood are unhappy. First, they achieved success for the wrong reason, and second, it didn't change who they were on the inside.

6. What are your strengths?

This question relates not only to your special talents but also to your positive traits. We all have positive traits whether it's being good with our hands, have a vivid imagination, or being kind and compassionate towards others.

You should write down at least three of these and then compare them with your passions. By looking for the overlap between these two areas, it will make it easier to point you toward your purpose. This will put you one step closer to your ideal life because you will know what you need to do to live the life you dream of. Once you identify what you're good at, and you start doing it, you will gain a lot of self confidence by sharing with others what you know.

7. Are you serving others?

One of the things my mother always taught me is that there is always someone else out there who has it worse than you do. Now, on the surface, this wisdom might seem a little sick. After all, thinking about others having it worse than we do seems to be a way of making ourselves feel better at someone else's expense.

However, that's not what you're really doing. What this technique can do is to help you examine your strengths, your passions, and your talents to see how you can serve others. When you serve others, the work that you do will take on a whole new meaning and purpose.

It's not about feeling better about yourself at the expense of others. This is about recognizing the ingredient that's often missing from getting what you want out of life. This is where Hollywood has it wrong, and that's why you see so much craziness there. If they took the attitude of serving others with their entertainment, i.e. helping others get what they want, instead of their own self gratification, they would find a lot more happiness. Happiness is a by product of purpose.

Implement these tips into your life, and you'll find a life of meaning and purpose. A life you've always dreamed of.