The Value of Life

Challenge is difficult to get through. Yet on the other side of challenge, there is value.

The bigger the challenge, the more value you'll gain by working through it. The more challenges you're willing to take on, the more accomplishments you'll be able to reach.

When you arrive at a challenge, see that challenge for what it truly is. It is a gateway to real and lasting value.

Keep your focus on the value that lies beyond the challenge. And you'll surely find a way to get through.

When you have conquered a challenge, among the rewards there will be even bigger challenges. In each of those challenges is the opportunity for even greater achievement.

Walk through the gateway of challenge. For on the other side, it's even better than you can imagine.

Though it has no physical form, doubt can restrain you more surely than the strongest steel chain. Yet doubt is nothing but a thought, and has no power other than the power you give to it.

Although doubt can stubbornly hold you back, you can do something even more powerful. You can let go of it entirely.

Doubt is nothing more than a thought. Any doubt, with a mere fraction of an effort, can be forever gone the moment you decide to remove it.

If you fight against your doubt it grows stronger and more resilient. Yet when you simply release it and empty it from your mind, doubt falls away from you and quickly withers into nothing. There is not one single doubt that is permanently attached to you. Any doubt you have is yours by choice.

Let each of your doubts fall quickly and easily away. In the place where they once lived, choose instead to hold and nurture thoughts of positive, empowering confidence

What is your dream? More than anything else, what do you want to accomplish in your life? And why?

We get so caught up in the day-to-day activities, the "overhead" of life, that we usually forget to seek out and appreciate the real substance of life. What is your dream? Do you know?

Yes, you have one. You've probably had it since you were a child. When we're children, dreams come easy. Anything is possible and we're not limited by the narrow-mindedness that experience brings. Every child has dreams.

And then "reality" sets in. Responsibility. Decisions. Trying to please and impress other people. Little by little, as we grow older, the world begins to cover our dreams over. Layer upon layer of sludge and debris get piled on top of our dreams until finally we no longer know they're there.

But they are. They're buried deep, but your dreams are there. And occasionally you connect with them, if only for a second. You see something, hear something, catch a whiff of a scent from long ago. Your dream comes back to you for a moment and you feel a deep sense of regret that you never did follow it. Then something "more important" comes along and it's gone again.

What are you living for if not to follow your dreams? Are you living for money? Are you living for pleasure? Have you taken the easy way out and allowed yourself to live for someone else's dream?

Dig down deep and connect with your life's dreams. Have a dream and you'll have a life that's full and rewarding.

Fighting against negative thoughts will not rid you of them. In fact, the energy you set against those negative thoughts will only make them more intense.

When you try to dismiss a negative thought directly, that only causes you to think more about it. Instead, turn your attention to something else. Rather than rejecting the negative thought, replace it. Override it with a positive, creative, constructive thought.

Crowd out the negative thoughts by keeping your mind busy with other, more uplifting endeavors. That works much better than trying to push the negative thoughts away.

Your mind is always filled with one thought or another. Keep a supply of positive thoughts on hand, ready and waiting for you to focus upon.

Keep yourself busy with positive, productive endeavors. And the negative thoughts won't find their way into your attitude.

It has no form, shape or color. You could walk right past it every day and not even notice it. Far too many people do just that. It is rarely obvious. Yet once you see it, it is nearly impossible to ignore.

It has no voice, yet it can implore even the most powerful person to act in its behalf. Though it has no weight, it can achieve a momentum which is impossible to stop.

It holds no direct value of its own, yet it is at the heart of nearly every thing of value. When you see it, it will change your thinking and motivate your actions. When you know and understand it, you'll find it difficult to deny.

It will bring every good thing you could ever imagine, but only with your active help and involvement.

It is possibility. Do you see it? When you do, it is yours.

No matter what you do, you cannot change the number of hours in the day. Yet you have an enormous impact over what goes into those hours, and what comes from them.

Fill the hours with purpose, and the passing of time works in your favor. Fill your days with meaning, with creativity, with goodness, joy and love, and each day leaves behind lasting value for your world.

Does it seem that there's never enough time to get it all done? Align your efforts more closely with your true purpose, and you'll find that those efforts quickly become much more effective.

Or does it feel like time is passing too slowly? Choose to put more meaning in each moment, and those moments will move quickly along.

Let go of your concerns about the speed at which time is passing, for time is nothing more than an arbitrary measure. What matters is what you do with each moment now as you live it.

Take your eyes off the clock and look instead toward your highest vision of what life can be. Fill the world with your own unique beauty, and go beyond the limits of time.

Admit to being frightened, and your courage will grow. Admit to not knowing, and you will learn. Admit your weaknesses, and you'll become stronger. Admit your mistakes, and you'll begin to move past them.

Admit you don't know what to say, and you'll have said just the right thing. Admit that you're confused, and you'll begin to understand. Admit that you're hurting, and you'll begin to heal. Admit that you care, and the things that truly matter will grow stronger.

Being honest with yourself, with others, with life, can often be difficult and intimidating. Yet honesty is always the most reliable, the most direct route to truly attain whatever you seek.

Any attempt to deceive will ultimately end up wasting your precious time. Live the truth of who you are, and it will bring out the best you can be.