Entry 06
If you’re older, start your life over again
Transformation isn’t something you do once, and it’s done. It’s a lifestyle.
Most people never consider a lifetime of exploration and new experiences an option.
They stay the same and call it consistency.
They believed in their twenties picking a job was for life.
The next step was to pick a partner and purchase the white picket fence.
They think retirement will bring freedom and realize quickly they’re bored.
They hold membership to generational religions and political parties without question.
They believe these choices are their own and hold tightly to the identity it gives them.
Most people silently long for something more because deep inside they feel anxiety and fear of reaching the end of life with regret.
Many hospice nurses share their dying patients’ words as they’re taking their last breath. It’s not a fear of dying that haunts them, it’s the regret they didn’t follow their heart.
Instead, they let the fear of judgement steer their course.
We live in a culture where being an outlier, a maverick, a person who refuses to fit inside a societal structured box is rare. Those who do pursue their desires are not thought of as normal.
Society has been conditioned to live inside carefully crafted boxes to make us controllable. Inside each box is a rulebook to follow making us good, little robots who do as we’re told without question.
I’m going to share with you a different perspective to living the life you desire and how this benefits the whole of humanity.
How to start
You’ve put off living the life of your dreams because you thought there was plenty of time and you’d get to it once the kids were grown, you retired or didn’t feel the pressure of working another twenty years and here you are, wondering where the time went.
That’s fine, our society is built for that, however, you don’t have to be a slave to the system anymore.
No need to regret not starting sooner, this is about not having the regret in the future you didn’t try.
This isn’t a one size fits all roadmap leading to what you should be doing. I’m sharing a first step I used which completely changed my life quickly once I made the decision to do so.
The good news -
You no longer live in a world where the golden years must be plagued by aches and pains, sitting alone in a chair watching game show network and the only socializing you do is an after-church potluck. If that’s your choice of lifestyle, stop reading now, this material isn’t for you.
The bad news -
You will have to be extremely open to new information and be disciplined to follow through. Remember discipline isn’t punishment, it’s doing what needs to be done. Most of the time people see something someone else has done and try to copy it. This material is to get you honest with yourself about what you want and not live a copy-pasted life.
This is a beginning, not a complete transformative experience, but you need to start.
To begin you’re going to do what you did automatically as a child.
Use your imagination.
This is a disciplined practice used before you want to create something new.
Take time to be alone with yourself. You’re going to imagine how your life will look and feel if you changed that one thing you’ve been putting off until later.
It’s later.
You are beginning, this isn’t going to make you into a new person overnight and change everything all at once, but it will get you from stuck to moving in the right direction.
This is how to do the imagination exercise
Pick the one thing you already know needs to change for you to feel more freedom and happiness. It’s the thing collecting dust on the shelf but you long to take it down and get it done.
This one thing could be getting in better physical condition; it could be cutting out a certain habitual Friday night meal that leaves you lethargic and bloated all weekend. You may want to stop nagging your spouse about their dirty socks on the floor or write the book you’ve procrastinated. It doesn’t matter, pick the thing.
Create a comfortable place where you feel relaxed and calm. You already have a favorite spot where you feel at ease and happy just by being there. A favorite corner chair, in front of a fireplace or out on the back patio.
Shut off technology.
Get comfortable, close your eyes and imagine. Don’t hold back, it’s your imagination and it’s the first step in creating anything. Imagine you already have the one thing; whatever it is. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s your thing.
Do this until you can see it. Imagine it in detail. Look at all the ways it will affect every aspect of your life including if friends or family will judge you for it. Doesn’t matter, just imagine how it will all look and feel. Remember, it’s your life and your friends and family get to choose how to live theirs.
Be disciplined to do this for as long as it takes whether it’s two days or two weeks. This is about your life, starting over by transforming and not having the regret of, “if only” or “I should have” or “I wish I would have tried.”
This IS NOT about being perfect. You are human. The point I want to drill into your head is regret comes from NOT TRYING AT ALL. Making mistakes, falling down and getting back up, restarting as many times as necessary are all part of this experience and it’s beautiful. You will make mistakes as you experiment with new things and that is perfect.
Become really comfortable with being bad at first when trying new things.
This is what most people miss when it comes to the imagination exercise:
Sometimes when you do the imagination exercise properly, you realize what you thought you wanted isn’t really what you want anymore.
If this is what you find, great. You can cross that off the list of desires and start from scratch with something new.
Point is this, you have to start with something to work on to transform into the person you want to be, doing what you want to do or forget you ever read this.
One final and important point
Nobody, including me, can tell you what to want, what you should want or the precise step by step formula to get there.
They (me) aren’t in your situation.
They (me) haven’t lived your experiences.
They (me) aren’t on your life path and journey.
I can guide you into processes and exercises that worked for me, however, you can’t escape the need to experiment, test and repeat to create the habits, rituals and practices that work for you.
Here’s the fun part: These can change as you do. Transformation is lifestyle. When you become the confident creator of your life, upleveling requires greater habits, experimentation and challenging your potential.
This is what works for everyone
What works for everyone is what I call magic. I don’t mean hexing your enemy, mixing potions of poison or doing card tricks.
As a human capable of creating a life that you love, there are tools that are priceless to help make you successful. One of the tools is learning how to use the imagination. It’s magic.
You’ve already learned a beginner friendly way to start using yours.
No voodoo dolls, no cauldrons and nothing dark or scary.
The magic I teach changes you, then your environment changes.
It’s about learning how to think, feel and act according to who you truly are.
Regardless of wanting to learn more or not, use the imagination exercise to begin your transformative journey.
I wish you the best adventure of your life during the golden years and remember it’s never too late to be remarkable.
How being true to yourself helps the whole of humanity
Currently, you can’t help but notice the world is becoming a chaotic mess with people pointing their finger at everyone else who they claim is the cause for their misery.
The truth is this: if every person would clean their own front porch instead of complaining about the dirt on other people’s this world would be better.
Self-responsibility is the key.
People seem to think being responsible is paying your light bill on time.
If individuals would take care of themselves, be responsible for their own circumstances the collective would benefit. One person turns into two, which then turns into a hundred, then a thousand and then a million.
This is how you benefit the whole of humanity and at the same time live a happy, fulfilled, adventurous life without regrets.
Yes, it takes work to discover who you truly are, what you really want and live out that magical version.
It’s worth it.
