Be A Life-Long Learner

Learning To Think For Yourself 

There are three ways we learn ── kinetically (touch and feel), visually (through the eyes) and orally (hearing). 

Each of us has specific preferences and strengths for learning. For instance, some have a better capacity to learn and remember something they read over something they hear. Others learn best kinetically through doing and experiencing. And some learn best simply by watching others perform.

With the advent of the Internet, we all now have access to a vast store of information. And thanks to Google and other search engines, it is also easy to locate facts, figures and basic information on just about any subject or topic.

However, facts, figures and basic information are not knowledge. Knowledge comes from thinking about the implications and possibilities of these facts, figures and pieces of information. Knowledge and learning come from contemplation, analysis and the internalization of the data at hand. This is what makes learning how to learn so important.

It is also why reading books is so important. You need to read what others have thought in order to form your own judgments, opinions and beliefs. You won't get this from Google or lazy Internet searches for facts, data and information. You must dive into books. 

Good authors help put information into context and will help you put information into the context of your own life. As Stephen R. Covey wrote, "An educated conscience impacts every aspect of our lives."

The desire for life-long learning is not sated only by books. Magazines, newsletters, blogs, documentaries, and even some websites are all reservoirs of immense information and  the occasional pearl of wisdom. 

All of these resources will help you learn how to think for yourself, an important skill for those on a Project You Life Journey. 

As Oscar Wilde said, "A man who does not think for himself does not think at all." 

This article is excerpted from our top-selling personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. 

The Road Map to Authentic Happiness

Compassion, Kindness and Giving Are the Keys to True Happiness 

There is a lot of truth in the old proverb "it is better to give than to receive." 

Perhaps receiving is surface and transient happiness, while giving is deeper and more permanent happiness. After all, anyone who shares, smiles and gives hugs receives a greater happiness through giving than their recipients. 

As the Chinese proverb says, "A bit of perfume always clings to the hand that gives the rose."

You have, no doubt, been exposed to the pithy saying "money cannot buy happiness." As the theologian William Barclay wrote, "The one thing that all men need to learn about joy is that joy has nothing to do with material things, or with a man's outward circumstances. It is the simple fact of human experience that a man living in the lap of luxury can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can overflow with joy." Substitute the word "happiness" for the word "joy" and Barclay's words are equally resolute.

Since happiness is truly self generated, it is simply a waste of time and effort to try and make other people happy. This is not to say you should not do things for other people that gives them momentary pleasures and happy memories. Far from it. Rather, it is usually not worth the effort to try and change a truly unhappy person into a happy one. This is something which only they can do.

You are never responsible for their unhappiness, nor should you ever shoulder the guilt for another person's unhappiness. If they want to go through a period of their life being unhappy with their circumstances and all that befalls them, you have no choice but to let them do so (painful as this is when it happens to a loved one).

Remember, only those who search within will find the root causes of their happiness. Likewise, only those who search within will discover the underlying causes of their unhappiness. Your role in such situations is to help people look within themselves, but you cannot do this for them.

The best approach in dealing with chronic or constant unhappiness is with compassion. In fact, as The Dalai Lama says, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

Don't worry. (Be happy!) This is not to suggest that you should not enjoy the pleasures and happy moments that life brings. Nor is this a suggestion that you should never give joy, happiness and pleasures to others. You simply need to be aware that these temporary enjoyments are not the ultimate happiness you (or they) want to experience.

Also, this is not to say that you should never offer comfort or support to other people. In fact, it is the opposite. Through kindness and providing comfort to others you are more likely to discover the deep-seated happiness within you.

How you seek out your own happiness will be, naturally, up to you. 

There is really no road map anyone can provide you, though living the principles of a Project You Life Journey will be a good start. This journey will help you discover the true happiness that dwells within you.

This article is excerpted from the top-selling personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in paperback ($7.89) and Kindle ($6.88) formats. 

True Happiness Comes From Within

Authentic Happiness Dwells Within Each of Us 

Where does true happiness come from? Here are two perspectives:

It is not the level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. Both attitudes are within our power. A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy, and no one can stop him. Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly, rather than hostile. Bertrand Russell

Dr. Martin Seligman, the best-selling author and University of Pennsylvania psychologist, has greatly advanced the thinking on happiness in recent years. In his book Authentic Happiness he shows how happiness can be cultivated by identifying, understanding and augmenting traits we already possess ── such as kindness, originality, humor, optimism, and generosity. He calls these "signature strengths" that can guide individuals to make positive choices that result in more meaningful, and therefore more authentically happy, lives.

Dr. Seligman makes it clear that there is a difference between authentic happiness and the pop culture kind, which tells you, in the beautiful lyrics of Carole King:

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart.

Then people are going to treat you better.

You're going to find, yes you will, that you're beautiful as you feel.

While there is a ring of truth to what King sings, it does not correlate with true happiness. 

Yes, there is nothing wrong with having a positive and happy attitude and showing the world a smile on your face. In fact, such an approach has numerous benefits. However, this merely results in surface happiness, not the deep spiritual kind that comes from living one's values and achieving one's desires.

Happiness that results from life experiences is like a drug. As soon as the effects of one happy incident wears off, you go in search of the next thing that will bring another temporary feeling of enjoyment or being happy.

This is what leads the Charlie Sheens and Tiger Woods of the world astray. Those who cannot find peace and happiness within are doomed to constantly fill their personal enjoyment quotients with on-going, meaningless experiences that keep their happy tanks full.

Pleasure, of course, is a powerful source of motivation. Unfortunately, pleasure does not produce long-lasting change. Rather, it is a disruptive force that builds upon itself and drives our desires to satisfy current (temporary) needs or to simply want to enjoy creature comfort and relaxation, through more short-term pleasures and experiences.

If you cannot find happiness in watching children play in a park, in a beautiful sunrise or in the peace and quiet of a still day, it is unlikely you will find happiness within. 

How you seek out your own happiness will be, naturally, up to you. There is really no road map anyone can provide you, though living the principles of a Project You Life Journey will be a good start. This journey will help you discover the true happiness that dwells within you. 

This article is excerpted from the top-selling personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in Kindle ($6.88) and paperback ($7.89) formats.  

Define Yourself | Know Thyself

Living A Determined Life Starts with Self Awareness and Self Understanding

Know thyself. 

Those words, inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Apollo at Delphi, are probably the most important two-word phrase ever chiseled or written.

Know thyself is a process comprising two critical elements: self awareness and self understanding.

This two-part process is a critical and decisive first step on the Project You Life Journey. Without it, the journey will not only be bumpier and off-centered, but will also feel unnatural, contrived and artificial.

Self awareness is a heightened sense of continuous attention to one's feelings, emotions and thoughts. Self understanding is being aware of your thoughts about your feelings, emotions and beliefs and mindful of the impact these are having on your contemplated, intended or actual actions. When combined and integrated, these elements lead to self definition.

As American actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein wrote, it is critical to "accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself." 

This article is excerpted from our Amazon best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats. 

Self Awareness | Knowing Yourself

Take Time to Pause and Know Who You Truly Are 

Self awareness is not about looking deeply within your internal chamber of secrets and hidden motivations trying to discover "your true self." It's quite the opposite, when done properly.

It should be an open, honest, candid, and on-going self observation of what drives you to take the actions you take, to think the thoughts you think and to feel the emotions that bubble up inside you.

Confucius described the process as: "By three methods we learn wisdom: first by reflection, which is noblest; second by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

People with high levels of self awareness have a clear and definite grasp of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as an elevated sensitivity to observe what motivates, de-motivates, satisfies, delights, annoys, and angers them.

With a solid sense of self awareness, you multiply your predisposition to go after the opportunities that are right for you (by leveraging your strengths, values and inner motivational tactics) and minimize your chances of pursuing activities that are likely to have unsatisfying or potentially harmful results.

There are four parts to the self:  mind, body, heart, and soul (alternatively referred to as mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual).

Your mind never stops racing; never stops talking to you. There are times, of course, when a quiet mind would be an absolute blessing. Unfortunately, unless you excel at meditation this is not to be.

The mind and spirit are in constant battle for your body (and hence for what you probably think of as yourself). The mind tries to "talk" you into doing things with what appear to be "rational arguments." The spirit counteracts with "gut feelings" or emotional outbursts in an attempt to get its way. Neither is always right or wrong.

When you can see yourself as if watching a reality movie of yourself (i.e. not in a dream, but as if removed from your body), this is the perspective of the spirit. As Sri Ramana Maharshi said, "The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards it becomes the ego and all the world."

Very few people seem to pause and consider who they truly are, or could be. Most seem too concerned with projecting a picture of themselves to the world around them, and then working hard to maintain this concocted (and sometimes contrived) image.

Years ago St. Augustine wrote, "People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering." 

This is undoubtedly more true today than it was in his time some 16 centuries ago. And if it is true for you, it need not be any longer. The Project You Life Journey will help you to stop passing yourself by.

This article is excerpted from the top-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. 

Life Is A Journey. Enjoy The Experience.

Living A Determined Life Reveals The Best Within Us 

As you embark upon your own Project You Life Journey, here is a wonderful, motivating thought to keep in mind: some of the best days of your life have not yet happened. These will come when you start Living A Determined Life. 

Now, isn't this a great reason to get your Project You Life Journey underway right away? 

As Marianne Williamson says, "The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best which is within us."

Your attitudes will exert tremendous control over your life. A positive attitude can be a very powerful force driving you toward your dreams and goals along your Project Your Life Journey path. A negative attitude, however, is also a powerful force, one that will work against you as long as it remains in place.

As you embark and continue on your Project You Life Journey, remember to be grateful to the people who assist you on your way, and to those who make you happy. These are the wonderful gardeners in our lives who make our souls blossom. The least we can do is to express our gratitude in return. 

After all, our hearts radiate an electromagnetic field affecting the moods, attitudes, emotions, and feelings of each person we encounter and interact with, whether we are conscious of this or not. As such, our souls would like us to radiate positive, optimistic, helpful, encouraging, and loving vibes to our fellow human beings, so that more of humanity can know and experience greater levels of satisfaction, happiness and contentedness.

And lastly, remember that, in the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." 

As such, the only true judge of your life and the path you take can be yourself.

As you now delve deeper into the core concepts of Living A Determined Life, let your life be a true reflection of all that is beautiful within you, as you leverage these concepts to give birth to the best that is within you. 

This article is partially excerpted from the Amazon best-selling personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available now in paperback and Kindle formats.  

Patience With Ourselves Has Many Benefits

Patience is both a Virtue and a Tool of Personal Success

The Project You Life Journey is a long, continuous one, with a destination set by you and at a pace established by you.

This is not a journey of perfection, but one of nonstop and unremitting improvement. The objective is to aim for a continuous achievement of success milestones that will provide you with daily, weekly and monthly confirmation that you are attaining higher levels of self satisfaction, self-determined happiness and self-defined levels of contentment.

Along this journey you will find times when you have made mistakes or chosen wrong options. That is fine, because doing so increases your ability to learn new things, gain greater insights into yourself and move forward with your life.

Of course, it goes without saying that this journey requires patience….with yourself, with others, and with the circumstances and situations we face.

Perhaps the greatest patience will be required with the self-imposed time deadlines we tend to set for ourselves. We often forget that the universe does not work on the same clock or to the same deadlines as we do. In fact, it usually takes longer to accomplish a specific goal than the time frame we originally set for ourselves. Not meeting our own, arbitrarily set deadlines is not a failure of accomplishment. Rather, it is a failure in setting correct and proper deadlines!

Does it matter if it takes three weeks longer for you to lose the final amount of weight you set as a goal? Not in the bigger picture of your Project You Life Journey it doesn't. Does it matter if it takes several months longer to accomplish your major renovation or hobby project than you set yourself? Not in the bigger picture of your Project You Life Journey it doesn't.

We are so programmed in today's world to establish hard and firm deadlines for ourselves that much of our angst and worries are,  not about accomplishing a certain objective as it is about doing so within a specified time we set for ourselves! Drop the angst and worries about deadlines and your progress toward your goal will become smoother and more fulfilling.

Yes, proper goal setting techniques state that all goals should be time bound. And that's fine, especially in terms of keeping you motivated toward accomplishing a desired goal. But when the pressures of meeting an arbitrary deadline cause an imbalance in your inner peace, or cause your brain to start sending negative messages of failure and unworthiness, it's best to adjust the target date so that you can remain clearly focused on accomplishing your goal.

There's a reason that patience is said to be one of the seven heavenly virtues. And it is certainly one of the tools you will want to bring with you on your Project You Life Journey.

This article is excerpted from the Amazon best-selling personal development and growth book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in Kindle and paperback. 

Taking Responsibility For Your Life's Journey

Accept Personal Responsibility for Setbacks and Successes 

Your life is in your hands. It is up to you to determine your happiness, your satisfaction, your contentment. No one else is in charge. No one else gets the credit. And likewise, no one else is to blame. It is squarely your responsibility. 

In fact, this is at the crux of what we mean Living A Determined Life. 

In fact, as American psychologist Albert Ellis wrote, "The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You can realize that you control your own destiny."

You, and no one else, are responsible for the energy and attitude you bring into every situation, every encounter with other people, and even every room you enter.

As George Bernard Shaw wrote, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them."

It is rather fascinating that the last two letters of the word blame are me. Is this just a coincidence? Or is it an indication that taking responsibility for blame ends with me and not someone or something else? Is it a sign that we should each focus blame and responsibility for our circumstances first on ourselves ("me"), rather than assigned and delegated to others, outside circumstances, or factors beyond our control? It is something worth thinking about.

Plus, when you blame others you give up your power to grow.  You give up the power to learn from mistakes. You give up your power to learn new things. And you give up the power to understand your own decision-making process.

Your Project You Life Journey will be made easier when you learn to accept personal responsibility for failures and setbacks, and when you see each and every failure or setback as a learning experience. The importance of this is illustrated by these perspectives:

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. ~Nikki Giovanni, American poet

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying he is wiser today than he was yesterday. ~Alexander Pope, English poet

Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. ~Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich

A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame someone else. ~John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist

When you encounter pain, frustration, disappointment and all of the other emotions related to unfulfilled desires and delayed dream achievement, realize that these are signals that something in your life needs to change. 

And most important, understand that these signals are also telling you that you are responsible for making the required changes that will either place you back onto your correct Project You Life Journey path or will speed your progress on your chosen path.

This article is excerpted from the Amazon best-selling personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in Kindle and paperback formats. 

Gratitude Produces The Most Contented and Happiest People

Being Grateful Increases Personal Peace and Satisfaction 

It is interesting to observe that the most contented and happiest people are those who fully embrace both their good and bad experiences. Such people know and understand that the hurdles, problems and even the awful events they have experienced were all important and crucial aspects of their personal journeys.

As spiritual beings temporarily trapped in the human form our purpose in this life is to experience what is needed for our spirits, the spirits of others, and indeed the universe, to grow and expand. 

At different points in our respective life journeys, each of these spiritual needs will be experienced and fulfilled (but not always in ways that our mental and emotional selves desire).

It is important to understand that your life experiences are for your spiritual growth, not your human, mental, or emotional growth. 

When you fully grasp this concept, it is a whole lot easier to have gratitude for everything life throws at you, rather than just the things, events and people your human aspect considers good.

At a macro level the more you are honestly and deeply grateful for: a) being alive, and b) the experiences you have at each particular point along your own path, then the more satisfied and at peace you will be when it is time for you to pass beyond this particular world. 

This article is partially excerpted from the Amazon best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life. Get your copy now in Kindle or paperback format at Amazon. 

Make 2016 Your Personal Year of Gratitude

Be Truly Appreciative and Thankful Has Many Benefits 

Throughout the ages, philosophers, thinkers, gurus, sages, and leaders of every spiritual and religious tradition have taught that the cultivation of gratitude is a key to experiencing deeper levels of fulfillment, self esteem, well being and authentic happiness on an individual level.

Gratitude has also long been seen as necessary for creating a more robust, friendly, co-operative society on a tribal or collective level.

In fact, some thinkers have put gratitude at the top of their attitude lists, including these two:

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others. ~Marcus Cicero

Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life changing. ~Zig Ziglar

Whether it is first or not, gratitude will certainly unlock your character and create more fullness in your life.

Gratitude, from a Project You Life Journey approach, takes place on two levels: 

a) the macro view of being thankful for the opportunity of life, and 

b) at the micro, day-to-day dealings with people.

Gratitude is not simply being thankful or feeling blessed for the positive events in your life and for the range of happy and satisfied emotions you feel. 

Rather, it is about being truly appreciative and thankful for being given the opportunity to experience this world as a living, breathing, thinking, and feeling sentient being.

As we are only mid-way into January, it's not too late for all of us to make a commitment to make 2016 your Year of Gratitude. Feel free to share your ideas on how to do this in the comments section below. (We'll be most grateful!) 

This article is partially excerpted from the Amazon best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in paperback and Kindle formats. 

Monitoring Your Determined Life Journey

Creating Your Weekly Solitude Hour

As the first weekend of 2016 comes to a close, many people are working on their New Year's Resolutions and other lists of goals and objectives for this brand new year. 

Others may be thinking longer-term, and creating their Project You Life Journey paths for the next 3-5 years, or perhaps even longer.

Either way, once you have outlined your goals and action plans, do not cast these in stone or think that they cannot be modified or amended. 

As unforeseen opportunities and unexpected hurdles come your way, your path will need to be occasionally (and sometimes frequently) altered and revised.

A person who rigidly sticks to an initial Project You Life Journey road map is likely to miss out on the benefits for self development and growth that result from such unplanned opportunities. For instance, an unexpected job opportunity in another location or country might offer both tremendous career advancement and personal development opportunities. To reject the job offer solely because it is not in one's road map would be foolish (although rejecting it for other reasons would be valid).

Similarly, a person may find it a struggle to surmount obstacles blocking their path. The wrong approach would be to abandon their goals simply because their road map dictates only one direction to proceed. As an example, if someone is unsuccessful at auditioning for a role in a community play, they could see this as a key obstacle. On the other hand, if they volunteer to be the stage manager for the production, they can still retain some involvement in the play, enabling them to perhaps learn more about the craft of acting through listening to the instructions of the director and watching more skillful actors rehearse and perform.

Perhaps the best methodology for monitoring your Project You Life Journey progress is to allocate time on a biweekly or weekly basis for a personal Solitude Hour. 

This would be a dedicated time of reflection devoted strictly to monitoring your Project You Life Journey.

In effect, your Solitude Hour would be an internal conversation with your spirit, doing a "gut check" on your progress and validating how well your actions, activities, thoughts, emotions, and feelings in the intervening time period have been aligned with both your path and your long-term dreams, hopes, desires and goals. 

All thoughts not associated with your Project Your Life Journey should be pushed aside during your Solitude Hour.

You should consider your Solitude Hour to be a regular appointment with your soul, a regularly scheduled chat session that has greater importance than any other engagement or meeting on your calendar. 

And speaking of being scheduled, put your Solitude Hour onto your schedule, just like any other appointment or call you schedule. Let nothing interfere with it. This is YOUR TIME for YOU. Hence block your schedule accordingly. 

Whatever your plans or goals are for this new year, we hope that you will begin to Live A Determined Life and have your best year ever. 

This article is partially excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Evaluating Your Life Satisfaction

Creating Your Determined Life Road Map 

There are seven aspects to a Project You Life (Your Personal Life, Your Professional Life, Your Family Life, Your Health and Fitness Life, Your Emotional and Mental Health Life, Your Spiritual Life, and Your Interconnected Life). 

You may not know the details of each of these seven core life aspects until you have read our book Project You: Living A Determined Life. So for know just use your intuition on what these seven aspects of life mean to you.

Rate how satisfied you are with each of these seven life aspects on the following scale using your own preconceived notions of what these aspects entail:

7 -- Highly Satisfied

6 -- Fairly or Moderately Satisfied

5 -- Satisfied

4 -- Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied

3 -- Dissatisfied

2 -- Fairly or Moderately Dissatisfied

1 -- Highly Dissatisfied

Next, review the vision you previously created (see previous blog post on Planning Your Determined Life Journey). 

Evaluate whether your vision incorporates all seven elements of a Project You Life. If any are missing, ask yourself why. Then decide whether the missing element or elements should be added to your overall vision and how.

After you have reviewed your vision for missing elements, assess the gaps between your vision and your current situation. Key areas to identify include:

Which gaps are the most important?

Which gaps will be critical for you to close?

Which gaps should be given priority? Why?

Which gaps will require assistance from others to close?

You are now ready to create a road map from your current situation to your desired state. Defining some parts of your path will come easy. Others will require more thought and effort. It is best not to shortchange yourself by trying to create your path too quickly.

As you write down your draft ideas on how to create your path, be sensitive to how your gut and heart feel as you record each one. This will be your spirit communicating with you and giving you an indication as to how aligned each option is to your spiritual needs. 

For the next three days, take 30-60 minutes in solitude to continue your reflection and thinking. What emotions are you feeling about your Determined Life Road Map? How strong are these feelings? Remember, the stronger the feelings, the more certain you can be that you are embarking on the right path and journey for you. 

This article is partially excerpted from the best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon. 

Thinking About Your Life's Purpose

Defining and Describing Your Life's Purpose 

Buddha is one individual who did give the purpose of life a great deal of thought. He concluded, "Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it." 

Note how this instruction from Buddha can be individually interpreted and actioned by each of us. Rather than proclaiming a universal purpose, goal or deed applicable to all, this decree dictates that every individual on earth has his or her own unique purpose. 

These thoughts are at the heart of the Project You Life Journey. Each of us has our own journey to make, one that is hopefully aligned with our true life purpose. Only you can determine your own life purpose, and therefore only you can determine the journey you take as a sentient being. 

When your journey is not in alignment with your life's purpose, your spirit is not at ease and the repercussions are felt emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Typical symptoms are anxiety, fear, angst, indecisiveness, low energy, emotional outbursts, and vengeful thinking.

The opposite of this, when you are solidly in tune and on track with your life's purpose, is called flow. Everything seems easier to do, there is an abundance of synchronicity in your life, and optimism and positive people far outweigh pessimism and negative people. As Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the famed Chicken Soup for the Soul series wrote, "When you have a clear purpose, you won't have time for negativity."

How you define or describe your life's purpose is critical for creating A Determined Life. In essence, A Determined Life is one that seeks to deliver upon your life's purpose. 

Note that we didn't say "achieve" your life's purpose, for the concept here is that your life's purpose is not a destination, but rather a journey you continue until your final breath (or into the hereafter if you believe you are a spiritual being having a human experience here on earth).

But even if you do not believe in a life or universe after death and accept the scientific theory that this life was randomly created as a result of a cosmic big bang, this does not prevent you from conceptualizing your own life's purpose, nor from establishing your own Determined Life journey.

Not Living A Determined Life results in a suboptimal existence. It means falling short of your potential and not living in sync with your life's purpose, or even becoming aware of your life's true purpose. As theologist Ben Herbster said, "The greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become."

Not many people fully grasp their life's purpose, for the simple reason that few ever invest sufficient time to deeply understand themselves and their purpose for being in this world at a particular time and place. Regularly thinking about your life's purpose, however, is a highly recommended activity. This is the only way to ensure your life's journey is aligned with your true life purpose. 

One who has done so is poet Maya Angelou, who says, "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." 

This article is partially excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. 

Finding Your Life's Purpose

Living A Determined Life Helps Find Your Life's Purpose 

The purpose of our lives is to give birth 

to the best which is within us.

Marianne Williamson

A life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing. Every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves "This day let me make a sound beginning, for what I have hitherto done is naught!"

Thomas à Kepmis

Your life's purpose has two fundamental components ── humanistic and spiritual. Sometimes these two are aligned, and sometimes they are in battle with one another for your focus and commitment. 

When they are aligned,  personal, family and career life will be in sync with one's spiritual needs. When they are not aligned, one's spiritual purpose will need to be fulfilled outside vocational, family or personal activities. In some situations people use their vocation and careers simply as a means to provide sufficient financial resources, time and security to pursue their life's purpose elsewhere.

If you are truly lucky, your spiritual purpose will be fulfilled through the love you share with another person. When you find a soul mate who loves you in return your spirit overcomes all the misdemeanors performed by your human side. 

This soul mate need not be a lover, and can even be one's child, friend, parent, spiritual guide, or anyone else where a deep connection at the soul level is made and maintained.

Your life's purpose is connected most importantly to your soul. Hence, your life's purpose is intertwined and linked to the kindness and comfort you provide to others. 

We may never know, in this lifetime, what our true purpose is. Probably only a small percentage of people ever do ── mostly, of course, because only a tiny percentage of people actually give this any thought, unlike those who embark on a Project You Life Journey path. 

This article is excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Be Inspired to Be What You Know You Could Be

Allow Yourself to Have a Better Life

One of the greatest breakthroughs you will experience in the Project You Life Journey self discovery process occurs when you realize how easy it is to learn whatever you need to know to embark upon and remain on the path you choose. 

Information today is so readily available and easily accessible through the Internet. Want to learn more about self motivation? How about gaining a better understanding of your emotions and those of others?

Want to awaken your spiritual side by reading the thoughts and ideas of those who have also pondered the questions you ask yourself? Why do people believe in a God or gods? How about those who do not believe in a God or gods, what do they believe?

All this and more is available for your study, contemplation, and internalization. 

The poet R. W. Emerson wrote in the 19th century, "Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." Well, for you that person is you! 

There is no need to seek answers or motivation from others. The answers to the critical questions regarding your life are within you. Only you know what makes your soul and heart feel is right for you. You are the only listener to your inner voice. The key is to ask the right questions of your inner voice, and to verify the answers received with your heart and spirit.

This is by far the biggest discovery of the Project You Life Journey process ── the answers you seek about yourself, your life, your life's purpose, and how to attain authentic satisfaction and happiness are within.

People use various tools to find these answers, ranging from listening to motivational speakers to reading self-help books, and from seeking the counsel of teachers and religious leaders to discussions with family members and friends. But at the end of the day the true answers for you must bubble up from within yourself. And the specific answers and actions you derive from your contemplation and reflection will differ, at least slightly, from the answers and actions that others find suit them best.

Most important, as sentient beings living a human experience, we each owe it to ourselves to take this journey of discovery into ourselves. As Richard Bach, author of several insightful books, including Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Bridge Across Forever, wrote, "No matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves and allow ourselves to have it."

Discovering the personal relevance of Bach's comments is one of the first steps toward creating A Determined Life. 

This article is partially excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. 

Create a New Direction, New Journey for Yourself

The Joy of Self Discovery

We have been writing in the last few blog posts about knowing yourself and defining yourself. These are the key steps in what we call the Self Discovery phase of a Project You Life Journey. 

This exciting and highly revealing  self discovery phase of the Project Life Journey is immensely self-rewarding. This is because one of the best discoveries you will ever make in your life is uncovering the great potential of your mind.

Your mind has the potential and capacity to lead you on this journey. And, with sufficient reflection, your mind can entice your spirit to collaborate in building the motivation, fortitude and momentum for you to continue on this journey through bumps, hurdles and annoying obstacles.

The reason your spirit is willing to cooperate is because it understands discovering your life's purpose is one of the core reasons for your individual human existence and experience. It is why, when you pause to reflect and contemplate the questions how well do I know myself? and why do I feel that I am not on the most optimal journey for myself? that you instinctively know the validity and relevance to you of both these questions. For, as the Rwandan proverb states, "You can out-distance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you."

This joining of your human form (the mind) and your infinite soul (your spiritual nature) is a powerful combination of "yin and yang" that unearths the true nature of your very self.

A Project You Life Journey can be embarked upon at any stage of your life, no matter your age, health, family status, or socio-economic situation. You can be the CEO of a multinational company or a person incarcerated in prison for past deeds. You can be a single mom struggling to make ends meet or a pillar of your community actively engaged in the most important issues impacting where you live.

While none of us can ever go back and start a new beginning, or change any aspect of the past, the beauty of this process is that each of us at any time can decide to create a new direction, a new journey and a new ending for our lives.

And it is not just a new ending you are after, but equally important (in fact more so for many people) is the creation of a new journey. After all, your personal growth, pleasure and happiness will come more from the journey you take than the final destination you reach.

This article is excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon. 

What is a Project You Life?

Realizing More of Our Individual Potential

A core component of a Project You Life is being involved in something bigger than yourself. This permeates and passes through all of the seven life elements. 

The reason this is a core component is that our best hopes for a better world, and a richer human experience for more people, lies in the personal development and growth of each of us.

It has been postulated that our reason for being is to give meaning to life. 

In a Project You Life sense, that meaning is to actualize more of our individual potential, then combine such higher realities into a collaborative force for humanity and the human experience, spiritual understanding and the collective spirit of the universe.

The great tragedy of the human experience is not that there are evil people in the world doing terrible and selfish things. 

Rather, the biggest tragedy is that most people live an existence that is far removed from their greatest possible intensity and passionate levels. Their lives are lived mostly to satisfy the plans and desires of others, and they commonly feel that they have insufficient control over their respective life journeys. 

The opposite of this is the leading and living of A Determined Life. 

A purposeful, self determined, meaningful life can be lived. 

It takes continuous self examination, introspection, a chosen path, determination, self motivation, and a willingness to accept responsibility for the outcomes resulting from your actions, thoughts and emotions. But it can be done.

And should you decide to embark upon the Project You Life Journey, rest assured that you will soon have answers to the two most intriguing questions anyone can ask you:

Are you truly alive?

What are you doing with your life? 

This article is partially excerpted from Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon.