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NEWS: It’s Time to Live Awake

It’s Time to Live Awake

Don’t put your life on hold – seize your potential today!

-Rex Crain

 

We’re all guilty of hearing the alarm go off, telling us it’s time to get out of bed, but, instead of getting up, we hit the snooze button and fall back asleep. We end up waking up later and have to rush to our appointments, running behind, wishing we would have woken up earlier to get ahead in our day.

For many of us, this frantic rush to catch up has become a lifestyle. We’ve allowed ourselves to be rocked to sleep by routine, disappointment, and challenge. We’ve become accustomed to hitting the snooze button; saying, in essence, “I’ll get up later.” “Later” is the theme of every person who has put their life on hold.

Like many people, I’ve found it easy to slip into “autopilot” in my life. But no matter where you’ve been, or where in life you currently find yourself, it’s never too late to wake up and reclaim the life you were meant to live; the life where you take advantage of the relationships, skills, opportunities, and body you have right where you are.

Opportunities for the quality of life we desire and deserve often become blurred by the concerns and challenges of everyday life. Yet it’s not what happens to us, but in us that determines the quality of our life.

To wake up and live awake, we must access the single force that shapes our lives—a force that can result in either good or bad, joy or sorrow, prosperity or poverty, companionship or solitude, a long life or an early death. What power do we have that can change things right now? It’s the power of choice.

During the last 16 years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to millions of people from all walks of life. I’ve seen that it’s our decisions—not conditions—that determine the quality of our lives.

Take a look at your own life. Are you where you want to be? Are you as healthy and happy in your relationships as you want to be? If things are going well, are you looking for new ways to take advantage of your life and go to the next level?

Where we are today is because of the decisions we have made or failed to make in the past. These decisions include what to believe, what to focus on, where to place priorities, and what to do. For example, if your relationships have suffered because of an over-commitment to work, what will you do about it now? Will you realign your priorities or allow things to continue the way they are?

We all face challenges that we can’t control, whether it’s the economy, the environment, or having someone we love leave us. We can allow the stress of these events to overwhelm us and send us to a place of disappointment and defeat; or we can rise up and transform our lives by making new committed decisions. No matter what we have experienced in the past, our history is not our destiny. We have the power to make new decisions today, and different decisions will result in different outcomes.

Decide today how you will live the next three years of your life. Decisions really make a difference in your life. It’s smart to decide what results you’re committed to. Ask yourself how these results will improve and transform your life. It’s equally important to decide what kind of person you’re committed to becoming. Living awake means being clear about who you must be.

Will you stay asleep and accept life as it is, or will you wake up and live your life on the highest level? Achieving that higher level means taking a few key steps:

  • See your life as it is, but not worse than it is. If you want to be effective in all aspects of your life, you’ve got to be honest with your current reality. An honest appraisal of the state of your life is the first key to living your life fully awake. See whatever it is that you want to see changed—your body, relationships, career—as it is, but don’t make it worse than it is. When you make it worse than it is, you’ll find it easy to give yourself an excuse not to try. As humans, we often adopt limiting beliefs about who we are and what we are capable of. Because we did not succeed in areas in our past, we start to believe we won’t be able to succeed in the future. Seeing our lives as worse than they really are can cause us to focus on being “realistic,” because of the fear of another let down or disappointment. If we are not careful, that fear can cause us to hesitate or not give our all. Consequently, our results are limited. We have all talked ourselves out of trying new action in our relationships, health, and businesses by magnifying our challenges and past failures. Don’t allow thoughts and attitudes of defeat and mediocrity to condemn you to an unrewarding life. You may be a product of your past, but the good news is, you don’t have to live as a prisoner of the past. You can have a new beginning today right where you are.
  • See your life better than it is. Are you a person of vision or a person of chance? While sight is the function of your eyes, vision if a function of your heart. Vision is the ability to see the promise and desired outcomes in spite of current challenges. It’s a mental picture of a future state. Vision is the tool that ignites new passion in you and gives purpose to your life. Hellen Keller said: “What’s worse than being born blind? Having sight with no vision.” Your vision is your future! The future of your health, business, and relationships will be what you envision them to be from this moment forward. Don’t just see things the way they are, dream, imagine and get a view of the world you want to live in. What’s one of your aspirations and goals you want to see happen? Maybe it’s a dream you’ve forgotten or have begun to relinquish because of past disappointment. If that vision and dream were alive today, what would your life be like? You were made in the image of God. God is a dreamer. It’s time to envision the life you want to live—the relationships, business, and body you want to have. Take 10 minutes every day for the next 10 days and imagine what your life can be. Then find a journal or a place where you can write down your answers. I know you will be amazed at what you discover. Remember all things are possible for him who believes.
  • Seize your life by making it the way you see it. At some point you have to take action; not just any action, but radical, focused action. Think of the benefits to be gained if you took action toward the things that mattered the most to you right now. You would feel more enjoyment of life; you would have stronger relationships with better communication; your body would be healthier body; you would have a closer relationship with God. For you to get new results, you must take new actions. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome or result. What actions could you take today to create new momentum in your personal and private life that would shape your destiny? Pause for a moment and write down three actions that you need to take that you have been putting off. Maybe you need to engage in business activities that will create a better future for you and your family; maybe you need to take control of your health and relationships by becoming a consistent consumer of the MonaVie products; maybe you need to relationally communicate with someone you need to reconnect with who is important to you.

What is the beginning of all action? What ultimately determines who we become and where we go in life? The answer is our decisions. Moments of decision shape your destiny. More than anything else, we must view our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, as the power that determines our destiny. What far reaching effects could be set in motion by raising the standards you hold for your life and making a true committed decision to live up to them today? Let this moment be the one where you decide, “I’m going wake up the big life I have been sleeping through and I will put my potential to work. I will make the rest of my life the best of my life.”