They say the longest journey begins with a single step. I must disagree. Before we take that first step we must summon reason and clarity to where our journey is to take us, and find the courage to leave our comfort zone in place of change. Many of us fear change, for it is the mystery of the unknown that has condemned many of us to a life of mediocrity and discontent. The journey must start from within one's own heart and their desire must be driven by their faith that something better awaits them at the end of their journey and it is the journey itself that will bring them this new passion in their lives. From deep within their hearts to the longing in their souls is a wonderful place where our childhood dreams still dwell. It is in this wonderful state of being that we find our courage, our desire and our lust to live life.

A journey in life is not about running away from our problems. It is a statement of discontent and a conscious conviction that we deserve better and nothing can stop us from pursuing a better and significantly more rewarding life. We must believe that we were not put on this Earth to suffer and constantly struggle. We must believe that not only were we placed here to live an abundant life, but that we will not settle for anything less than complete happiness and peace. Finding a long lost zest for life and loving ourselves enough to believe that we deserve all the love and joy that life has been longing to give us.

We must rid ourselves of all negative thoughts, memories of our short fallings of the past, and any one or anything that may try to stand in our way and discourage us. Just as this is a new journey it becomes our only journey now. We leave the past behind and see everything leading up to this point as learning experiences and from our past we find a new appreciation of even the smallest of blessings on our new journey. Our gratitude fills our souls with new hope and our hearts begin to cherish each moment and every breath. We are alive again, and we've only just begun!

The journey begins with a dream of true freedom. We do not fear failure but we welcome this new adventure with open arms and a true belief in ourselves and the wonderful discoveries that await us. We no longer define our lives by our old roles as employees, husbands, wives, parents or any other label. We are individuals with our own dreams and perception of our lives and the life around us. Our relationship with ourselves is a separate yet co-existing journey with those around us. We are no longer controlled by our emotions, we are changing our perception of the world and of ourselves and as that process matures, our emotions are no longer dictated by events beyond our control. We learn to see the things in life that our truly important and let go of all negativity, even to the point of avoiding all negativity so as not to surrender our serenity and positive energy to it. Our journey will be filled with positive thoughts, attitudes, and a wonderful energy that will radiate for all to enjoy and many will benefit from. This is a beautiful gift and it's yours for the taking.

Since we were children our thoughts and perceptions of the external world have programmed us into believing that the more toys we have the more successful we are. This pattern of thought grows with us and our standards as adults are ones that control our thoughts on how we see our selves. Many of us fall short of our confidence when we place our self worth and success on what we have physically acquired and where we are as far as our careers. We measure our success up against the success of others and we live angry discontented lives with low self-esteem and eventually surrender to the notion that this is my life and it's never going to change for the better. We still perceive our success to be measured by how many toys we have; the car we drive, the house we live in, our job titles and so on.

The good news is that we can free our selves from the rules of the external world where people live their lives with the belief that it all comes down to the survival of the fittest. A person's life is not measured by what they've accumulated, because material possessions can never guarantee peace or happiness to anyone and rarely will. To live a successful life it must be done from within ones self; a loving heart, a peaceful mind and service to others. When we can step back and take a look at our selves and who we are inside, far from the material matrix we've been trapped in our whole lives, then we can honestly and very clearly see what is really important in life and come to this beautiful peace that has lived within us from the beginning. Let go of the past and learn to focus on the blessings of today and the wonderful promises of tomorrow. May you find your true self and realize just how special you truly are. Your journey awaits, enjoy the ride.

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