CHAPTER 1
Are You Satisfied?
Ask yourself this question: "If I knew that I'd die tomorrow, would Ibe satisfied with my life?" Many people are not satisfied. They mightbe resigned, or they might say, "Considering the circumstances, I havedone well." However, they could not say they are satisfied or fulfilled.They may rant and rave about what is wrong with their lives andthe world, or at the other extreme, they may not be able to identifyanything—they're just blank. Remember when you were young, beforeyou had responsibilities. What was it you wanted to do in life? Whatdid you want to be? What made you special? You may wonder wherethose dreams went—where is that special person? Does it seem thatthe person who had those dreams and special qualities has somehowdisappeared or been obscured over the years?
How do you uncover that special person again and get somesatisfaction and fulfilment from the rest of your life? In its most simpleand fundamental form, the path out of your undesirable situation is:change your mind.
This and other pieces of distilled wisdom are found throughouthistory in a variety of philosophies, literature, and religions. If you canfully understand and apply the above statement, that's great, and youwill probably not bother reading on. However, I suspect that most ofus have to work on somewhat less refined and more bulky materialbefore we can understand the full meaning of that simple three-wordstatement.
Now despite it being obvious, let's point out something: you aregoing to die.
Read that line carefully.
Now read it again.
Get this into your brain. You may have beliefs that involve acontinuing spirit or soul or going to a heaven, but it is absolutelyguaranteed that one day, your body will cease to function. Your deathmay be many years away, but one day, you will not see tomorrow. Evenas you read this, it may be tomorrow. This statement may strike fear intoyou, but that is not its intention. It simply points out that your time islimited, and you cannot just drift along, hoping that life will get betterwithout you doing anything about it. So what are you going to do today?When I asked myself this question, my answer was "Be me, and live!"
To do that, I had to cut the rubbish, stop hanging on to illusions ofsecurity, and find out who I really was. Now you can begin.
Remember—be You and live.
CHAPTER 2
In the Box
Boundaries
We all live within boundaries set by our environments—physical,cultural, communal, and individual mental landscapes. For example, ourphysical environment is constrained by the law of gravity. It always pullsus toward the earth and limits our movement—like how high we canjump. That is a boundary. Our bodies impose many boundaries, suchas climate tolerance, whether we can bear children, or the maximumage we could possibly live to.
Your own culture dictates what is acceptable in your daily behaviour:American, European, African, or Asian; West, East, North, or South;religion; gender etc. Following are some examples:
• Each culture has an acceptable dress code.
• Men may be expected to hunt (or work) and women to stay home.
• Queue jumping is severely frowned upon by the English.
Each society (country, state, province, or shire) has laws that itspeople follow. More personally, our individual genetics, family history,and life events add another set of boundaries onto our behaviours.Following are some examples:
• Your parents' genes may predispose you to a particulardisease—a limit on your health or physical capabilities.
• War, natural disaster, or financial ruin may have traumatizedyour ancestors. Their thinking and attitudes changed and...
