What I'd like for you to do right now, I want you to think about your dream, think
about your dream right now and envision it. I don't know what that dream is that
you have. I don't care how far-fetched it might appear to be. I don't care how
disappointing it might have been as you've been working toward that dream
but here's what I know. That that dream that you're holding in your mind, that
it's possible. See sometimes we can't say I can do that but what we can say, that
it's possible. That I could have my dream as we run toward it, as we work on it day
in and day out and most people don't work on their dreams, why? They stop
growing, they stop working on themselves, they stop stretching, they stop pushing
themselves. These are not risk-takers. Most people have done all that they're
ever going to do. They raise the family, they earn a living and then they die.
But people who are running toward their dreams, life has a special kind of
meaning. That in the process of working on your dreams, you are going to incur a
lot of disappointment, a lot of failure, a lot of pain, a lot of setbacks, a lot of
defeats but in a process of doing that you will discover some things about
yourself that you don't know right now. What you'll realize is, that you're more
powerful than you could ever begin to imagine. Align yourself with people that
can encourage you. People that can empower you, people that you can learn
from, people that you can grow from, look at your life, look at where you want to
go, don't worry about your circumstances don't worry about your age. See it's time
now. If you want to make this your decade you've got to start saying yes to your
life. You've got to start saying yes to your dreams, yes to your unfolding future
yes to your potential, why not? The future is unfolding for you right
now, the future is unlimited for you right now, no one knows where you can go.
No one knows what you're capable of, or what's possible for you. We have the power
to change our personal history, changing the direction of our lives, changing our
thoughts, changing where we want to go exploring new horizons. So as you begin to
look at this decade and affirming that this is your decade, as you set goals
that will make you stretch, that will bring out the best in you, as you begin
to remove the negative toxic people from your life, as you decide to take some
chances in life and that's one of the things that's very important. This God said
if you're not willing to risk, you cannot grow and if you cannot grow, you cannot
become your best and if you cannot become your best, you cannot be happy
and if you can't be happy, then what else is there?
When you're working on a dream at some point in time a transition takes place
and the transition is, is what you're becoming in pursuit of the dream because
even if you don't get the dream, you become such a strong and powerful person
it will so change your life. You can look at something else and say well I think
I'll go do this then because you've now developed yourself in such confidence, in
such competence in how to deal in the arena of life that you can move into
another area and not miss a beat. Once you begin to discover who you are then
you really realize how you have been given authority and dominion over
everything on the face of the earth including all the dimensions of your
life but you can only do that through the struggle of life and most people
avoid the struggle. Most people go through life avoiding pain and when you
go through life like that, something in you dies. Something in you that you never
activated is lying dormant in there. That you never get a chance to call on
because you have not challenged yourself. Somebody said the land of familiarity
belongs to the dead. That most people like to feel like they are king in the
area of their comfort zone. They only want to do those things that they know
how to do well. Osborne said 'unless you attempt to do something beyond that
which you've already mastered, you will never grow.' There's no saying judge a man
not by what he does but by that that he doesn't have to do and to judge the
true quality of a man is what do you do when nobody's looking. See there's some
good out there for you in the universe that has your name on it
and nobody can get your good. It has your name on it. They can't take your stuff
it's your stuff so when you know that, when you know that whatever you're
seeking is also seeking you, you don't worry.
You don't run scared, you don't think somebody's going to take it from you, you
listen to your inner voice and you always take the high road. There will
be the tendency, the natural inclination to take the low road. You must resist
that. Here's something else I encourage you to do if you want to make it today.
Keep your agreements. Keep your agreements that you make and establish a network of
people who will also do that. Establish a network of people in your life that you
can count on, that will be there for you when you need them and you'll be there
for them. Leave the flakes alone. People that are
seriously not serious and if you're surrounded by flakes that tells you who
you are. Here's something else. Three P's to have in your life and working on your
dream and doing your life work, you must be patient persistent and positive, no
matter what. Be positive no matter what because when you are negative ladies and
gentlemen you're sending out negative energy and
you're blocking your good. So don't send out any negative energy, don't take it
personally. See a lot of people have an idea or a dream and they give up for it, no no
don't do that. Work your dream until it gets hard. See,
most things don't happen as soon as we think they should happen. The messenger of
misery might drop in on you and say hello, Murphy's Law might come by
and thump you on the head, any number of things can happen to interrupt your flow,
it's okay. Don't take it personal. Just acknowledge what's going on is called
life and keep on working on your dreams. Continue to keep on knocking, keep on
knocking because this is your life, this is what you love, this is your passion.
Step back, don't judge it if you judge it, judge not ye lest ye be judged. Why?
Because when you judge it, you invest emotion in it and that emotion could be
anger and guess what, that hurts you. That doesn't
hurt anybody else. So what do you want to take yourself out early for, by
internalizing things. Shakespeare said 'nothing is neither good nor bad but
thinking makes it so.' So judge not according to
appearances but right judgment and feel that everything is going to work out for
you because you're patient, you're persistent and
you're going to be positive no matter what. Don't allow other things or people
or circumstances to determine what your reaction is going to be. So don't allow
people to determine how you are going to respond to them or circumstances, learn
to look at it. Look at your life right now. If you want to keep on getting what you're
getting, keep on doing what you're doing. You've got to be willing to change your
ways. Your life is working, if you don't like what you have produced, you are the
director, you are the star, you wrote this script, you produced this, whatever it is.
If it's a hit, you produced it. If it's a flop, you produced it. Take ownership of
it and decide to go back to the drawing board and rewrite the script that you
are the star of. You have the power to do that. On this day you can declare that I'm
going to change. As you look back on your life, you can decide that I don't like
what I produced here and I want higher ground. I want to begin to experience
more love, I want to have more adventure in my life, I want something that gives
my life a sense of meaning. I believe, ladies and gentlemen if we can
accept the possibility of - that this is the decade of consciousness, that's what
I believe that this is. The decade of consciousness, if you please. A time where
we can begin to create in folks minds the idea, the possibility that we can
create a more humane society, the possibility that we can create more love
communication and understanding in relationships, the possibility that we
can create a drug-free America, the possibility that we can create the
kind of respect for diversity and difference in our multicultural society
the possibility that we can begin to develop the mindset to bring out the
best in people, to encourage them to achieve their greatness and support them
in their dreams, that if we can - in this decade of consciousness, to begin to see
and envision that happening and that we all can play a role, that we were born
for such a time as this, that we showed up for this and we survived one out of nine
million sperms and we have been chosen for this great work. What an exciting
time to be alive!