"If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is this the good news?"

– Robert Anthony

I find this combination of an observation and a question valuable because it has the potential to do several things. Principally it gives us the opportunity to examine the degree to which our beliefs are helping us create the experience of life we want. It also can emphasize that while sometimes there is validity in waiting for "things to change," more often than not, looking at the present state of our lives can give us very good information on the beliefs that we are holding on to as valuable and valid. If we determine that the answer to the question :"Is this the good news?" is "No," then the challenge is to see this as good information versus evidence of our failure (which of course is a belief in itself). To the degree we can indeed see this awareness as valuable information, we can then look at the beliefs that are creating this less than purposeful experience of life. This is important because once we become aware of the beliefs that are driving our experience of life, we are in a great position to decide whether we want to continue using these beliefs as guides. If the answer is once again "no," then we can begin to determine the beliefs that we would want to influence our experience of life. Generally these beliefs will be ones that are congruent with our highest purpose(s) in life, and ones that we would recommend as guiding principles to those we love and would want to teach to our children.

On the other hand, if the answer to this week's observation/question is "yes" (meaning that our experience of life is one that we would like to last forever), then we can celebrate the fact that our beliefs are indeed congruent with our highest purpose. The principle challenge then becomes continuing to make choices concerning who we are and what we do in ways that are congruent with these beliefs.

The great reality is that life will always give us wonderful feedback about the quality of our beliefs if we are willing to acknowledge the impact of these beliefs on our lives, versus blame our good or bad experience on someone or something else. When we understand this feedback mechanism and choose to see our experience of life as valuable information, we will then have the opportunity to create a loving, purposeful experience of life that can last forever.

Take care and God bless, Dr. Bill