2. Discover Your Natural Talents and Ideal Vocation
9
3. The Payoff May Be Just Around the Corner
15
II. Purpose
4. Conquer Inner Obstacles to Your Dreams
21
5. Gain Power from a Purposeful Life
26
III. Relationship
6. Listen to Your Inner Guidance
33
7. It’s Not Too Late to Find Your True Love
40
8. Find and Keep Your Dream Relationship
47
IV. Contribution
9. The Power to Make a Difference Comes from Within
59
10. Find Value in Being a Mentor
65
Conclusion
69
Bibliography
71
Introduction
You can realize your dreams and create a fulfilling life by changing yourself from within. Self‑transformation creates opportunities for attracting the life you want. For example, you can find the right life partner or job when you make the right type of inner growth. The more common approach is to search outside yourself for a compatible partner or career. In this book, I will demonstrate that an outer search is more effective when combined with making changes from the inside out.
The words “create” and “attract” are purposely used in this book because I believe both are needed to transform our dreams into reality. Creation is an outer process which requires action and attraction and is based on an inner quality of openness to what we want. Creative action will be effective when we remove our inner resistance to achieving our goals.
Create the Life You Want focuses on how to achieve the following life dreams that most of us have in common:
to discover and experience work you love and do well;
to find a spiritual or higher purpose that brings peace of mind and gives your life meaning;
to find the right partner and experience a rewarding relationship; and
to make a contribution—a positive difference in the lives of others.
Most people have had interesting life experiences. From them you can learn how they overcame obstacles, learned from failures and successes, improved their lives, and enhanced the lives of others. When you hear the experiences of others, you can usually apply some of their insights to your own life. I wrote Create the Life You Want to share with you some of my experiences and the lessons I learned from them—insights that changed my life. Perhaps they will enrich your life, also.
Young people often don’t realize that successful adults have overcome adversity, suffered failures and heartaches, experienced self‑doubt, and worked hard for years to become the people they are today. The road to success is paved with failures along the way. When you’re feeling discouraged, it’s inspiring to learn that people you admire have struggled with discouragement. Sharing one’s whole story—the failures as well as the successes—can be beneficial to others. At the end of each chapter, I summarize what I learned from my experiences—failures, disappointments, and accomplishments. Please consider whether my insights can be applied to achieving your dreams. I also include questions for you to consider and discuss with others. If you use even a few of these ideas, you can experience life‑changing results.
