Like any recipe, to create a life you love, you need the appropriate ingredients and a workable formula for putting them together.
First, decide what you want the finished product to look like. Does it include . . . Happiness? Health? Wealth? Family? Success? Art? Music? Fame? Wholeness? Romance? Adventure? Abundance? Peace? Influence? Choose everything you love; don’t include anything you don’t love.
Now the ingredients. Since it’s your life, and you’ll be creating it to your taste, I’ll provide the type of ingredient and you choose the specifics.
1. Identify what you already have. What are your talents? Strengths? Gifts? Preferences? What wisdom have you gained from past experiences? Who are your allies?
2. Assess your values. What rules do you follow? (Any rules you should follow aren’t yours, they belong to someone else.) Do you adhere to your values easily or do they challenge you?
3. Identify your priorities. Which is more important to you, what you have or what you do? What you do or who you are? What you believe or what you desire? Do you have any non-negotiables, elements you must have regardless of cost or sacrifice?
Okay, now let’s combine the ingredients using a workable formula. Keep the finished product in mind. It’s always going to be more important to create the life you love than to use all the ingredients.
1. Specify your intention. Write a detailed description of your intention—the finished product.
2. Clarify your intention. Review your description and make sure you know what you mean by every word. If you want health, what does health look like to you? If you want a loving family, what does love mean to you? What do you mean by family—spouse? partner? children? grandchildren? Or will you be contented with a surrogate who provides the love you desire? If you want wealth, do you care how you come by it? If you want to earn it from scratch, would you turn it down if you won it? Do you see wealth as money or do you recognize all forms of abundance?
3. Purify your intention. Bring you thoughts, emotions and actions all into a single focus with what you want. You can’t make the New York Times Best Seller List if you don’t write, if you can’t visualize it, if you don’t believe it. You can’t sail single-handedly around the world, if you don’t gain the wisdom of the seas, if you don’t acquire a boat, if you let fear get in the way. You can’t gain perfect health if you prefer indolence to exercise or you’d rather be fussed over than be robust. Become 100% aligned with your intention.
4. Intensify your intention. The strongest intensifier is emotion. Imagine the life you love as a done deal. Claim it even before it happens. Feel the thrill of it, the excitement, the peace. When fears arise, replace them with trust. Know what you want also wants you.Serve others. The more you give the more you will receive. Find the service embedded in your intention and your intention will sprout wings. Dispense with resentment, envy, and distrust. Give from your heart and you open a channel to the creative power of the universe.
5. Receive. Be willing. Accept your path as it unfolds. See abundance everywhere, and accept every blessing with gratitude and love. Acknowledge the generosity of the universe. In the end, the life you love may not look like you originally envisioned, but your vision is finite and the universe is unlimited. If you will receive as the universe gives, your reality is likely to exceed your dream.
So now you have the recipe. Will it be that easy? That depends on you. Deciding the ingredients you truly desire may take some trial and error. For each intention you choose, different steps of the formula may challenge you. The world is full of teachers, mentors, allies and partners. Use them. Use me. I will help you any way I can. I believe if you create the life you love, you’ll be one more person making a better world.
