STEP IN, DO STEP IN If I have belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even

if I do not have it at the beginning. ~Mahatma Gandhi The Invitation Come forward into your Best Life. Come into the Life that you were meant to live. Sign up here. It begins the moment you decide to choose to participate. You were born for living this life, as your best life. You were born for greatness. If you are reading this and you are yearning for more in life, for more out of life, pay attention. That yearning is the Spirit, the Truth, the Energy, and the Power within you that is calling to you. It is calling to you and it is for you alone to answer. This is your invitation, your invitation to STEP in. So how do you do it? My advice: just take one step. And then another. The important thing is to begin. Choose a new thought. And then another. In this way you may begin to step into your best life. It will not happen all at once. It is a process. And in the process you will discover excitement, joy, wonder, happiness, love, peace, fulfillment. You will experience fear, loneliness, self-doubt, and judgment too. These are not to be avoided but rather to be faced. When you do face these beliefs, which are false beliefs, it will free you to experience more, express more, and accomplish more. In order to face the fears that you may hold, and the beliefs that you may have, it requires that you are willing to examine them. Are you willing? A willingness to shift from your old limited ways of being and a willingness to let go of your fears is required. But how? How do you move yourself out of the beliefs that have kept you living the only way you know?

I offer you three steps to move you onward. I myself take these three steps daily to open myself up to experiencing more, and stepping into My Best Life. I allow. I ask. I affirm. These I practice consciously. I offer them to you to start you on your pathway. Let me share how to begin. Allow Allow yourself to experience more of what you desire in life by stepping into what you truly want to take in to be your life. Just take a step forward. One step is all you need to get yourself moving. Allow yourself to grow. What do you want to learn? What do you want to do? What do you want to experience? Get started. Make a call. Sign up for a class. Write a proposal. Travel someplace you have never been. Make a move. It is yours to make. Perhaps you are afraid you will make a mistake. If this is the case, if you are afraid to make a mistake, this is a thought that bears examination, as it will hold you back from experiencing the life you desire. Ask Where did this thought come from? Begin here. This thought is one to eliminate. You do this by letting go. It sounds simple and it is, when you are ready. Recognize the fear, and then, let go. Simply, allow the thought to go. Shift away from this limited belief that you need to be perfect. Instead, allow yourself to make mistakes. Allow these mistakes to be just stepping stones along the way. Do you judge yourself? Do you criticize yourself? If you do these are two habits to eliminate from your life. Give up the judgment and criticism of self. This will require conscious effort to eliminate if you have had a long- standing habit of self-criticism. It is worth the effort. As you let go, you allow in at the same time. Focus your attention on what you allow in when you stop the judgment and criticism. Allow for imperfection as you create the pathway for your journey to unfold.

The practice of allowing requires tools. One tool that is helpful in making your shift in mindset is affirmation. You may discover that you need more patience, more determination, more enthusiasm, more love, more energy, more consistent effort, more persistence, more skill, simply more of what you perceive you lack. Begin a practice of daily affirmation to claim that which you desire and that which you determine you need. When you discover that you need more of one thing or another, your first thought may be one of discouragement, disappointment, self-doubt, or fear. You may become impatient or even confused. It is helpful to recognize that these emotions are going to show up and that they are a normal part of the change process. Do not let these emotions deter you. Consider them a part of the pathway to your greater and greater success. Acknowledge these emotions. They are reminders of the importance of taking the step of allowing. By doing this you can shift the state of your mind and the state of your heart. You were born for greatness and you will experience this greatness when you allow more. Allow yourself to let go of the need to know all the answers. Give up the need to be right. Allow yourself to step into the unknown territory and trust. Research in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and quantum physics all indicate that human potential is mostly a result of habitual thinking and thought patterns than anything else. So allow yourself to grow. Allow yourself to grow to be who you desire to be. Allow yourself to be a giver. Allow yourself to be a receiver. Allow yourself to get into a flow state. Allow for joy. Allow for greater joy. Allow yourself to be grateful. Allow your gratitude to grow. Allow the true genius that lives inside of you to awaken from within. Do this through affirmation. Affirm I now allow myself to grow. Or I now allow myself to be more giving. Or I now allow myself to be in joyfulness. Or I now allow myself to be enthusiastic. Or I now allow for the spirit of discovery to be my guide. Be creative.

Most of all allow kindness into your daily living. It is only through being kind to yourself that your genius will emerge. Be kind to yourself and allow the imperfections just to be there. Work on developing new skill sets one step at a time and then recognize yourself for the progress you are making. Ask Ask yourself questions. Teach yourself to ask questions of yourself. This will open you up to wonder and to realize that there is so much more than the perspective you have held onto until now. It is important to use open-ended questions as these will activate your thinking and thus set you up for growing, for learning. Become more of who you are by taking the step to ask. All of us build our set of beliefs as we experience life. Some of these beliefs are consciously held beliefs. Others may be beliefs of which we are not aware. We may be blinded to our beliefs and think that the way we think is real, is reality. As we learn to question ourselves, to question whether what we think and believe is true, we start to see how a shift in our perspective changes things for us. Here are some questions you may want to use to get started. Suppose you have the belief that you do not have enough time. Ask yourself, What if I decided I do have enough time? By asking yourself this question you are taking the step to shift your perspective on your belief. Other questions like these may then follow. What might I need to do to create the time that I need to accomplish this goal? Or What might I need to give up to allow myself more time to devote to this goal of mine? Suppose you believe you do not have enough money to accomplish the goal. Ask yourself, How might I get the money I need? What step might I need to take? Who might support me to take this step? Continue to challenge your beliefs by asking questions.

Ask yourself Why am I? Why am I doing this in this way? Why am I taking the route I take to work? Then ask, Why not change it? Why not go on a new route, go in a new direction? Asking yourself questions in this way opens you up and stimulates your creative thinking. Try it out. Another great starter for shifting a belief is If not nowwhen? If not nowwhen will I take action on that big lofty goal? The important thing is to inquire in order to discover what is holding you back. By asking yourself this question and other similar questions, you begin to develop a greater self-understanding at the conscious level. You begin to come into knowing a greater truth. You will begin to recognize that you are the one who holds yourself back. No one else. And once you recognize this you are on the pathway to a greater freedom, a greater joy, and a greater fulfillment. It is also helpful to ask for guidance. So begin a practice of asking for guidance. Ask for willingness. Ask for acceptance. Ask for forgiveness. Ask for strength. Ask for kindness. Ask for help in letting go. Ask for help. Then experience these in your life as you receive them. I want to make a special note here. As you recognize that you are receiving that you are in receipt of what you have asked for, it is important to say thank you. Take time each day to be grateful for all you have. Then watch as your gratitude grows. It is through taking a positive, an affirmative stance, one that allows more, and judges less that will result in an abundance of things for which to be grateful. So take time each day to ask. And take time each day to say thank you. Affirm As I have mentioned earlier, affirmation is a helpful tool to shift your mindset. Now lets look at affirmation more closely. When you begin to learn a new skill or process, you are bound

to be less than perfect. Affirmation is important so that you do not give up particularly when you are at the beginning, just getting started on making the very changes that will make a difference in your outcomes. Affirmation supports you. Self-criticism does the opposite. By turning your thoughts to the positive, you will have a positive effect in the change process. Affirm yourself. Use the present tense when creating your affirmations. Here are a few samples to use. Say them out loud with feeling. Better yet, sing them out loud with feeling. Try a few of the positive, present-tense affirmations that follow: I am open. I am loving and kind. I am giving and forgiving. I am a success. I am a winner. I am living an amazing and joy-filled life. I am calm and confident. I love life and life loves me. I am happy and living my best life now. Five to ten repetitions a session is all you need. Plan to do three sessions a day. Make room for this in your life. It will only take five to ten minutes, three times a day to change your thinking. Make a commitment to this process. Commit to this practice for 21 days. This commitment will provide you with the energy you need to make it happen. Place this practice at the top of your list of daily actions. By making a conscious effort this will become a sustained daily practice over time and you will develop a more positive, self-affirming way of thinking that will benefit and serve you. Although this sounds simple, it requires effort, and persistence to establish this positive habit in your life. It is worth your effort. Affirmation helps you let go or eliminate something in your life no longer needed and helps you invite something new into your life that you desire. By choosing to step into the conscious use of affirmation, you are setting a course for your greater success. Once you work with affirmation long enough it will become a way of thinking. You will find that your whole outlook on life shifts and you will begin to recognize that you are creating and

experiencing Your Best Life now. So begin today. Allow more. Ask more. Affirm more. Allow. Ask. Affirm. In this way may you discover as I have, how to be, how to do, and how to have what you want in your life. We are the only ones who can create the desired changes in our lives. It is up to us. It takes consistent effort and persistent action. It takes developing a support system. It takes patience and ability to be grateful for your place on your journey. It takes maintaining care of the self. It takes courage commitment and a knowing determination. Do follow your heart. Pay attention to it as it will lead the way if you listen. Do not allow your light to be dimmed. Allow it to shine brightly. Answer your own calling. You are moving forward dear reader. There is no turning back now.

Be open to life, to living it richly, and it will be open to you.

All content here was written by Lindsley in the wee hours of the morning while cruising down the Yangtze River in the Chongqing Province of China during the final days of March 2012.