SOMEBODY, HELP! I'M STUCK!

Balboa Press

Contents

Dedication.................................................................viiIntroduction...............................................................1Chapter 1. Clarity.........................................................6Chapter 2. Finding Your Definite Purpose in Life (DPL).....................34Chapter 3. Goals...........................................................60Chapter 4. Vision..........................................................74Chapter 5. See It Through..................................................97

Chapter One

1:1 Why Clarity Is So Important

In the summer of 1997, my wife and I were just friends in college. She had just become the new college queen, and I was just appointed as chief of staff for the Student Government Association. I had started developing feelings for our new queen and tried to express my feelings, but at the time, she seemed not to be interested.

One summer day after a long day of planning, we decided as student leaders to walk to Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, which was just a few miles from our campus. I had decided that my feelings were clear and that I could see myself dating and even marrying our new college queen. I was hoping that she would be coming along, and to my excitement, she did. As I expressed myself, she blew me off and asked me, "Why do you have these feelings for me?" Each time, I tried to convince her that we would make the perfect couple, but she wanted to know why? I started to get very clear with my feelings and thought if I could show her why we would make a good couple, then maybe she would see what I saw.

After a few hours at the park, we headed back to campus. I was convinced I would come up with a strategy to win this college queen over, so I fell back from the rest of the group. Something inside me said if I drew back, she would leave the group and check on me. I remember saying to myself, "If she draws back, then truly I have a shot." Well, she did come back, and this gave me an opportunity to tell her why, again, we would make a good couple.

Out of the blue while we were talking, we heard click-clack click-clack. It was a man with a horse and carriage. He stopped and asked us if we wanted to purchase thirty minutes of riding time. Living in Atlanta, this was a good business for couples, families, and tourists who wanted to see downtown. It is romantic to ride through the streets on a horse and carriage with someone you have feelings for. There was only one problem. I had no money, and the woman I was with was not my woman, and the man was headed toward town, away from campus. This was either a red flag or an opportunity for me to score big points with the young lady that I had feelings for.

After telling him that we were just two college students on the way back to campus with little money, he expressed to us that this was a sad night for him. He had just lost his best friend and was riding around the city with no hope. He asked me, "Is this your girlfriend?"

I responded, "Trying to make it that way."

He smiled and said, "Hop in. I'm taking you two back to the campus." Here I was with the college queen, the girl of my dreams, riding through the streets of downtown Atlanta, making a big impression.

I remember telling her on the ride, "You may not be ready now, but this night is proof that one day you will fall in love with me and we will share a beautiful life together." When we arrived to campus, it was a perfect situation. All the summer student leaders were standing on the campus steps, and here I was pulling up in a horse and carriage.

When you become clear with your thoughts, miracles show up. That year, the college queen went on with her life, and so did I. After years of dating other people and going our separate ways, we reunited. Six years after that wonderful experience, I married my true love, the college queen, and the best part of the story is that we got married on our college campus, and she showed up in a horse and carriage. When you become clear on what it is you want, you set forth a power that travels at speeds unknown to man. You give God an opportunity to bring forth true and divine blessings. It starts with first being clear about what it is you want.

1:2 Asking Yourself the Right Questions

One of the most important things you can do for yourself is ask the right questions. This section is centered on you becoming clear about what it is you want and moving forward with a vision. Most people who have a feeling of being stuck are there because they do not have clarity about what it is they want. Think about it. You say, "I want to be rich," but you do not know what it is that you want to be rich in, so your thoughts bring back to you un-clarity. You say, "I am a positive person. I speak and affirm what it is that I want, and still nothing is going my way." This is why so many people who do not date are single. I have had many of my friends tell me, "I would love to date or even be in a relationship," but after talking to them, I find that they have no clue as to what type of person they would like to go out with. I have had some people say, "I will know what I want when what I want shows up."

When it comes to your life, I want you to become clear about what you want, so that the power of God can move without you getting in the way. The most important thing you will ever do in life is to come into your divine purpose for living. Clarity will transform your life and make it easy to live a purpose-driven life. You are a divine spirit having a physical experience through your human body, and God desires to prosper you in every way possible, but you must first make up your mind and become clear with a vision for living your life. You are here on purpose, and it is your job to find and submit to the gifts, talents, and skills that you have been blessed to receive. It is the will of God that you see beyond your past thoughts and began to change your thinking. Whatever you speak and feel are the only things that can show up in your life. Get clear with a vision of what you want to experience in life, and through divine prayer and the use of your subconscious thinking, all that your heart desires will show up.

Five Reasons Being Clear Will Transform Your Life!

1:3 Reason 1 (What I Want)

Let's start by getting real. We are going to jump right into your personal life and ask questions that I want you to think about. Provided for you here is space to write answers to some of the questions you have about your life, including where you want to go and how you plan to get there. In order for us to move forward, we have to find out where you are in life and what you want right now. Don't think about all that you have going on in your life like bills, family, job, and money. Right now I want you to think about what makes you happiest in life—whatever that may be! It's important right now to know what you want. Being clear about what you need is half the battle. So many people are stuck because they do not know what it is that they want. I believe that every person born in this world has a purpose. Every day you wake up and are not clear about who you are and what your purpose is causes un-clarity. Invest in getting clear. We are going to do an exercise that will help you think about where you are. Don't make this hard. Look at where you are right now, and let's take it step-by-step.

What are five things that I want to experience in my life this year?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

What makes me happy?

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

What are five things I appreciate in life?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

What things have been nagging me over the past six months that I need to address?

What am I good at?

What are two things I could eject from my life that will make me healthier?

Remove the blockage from your life and get clear. I hear people say all the time that one of the things nagging them is the need to make a decision. One of the blessings in life is feeling free from stress and being able to know what it is you want out of life.

1:4 Reason 2 (What I Think) Thought = Your Reality

"As a man thinks, so is he." This passage that is found in Proverbs 23:7 is now my favorite scripture. It has so much power that it is life-changing when you truly come to understand how the brain works and how God has put this wonderful body together. The truth is the flesh is just a temporary place that our spirit dwells in. Now, I want us to dive into this section. I want you to read part one over and over again. Your mind is capable of anything. That's right. Once you start to think differently, results will began to happen. As a young man growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, my mom always talked to me about thinking differently. Back then, I did not see the power of my thoughts, but now I do. It is said that the mind is so powerful that just thinking can change the physical structure of the body.

Have you heard of the placebo effect? This is a medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient. Oftentimes, patients are given sugar pills and told that the medicine is new and has been proven to work. Research shows that many patients get better after taking pills that really are sugar pills. The placebo effect shows that our thoughts play a part in our healing.

What does all this mean? Why are some rich and some poor? Why do some people overcome sickness and disease and others don't? It's all in how you think. If you are not born rich, how do you become rich? If you are sick or with disease, how do you overcome it? Most of us our entire life, we have been taught negative things about money.

For example, have you heard the following?

• Money doesn't grow on trees!

• Who do you think I am—the bank?

• The root of all evil is money!

• Money won't make you happy!

There are several phrases that suggest to us that money is not good. The truth is that it's not good or bad; it's what you decide money will be for you. Thinking is such a critical aspect to life because it always determines the outcome. In Tim Hurson's book Think Better, he talks about the new strategy for corporate America. It used to be information. But today, anyone can go online and have all they need. Information is available to anyone who can get online. This means the value of information is not as strong. What is strong is how you use that information and, most important, how you can think better. The new way for leaders in corporate America in Fortune 500 companies is to think better. Now you have to outthink the competition. If you don't, you will not survive.

Thinking is the difference in life. When somebody wants something, the entire universe begins to move to bring that desire to life. The one thing that has been with you your entire life is your mind. It amazes me that we don't spend more time using and studying it. It is my desire for all of humankind to begin to take a close look at how we think. Look back over your life and see how many times you could have done something better just by thinking a little harder. If you are able to keep a vision of something in your mind, you will create the energy and the creativity for that thing to come to life. We must begin to live life without limits and move from a place of being stuck to one that is purposeful, fun, and joyous. It just requires a different thought.

1:5 Reason 3 (Past Thoughts)

All of us have this place in our mind called the subconscious mind. This is one of the key components in living your life on purpose and moving past being stuck in life. You have millions of thoughts going on in your mind, and it is your subconscious mind that works on automatic. Have you found yourself doing things out of habit? It comes from your subconscious mind. When you can learn to reprogram, you will get another result. You can only change your life by changing your habits. Your habits are based on the thought patterns of the mind. It is amazing that we finish high school without any teaching on the way our minds work. There is very little you can do or achieve without an understanding of how your mind works. This thing we call the brain is so powerful that just one thought could result in a life change. If you can master using your brain to thinking better, you will get better results. So many of us stop right before the idea or solution is given.

Past thoughts play such an important role in our lives because it's those thoughts that hold us back. You must start reprogramming those thoughts that you have learned and picked up over the years. Our entire experience might be based on past thoughts we have created for ourselves.

So what are your past thoughts on the following?

• money

• marriage

• relationships

• your role in society

Here are a few places that we must start so that we can begin to clean this closet of thought. You may not know it, but your subconscious mind begin to kick in when you read the above words. What were your feelings? Here is how it works. If I say money to you, what kind of feeling do you get? For some people who have no problems financially, they get a very different feeling from those who do have a problem with money. Abundance of money is not based on what family you come from or what your educational background is, but on your thoughts and feelings toward money. I do understand that some are born with money and some privileges, but money is just energy, and when you learn to think in a certain way, all the money you want is available.

Your subconscious mind is only a program of your past thoughts and feelings. When you change the program, something else shows up on the screen of life. I want you to begin to start working on changing those past thoughts that keep you from living your best life and cause you to feel stuck in life. Some people feel like they don't deserve to have love or experience love. Some people feel guilty about money, so they find a way to make bad choices. Some feel like they deserve to have money, so they make a lot of it. You have to get clear in your mind about what is stopping you from having, experiencing, living, and dreaming it. You must learn to change the program.

1:6 Reason 4 (My Attitude)

How is your attitude about life? So many people do not understand that we give off a very strong energy. People can read you when you come into a room. There are some things in life that show up without you saying a word. Your attitude is very important. It will push you forward in life or keep you down. Become aware of this and make plans to make sure you are giving off positive, reinforcing energy that speaks to where you want to be.

1:7 Reason 5 (Using My Sleep to Get What I Want)

Are you using sleep to get what you want? When you ask and believe, it will always show up. One of the most overlooked places that holds the keys to your success is your sleep. Most people never get enough of it, but regardless of the amount you get, I want you to start using it differently.

Americans get about six and half hours of sleep a night. This is about an hour less than the average. Most adults need seven and a half to nine hours of quality sleep. Yet most people fall short of what is required.

Here is a real lesson. I can always tell where a person is going if I ask about what his or her thoughts are before he or she goes to sleep. When you take a nap or go to bed for the night, what's on your mind? Are you worrying about something or planning something?

One of the most powerful things I did that changed my life was to start controlling my thoughts before I fell asleep. In Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen's book The Power of Focus, they talk about the benefit of training your mind to focus. Sometimes our minds are out of focus. Those two authors have shown great focus because they are coauthors of the number-one-selling book series in the world, Chicken Soup for the Soul. All great achievers understand what happens when you have a focused mind. Sleep is one of the great secrets to building a focused mind. This is the place where you can start to reprogram those old thoughts. Your mind is an information system that runs off of the programs it is sent. A person's life achievement is based off of one thing—what they believe!

Don't just fall asleep with random thoughts; take control over your life and begin to reprogram those thoughts. Get in the habit of thinking on purpose. If you can dream it and hold that thought in your mind, then the universe and all of life will begin to move toward that thought.

Jesus understands this great power of the mind. He runs across a man who had been waiting over thirty-eight years to be blessed and healed. Jesus asks him what his need is. The man replies that there is a pool called Bethesda. Every year, the angel comes and blesses the pool. The problem is that only the first one in the pool gets the blessing. He goes on to say that every time he tries to be the first one in, someone goes ahead of him. Jesus has a conversation about thinking differently and using another program. He asks the question, "Do you want to be healed?" The man says yes, and Christ says, "Pick up your bed and go." Jesus made him stop and use his mind in a different way.

So many of us have the same excuse the paralyzed man had—blaming life on someone else. No one can hold you back. There's always another way to get something when the way you are trying is not working. You must begin to think differently and change those old programs that say you are too old, you don't have the money, or you don't deserve to be loved.

Stop those programs and create new ones when you rest and sleep, and watch your life change. Train your mind to believe anything is possible. In Tim Hurson's book Think Better, he uses a Productive Thinking model as a framework to help you think better. The real secret to life is understanding the power that your mind has.

Put it this way: every invention that has ever been made was discovered through a mind that thought differently. If you just start to believe, half the battle will be won. You have not because you believe not. Change those old programs and start thinking better. Your life depends on it.

Matthew 6:25 talks about not worrying. Worry is the cause of sickness, stress, and heartache. If God takes care of the birds and animals and Nature's family, aren't you more valuable than they are? Worry cannot add to your life; it only takes away.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from SOMEBODY, HELP! I'M STUCK!by RODNEY D. SMITH Copyright © 2012 by Rodney D. Smith. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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