Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Whose life are you living? Are you living your dream or someone else's?How much of your life is being decided by someone else? Are you in a profession you dislike because it is expected of you? Do you engage in activities you would rather skip, simply because it is part of your "role" as a spouse or mother?

What about you? Doesn't your opinion count? It is not only reasonable but mentally healthy for you to direct your own life.

If you find yourself in a profession you do not especially like, try asking yourself the following question: If I were starting over in my career, what would I chose to do?

Some people retire and, because they can do whatever they want, begin a second career. This time, they do what they love and, many times, become highly successful.

Famous the second time around

You may not remember that Caroll O'Connor, the actor who created the role of Archie Bunker in "All In The Family" and later played the burly police chief in "In The Heat of the Night," was a high school teacher until he was in his forties. While teaching is surely a noble profession, his greatest gifts to humanity were clearly to come from his acting talents. Fortunately, for those of us entertained by his talents, he followed his bliss and became an actor.

Another example of the second career is the comedian Phyliss Diller. She was a cleaning lady until she was 37. Incidentally, she was inspired by reading and acting on a self-help book, "The Magic of Believing," by Claude Bristol. Interestingly enough, Liberace, the great pianist, attributed the strategies in this same book to his huge success and enormous wealth.Take charge of your life

You owe it to yourself to run your own life. I am not suggesting that you go out and change everything overnight, however, you can begin to direct your life where you would like it to go.

For example, if you have always wanted to be an actress or actor, but have financial responsibilities which require you to work a "real job," you could satisfy your need to act by joining a local theater group. Many a community theater performer works happily at a nine to five job Monday through Friday, knowing they have an outlet for their creative selves on the weekend.

If most of your time is being taken up in the role of wife and mother, you could begin to set aside time for yourself. Time to pursue your other dreams. You could arrange for your spouse or another person to care for your children while you take care of your own needs.

Taking care of yourself is not selfish. The Bible say we should love our neighbor as ourselves. It does not say instead of or more than. Begin to set aside time doing some of the things you want.

If you are in a job you strongly dislike, start devising a plan which will allow you to make a change. Perhaps you need to go for re-training in another profession. I know of several nurses who, when they realized they were spending more time filling out paperwork than caring for patients, began new careers as massage therapists. There, they were able to have the satisfaction of working directly with the people they wanted to help.

© 2004 Jim Donovan - PO Box 1147, Buckingham, PA 18912 - (215) 794-3826

Jim Donovan is the author of "Handbook to a Happier Life, a motivational speaker and coach. For a no cost bonus product & more, visit http://www.JimDonovan.com

If you had all the information and tools you needed to live your dream life, would you use them? Yes?Click here ==> http://www.jimdonovan.com/ebookoffer.html

More Resources

Does Size Matter?
Bigger is better. Isn't that the American dream?Why buy a road-hogging, critter-squishing, bumper-defying, wall-of-metal SUV when you have the delicious option of buying a BIGGER road-hogging, critter-squishing, bumper-defying, wall-of-metal SUV?Why settle for a puny three-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow of our parents' generation nestled comfortably on a green plot of land with a few nice shade trees? In new "developments" these days, you can choose a two-storey home bulging beyond the property line of today's incredible shrinking lots, complete with a bedroom that can sleep 34 PLUS a walk-in closet that sleeps another 20 AND an ensuite bathroom big enough to store your SUV when your 300-cubit-long garage is full of toys or tools.
How to Develop the Genius within You
Inside each one of us there's a seed of greatness, a seed of genius. You are a special and complete human being and so is everyone else.
Would You Rather Be Wealthy?
Would you rather be wealthy or poverty-stricken? Not a difficult question to answer, is it? How do you think your thoughts impact on your financial state?Just as the earth contains in its depths great riches--oil, diamonds, gold, uranium, silver, gas and countless other things--you also have the real riches of life deep within you. Your innate intelligence and your willingness to use your mind are precious.
A Life of Adventure?
In a conversation recently, a friend remarked to me: "Every man dies, but not every man lives." If you think about it, that is profoundly true and rather disturbing.
October: A Month of Personal Harvest
October is hands down my favorite month. Every year l look forward to a visit to Lynd's Fruit Farm in Pataskala, Ohio.
You Too Can Have Charisma
Do you know anyone that everyone seems to be drawn to? You continue to watch as this person moves around the room attracting and chatting with and making friends with manypeople.What do they have that you don't think you have? Charisma.
The Powerful Mastermind Team
Your Access to AchievementA few years ago I read the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I remember being very intrigued by the title and wondered "How could anyone grow rich just by thinking?When I first began to grasp a fragment of what the book was revealing about success, I was reading it again as a result of a business I was working with.
How Often Each Day Should I Read or Say My Desire Statement?
The purpose of the Desire Statement is to support you in giving attention, energy and focus to your newly birthed desire. It teaches you how to language desires so they feel good.
4 Important Conversation Tips for Your Personal and Professional Lives
If you are searching for a way to improve your communication skills at work and in your personal life, here are some conversation tips that will give you a good starting point.Your personal and business environments may be very different, but the skills needed to communicate effectively are basically the same.
Ego, Arrogance, and Self-Esteem
The pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain are not our only motivators. Whether you realize it or not, our underlying purpose in life is to define and pursue our true purpose in life.
Success Is In Your Hands - For Things To Change, I Must Change First!
Do you know that many people feel they cannot achieve what they want in life because they are not in control of their circumstances? Is it really so?How many times have you heard this: "If only I had creativity like him, I would be able to develop innovative Internet Marketing products," or "if only I had the money to start the e-commerce business, then I would be able to set up a business"? Do you know that all these things are within our control the moment we change ourselves?It sounds unbelievable but it's true! This requires a shift in your paradigm of thinking and it moves you from a powerless state to a state where you can actually take control. We will now take a look at 3 ordinary people like you and me who are able to achieve what they want in life through this simple principle.
More For Me Means More For You
How would you like to have what you want AND at the same time create a situation through which many people benefit? That can happen when you are bold enough to leverage the Universal Law of Attraction to attract more of what you want.Soon after moving into my new harborside condo, I sat down and made a list of all the people who made money from my decision to fulfill a lifelong dream to "live near the ocean".
Power Affirmations Are Not Enough
I hope this article finds you safe and well. I'm sure you have been as moved as I have in watching the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Birthing Your Dream
Are you ready to birth a dream and not sure about the process, wondering if you are stepping out too far this time? Will God bless your dream, or is it His dream you're nurturing? Consider a pregnant woman. We've all had opportunity to observe the process, if not actually experience it.
Limiting Perceptions and Broadening Horizons
If you live in modern society I'm sure at some point in your life you've sat in a window seat of an airplane looking down at the fluffy blanket of clouds and thought to yourself, 'Wow, it's so big and flat, fluffy and soft, I wonder what it would feel like to lay down on that super-soft mattress.' Well, think about what Socrates, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Moses or Mohammed would have thought if they saw the same sight that we pretty much take for granted as 'normality'.
Courage to Change
This is a story about a woman we will call Anne, a thirty-five-year-old woman who concluded that she could never find a man. She determined that loneliness was her fate and thus went as far as accepting it as fact.
Creating Your Future
The questions of life may call to you. You may wonder about your purpose.
Do You Want Raspberry, Chocolate Or Vanilla?
Descartes once wrote, "I think, therefore I am!" and 'hidden' in plain view amongst those five small words - for all the world to see - lays the secret to unlimited success. Do you see it? Oh all right? I'll 'fess up.
How Do You Choose To Deal With Your Life?
"It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny." --Jean NidetchIt is not what happens to us in our lives that is important, but how we choose to deal with it.
Are You a Wildflower?
Wildflowers grow from mere dust to reach their full potential.Wildflowers grow well, even in adverse soil conditions.

More Attraction Information:

Related Articles

Doing Your Lifes Work
Most people want to do their life's work. Some people are able to separate work completely from life and be happy doing anything, but this is not the norm.
9 Exercises to Enhance Your Self-Expertise
Personal Self-Expertise is an invaluable tool that transforms the way you communicate in your business and personal lives. It functions as a front porch for two reasons: 1) It equips you with the confidence of knowing exactly who you are; and 2) It magnetizes others to you because they admire and respect those who know exactly who they are.
Dont Be Afraid to Let Other People See Who You Really Are!
Do you know anybody that you consider to be particularly engaging and lively? Take a moment to picture that person in your mind. What is it about that person that you find most attractive? He or she may have a charming voice and a great laugh, but it is also very likely that you find their face very expressive.
Be Your Own Best Friend
What does being a "best friend" mean to you? I imagine that just about everyone is or has been a best friend to someone in their lives. I encourage you to take some time and examine what being someone's best friend really means.
Birthing Your Dream
Are you ready to birth a dream and not sure about the process, wondering if you are stepping out too far this time? Will God bless your dream, or is it His dream you're nurturing? Consider a pregnant woman. We've all had opportunity to observe the process, if not actually experience it.
Digging To The Root Of Your Problem
Most people have some aspects of themselves that they would like to change. But how often do you dig deeply to find the root of the problem?You have to address the issues that need to be changed.
How To Bypass Your Conscious Mind and Program Yourself For Success
Emile Coué, the French psychotherapist once said: "When theimagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, itis always the imagination which wins, without any exception."Then you can program yourself for success by understanding thepower of imagination.
7 Ways to Drive a Man Wild
It's unbelievable the amount of bad advice there is out there on how to seduce a man or if they give you advice they forget to tell you how to use it properly. So here are a couple of tips on what to do and what not to do to drive a man wild and an instruction manual.
Affirmations Based on Rich Dad, Poor Dad
I'm sure most of you have heard of, and perhaps read the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it along with his book "Cashflow Quadrant.
Secrets Of Energy
Lotus dakini gathers energy.When wanting and grasping hold swayThe dakini has you in her power.
You Cant Direct the Wind but You Can Adjust the Sails
Dear Friend,First of all, let's take a look at the meaning of the word "metamorphosis" and how it can possibly be of interest to IT Service Management. Metamorphosis: Noun (plural metamorphoses - say metuh´mawfuhseez) ? "the change of form, structure, or substance, as transformation; the structural or functional modification of a plant organ or structure during its development.
Simple Truths for Change, Healing, and a Magnificent Life!
Many people on the planet are realizing that the key to a healthier, happier and life of abundance can be distilled into simple truths. We live in a complex and cluttered world.
Hot Date Tonight?
Re-entering the dating scene is rather scary, but as a single woman, mom of four, I decided it's time to play the field. After all, who wants to grow old single and alone? So, I consulted a few friends, an online dating service, and several single women I knew - but ultimately most of them are "satisfied with single".
How to Be Irresistible to Women
You don't need a guitar, rock-hard abs, or even a full head of hair to make a great impression on a woman. Follow these tips, and she'll want to hear from you again real soon:1.
The Wealth-Receiving Mindset
Here is an exercise for you that will develop what I call the wealth-receiving mindset:I want you to think about the time in your life when you had the most money you have ever had.I don't care if the most money you've ever had was ten bucks, I want you to think about it right now.
Better Than a Million Dollar Lottery Win
Do you remember the feeling of seeing someone you were attracted? It makes the heart bump, doesn't it?Have you ever stood on stage in front of a sea of faces that you know well and pulled out your notes to make a speech? Boy does the vibration of shaking liven you up!Have you ever felt the breeze on your face, either during a hot-air balloon ride or by sticking your head through the car sunroof? It wakes your senses up, doesn't it?And on a scale of 1-10 how much does your heart bump, body shake and senses wake when you do your day job? I bet you can practically do the tasks with your eyes shut. In fact I bet there are days when you feel like you did have your eyes shut?Most people don't feel awakened by their day jobs.
Be Not Afraid of Greatness
Have you noticed how the workplace seems to be a little more stressful if not downright hostile, how each day you feel a little more reluctant to get out of bed to go to a job you don't really like. Have you noticed how the workday seems a little longer and the job a little less fulfilling.
Thought and The Law of Attraction
We have all heard the expression, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." But to carry on without thinking about why you failed only leads to more failure.
Heal Thyself First
As I connect with more and more women I am seeing that many have a desperate need for a man. I had one woman tell me that her ex-boyfriend put a gun to her head and told her to get out of his life.
It Doesnt Take Long To Become An Expert in The Law of Attraction
One of our Faculty, Christine Edick, has been the keynote speaker for several conferences for people in the 'career transition' industry. She received this short story, from one of the attendees, which demonstrates how easy it is to understand the Law of Attraction and to teach it to others.