My Six Principles for Creating a Dream Life

So you want to live your dream life! That's why you've been searching for answers online and why you have come to this blog - to discover the principles that govern success in life and bring you the life you have always desired!

I identify 6 main principles that I believe are necessary for living your dream life -

1/ Accept Your Life
2/ Choose Your Dream
3/ Improve Your Health
4/ Increase Your Wealth
5/ Better Your Relationships
6/ Aim for Eternity

I will be going into more detail regarding these principles in subsequent blog posts but briefly, these are the main issues -

FIRST PRINCIPLE: Accept Your Life

Although you may not realise it now (or even want to face it), the truth is, everything that has ever happened to you has some bearing on the dream life you want to lead. All experiences, both good and bad, that have happened in your life, should be included in your search for the life of your dreams. A dream life that is merely an escape from a painful existence is not a dream life at all, since it doesn't take into account the truth of who you are. Being able to integrate your more negative experiences leads to self-acceptance, which can then be leveraged into your plans to create a life that truly fulfills you and makes you happy.

SECOND PRINCIPLE: Choose Your Dream

Following on from the more accurate self-awareness of ourselves gained from the First Principle, we now are in a position to choose a dream and mode of existence which can then satisfy the person we now realise we are. Choosing a dream entails creating an exciting vision that inspires you and makes you want to get up in the morning each day, then focusing on achieving it by the adoption of SMART goals that bring you closer to your desired destination.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: Improve Your Health

No serious attempt to create a better future can ignore the importance of bodily health. No dream life can be forthcoming if you are unsatisfied with your appearance, are overweight or suffer from ill-health. A commitment to physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle will give you the energy you need to create your vision and the pride engendered by creating the body you've always wanted will be a major boost to your self-esteem and confidence, which are both factors that will dramatically increase your ability to achieve your life goals.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE: Increase Your Wealth

Although this seems like a no-brainer, since practically everyone dreams of living a life where money is no object, it is necessary to think outside the box and live the mindset of a millionaire if you want to seriously achieve the goal of wealth creation. Traditional attitudes of "work hard and everything will be O.K." must be discarded in favour of the concept of giving yourself and your talents to the world (rather than expecting the world to give you what you want). These ideas and others form the basis of material success and will bring you closer to the goal you seek.

FIFTH PRINCIPLE: Better Your Relationships

Our connections and relationships with others have a major effect on our personal happiness - there is little point in planning to be a millionaire and have a wonderful life when your relationships are in the gutter, you are on the brink of divorce or consistently fail to attract a romantic partner with whom you can share your dream life. Handling this area of your life will greatly increase your personal happiness and is a major piece of the puzzle to living a meaningful life,

SIXTH PRINCIPLE: Aim for Eternity

Having created your dream life, there is no point in having one without considering the ultimate meaning of life. Since death will rob us of all our efforts in the end, a focus on tailoring your dream to include Heaven and the hereafter will fine-tune the issues you focus on to include questions of ultimate meaning. Those of a less religious bent should focus on the concept of "legacy". What do you want to be remembered for? Who will benefit from your life after you are gone? What would you like to give back? Considering these issues will lead to the lasting joy that comes from a life well-lived and the peace of a good conscience at point of death.

These are the six main principles for living the dream life you've always wanted! Stay tuned for future posts that will go into these Principles in more detail! Have a great day!

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Leveraging Your Past Experiences

So you were badly treated when you were a kid and now that's overshadowing your life and affecting the present and future of your existence.

Well, I want you to know that your bad treatment doesn't make YOU bad, it makes THEM bad - the people who treated you badly. I covered this in more detail in the blog post immediately before this one - "Believing in Yourself" - so go ahead and read that first to get the background because this article kind of follows on from that.

O.K., so now you're back! Now that you know that thinking there must be something wrong with you to be treated that way is a false belief that serves no useful purpose, what are you going to do with the past experiences you have had? Are they always going to be something you have to drag around with you through your life, like an unwanted piece of baggage?

That's what I thought for many years. My father's treatment of me when I was a kid cast a huge shadow over my life and I wondered whether I would have to carry it for the rest of my life.

However, when I hit 40, my life was transformed when I realized my experiences could help me to understand and assist my high school students with their personal problems and self-esteem issues. I was able to understand their feelings much better than any other teacher. Now this understanding is extremely valuable, and it helps my life and helps my students. Writing this article and giving out advice like this to others are additional ways to help them and to reach out to people like YOU. So I suppose I should say, "Thanks, Dad, for beating me up when I was a kid - now I can make the world a better place."

If all this seems a little far-fetched to you, well, it isn't. This transformation has happened to me, and I am a very average and ordinary person. It can happen to you, too!

An important consideration in building your dream life is that it should incorporate many, if not all, the aspects of your life - both good and bad. Some people try to create a dream life in an attempt to run away from the past and build a better life for the future. However, I have to tell you that any realistic plan to create a truly meaningful dream life that will make you happy must incorporate the negative things you have experienced, since it is the healing and transformation of these things in life that brings happiness and peace. So now in my life, what I thought was worthless garbage has turned out to be one of the most important things - "That which the builders thought was worthless has become the capstone", as the good book says. People say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure", but why can't your trash become your treasure, too?

So don't forget your past experiences, good or bad, in your plans to build the life of your dreams. Instead of running away from them, start thinking about trying to incorporate them into your vision. I think you will find that this will bring greater meaning and fulfillment into your life, and give you the peace and contentment that you seek.

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Believing in Yourself

Believing in yourself - this is one of the "biggies" of creating your dream life - the life that inspires you and makes you happy!

Believing in yourself is a process and a journey, rather than an activity that you can switch on when you want to.

You may have had an excellent childhood, with wonderful parents who cared for you and loved you, friends who supported you, and a network of people in your life to give you values and ideals that make you feel that you belong and give you meaning. If this is you, then I am happy for you because you are doing better than many other people in the world! It's much easier for you to believe in yourself because you have the background that makes self-belief easy.

However, if, like me, you had a childhood where a member of your family or your classmates at school were not friendly, treated you badly, teased you and bullied you and said that you were stupid, then you will have a much harder time believing in yourself than someone who did not have those problems.

To start believing in yourself, you need to recognize that it doesn't matter how people have treated you or what has happened in your life - YOUR VALUE is YOUR VALUE. It doesn't change based on what other people think or whether they accept you or reject you.

When you were small, you didn't understand what you understand now. You were just a young child, open to love and be loved. When that didn't happen, you thought there must be something wrong with you if your basic needs were not being met.

Well, you thought WRONGLY. Actually, there was nothing wrong with you - there was something wrong with them. You are not to blame for the way you were treated. You were left feeling, "I was robbed!" Yes, you were, but since when does that make YOU the bad guy? If a bank gets robbed, who's the bad guy - the bank manager or the bank robber? What if the bank manager says, "Oh, no! My bank got robbed! I'm such a BAD bank manager. I'm a terrible person. My life sucks! Now I hate myself and I want to die." Won't his staff say, "What's this? You didn't do anything wrong! It was the robber who stole the money!"

Understand that this is the way you thought when you were about 7 years old or even younger, but that it doesn't serve you now that you're older - and it doesn't even make any logical sense! Then you were a victim, but now you're a survivor.

So start with that, and begin thinking differently! You will find that a lot of your lack of self-belief is rooted in this thinking you've had in your mind since childhood. Believing in yourself is a big topic and I will write more blog posts on this in the future but this will start you off for now! I hope it can grant you the beginning of a new life, re-examined and re-evaluated, that gives you a solid foundation to build your dreams in the future!

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Life is Not an Accident

It is not good for you to believe that your life just happened by chance; that your life just took place at this time and in this place for no purpose; that you are just an accident of D.N.A. that only came together because of the X or Y chromosomes of your parents; that this life, on this planet, has no meaning, and that "stuff" just happens and everything is a coincidence. What I don't like about this attitude is the way it subtly suggests that I am nothing; that my life is unimportant and that whatever I do has little impact on the world. It is the small-mindedness of other people and their lack of love for neighbour that allows this idea to pervade our culture.

It is a matter of faith to me, as a Roman Catholic, that I believe that, from all eternity, God willed that I live at this time, in this place, and that I was put on this earth for a purpose. In this faith, I gain much meaningfulness concerning the ultimate purpose of my life.

However, you don't have to be religious to believe this. Many people who profess no religious faith at all still believe in a personal philosophy that has meaning for them, and part of this philosophy of life is the fact that they believe that their lives have a reason for their existence and that they were put on this earth for a purpose.

I invite you to entertain this vision in your quest towards personal excellence and self-mastery. It is, I believe, an absolute essential if you want to live the life of your dreams, since it is the mainstay of that life, the foundation of your vision. Before you can start working towards your dream life, you must first have the understanding that there is a point in having a dream. If you don't believe life has a meaning, then why bother having a dream for it?

Some people might argue that we make a dream because it creates meaning; it brings purpose into an otherwise meaningless life. However, I don't agree - we should start by believing that our life has a purpose - we just don't know what it is yet, rather than believe it has no purpose, so we have to create one. If you believe that your life has no purpose, then you are starting your dream life from a hole to begin with, plus it reveals a "lack mentality", which is one of the worst things for personal development.

So believe that your life has a purpose! If that's hard for you, then start small and consider all the things you have - your parents, brothers and sisters, friends and other people. Think of the time when you were only 4 years old, lost in the crowd at the fun fair for a short time and you couldn't find your mother - how that nice lady showed you the way to find her and found your mother for you. Start by entertaining the possibility that life has purpose and meaning, then events will start happening and memories will pop out of the woodwork to prove it!

I hope you find your purpose in life and gain all happiness from living it!

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Having a Grand Goal to Achieve

One of the most important aspects of living your dream life is deciding upon a grand goal - the great vision of your life. Achieving personal happiness is difficult if you don't have an overarching goal to achieve, a theme that inspires you to keep going when times are tough and that isn't compelling enough to even get you out of bed in the morning. If you are the kind of person who struggles to get motivated to even wake up or take a shower, let alone go to work, school or university, then you need a goal. The best way to start thinking about your Big Goal is to start by considering what it is that gets you excited. It might be something like computer games - in which case, your grand goal might be to become a computer programmer or games designer. If you really like helping people, like I do, and that really excites you, you might want to consider being a counsellor or social worker. However, don't stop there! Your big goal (if you're thinking about becoming a games designer) should be to set up your own games company or launch a new type of console or some other larger vision. If you want to be a counsellor, think even bigger and consider setting up your own drop-in centre or counselling service. It doesn't matter what your big dream is, as long as it -

MOTIVATES YOU to get up in the morning and work on achieving it step-by-step every day

COMPELS YOU to overcome all obstacles to achieving it, so that you never get "down" or want to give up

FULFILLS YOU in its towering vision and all-encompassing scope of satisfying your personal needs and deepest desires on many levels, so that it becomes "your life's work"

BRINGS YOU closer to happiness the more you work on achieving it

TRANSCENDS the "norm" of everyday living to transform your life into something greater than yourself, so that you and your vision complement each other and are an expression of each other

Now, it's not necessary to have the same dream for your whole life - you may find that what you thought would satisfy you when you were 20 years old does not fulfill you when you're 45 - if so, change it! The more you understand yourself, the more accurate your dream will be in allowing you to have the life you've always desired!

Here's a quote to inspire you -

Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling, but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are with what you have… just start.

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Health, Wealth and Relationships

Many self-help gurus have written about the importance of health, wealth and relationships in achieving happiness in life. I am no exception to them - I agree with this statement, although I don't stop there - I believe there are other things as well in life that can bring happiness, as you will read in future blog posts on this website! However, it cannot be doubted that health, wealth and relationships are three of the "biggies" when it comes to achieving your dreams!

Health

It is true that "health is gold" and "if you've got your health, you've got everything" in life! If you are sick, your body broken and you are subject to expensive medical treatments and afflicted by pain, it is hard to achieve happiness in life. It is important to take care of your health. Also, NOT taking care of your health means you don't think your health is important. Going deeper, this indicates to me that you do not think you are important enough as a person to take care of your health. So at the root of all unhealthy behaviours is a self-esteem issue, a lack of self-belief and a lack of love in your life, either from others or from yourself. So it's important to your personal development to keep pushing the boundaries in your life, and working on making your body the best it can be is an integral part of that!

Wealth

Although "money can't buy happiness" and greed for material things will not satisfy you in the end, nevertheless we should develop a utilitarian attitude towards money, using it to achieve our dreams and become the person we've always wanted to be. In order to do this, it is sometimes necessary to question the traditional "do well at school-go to university-get a job-save for retirement" model that we've all been brought up with. These days, you need to be smart with your cash and come up with other ways to make money that don't require you to work all hours to make ends meet. You can achieve financial independence and start living the life you've always wanted! Start living the new dream of prosperity!

Relationships

The people we love, live with, associate with and spend time with are an important part of our lives. However, finding a suitable person to meet is becoming more and more difficult these days. Without knowing how to attract your perfect lover or find the love of your life, you are seriously impeding your ability to find true love and happiness in your life. To do that, you need to understand that relationships are heavily based on your own beliefs about yourself, since people tend to hang out with people who are similar to themselves. So if the dream lover you want has qualities significantly from your qualities, you are going to have to develop those qualities IN YOURSELF first before you can attract someone like that.

So health, wealth and relationships are three of the biggest challenges you need to master on your journey to achieving your dream life!

Here's a quote to get you started -

Accept the reality of your weaknesses. They are your best feedback about where you can grow.

—	Jonathan Heston, The Unlimited Self  (via eearth)

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Welcome to my Personal Development blog!

Hi! If you're looking for top advice on how to better your personal development and make you life the way you've always wanted it to be, if you want to know how to get a vision and achieve it, how to live your dreams and believe in yourself, so that happiness and a meaningful life are yours to stay, then you've come to the right place! Read my top-notch blog articles and get inspired! Read about the work I am doing to help my high school students' dreams come true! I hope you find within these webpages the inspiration you need to take action and achieve the life you've always dreamed of and I wish you every success in the future!

If you want to learn more about what Personal Development is, check out my YouTube video below -

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