Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live

The answer is that Simon had lived through the pain of losing a couple of dreams. A rock band he’d started never really came together, and his first serious love affair didn’t work out. This double whammy had hurt so much that since living through it, Simon had poured huge amounts of energy into limiting his dreams. He wanted to avoid more disappoi

Whenever your mind is focused on a given topic, your attention will sort through the infinite bits of information you encounter every day and zero in on things relating to that subject. This is why it’s always a good thing to clarify and specify your desires. Visualizing exactly what you want or need preps your brain to find it in the world around

Think how differently time flowed for you when something wonderful was happening in your life.

Like attractions to people, Urge to Merge reactions to activities come and go on their own mysterious timetable. You’re more likely to experience these sensations when you’re at a change point. Crisis, loss, transformation, and growth all tend to weaken the grip of the social self, and demand some quick decision making on the part of the essential

Unlived dreams don’t hurt much as long as they stay frozen. But when they start to thaw—oh, baby. All the pain of that frigid exile comes rushing back. I can tell you from observation, as well as experience, that people don’t cry when they lose their hope. They cry when they get it back.

That’s how awful it can feel to be in Square One, even if your life change seems to be exactly what you should want most. Our whole lives, all the actions we take, are based on our concepts of who we are. Not knowing that one crucial fact undermines everything we feel, say, or do.

The point is that the essential self can be bought, and there are times when you’ll need to buy it. You may not have millions of dollars to dangle in front of your own nose as you set out to accomplish an unpleasant task from your dream-scheme. But if there’s one thing I hope you’ve gotten from this book, it’s the ability to recognize and articulat

The moral of this exercise is that there is a time to deliver the goods, and there is a time to let things be. The next time a dream-scheme seems to be succeeding, give it some space. Check your compasses. Dare to stop pushing.

Here are some signs that an inner urge is probably not a true intuitive message. 1. The thought is accompanied by feelings of fear, anger, or desperation. Every half-credible psychic I’ve encountered, in print or in person, describes true intuitive experiences as emotionally calm, peaceful, or a bit detached. Even when they get bad news, people who