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You don’t have to give up any of your awesomeness to be modest. You are very special! Admit it. It’s true. Just don’t tell everyone else. It is much better if they find out for themselves how wonderful you are.
Your assignment today is to stop trying to convince yourself and others that you’re special. Give up wondering whether or not you’re going to achieve your dreams. You have no way of predicting what your future will hold, and whether or not you think you deserve success is pretty irrelevant, too.
The basic truth is you are already wonderful. The day you were born, the world changed. Now, how are you going to go about showing people how wonderful you are? We’ve already established that lip service won’t do it. The answer is simple. Do wonderful things.
In addition to your long-term goals, find some things to do this week that will immediately help someone else. Demonstrate your unique gifts by putting them to work. Are you a great organizer? Help you brother or sister organize their basement over the weekend if they need (and want) the help. Do you have a friend who is down in the dumps? Surprise them by showing up at their work and taking them to lunch. (Spend the lunchtime listening rather than talking.) Are you a good teacher? Offer to tutor a student in need. Encourage people to find out just how awesome you are through your actions.
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Jodi could never get enough. She was always reaching her hand out for more: more money, more food, more friends, more clothes, more interesting opportunities at work, more praise for her accomplishments—she was never satisfied. Jodi spent most of her life wanting and wishing for more, and therefore she was unhappy a lot of the time.
What would happen if Jodi made one small change? Every time she felt that twinge of wanting more, what if she instead stopped and gave a short, silent thank you for what she had at that exact moment? Could that change her attitude?
A simple attitude of gratitude will lead you to a life of abundance. Do you believe that is true? If you don’t, here is your challenge: try it. Every time you find yourself wanting more, stop for a moment and be thankful for what you have. You don’t have to wait until you have the biggest house on the block, three cars, and a huge bank account to feel like you live an abundant life. All you need to do is practice gratitude every day, and a feeling of abundance will follow.
When you are able to be grateful for what you do have, then you squash out the fear of not having enough. You free yourself to live happily, and ultimately that will open doors for you. Fear has a way of immobilizing you on the road to success. On the other hand, gratitude allows you to celebrate the gifts you have been given and build on them. You can move forward with a positive attitude and live abundantly today.
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What do you expect to get out of life today? Do you expect abundance in real time, or are you waiting for it to show up some day down the road? Write in your journal about your daily expectations, and answer those two questions as honestly as you can. Are you walking up to the fountain of life with a teaspoon, or are you backing a steam shovel up to it? When you see opportunity in plain clothes on an average day, do you ignore it? Do you only siphon off a small portion for now and assume you will take more later? Why do you make that choice?
Abundance is all around you on an ordinary day. You may be sitting on the curved edge of a fountain waiting for a big rainstorm of opportunity, but right behind you is a continual flow of abundance that you can be drawing from constantly. Did you notice it? Why aren’t you drinking from the fountain of life at this very moment?
Expectations can be self-fulfilling prophesies. If you expect only a little bit out of life, then that is exactly what you will get. Practice changing your view today. Look around you and notice a world that is full of abundance and opportunities. You basically have two choices. You can concentrate on the things that limit you, or you can concentrate on the opportunities that are plentiful and within reach. Which one of those choices will lead you to
