achieving your dreams?
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Today you will have another opportunity to change your expectations. Your first task is to write in your journal about what you expect to happen today. Make a list of your expectations for the next twenty-four hours.
Now, take a look at that list. Are you aiming low, or do you have pretty lofty expectations? What did you write down? Your expectations for this day might be a laundry list of mundane tasks that you hope to accomplish: pick the kids up from school, go to the gym, finish the laundry, get the tires rotated, attend a mandatory meeting at work . . . boring! What would happen to your outlook if you added something fun to your list? Today I will: start a new book; plan an impromptu date night with my spouse; take the day off and go hiking just to spend some time meditating and surrounded by nature; take the kids to a movie after school. Puts a little spring in your step, doesn’t it?
If you don’t plan for abundance, it’s not going to happen. Expect it. Put it on your to-do list. If you expect to be baffled by life today, then you will be. If you expect to be frustrated at work, it’ll happen. If you expect to be annoyed by the guy next door who goes to get his newspaper in his underwear, chances are you will be.
Take charge right now. Alter your expectations. Expect to come across new opportunities to be happy. Plan for an abundant life—today!
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First there was the flashing red light, then the endless sound of falling coins. Bells and whistles started going off everywhere, and people gathered around. Curt stared at the machine. He had been going to Las Vegas once a year for the last twenty years, and in the past he always walked away a loser. He never lost more than a hundred dollars. It was just fun to play. He didn’t expect much more than that. Sometimes he was up fifty dollars or so, and that was when he should have quit, because he always ended up losing it again. It was just the way it went. Nevertheless, he enjoyed pulling the lever on the slot machine and tasting that far-off, elusive chance for big money.
Now, here he was—a winner! One magic pull on the right machine and he was a millionaire! It happened. He won the lottery. People were patting him on the back, and a smiling casino employee wrote him a ticket to redeem at the cashier’s booth. He won. Curt stood up shakily, put the ticket in his pocket, and shuffled out of the casino without redeeming it.
What?!
No one in their right mind would do that!
Actually, many of us do just that every day. Life is a lottery you have already won. You are incredibly lucky to be here and take part in this crazy play. Have you cashed in your ticket yet?
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For the last several days you’ve read about abundance and how you can have it right now, but most of us don’t take advantage of the opportunities that will lead us to an abundant life. You could be living abundantly today, so what are you waiting for?
I don’t know. You may be thinking. “Fine. I’ll stop waiting and go for it. Sign me up. How do I start?”
You need one very important ingredient in order to live life in abundance, and that is love. Abundance is easy to obtain, but it’s not exactly free. You have to willingly give of yourself in order to see abundance flow back to you. There’s always a catch, isn’t there?
This catch is a wonderful surprise, though. You will get back so much more than you give. If you practice great love for everyone around you, you will see incredible abundance flowing your way—and not just in the form of hugs and nice words. Don’t worry. You don’t have to go out and hug that annoying neighbor who always gets his newspaper in his underwear. That would be creepy. You could practice tolerance and let the guy do his own thing without plastering unflattering pictures of him on the Internet, though.
