CHAPTER 1

P Is for Priorities

Your choices determine the quality of your life experience. The act of making choicesimplies the chance or the power to select one option over another. Positive Choices arelife choices elected to support your body, mind, and spirit. Negative life choices, such asdoing unsatisfying work or staying in a destructive relationship, undermine your joy ofliving. They drain you of your precious life energy and potential. Yet, in the wake of stressand life adversities, we often forget that we do have the power to re-create our lives byAdding and Subtracting Positive and negative life choices. In fact, learning and thenimplementing this basic yet challenging technique empowers you to claim the life you trulydesire.

Do we have total control over every life choice? No. Wanda would love to be tall and litheand sing like Barbra Streisand. Again and again in her life she has found herself thinking,If only I were 5 foot 8 inches tall and could sing.... But, instead, she's 5 foot 1 inch shortand was shamed out of junior choir for singing off key. Is she totally helpless to her fate?No. She could wear shoes to make her look taller, and her musical friends insist that shecould learn to sing if she practiced. But high heels kill her feet, and Columbia Records willprobably never chase her down to cut a solo album no matter how much she practiced. SoWanda has decided to live with her limitations and forgo the uncomfortable shoes andvoice lessons. She's chosen to leverage her natural talents and let go of her "if only"fantasies.

INQUIRY Are there any "if only" life choices haunting you? If so, what are they? Are theselife choices impossible or possible? If they are indeed possible life choices, are theyimportant enough to you so that you can select one or more of them and dedicate yourenergy toward mastery of it? Make note of the life choices that you want to pursue andthose you choose to release. As suggested in the Introduction, use your journal to answerthe questions and do the exercises in these Inquiry sections.

Gratitude for who you are and what you have already manifested in your life creates astrong foundation of support while you walk through the fires of change. Ponder all the"riches" currently present in your life—your abilities and interests, people you cherish,environments that nurture you, your health, Nature's glory, and any other manifestationyou may want to acknowledge. The madness around us often eclipses our appreciation ofwalks on the beach, connections with people who nourish our souls, or exciting work.Resolve to thank the universe regularly for the gifts you already have.

INQUIRY What are the good things in your life? Write down all of the life choices or giftsthat you are grateful for and want to celebrate today. Again, use your journal to answer thequestions and do the exercises in these Inquiry sections.

Many people find the number of possible life choices overwhelming. There is a seeminglyendless selection. You could be a gypsy and live in a foreign land, start a successfulrestaurant, or take in homeless children. Determining your priorities is an essential sorting-outprocess. Noting which life choices infuse your life with passion and fulfillment helpsyou to elevate these life choices to top priorities. What do you desire most?

Clearing out the things in your life that don't work opens up an entire range of new optionsand possibilities. The older I get the more I see the wisdom in the axiom, "Less is more."Take a mantle over a fireplace, for example. Mantles often hold family photographs,flowers, and candlesticks. Yet, I've been noticing lately how many people's mantlesappear packed with too much stuff. Recently, I took everything off my mantle and realizedthat this myriad of objects was hiding the beautiful hand-carved woodwork. Afterpondering the image that I wanted to project, I selected a pair of thin but elegantcandlesticks and a crystal clock to sit on the newly exposed shelf. These three pieceswere my priorities to display. I wanted to study these three objects for a while and savortheir combination. Formerly, these objects and the woodwork were buried in my maze ofexcess.

Simplification is a guiding principle for the Positive Choices part of the book. You can't doit all, have it all, or experience it all. So you must choose your priorities wisely andcarefully. To do that, you must be willing to release the old, the excessive, and theoutgrown in both the material and the psychological worlds.

INQUIRY Given the limitations of time and energy, what principles, activities, or people doyou choose to make the Focal Points or Top Priorities in your life? Make a list in yourjournal. If your list is longer than ten items, I suggest that you shorten it. Post your toppriorities on a file card and review them daily to verify your selections. Freely edit untilyour list presents the real truth.

Many people resist having a focus in their lives and jump from career to career,relationship to relationship, or project to project. This process of constant shifting canleave you feeling drained and frustrated. Does choosing a focus involve a loss? Of course.If you choose to write one book now and postpone another, or decide to live on the oceanrather than in the desert, you have selected one option at the expense of the other. But byfocusing, you connect more powerfully with your opted choice. If you don't like it, you canchange it. Or if you live on the ocean, you can vacation in the desert. Allow your toppriorities to serve as a daily framework for your time.

CHAPTER 2

O Is for Opportunities

Selecting life priorities precipitates another rendezvous with the ever-challenging question,"Why are you here?" This Positive Choices chapter propels you toward claiming yourpersonal mission and power. Openness to new opportunities engages your evolutionprocess. Now that you have chosen your current Positive Choices—those priorities thatform the foundation for your lifetime—you want to engage the Addition Factor.

First, let's check in with your inner voice to see if you have been getting any signals aboutwhat's missing from your life. Have you recently...