October 6, 2025 • 37 mins
On a scale of 1 to 10, how authentic are you really?
So many of us live with the constant, draining pressure to be someone we're not. We compare our journey to others, hide our true feelings, and chase a version of success that doesn't align with our soul. This disconnect is the number one source of stress, overwhelm, and feeling like you're walking through life on the wrong path.
But what if your greatest strength, deepest confidence, and most profound peace could be found by simply being yourself?
In this episode, we explore the life-changing wisdom from a timeless essay on authenticity. You will discover:
- The powerful concept that a "piece of God" or a universal power already exists within you.
- Why trying to be someone else is a recipe for struggle, and how being yourself is the path to effortless flow.
- How to use gratitude as the key to unlock your inner power and connect with your true essence.
- The simple steps to stop forcing life and start embracing the perfect, unique person you were always meant to be.
If you’re ready to trade stress for purpose and find the incredible freedom that comes from living as your true, authentic self, then press play now. Your journey back to you starts here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
Today, we're going to discuss an essay written by
Thomas Troward.
It's called Yourself.
And the whole meaning of thisessay is all about being
yourself, being your authenticself.
Before we get started, I justwant to ask you this question.
(01:25):
On a scale of one to 10, 10being I am absolutely authentic.
I say, do, and speak all thewords that I believe in my
heart.
One is I don't really ever dothat.
I try to pretend to be someonethat I'm not.
(01:45):
And I live a life that is falseand somewhat phony.
On a scale of one to ten, wheredo you fall?
Just try to be as honest withyourself as possible.
And perhaps after reading this,and then more importantly
practicing it, you'll be able tosay that you're no longer the
(02:05):
number that you are.
You've moved up the scale.
And the goal is to move up thescale a little bit.
We don't have to go from a threeto a 10.
We want to go to a three to afour, and then maybe a four to a
five.
Small steps lead to far and bigadvances over time.
And that's been our goal allalong.
(02:27):
So let's jump in.
Let's read this and discuss itso that we can understand it.
I'm going to be reading it toyou in a version that I already
edited myself to make it easierto read because reading the
initial version of this ischallenging to understand.
So I'm going to read my version,my edited easier to understand
(02:49):
version, and then discuss it aswe go through each paragraph.
So it starts off saying, I wantto talk to you about the
importance of being yourself.
It seems simple, but many peopleconstantly try to be someone
else.
Again, we asked this question ona scale of one to ten, where are
(03:12):
you?
But what you find is that a lotof people are constantly trying
to be like someone else.
I want to move to theneighborhood where those people
live.
I want to drive the car thatthose people drive.
I want to speak more like thatperson speaks.
I want to do things like theydo.
(03:36):
And the issue with that is Godpicked you to be here on this
earth to be you and no one else.
In fact, there's no one else inthe world that is like you.
There's no one else in thisuniverse that is like you.
And so you come here with a giftgiven by God to be yourself, to
(03:58):
be your true self.
But unfortunately, what happensis most people are afraid to be
themselves.
They're afraid to say and dosome of the things that they
believe in their heart.
Not everything, but some things.
And the goal is to eventually beable to just be yourself.
It's so much easier to gothrough life just being who you
(04:22):
truly are and not trying to besomeone else.
All right, let's go back to theessay.
You think you're not good enoughand try to be better than the
way that God has made you.
This causes a lot of stress andstruggle.
There are so many people thatare feeling stressed, that are
(04:45):
feeling overwhelmed.
And a lot of the time, thatstress and overwhelm is because
we're not being authentic toourselves.
We're not speaking up and sayingthe words that are in our part,
in our job with our boss.
We want to be able to saysomething to him, but we're
(05:05):
afraid if we say something tohim or her, it's going to cause
us an impact.
It's going to hurt us in someway.
And so that fear prevents usmost of the time from being who
it is that we want to be.
And because we're not being whowe want to be, it's causing us a
lot of stress and struggle.
(05:26):
The number one way to startreducing the stress that we feel
is to start being yourself more.
Let's continue back to theessay.
It's good to have high goals,but it's important to remember
that achieving them takes timeand growth.
(05:46):
We see some people out therethat have instant success, or at
least it appears they haveinstant success.
We don't really know because wehaven't seen everything that
they've gone through up untilthis point.
However, there's this thoughtprocess that other people are
getting there faster than weare.
(06:06):
They set their goals, they getthere faster.
Why don't I?
And the key is to remember thatyou're you and they are them.
And there are processes that wego through as we're achieving a
goal.
And there are lessons that we'relearning along the way that are
(06:26):
super important for us so thatwe are able to get to the goal
and achieve it.
There are key lessons that welearn along the road to our
goals.
So we just have to know that wehave lessons that we're learning
along the way.
And so are other people, butit's not our responsibility to
(06:48):
understand what they're goingthrough.
We just need to be focused onwhat we're going through.
Let me give a very personalexample.
After my divorce, I was lonelyand I wanted to get into another
relationship pretty quicklybecause I just wanted to be with
someone.
While I knew I needed to do thework, I didn't really want to do
(07:10):
the work on myself because thatmeant looking inside and dealing
with pain and upset.
But it was necessary for me todo in order to get to the next
relationship, a relationshipthat would be successful.
I didn't do it at first, and Itried to get into a couple of
different relationships, andthey failed miserably because I
(07:32):
wasn't doing the work on myselfand reaching the goal of finding
that person that I really wantedto find.
I found myself.
I found me and I loved myself.
And through that love andthrough that growth, it allowed
me to get into a relationship,not to complete her, but in
(07:54):
other words, I complete myself,not her.
And I don't complete her.
She completes herself.
And together we're able to be ina relationship that works.
However, along the path to getto that goal, had I not made
these mistakes, had I notlearned and grown, had I not
(08:15):
stumbled, I wouldn't have gottento the place I needed to be to
get to the that relationshipwith my wife currently that I
have.
We don't necessarily know allthe reasons why we have
stumbling blocks on the waytowards our goal, but we just
have to trust that there is areason and purpose.
(08:36):
And we do not need to compareourselves to anyone else because
our road, our growth, ourachievement of goals is very
different than anyone else's.
So being ourselves through thatprocess is key.
Let's go back to the essay.
You can't reach your futuregoals without first working on
(08:57):
where you are now.
Growth is a continuous process,and you need to focus on each
step along the way.
Let's continue.
This should make you moreconfident and comfortable.
You are not working with a forcewhich is much greater than you
believe yourself to be.
That power is not separate fromyou.
(09:19):
You don't need to persuade thispower within to do what you
want.
I want to go and talk about oneline here.
It says that power is notseparate from you.
The power that it's discussingis that peace of God that you
are that exists within you, thesoul, the thing that's running
(09:41):
your operating system, the thingthat's causing your heart to
beat, the thing that's causingall the organs to function in
your body.
We talk about it all the time.
That peace of God is existent inyou.
In all the traditionalreligions, it says the same
thing.
There is a peace of God withinus.
(10:03):
There is that soul within us.
And so it's important to againunderstand that's not separate
from you.
And when we realize that's notseparate from you or me, it
gives us power.
It gives us the realization thatif I can just be myself, then
I'm actually tapping into thatpower that's inside of me, that
(10:25):
piece of God that alreadyexists.
All right, let's go back to theessay.
That power is a part of your ownbeing.
You often focus too much on thevisible part of yourself without
thinking about the true powerthat you are and are connected
to.
(10:45):
So, how many times do we go tothe mirror and we look at
ourselves and maybe we'rejudging ourselves and we're not
real happy?
We should lose weight, we couldlook a little bit better.
Whatever the judgments are,we're forgetting that there's
this incredible power that'sright inside of us, that part of
God that's there that we tapinto.
(11:07):
And we've all connected to thatplace at some point.
We've all felt that connection,that ease, that flow of life.
That's the connection to Godthat exists.
And tapping into that place istapping into our true self.
Okay, back to the essay.
(11:28):
The visible part of yourself,your external personality is
like a plant growing from aseed.
The seed is our inner self,which is much more powerful.
The inner self is part of God orspirit that exists in
everything.
(11:49):
So that piece of God isn't justin me, it isn't just in you.
It's literally in everything.
It's in the plants that we see,it's in any living and breathing
thing that exists, has thatpiece of God inside.
Our growth, these stumblingblocks, the things that present
(12:09):
themselves, we see as achallenge, are happening for us.
They're happening for ourgrowth, they're happening to
make us a better person.
They're happening so that we canshow up in life and reflect out
who we are to others.
And then that actually will havean impact on them as well.
(12:31):
Because when they see you beingyour authentic self, they want
to be their authentic self aswell.
Have you ever seen someone, afriend, a family member, someone
that you just met, a newcolleague that is just really
honest and vulnerable?
And they tell you a story, likea personal story about a divorce
(12:53):
that they went through, and youdon't really even know them.
And you think to yourself, wow,that's incredible how they can
be so honest and open and say itlike it really is.
And many of us can't do that, orwe feel that we can't do that,
but that's tapping into thatplace, that strength, that
power, and knowing that when wespeak from that place, from the
(13:16):
truth inside of us, we'respeaking from that godly place
inside of us, and that gives usstrength, and that gives us
confidence, and that makes us itmakes our life easy because we
don't have to pretend to besomething that we're not.
Okay, back to the essay.
(13:36):
Try to imagine what this God,divine intelligence or spirit,
this force is like withoutconsidering how it shapes all
other things around us.
This universal life force is theessence of everything that
exists, it exists within everyliving thing in a simple and
(13:57):
perfect way, even though wemight try to imagine it in more
complex ways.
This universal life force is apowerful energy that always
creates itself and then flowsinto different forms to express
itself.
Since you are part of nature,you do not need to go further
(14:17):
than yourself to find this powerat work.
You do not need to go furtherthan yourself to find this power
at work.
All you have to do is allow itto rise to the surface.
You do not have to force it.
This power within us is neverending and continually
(14:40):
increasing.
So again, let's pause.
This power, this strength, thisconfidence that we're searching
for is already inside of us.
It's that peace of God inside ofus, again, that's in complete
control of everything.
(15:02):
And when we realize, just havethe realization and awareness
that power is in us, just thatrealization alone gives us
strength, gives us confidence.
When we're starting to feelinsecure, all we have to do is
go back to the awareness thatthis power exists right inside
(15:24):
of us.
Every single person on thisplanet is powerful, every person
on this planet is confident andloving and caring and has all
these things in its essence.
However, because of programmingin life, because of this belief
(15:44):
that we have to be somethingthat we're not be like someone
else, I got to be tough likethem.
I got to be tough like my fatherwas or my parent was.
If I don't, people are going tosee me as weak.
No, that's not true.
It's not true because if you'rebeing your true self, no one
(16:05):
will ever see you as weakbecause they're gonna see the
authenticity that you have thatyou're expressing.
And that authenticity, it exudesconfidence at such a high level.
Again, just think about otherpeople that you know who are
truly authentic and real, thatare vulnerable, that share
(16:27):
things that you might not sharebecause you're afraid to share
them.
What would they think of youknowing that you are not
perfect?
And actually, they'll feel moreconnected to you, they'll feel
more close to you, they'll feelmore love for you because all
that everyone out there isreally searching for is to be
(16:50):
more authentic, to be their trueself.
And when we get to that place,it's the best gift that we could
ever have.
All right, let's go back to theessay.
The power is not another's, itis your own.
It doesn't require you to study,work hard, or go on a journey to
find it.
You don't have to attendlectures, read books, or have
(17:12):
teachers to get this power.
This power is right inside ofyou.
The person that's listening tothis right now, let me read that
one more time.
This power is not another's,it's your own.
It doesn't require you to study,work hard, or go on a journey to
find it.
(17:32):
You do not have to attendlectures, read books, or have a
teacher to get this power.
It is right inside of you.
You are the power, you are thestrength, you're the confidence.
The only thing that tells youthat you're not is the belief
that you're not good enough.
But we now know that we canprove that to be false because
(17:56):
if this power exists inside ofus, it would be impossible to
define ourselves as not beinggood enough.
Because no matter how we show upin life as our authentic self,
that's perfection.
And us being ourselves is goingto have an impact on other
people that we can't evencomprehend.
(18:17):
Most importantly, ourselves.
Back to the essay.
It is right inside of you.
The universal life force is thecore of who you are, it is the
source of everything you do andeverything you are.
It is the foundation of who youare.
(18:38):
This universal life force, whichis incredibly vast and powerful,
is enough to fulfill all of yourwants and needs.
You don't have to go searchingout there.
Every single answer that you'llever need is right inside of
you.
When you tap into that powerthat already exists inside of
(19:00):
you by closing your eyes, takingsome deep breaths, asking a
question to that power that'sinside of you, you will get the
answer.
It might not be in that exactmoment, but when you ask for it,
that power will deliver a personthat comes into your life that
tells you something, that givesyou that answer.
(19:21):
You'll watch something, you'llread something.
Something will come up to helpgive you that answer.
You'll have a random thought,you'll have a dream.
Something will occur that willgive you that answer when you
turn to the power inside of you.
(20:17):
You can go outside to otherpeople all you want, but their
answer may not be your answer.
Your answer exists from within,and God will give you that
answer if you trust the sourcewithin.
Let's go back.
It's not this universal lifeforce that has to grow as it is
(20:40):
perfection.
However, your recognition ofthis power within has to grow.
The growth can't be forced.
It must be natural, it must be anatural process.
So it's going to tell us now ifour recognition of this power
within, this peace of God withinus, is so important, it's going
(21:01):
to give us the steps on how toactually connect to this force,
to this power that's within us.
So back to the essay.
The first step of the process isdon't force yourself to be
something that you're not readyfor or isn't natural to you.
Let me stop there for a second.
(21:24):
If I wanted to be like someoneelse and I wanted to make a lot
of money, and I wanted to bethis entrepreneurial
salesperson, but inside who Ireally am is someone that's just
this caring and loving and kindperson who is meant to be here
to share my love and to share mywisdom and share my growth and
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to share the gifts that allthese other people have and
remind them that they have thesegifts within.
If I were to go and try to bethat entrepreneurial person, I'm
trying to be someone potentiallythat I'm not, because who the
true essence of who I am and thetrue gift that God gave me to
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bring into this world was thatgift of sharing with other
people, sharing and remindingthem of the power that they have
within.
So if I try to be something I'mnot, it's going to be a very
challenging path for me becausethat's not the path that I'm
truly meant to take.
So sometimes when you're runninginto struggle after struggle,
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obstacle after obstacle, perhapsthat path that you're on might
not be the best path for you.
Maybe there's another path thatyou're meant to go down.
Even though it might not lookgood in someone else's eyes, you
might not want to step away fromthe path that you're currently
on because what would my parentsthink?
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What would my friends think?
What would my family membersthink?
Who cares?
The most important thing is thepeace of God within you that's
guiding you to the place thatyou need to go.
And you following that gift willalways bring you to a way better
place than trying to figure itout by looking out there and
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being like someone else.
Back to the essay.
Your path to growth isdetermined by the opportunities
and abilities you have rightnow.
You need to use these to thefullest to continue developing.
If you do your best today, itwill make it easier for you to
do even better tomorrow.
(23:40):
This will help you grow andimprove at a faster and faster
pace.
It's much easier to do work withwhat you have than to try to
force things to be somethingthey're not.
This approach also leads tobetter outcomes.
That's exactly what we were justsaying before.
Following the gift that we havewithin and following the path
(24:04):
that has the least resistanceusually takes us down the
perfect path.
If I'm rowing my boat in waterand the rapids are going down
and I'm following the waterdown, if I try to row backwards
and push myself up the rapidsinstead of down, it's going to
(24:25):
be very challenging to do that.
And there is a flow to life.
And when we're on the rightpath, and when things are meant
to be the way they are, thingsflow easily and effortlessly.
A lot of the time, if we justnotice how challenging that
situation is, doesn't mean giveup on your goal, but maybe
(24:47):
there's a better way to get toyour goal.
Let's go back to the essay.
It's important to be active andthink about things, but your
thoughts and abilities come froma powerful force that creates
everything.
Your thoughts and abilitiesdon't create things on their
(25:08):
own, but they help guide you.
We have 65,000 thoughts per day.
Our thoughts are on a specificfrequency.
Again, what does this mean?
Just like a radio station,whatever we tune into is what
we're going to hear more of.
If I tune into rock and rollmusic, a rock station, I'm
(25:33):
guaranteed that I'm going tohear rock music.
There's no chance that I'm goingto hear classical music on a
rock station.
The same is true of ourthoughts.
If I tune into worry, doubt,fear, anxiety, depression, what
will my thoughts be on thatstation?
(25:56):
They're going to be things thatare thoughts of worry, fear,
doubt, and they're going to bein line with that feeling.
So instead, what can I do easilyand effortlessly?
Go to gratitude.
If I'm just grateful foreverything that I already have,
that's going to put me on afrequency that's going to be
(26:18):
filled with grateful thoughts.
The thoughts that I'm going toget on the gratitude station are
extremely different from thethoughts that I'm going to get
from the worry, the fearful, thedoubtful station.
So if we're going to have 65,000thoughts per day, what we want
to do is to get on the frequencyof God, that power that's within
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us.
And the way that we do that isby getting onto the frequency of
gratitude.
Because as we learned last week,the way that we connect to that
source of God is throughgratitude.
The more grateful we are forevery single thing that happens
in our life, good and also whatseems to be bad, if we can find
(27:05):
gratitude in it, we will haveway more things to be grateful
for.
We will have way more thoughtsto be grateful for.
Okay, let's go back to theessay.
The real core of who you are isthe powerful force that drives
your thoughts and abilities.
If you understand that thisinner core is connected to your
(27:27):
outer self, if you understandthat this inner core, this God,
this power that's within you isconnected to your outer self,
you'll realize that you alreadyhave everything you need to grow
and develop as much as you wantin the future.
If you just realize that youhave this powerful piece of God
within you, that's all that youneed to do.
(27:50):
Your goal is to keep getting theawareness and reminding yourself
that's who you truly are, isthis power within.
Every baby that has come hereinto this world is perfection in
our eyes.
And the only time that theystart not being themselves is
when they get programmed tobelieve that they're not good
(28:13):
enough.
They forget the essence theycame here with, that powerful
voice that they have as a child.
When we say everything that wethink and feel, we share all the
loving thoughts that we havewith others without the worry of
what they will think about me.
Okay, let's continue.
(28:34):
Living your life fully meansbeing true to yourself and
embracing who you are.
By understanding this, you canstop putting so much pressure on
yourself to be something thatyou're not.
Instead of feeling stressed andoverwhelmed, you can enjoy life
with a sense of purpose andconfidence.
(28:56):
You'll know that you always cancreate good and beautiful
things.
It doesn't matter where yourpath takes you.
If you focus on what isbeautiful and good, you will
create more beauty and goodnessin this world.
Let's repeat that.
If you focus on what isbeautiful and good, you will
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create more beauty and goodnessin this world.
If you focus on the people outthere and the loving that you
see within them, if you focus onall the good things that exist
in life, you will have more tobe grateful for.
That's just the way it works.
Because again, we're puttingourselves on that frequency on
(29:38):
the radio station of God.
And when we're on thatfrequency, we're going to get a
lot of good things coming ourway, good thoughts, good
feelings, because our focus ison gratitude.
Back to the essay.
You limit yourself when you tryto decide exactly what good
thing you want to create.
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Instead of focusing on aspecific goal, you should focus
on expressing everything thatyou are.
Let's read that again.
Instead of focusing on aspecific goal, you should focus
on expressing everything thatyou are.
If you just express theamazingness that exists within
(30:20):
you, everything else will workout in life.
If you tap into that healthy,incredible place within you,
that peace of God within you,you will attract beautiful
people coming into your life.
Because that's what will attractto the peace of God that's
(30:40):
within you.
And you can share that essencewith people that aren't seeing
the fact that they have thisincredible power within
themselves.
You can help them see the peaceof God that exists within
themselves.
And what a gift you could giveto someone if you did that.
Can you imagine if your wholeall that you did in this world
(31:02):
was show one person howincredible that they truly are
on the inside?
Haven't you really done way morethan making a billion dollars or
that money in the end isnon-existent?
It's not going to help you.
You're not taking it with you.
But you leave a legacy behindwhen you influence the life of
(31:25):
another human being.
We're all connected.
We think we're not.
We think there's a separation,but we're all connected.
So when you see someonereflecting back to you of
something that you don't like,maybe they're being judgmental,
it's reflecting back a piecethat exists with.
Within you, that judgmentalpeace that you have within.
(31:46):
And when you give them ablessing to have more peace and
acceptance in their life, you'regoing to have more peace and
acceptance in your life.
Let's go back to the essay.
We're almost there.
You'll find yourself expressingyourself more fully by
recognizing the wonderful thingsyou already have within you.
Focus on the positive aspects ofwho you are without letting
(32:08):
negative thoughts or self-doubtget in the way.
And if those negative thoughtsor self-doubt get in the way,
what is it that we do?
We go back to gratitude.
Gratitude will connect us toGod.
That will give us confidence.
That will make us feel loving.
That will make us feel caring.
(32:28):
That will make us feelconnected.
All good things come fromgratitude.
Back to the essay.
When you do this, you'll besurprised at the potential you
have within yourself and in yourcurrent situation.
Even if you don't like it rightnow, start focusing on the
positive things around you andstop thinking about the negative
(32:49):
ones.
This will lead you on an amazingjourney, helping you to discover
abilities you never knew you hadand experiencing happiness you
never imagined.
How do we have this happinessthat we've never imagined?
How do we discover theseabilities?
Because we just start focusingon the positive things, all the
(33:12):
things that we can be gratefulfor, and stop thinking about the
negative ones.
Are you going to still havenegative thoughts?
Of course you are.
You're going to become aware ofthe negative thought.
And then what you do then isyou're going to turn it to
something that you're gratefulfor.
Okay, let's continue.
You've never been on the wrongpath.
(33:33):
You've just been walkingbackward instead of forward.
Now that you started walking inthe right direction, you'll
discover that it's the path ofpeace, joy, and eternal life.
You can achieve these thingssimply by being true to
yourself.
And here is the last paragraph.
(33:55):
When you try to be somethingyou're not, you feel tired and
stressed.
Instead, focus on activities youlove and you'll find them
fulfilling and joyful.
When you discover how to livenaturally, you'll find it's
everything you've ever wantedand more.
Your daily life will become aconstant source of joy and
(34:18):
you'll spread positivitywherever you go.
So to wrap this up, it gets intowhat we spoke about on the last
podcast as well.
The way we can connect to thatpiece of God within us is the
same way we connect to God,which is through gratitude.
And when we're grateful, we willthen start focusing on the
(34:42):
beauty that already existsinside of not only ourselves,
that piece of God, but we'llstart focusing on that beauty
that exists in all the otherpeople around us, including
those people that we have judgedin the past.
What we'll realize is that ourjudgment on them was only really
truly a judgment of that traitthat they have and that they
(35:07):
show within ourselves.
So the way that we healourselves inside is by saying a
blessing to remember who wetruly are inside, and that have
that same blessing go out to theperson that we were just
judging.
Because when we do that and weare coming on a level of
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blessing and gratitude and love,what do you think is going to
follow?
So I hope that your takeawayfrom today is this that you are
so powerful that this incrediblepeace of God exists right inside
of you.
And whenever you're feelingdown, whenever you're doubting
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yourself, whenever you'rewanting to be someone other than
yourself, the easiest way toflow through life is to be who
you are.
And God created you, so that'sperfection.
You are perfection, you are apiece of this perfection.
Don't ever try to be someonethat you're not, because the
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beauty is that you are who youare.
And by being yourself andexpressing yourself and being
authentic and being real andbeing true to yourself, the rest
will take care of itself.
I promise you.
I love you.
I appreciate you.
I am so grateful for you.
I hope from the bottom of myheart that this is having an
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impact in your life.
I know it's having an impact onmine.
And I know that when I speakthis over and over again, it's
influencing my own subconsciousmind.
So I know that you hearing itover and over is influencing
your subconscious mind.
May you tap into that incrediblepower that you truly are inside.
Today, we're going to discuss an essay written by
Thomas Troward.
It's called Yourself.
And the whole meaning of thisessay is all about being
yourself, being your authenticself.
Before we get started, I justwant to ask you this question.
(01:25):
On a scale of one to 10, 10being I am absolutely authentic.
I say, do, and speak all thewords that I believe in my
heart.
One is I don't really ever dothat.
I try to pretend to be someonethat I'm not.
(01:45):
And I live a life that is falseand somewhat phony.
On a scale of one to ten, wheredo you fall?
Just try to be as honest withyourself as possible.
And perhaps after reading this,and then more importantly
practicing it, you'll be able tosay that you're no longer the
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number that you are.
You've moved up the scale.
And the goal is to move up thescale a little bit.
We don't have to go from a threeto a 10.
We want to go to a three to afour, and then maybe a four to a
five.
Small steps lead to far and bigadvances over time.
And that's been our goal allalong.
(02:27):
So let's jump in.
Let's read this and discuss itso that we can understand it.
I'm going to be reading it toyou in a version that I already
edited myself to make it easierto read because reading the
initial version of this ischallenging to understand.
So I'm going to read my version,my edited easier to understand
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version, and then discuss it aswe go through each paragraph.
So it starts off saying, I wantto talk to you about the
importance of being yourself.
It seems simple, but many peopleconstantly try to be someone
else.
Again, we asked this question ona scale of one to ten, where are
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you?
But what you find is that a lotof people are constantly trying
to be like someone else.
I want to move to theneighborhood where those people
live.
I want to drive the car thatthose people drive.
I want to speak more like thatperson speaks.
I want to do things like theydo.
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And the issue with that is Godpicked you to be here on this
earth to be you and no one else.
In fact, there's no one else inthe world that is like you.
There's no one else in thisuniverse that is like you.
And so you come here with a giftgiven by God to be yourself, to
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be your true self.
But unfortunately, what happensis most people are afraid to be
themselves.
They're afraid to say and dosome of the things that they
believe in their heart.
Not everything, but some things.
And the goal is to eventually beable to just be yourself.
It's so much easier to gothrough life just being who you
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truly are and not trying to besomeone else.
All right, let's go back to theessay.
You think you're not good enoughand try to be better than the
way that God has made you.
This causes a lot of stress andstruggle.
There are so many people thatare feeling stressed, that are
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feeling overwhelmed.
And a lot of the time, thatstress and overwhelm is because
we're not being authentic toourselves.
We're not speaking up and sayingthe words that are in our part,
in our job with our boss.
We want to be able to saysomething to him, but we're
(05:05):
afraid if we say something tohim or her, it's going to cause
us an impact.
It's going to hurt us in someway.
And so that fear prevents usmost of the time from being who
it is that we want to be.
And because we're not being whowe want to be, it's causing us a
lot of stress and struggle.
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The number one way to startreducing the stress that we feel
is to start being yourself more.
Let's continue back to theessay.
It's good to have high goals,but it's important to remember
that achieving them takes timeand growth.
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We see some people out therethat have instant success, or at
least it appears they haveinstant success.
We don't really know because wehaven't seen everything that
they've gone through up untilthis point.
However, there's this thoughtprocess that other people are
getting there faster than weare.
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They set their goals, they getthere faster.
Why don't I?
And the key is to remember thatyou're you and they are them.
And there are processes that wego through as we're achieving a
goal.
And there are lessons that we'relearning along the way that are
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super important for us so thatwe are able to get to the goal
and achieve it.
There are key lessons that welearn along the road to our
goals.
So we just have to know that wehave lessons that we're learning
along the way.
And so are other people, butit's not our responsibility to
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understand what they're goingthrough.
We just need to be focused onwhat we're going through.
Let me give a very personalexample.
After my divorce, I was lonelyand I wanted to get into another
relationship pretty quicklybecause I just wanted to be with
someone.
While I knew I needed to do thework, I didn't really want to do
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the work on myself because thatmeant looking inside and dealing
with pain and upset.
But it was necessary for me todo in order to get to the next
relationship, a relationshipthat would be successful.
I didn't do it at first, and Itried to get into a couple of
different relationships, andthey failed miserably because I
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wasn't doing the work on myselfand reaching the goal of finding
that person that I really wantedto find.
I found myself.
I found me and I loved myself.
And through that love andthrough that growth, it allowed
me to get into a relationship,not to complete her, but in
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other words, I complete myself,not her.
And I don't complete her.
She completes herself.
And together we're able to be ina relationship that works.
However, along the path to getto that goal, had I not made
these mistakes, had I notlearned and grown, had I not
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stumbled, I wouldn't have gottento the place I needed to be to
get to the that relationshipwith my wife currently that I
have.
We don't necessarily know allthe reasons why we have
stumbling blocks on the waytowards our goal, but we just
have to trust that there is areason and purpose.
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And we do not need to compareourselves to anyone else because
our road, our growth, ourachievement of goals is very
different than anyone else's.
So being ourselves through thatprocess is key.
Let's go back to the essay.
You can't reach your futuregoals without first working on
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where you are now.
Growth is a continuous process,and you need to focus on each
step along the way.
Let's continue.
This should make you moreconfident and comfortable.
You are not working with a forcewhich is much greater than you
believe yourself to be.
That power is not separate fromyou.
(09:19):
You don't need to persuade thispower within to do what you
want.
I want to go and talk about oneline here.
It says that power is notseparate from you.
The power that it's discussingis that peace of God that you
are that exists within you, thesoul, the thing that's running
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your operating system, the thingthat's causing your heart to
beat, the thing that's causingall the organs to function in
your body.
We talk about it all the time.
That peace of God is existent inyou.
In all the traditionalreligions, it says the same
thing.
There is a peace of God withinus.
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There is that soul within us.
And so it's important to againunderstand that's not separate
from you.
And when we realize that's notseparate from you or me, it
gives us power.
It gives us the realization thatif I can just be myself, then
I'm actually tapping into thatpower that's inside of me, that
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piece of God that alreadyexists.
All right, let's go back to theessay.
That power is a part of your ownbeing.
You often focus too much on thevisible part of yourself without
thinking about the true powerthat you are and are connected
to.
(10:45):
So, how many times do we go tothe mirror and we look at
ourselves and maybe we'rejudging ourselves and we're not
real happy?
We should lose weight, we couldlook a little bit better.
Whatever the judgments are,we're forgetting that there's
this incredible power that'sright inside of us, that part of
God that's there that we tapinto.
(11:07):
And we've all connected to thatplace at some point.
We've all felt that connection,that ease, that flow of life.
That's the connection to Godthat exists.
And tapping into that place istapping into our true self.
Okay, back to the essay.
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The visible part of yourself,your external personality is
like a plant growing from aseed.
The seed is our inner self,which is much more powerful.
The inner self is part of God orspirit that exists in
everything.
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So that piece of God isn't justin me, it isn't just in you.
It's literally in everything.
It's in the plants that we see,it's in any living and breathing
thing that exists, has thatpiece of God inside.
Our growth, these stumblingblocks, the things that present
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themselves, we see as achallenge, are happening for us.
They're happening for ourgrowth, they're happening to
make us a better person.
They're happening so that we canshow up in life and reflect out
who we are to others.
And then that actually will havean impact on them as well.
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Because when they see you beingyour authentic self, they want
to be their authentic self aswell.
Have you ever seen someone, afriend, a family member, someone
that you just met, a newcolleague that is just really
honest and vulnerable?
And they tell you a story, likea personal story about a divorce
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that they went through, and youdon't really even know them.
And you think to yourself, wow,that's incredible how they can
be so honest and open and say itlike it really is.
And many of us can't do that, orwe feel that we can't do that,
but that's tapping into thatplace, that strength, that
power, and knowing that when wespeak from that place, from the
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truth inside of us, we'respeaking from that godly place
inside of us, and that gives usstrength, and that gives us
confidence, and that makes us itmakes our life easy because we
don't have to pretend to besomething that we're not.
Okay, back to the essay.
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Try to imagine what this God,divine intelligence or spirit,
this force is like withoutconsidering how it shapes all
other things around us.
This universal life force is theessence of everything that
exists, it exists within everyliving thing in a simple and
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perfect way, even though wemight try to imagine it in more
complex ways.
This universal life force is apowerful energy that always
creates itself and then flowsinto different forms to express
itself.
Since you are part of nature,you do not need to go further
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than yourself to find this powerat work.
You do not need to go furtherthan yourself to find this power
at work.
All you have to do is allow itto rise to the surface.
You do not have to force it.
This power within us is neverending and continually
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increasing.
So again, let's pause.
This power, this strength, thisconfidence that we're searching
for is already inside of us.
It's that peace of God inside ofus, again, that's in complete
control of everything.
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And when we realize, just havethe realization and awareness
that power is in us, just thatrealization alone gives us
strength, gives us confidence.
When we're starting to feelinsecure, all we have to do is
go back to the awareness thatthis power exists right inside
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of us.
Every single person on thisplanet is powerful, every person
on this planet is confident andloving and caring and has all
these things in its essence.
However, because of programmingin life, because of this belief
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that we have to be somethingthat we're not be like someone
else, I got to be tough likethem.
I got to be tough like my fatherwas or my parent was.
If I don't, people are going tosee me as weak.
No, that's not true.
It's not true because if you'rebeing your true self, no one
(16:05):
will ever see you as weakbecause they're gonna see the
authenticity that you have thatyou're expressing.
And that authenticity, it exudesconfidence at such a high level.
Again, just think about otherpeople that you know who are
truly authentic and real, thatare vulnerable, that share
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things that you might not sharebecause you're afraid to share
them.
What would they think of youknowing that you are not
perfect?
And actually, they'll feel moreconnected to you, they'll feel
more close to you, they'll feelmore love for you because all
that everyone out there isreally searching for is to be
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more authentic, to be their trueself.
And when we get to that place,it's the best gift that we could
ever have.
All right, let's go back to theessay.
The power is not another's, itis your own.
It doesn't require you to study,work hard, or go on a journey to
find it.
You don't have to attendlectures, read books, or have
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teachers to get this power.
This power is right inside ofyou.
The person that's listening tothis right now, let me read that
one more time.
This power is not another's,it's your own.
It doesn't require you to study,work hard, or go on a journey to
find it.
(17:32):
You do not have to attendlectures, read books, or have a
teacher to get this power.
It is right inside of you.
You are the power, you are thestrength, you're the confidence.
The only thing that tells youthat you're not is the belief
that you're not good enough.
But we now know that we canprove that to be false because
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if this power exists inside ofus, it would be impossible to
define ourselves as not beinggood enough.
Because no matter how we show upin life as our authentic self,
that's perfection.
And us being ourselves is goingto have an impact on other
people that we can't evencomprehend.
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Most importantly, ourselves.
Back to the essay.
It is right inside of you.
The universal life force is thecore of who you are, it is the
source of everything you do andeverything you are.
It is the foundation of who youare.
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This universal life force, whichis incredibly vast and powerful,
is enough to fulfill all of yourwants and needs.
You don't have to go searchingout there.
Every single answer that you'llever need is right inside of
you.
When you tap into that powerthat already exists inside of
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you by closing your eyes, takingsome deep breaths, asking a
question to that power that'sinside of you, you will get the
answer.
It might not be in that exactmoment, but when you ask for it,
that power will deliver a personthat comes into your life that
tells you something, that givesyou that answer.
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You'll watch something, you'llread something.
Something will come up to helpgive you that answer.
You'll have a random thought,you'll have a dream.
Something will occur that willgive you that answer when you
turn to the power inside of you.
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You can go outside to otherpeople all you want, but their
answer may not be your answer.
Your answer exists from within,and God will give you that
answer if you trust the sourcewithin.
Let's go back.
It's not this universal lifeforce that has to grow as it is
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perfection.
However, your recognition ofthis power within has to grow.
The growth can't be forced.
It must be natural, it must be anatural process.
So it's going to tell us now ifour recognition of this power
within, this peace of God withinus, is so important, it's going
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to give us the steps on how toactually connect to this force,
to this power that's within us.
So back to the essay.
The first step of the process isdon't force yourself to be
something that you're not readyfor or isn't natural to you.
Let me stop there for a second.
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If I wanted to be like someoneelse and I wanted to make a lot
of money, and I wanted to bethis entrepreneurial
salesperson, but inside who Ireally am is someone that's just
this caring and loving and kindperson who is meant to be here
to share my love and to share mywisdom and share my growth and
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to share the gifts that allthese other people have and
remind them that they have thesegifts within.
If I were to go and try to bethat entrepreneurial person, I'm
trying to be someone potentiallythat I'm not, because who the
true essence of who I am and thetrue gift that God gave me to
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bring into this world was thatgift of sharing with other
people, sharing and remindingthem of the power that they have
within.
So if I try to be something I'mnot, it's going to be a very
challenging path for me becausethat's not the path that I'm
truly meant to take.
So sometimes when you're runninginto struggle after struggle,
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obstacle after obstacle, perhapsthat path that you're on might
not be the best path for you.
Maybe there's another path thatyou're meant to go down.
Even though it might not lookgood in someone else's eyes, you
might not want to step away fromthe path that you're currently
on because what would my parentsthink?
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What would my friends think?
What would my family membersthink?
Who cares?
The most important thing is thepeace of God within you that's
guiding you to the place thatyou need to go.
And you following that gift willalways bring you to a way better
place than trying to figure itout by looking out there and
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being like someone else.
Back to the essay.
Your path to growth isdetermined by the opportunities
and abilities you have rightnow.
You need to use these to thefullest to continue developing.
If you do your best today, itwill make it easier for you to
do even better tomorrow.
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This will help you grow andimprove at a faster and faster
pace.
It's much easier to do work withwhat you have than to try to
force things to be somethingthey're not.
This approach also leads tobetter outcomes.
That's exactly what we were justsaying before.
Following the gift that we havewithin and following the path
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that has the least resistanceusually takes us down the
perfect path.
If I'm rowing my boat in waterand the rapids are going down
and I'm following the waterdown, if I try to row backwards
and push myself up the rapidsinstead of down, it's going to
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be very challenging to do that.
And there is a flow to life.
And when we're on the rightpath, and when things are meant
to be the way they are, thingsflow easily and effortlessly.
A lot of the time, if we justnotice how challenging that
situation is, doesn't mean giveup on your goal, but maybe
(24:47):
there's a better way to get toyour goal.
Let's go back to the essay.
It's important to be active andthink about things, but your
thoughts and abilities come froma powerful force that creates
everything.
Your thoughts and abilitiesdon't create things on their
(25:08):
own, but they help guide you.
We have 65,000 thoughts per day.
Our thoughts are on a specificfrequency.
Again, what does this mean?
Just like a radio station,whatever we tune into is what
we're going to hear more of.
If I tune into rock and rollmusic, a rock station, I'm
(25:33):
guaranteed that I'm going tohear rock music.
There's no chance that I'm goingto hear classical music on a
rock station.
The same is true of ourthoughts.
If I tune into worry, doubt,fear, anxiety, depression, what
will my thoughts be on thatstation?
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They're going to be things thatare thoughts of worry, fear,
doubt, and they're going to bein line with that feeling.
So instead, what can I do easilyand effortlessly?
Go to gratitude.
If I'm just grateful foreverything that I already have,
that's going to put me on afrequency that's going to be
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filled with grateful thoughts.
The thoughts that I'm going toget on the gratitude station are
extremely different from thethoughts that I'm going to get
from the worry, the fearful, thedoubtful station.
So if we're going to have 65,000thoughts per day, what we want
to do is to get on the frequencyof God, that power that's within
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us.
And the way that we do that isby getting onto the frequency of
gratitude.
Because as we learned last week,the way that we connect to that
source of God is throughgratitude.
The more grateful we are forevery single thing that happens
in our life, good and also whatseems to be bad, if we can find
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gratitude in it, we will haveway more things to be grateful
for.
We will have way more thoughtsto be grateful for.
Okay, let's go back to theessay.
The real core of who you are isthe powerful force that drives
your thoughts and abilities.
If you understand that thisinner core is connected to your
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outer self, if you understandthat this inner core, this God,
this power that's within you isconnected to your outer self,
you'll realize that you alreadyhave everything you need to grow
and develop as much as you wantin the future.
If you just realize that youhave this powerful piece of God
within you, that's all that youneed to do.
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Your goal is to keep getting theawareness and reminding yourself
that's who you truly are, isthis power within.
Every baby that has come hereinto this world is perfection in
our eyes.
And the only time that theystart not being themselves is
when they get programmed tobelieve that they're not good
(28:13):
enough.
They forget the essence theycame here with, that powerful
voice that they have as a child.
When we say everything that wethink and feel, we share all the
loving thoughts that we havewith others without the worry of
what they will think about me.
Okay, let's continue.
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Living your life fully meansbeing true to yourself and
embracing who you are.
By understanding this, you canstop putting so much pressure on
yourself to be something thatyou're not.
Instead of feeling stressed andoverwhelmed, you can enjoy life
with a sense of purpose andconfidence.
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You'll know that you always cancreate good and beautiful
things.
It doesn't matter where yourpath takes you.
If you focus on what isbeautiful and good, you will
create more beauty and goodnessin this world.
Let's repeat that.
If you focus on what isbeautiful and good, you will
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create more beauty and goodnessin this world.
If you focus on the people outthere and the loving that you
see within them, if you focus onall the good things that exist
in life, you will have more tobe grateful for.
That's just the way it works.
Because again, we're puttingourselves on that frequency on
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the radio station of God.
And when we're on thatfrequency, we're going to get a
lot of good things coming ourway, good thoughts, good
feelings, because our focus ison gratitude.
Back to the essay.
You limit yourself when you tryto decide exactly what good
thing you want to create.
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Instead of focusing on aspecific goal, you should focus
on expressing everything thatyou are.
Let's read that again.
Instead of focusing on aspecific goal, you should focus
on expressing everything thatyou are.
If you just express theamazingness that exists within
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you, everything else will workout in life.
If you tap into that healthy,incredible place within you,
that peace of God within you,you will attract beautiful
people coming into your life.
Because that's what will attractto the peace of God that's
(30:40):
within you.
And you can share that essencewith people that aren't seeing
the fact that they have thisincredible power within
themselves.
You can help them see the peaceof God that exists within
themselves.
And what a gift you could giveto someone if you did that.
Can you imagine if your wholeall that you did in this world
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was show one person howincredible that they truly are
on the inside?
Haven't you really done way morethan making a billion dollars or
that money in the end isnon-existent?
It's not going to help you.
You're not taking it with you.
But you leave a legacy behindwhen you influence the life of
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another human being.
We're all connected.
We think we're not.
We think there's a separation,but we're all connected.
So when you see someonereflecting back to you of
something that you don't like,maybe they're being judgmental,
it's reflecting back a piecethat exists with.
Within you, that judgmentalpeace that you have within.
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And when you give them ablessing to have more peace and
acceptance in their life, you'regoing to have more peace and
acceptance in your life.
Let's go back to the essay.
We're almost there.
You'll find yourself expressingyourself more fully by
recognizing the wonderful thingsyou already have within you.
Focus on the positive aspects ofwho you are without letting
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negative thoughts or self-doubtget in the way.
And if those negative thoughtsor self-doubt get in the way,
what is it that we do?
We go back to gratitude.
Gratitude will connect us toGod.
That will give us confidence.
That will make us feel loving.
That will make us feel caring.
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That will make us feelconnected.
All good things come fromgratitude.
Back to the essay.
When you do this, you'll besurprised at the potential you
have within yourself and in yourcurrent situation.
Even if you don't like it rightnow, start focusing on the
positive things around you andstop thinking about the negative
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ones.
This will lead you on an amazingjourney, helping you to discover
abilities you never knew you hadand experiencing happiness you
never imagined.
How do we have this happinessthat we've never imagined?
How do we discover theseabilities?
Because we just start focusingon the positive things, all the
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things that we can be gratefulfor, and stop thinking about the
negative ones.
Are you going to still havenegative thoughts?
Of course you are.
You're going to become aware ofthe negative thought.
And then what you do then isyou're going to turn it to
something that you're gratefulfor.
Okay, let's continue.
You've never been on the wrongpath.
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You've just been walkingbackward instead of forward.
Now that you started walking inthe right direction, you'll
discover that it's the path ofpeace, joy, and eternal life.
You can achieve these thingssimply by being true to
yourself.
And here is the last paragraph.
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When you try to be somethingyou're not, you feel tired and
stressed.
Instead, focus on activities youlove and you'll find them
fulfilling and joyful.
When you discover how to livenaturally, you'll find it's
everything you've ever wantedand more.
Your daily life will become aconstant source of joy and
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you'll spread positivitywherever you go.
So to wrap this up, it gets intowhat we spoke about on the last
podcast as well.
The way we can connect to thatpiece of God within us is the
same way we connect to God,which is through gratitude.
And when we're grateful, we willthen start focusing on the
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beauty that already existsinside of not only ourselves,
that piece of God, but we'llstart focusing on that beauty
that exists in all the otherpeople around us, including
those people that we have judgedin the past.
What we'll realize is that ourjudgment on them was only really
truly a judgment of that traitthat they have and that they
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show within ourselves.
So the way that we healourselves inside is by saying a
blessing to remember who wetruly are inside, and that have
that same blessing go out to theperson that we were just
judging.
Because when we do that and weare coming on a level of
(35:28):
blessing and gratitude and love,what do you think is going to
follow?
So I hope that your takeawayfrom today is this that you are
so powerful that this incrediblepeace of God exists right inside
of you.
And whenever you're feelingdown, whenever you're doubting
(35:51):
yourself, whenever you'rewanting to be someone other than
yourself, the easiest way toflow through life is to be who
you are.
And God created you, so that'sperfection.
You are perfection, you are apiece of this perfection.
Don't ever try to be someonethat you're not, because the
(36:13):
beauty is that you are who youare.
And by being yourself andexpressing yourself and being
authentic and being real andbeing true to yourself, the rest
will take care of itself.
I promise you.
I love you.
I appreciate you.
I am so grateful for you.
I hope from the bottom of myheart that this is having an
(36:37):
impact in your life.
I know it's having an impact onmine.
And I know that when I speakthis over and over again, it's
influencing my own subconsciousmind.
So I know that you hearing itover and over is influencing
your subconscious mind.
May you tap into that incrediblepower that you truly are inside.
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