Maybe you are asking yourself, why do I really need to change? And you are thinking that everyone else has to do something and I really don't have to, because it is really everyone else's fault. Do you remember the carrots?

In this chapter we will take a deeper look into you and what is wrong, or what limitations you have around you and why they are there, as well as how you should spend your time.

You know many people go through life with blinders on themselves - only seeing a little. Many people see so little; they are like a house with only one window, and that window may have no view.

In this house as you will notice, there is only one window facing east, which is great to see and enjoy the sunrises - but how can someone living in that house see sunsets? How can they enjoy the warmth of the southern sun or the cold from the north! Who would want a house like that? Well, aren't some people's lives like that? What about yours?

Stop and meditate on this, think about yourself and what blinders you have on you, OR do you have any?

Here you are in the center of your life - the center of your own world with all of your restrictions and barriers - your own little weighted world. Each arrow represents a barrier YOU have placed on yourself.

What type of barriers do you have?

Possibly you would answer, "Gee, I would like to do that:

• but I can't, or
• but it won't work, or
• but I'm lonely, or
• but I'm ugly, or
• but I'm too tired, or
• but I fear the unknown, or
• but I'm too fat, or
• if I had the money, or
• if I only had some friends, or
• but I must eat certain foods, or
• if I weren't so old, or
• if I felt like it,"

Some of us live in a rather tight little weighted world of limitations we have put around ourselves.

I know that you want to remove some of these barriers, but as we all know, it isn't easy. However, remember NO ONE put any of them there BUT you, and therefore you must remove them yourself.

STOP now and review the list. Add some of your own if you have some more. Then cross out all of those that you feel do not fit you. As you think over these barriers, you are probably thinking how hard it is to remove them. But I am sure you can drop them one at a time - some of them anyway. Remember the story of the tadpole-he had to give up his tail to become a frog ... and all you have to do is give up a few simple thoughts you put on yourself ... OR ...

You can hold onto all these limitations and barriers and stay in your narrow little world as long as you want to. BUT you can get out and live NOW; it is your choice. Remember the drop of water - it could have stayed in the pond and become stagnant, or get into the stream of life and flow with it. Do you want to become stagnant or flowing? As the water flows over the rocks, you too can flow into a new experience of life every day.

I feel the whole purpose of life is to LIVE it, NOT to shy away from it. Let's not become stagnant but LIVE NOW. You see it is your choice, if you want to live, then start it now.

I have talked a lot about living now, yes right now this very minute. I am not talking about living in the future or the past, but right now. You know it is impossible to enjoy the food you ate yesterday, again today. Because what you ate has already been swallowed and you cannot taste it anymore, so why think about it? Isn't it impossible to relive any experience, no matter how much you want to? So why do people spend so much time thinking about yesterday? Do you?

Then there are some of us who only think in the future, you know the type, and tomorrow - or when Jim comes home we will. But they are only living in the future. I am sure when you planned for others to do something-they didn't, or it just doesn't work out like you had planned or thought it would. Another disadvantage of living in the future is that you don't have time to enjoy the now.

How do you spend your time? I suggest that you notice the following drawing of a time pie:

As you look at the "pie" you will notice that 5 % of the time is spent on the past. This is a good idea, to spend 5 % of your time looking back on your life and seeing where you went wrong, and what lessons you can learn from the experiences that you put yourself through. Every experience that you have gone through was for some reason, and therefore you can and should learn a lesson from it. Life is like a school. We go through life with many experiences and it is our choice as to what we learn from each. So you should spend no more than 5% of your time looking back and learning from yesterday.

You should then spend 5% of your time on planning what you will do in the next time period. Use this time to plan what you want to do, what you want to become, and how you plan to get there. But remember, if you spend too much time on that you will not have time to enjoy the NOW.

Then YOU have 90% of your time to live NOW! We should spend all that time in doing our thing NOW. If you want to watch TV, then watch it. Do not try to read, think of going fishing, or worry about when Jim is coming home - but only watch TV. Since you can only think of one thing at a time, please give the thing that you are doing at that time your fullest consideration and thought.

You will soon discover that when you only do one thing at a time, and really give it all your thoughts, that the hardest and most unpleasant job will become great and your time will be spent pleasantly.

So we have discussed why changes are necessary, because we need to change NOW. Ponder on the points in this chapter so that you can see where in your life you need to change, and START NOW.

Reread this valuable chapter to realize and understand more about why changes are necessary in your life.

Meditate until you understand why changes are necessary NOW!