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By Brandon Cook

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” - Harvey MacKay

“Everything you now do is something you have chosen to do. Some people don’t want to believe that. But if you’re over age twenty-one, your life is what you’re making of it. To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” -John C. Maxwell

Well, we’re two weeks into the New Year 2010. For many people the motivation has started to fade to black. Their new habits are beginning to seem like false hopes, while their old habits are beckoning them back into the shadows and comforts of their former selves.

In another week they’ll be dropping like flies from gyms around the nation…. as Metallica used to scream “Sad but true.”

However, just because the mass majority of people are lacking the strength of mind, the will, the shear determination and perserverance to make it the 21-30 days it takes to form a new habit… doesn’t mean we do. No, not me and certainly not YOU!

We’re willing, both you and I, to wade through the swamp that is separating us from the dream life… the life they would live if only they had the stones to. Yet, for us…. failure is no longer an option. To us… failure doesn’t exist. It’s simply an illusion.

I can’t speak for you, but I’m tired of illusions. I desire the truth. And if not THE truth… then at least MY truth.

After all this a fairly subjective world we live in. Everybody is living in their own reality. They see the world filtered through their own eyes and minds, their own thoughts, feelings, and their own perceptions of the world.

Thus, how many of us are trapped living in a life and reality that is on some level an illusion? Maybe we’re not seeing clearly enough. Are we wasting our time and our lives focusing on the wrong things? Maybe “things” that may not even matter in the end?

It’s important for us to see the BIG picture, beyond the egoic fallacies of our own creation and get to the HEART of reality as quickly as possible. In other words, the Essence of our Life.

In reality  I believe fear, doubt, and failure are illusions. Tests that we must overcome to live the life of our dreams. Fear, doubt, and failure are evolutionary mechanisms designed to test the heart of our character. To see what we’re made of. To be radically honest, I know I’ve been held back by these illusions in the past and in some ways still am. Like you I’m working to overcome them.

If we give into these scary illusions and allow them to overcome us, then we’re not only giving up on ourselves, our families, and our friends, but on the dream life we REALLY wanted to live. We forsake the achievement of our desires and goals for the safety of our own cave of comfort and security. The fierce snarl of fear… the bite of doubt… the sharp pain of failure… scares us back into the cave of mediocrity.

If we’re not careful. We’ll die in that cave. Scared and alone. Too afraid to really live. It’s as William Wallace says in the movie Braveheart ”Every man dies, not every man really lives.”

The Top Five Regrets of the Dying

The other day I stumbled upon an article written by Bronnie Ware, who is a writer, singer/songwriter and speaker from Australia.

The article was titled “Regrets of the Dying” and was based off of her experience of working in palliative care. Basically her patients were people who were dying and forced to come to terms with their own mortality.

Here is a condensed version of that article (you can read the full article by clicking the link above):

Start of Article—————–

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.  All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

End of Article—————–

I guess in the end, there’s not really much to add to this post.

As we enter the third week of the new year, freshly embarking on the journey to change and transform our lives, we are going to encounter resistance. We now realize that this resistance will come in the form of fear, doubt, and failure.

As our old patterns beckon for us to give up on these “stupid goals and resolutions” and return back to our old ways let us imagine the time of our death. Just for a moment imagine yourself dying and contemplating the life you have lived.

Did you REALLY LIVE while you were on this planet?

Did you DO all the things you desired and wanted to do in your heart?

Did you make the most of each day you were alive?

Did you build healthy, positive relationships with those in your life?

Did you ALLOW yourself to be happy and embrace life?

Or did you get caught up in the illusion of fear, doubt, and failure?

Do YOU have any regrets that you will have to take to the grave?

Consider this BEFORE you give up on your goals and resolutions this year. Decide NOW to make 2010 the best year of your life.

Live it up, while time is still on your side!

Brandon Cook

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About the Author:

Brandon Cook is author of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2010 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.

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