Follow Your Heart !!!

Today is a very special day. We’ve all achieved a lot to get here. Therefore, reach over, give your neighbor a pat on the back, give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it! We’ve earned it!




But for many of us, today is also a day of new beginnings. Our lives lie ahead of us like a large empty white canvas. How should we paint it? What paths do we take? How do we know what to do in life? What do we want to achieve? In the next few minutes I’m going to give you some pointers from one of my favorite books, entitled Follow Your Heart, written by Andrew Matthews. This book contains some concepts that made a lot of sense to me, and I know they’ll help you just as greatly. I’d like to tell you about five of theses concepts to help guide us in our lives ahead.





First concept: We are here to learn lessons, and the world is our teacher.


The funny thing about this concept is that if we don’t learn the lesson we get to take it over and over again. At times, we have to be hit on the head before we learn the lesson. Think about it! People who have to exercise and lose weight don’t do much at all until they suffer a heart attack or a doctor tells them to change or else… When did you study the hardest? Was it when you were afraid you would fail? We know bad habits are hard to break; it’s easier not to change. Broke people remain broke (even if they win a jackpot of money), overweight people remain overweight, smokers continue to smoke and people continue to go to jobs they hate because it pays the bills. Life is not about punishment, life is about education. Winners face each lesson and learn, losers say “Why do bad things always happen to me?” Sam says, “Why am I always broke?” Mary says, “No one likes me because I’m fat,” and Mary eats some more, gets fatter, and gets more depressed. The good news is that once we learn a lesson we move on to the next lesson. We can never run out of life's lessons.




Second concept: The universe has no favorites.

Plan your life like you’d live forever, live your life like you’ll die tomorrow.
Chinese proverb



Six years ago, my 18-year-old cousin Luis died in a car accident on Jan 13, 1996. We had just celebrated the New Year with family dinners and gatherings. None of us even suspected for a moment that these were the last gatherings we would have with Luis alive. Luis was in a car driven by his 16-year-old friend Scott who had just gotten his license. Scott died that day too. After that tragic day my parents would not let my sister or me go in a friend’s car or let us drive our friends around unless the driver was 18 or older. My sister and I thought this was a ridiculous rule. “Bad luck could not hit a family twice,” my sister said. To this she got the snap retort, “Bad luck doesn’t know which family it has hit or hasn’t hit.” So remember friends, the universe has no favorites, and it has no victims either—you are in charge of your destiny. Live each day to its fullest, plan your life like you’d live forever, live your life like you’ll die tomorrow.




Third concept: God is never going to come down from a cloud and say: “You now have permission to be successful!”



A few years ago Nike came up with a slogan about exercising. It was, “Just do it!” They hit the nail on the head. We are a race of procrastinators and excuse-makers. How often do we say, “Oh, I’ll exercise when I get more energy or have more time,” or “I’ll save money when I make more money,” or “I’ll work harder when I get a nicer boss.” Not! Start doing whatever you need to do and then you’ll feel the energy and the excitement. Discipline is not one of my favorite words—it fits in somewhere between dentist and dull—but self-discipline in little things leads to big things. Studying instead of watching TV leads to better grades, going to the gym three times a week leads to a trimmer and fitter body, saving money from a part-time job may lead to the car of your dreams. Make the effort first; harvest the rewards later. The world rewards effort, not excuses. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Start with that one bite and make progress. My mother is writing a book. I’ve asked her, “How do you write a book?” She said, “One word at a time, and if you don’t like the words, you rewrite them again and again, until you get it right.” Get started, make the effort, and then be successful. Remember the Nike slogan and “Just do it!”







Fourth concept: Our mission in life is not to change the world, our mission in life is to change ourselves.

It is a present because it is a gift
And it is precious because anyone who receives such a present is happy forever.
The Precious Present, by Spencer Johnson, M.D.



How many of you have heard of Steven Covey, the author of the best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Many of you don’t know this, but his son Sean Covey wrote a book entitled The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. In the accolades of his book, his high school English teacher wrote, “What? Sean Covey wrote a book? You’ve got to be kidding!!” So what may seem impossible to us at this time can be changed. Happy people know that the only thing they can control is themselves—they are in charge of their attitude and their lives. People who have achieved greatness have done so by disciplined, dedicated, daily efforts (there’s that word “discipline” again). They have a path to follow, and they didn’t wait for someone else to show them or carry them down that path. Instead of trying to change other people, look for the beauty within them and you’ll find more beauty and strength within yourself. Do your best in the present, and let your life unfold. You can choose to be happy now, or you can choose to be happy “when…” or “if …”





Fifth concept: Follow your heart—your mission in life is not to be without problems, your mission is to get excited.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you NOTHING. It was here first.
Mark Twain



Remember the days when you gave 100% on your homework or extended yourself to create a tremendous project report or presentation? You wanted to get to school and turn it in. As you made your presentation, your adrenaline was probably rushing, because you knew it was good. This “homework” principle applies every day of your life. You don’t work for your teacher or for your boss or for you parents—you work for yourself. You know when you’ve made the extra effort, you know when the results are great. My next few sentences are really important, so listen up! Many of us don’t know exactly what we want in life, but we do know what we like doing and what we are good at. So figure out what is close to what you want, and go from there. Do your best in the present, and let your life unfold.



Article Source :  Andrew Matthews