I choose life! What about you?

On a daily basis we are taking so much in externally is it really any surprise that we struggle so much as independent individuals? I don't know about any of you, but up until about 2 years ago I struggled to make some of the simplest life decisions. It would literally cripple me to purchase a clothing item because swirling around in my head were thoughts of; am I getting the best deal, is this the right fabric, were these jeans made in a sweatshop and a wide variety of others. Finally it occurred to me that the reason I was struggling so much was because many of the thoughts swirling around my head were not my own!

This was one of the major factors in my decision to get more in touch with my inner-self. I wanted freedom from all the regurgitated crap that we are all so accustom to, yet I fear the majority of us don't even realize that much of the things we carry around with us on a daily basis do not belong to us. Would you ever make it a daily exercise to drag around another persons 100 pound suitcase? Hopefully you all scoffed at that idea, yet on a mental and emotional level that is precisely what is happening.

I think it's about time that we pay more attention to what's going on inside and ignore a lot of what's going on outside. In case there is any confusion, by outside influences I mean radio, television, media, newspapers, other people and even our own eyes. Even though we see with our eyes, we process with our brains, so believe it or not, unless you train yourself accordingly, your brain tells you what you are seeing before your eyes ever get a chance. In other words we are allowing all these outside influences to determine the way we live as individuals. Doesn't that sound crazy?

I know it sounds a little strange and I know it sounds difficult but if you look at humanity on the whole, look how much more we were capable of in the past. The main reason for this is because they didn't have as many distractions. In the past you had no idea what was going on an hour away from you. There was no news, no radio, no way to easily travel back and forth and so people had more time to be in-touch with themselves. Large groups were able to accomplish amazing feats because they were all focused on one common goal. We have lost touch with this amazing ability because nowadays within 60 seconds I can easily find out what is happening on the other side of the globe. With so much horror and information to take in, why would I ever need to know what is truly going on inside of me?

Think about it like this, if you were hungry and you wanted to fill your appetite, would you hand a hot dog to another person, ask them to eat it for you and then you'd ask how it tastes and what the feeling of being full is like? I know, it sounds absolutely ridiculous, yet in our everyday lives we do things just like this. If I have a dream of what I want to be or goals I want to accomplish, at the end of the day, why would I ever tell my dreams to someone else and expect them to feel the same way about them as I do? My dream is mine and your dream is yours. It's like me expecting anybody else in the world to have the same connection I do with my child, it's just not possible. Another way of thinking about it is if you wanted to write a book and become a successful writer, would you want to get advice from someone who had tried unsuccessfully to get one book published over a 30 year span?

We are taught to believe that for the most part we are all the same. Well if you are using your eyes properly and you are actually processing what is really going on around you, would you ever tell someone that we are all the same? If we can agree that this world we live in is a crazy, backwards, amazing and beautiful mystery all wrapped into one, what do you want to do while we are here? Do you want to figure out why water is wet and why the sky is blue, or are you willing to accept that there are many questions you can't have answers to and so just find where you fit and spend as much time there as you can? That is one of the main thoughts we try to influence the youth to incorporate in their daily lives. So many of the youth we work with get so caught up in the "yellow tape" that they never actually make it to the real scene of the crime. If kids are worried about where the next meal is coming from or why the government seems so corrupt, how are we going to teach them to focus on doing something positive and worth while. The majority of them shrug their shoulders and say "What's the point?" We are the ones that have to show them what the "point" is!

I think we have way too many individuals that are literally comparable to a dog trying to catch its own tail. I don't even mean it in a negative way, its not our fault, but if we spend our time marching to the beat of other peoples drums, how do we ever expect to get where WE are heading? I know I live in a crazy world and I know things will not work out the way I expect most of the time, but the important part is that I'm okay with that and it doesn't get in the way of me achieving what I am here to achieve! For a second, please indulge this next rant. If we are actually beings that came to earth with a specific plan for our lives, how easy would you say it is to get distracted the moment you arrive? It's like me telling a 5 year old to walk from the entrance of Toys R Us all the way to the back of the store in less than 5 minutes, without stopping. How many kids do you think would be successful? Even if you had the greatest and most important task to achieve while you are here on earth, the moment you arrive you are surrounded by a proverbial Amusement Park full of distractions. We are almost set up to fail based on the way things seem, but I am here to tell you if we get back to internalizing things, we may not find it such an impossible task to achieve our dreams. I have learned how to turn my dreams into reality and everyone has the ability to do the same and we want to teach you!

Even in my line of work most organizations promote a message of ending bullying or putting a stop to bullying, whereas when we work with youth our focus is to help them deal and cope with bullying because much like other things in our lives, its something that as long as humans exist, so will bullying. Let's stop with the smoke and mirrors and as opposed to telling people that we can get rid of something, why not teach them how to live with it instead? Do you think you'd have more success keeping drugs away from your teenage child or would you have more success talking to them and preparing them for WHEN the drugs are present? I don't know about you, but if we can't solve the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, the war on..., I doubt we will have any more success fighting the war on bullying. Let's accept that it is a part of daily life and teach people how to prepare, avoid and  cope with it. That way we can move on.


I'm not a religious man, but I am a student of religion and the subject fascinates me. One thing that hopefully we can agree on is that god or whatever supreme being is responsible for all this, has truly only guaranteed us two things, life and death. It's up to us which one we choose and I can't speak for everyone, but I feel I am part of the small percentage who is still choosing life. If you actually thought about it, which one have you chosen?



As always your comments and feedback are essential to us being successful with our initiatives, so please, let's get talking!!

To find out more or to realize your own full potential, please reach out to Joshua@JoshuaStern.ca and you can visit www.JoshuaStern.ca for more.


Thank you again and much love and light to you all.