The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance

It's a little sign that sits over the door of every Returned Soldiers League of Australia Club.

And it's every bit as true for us as individuals as it is for us as a country.

I've only just discovered to my amazement that it wasn't an Australian who coined this, but was previously used by Thomas Jefferson who probably borrowed it from John Philpot Curran.

Hard to cop for a blokc whose been brought up with the other motto "Lest We Forget"....another great motto for us as individuals!

But I don't just want to deal with symbols in this post - I want to bring something really useful for you - something you can put into practice right now.

You see, when you are aware of what's going on with yourself (I mean the sort of awareness where you are just noticing stuff - acknowledging stuff, being able to name stuff), then you have the opportunity to make a choice.

Especially when what's stopping you is a personal problem, weakness or failing.

You can go to any Alcoholic's Anonymous group any day or night of the week and they will all stand up and say: "Hi, my name is <Your Name> and I'm an alcoholic!"

This instantly blows away all the denial, all the unconsciousness and all the "Possum Frozen in the Headlights" syndromes and allows each person to make the most important choice for an alcoholic - "Am I going to have a drink or not?"

Just like that, as soon as you acknowledge yourself fully, warts and all, you get to choose again. You get to choose something you want rather than something you have to have.

You get to choose to build a life you love rather than compulsively destroying your life.

You get to choose to be a contribution to people rather than a shame and a burden.

So even if you are not an Australian ex-serviceman or woman or an alcoholic - you can get something from this. There is a secret here that can make a huge difference to your everyday behavior and will enable you to access your power of free will and choice.

....are you ready to hear it?

The secret is:

"You don't have to fix yourself up to be able to make choices. You enable yourself to make choices when you acknowledge what is stopping you from getting traction with your choices."

It's just like Rumplestiltskin. You put a name to what's stopping you and instantly you have the power to choose.

You don't have to spend years trying to fix yourself up before you can have a great life - ask any recovering alcoholic - ask any recovering Catholic!

Naming "what's so" turns it into "so what?" and then you can choose freely and powerfully engage in your choice.

The price of freedom is simply staying awake to yourself and being able to name what's going on inside of yourself!

What can you acknowledge yourself for right now, that's stopping you from making the choices you know will move you forward toward the life you love?

Email Mike...