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By Juleus Ghunta

“Many people fail to get what they want because they do not free themselves to have it.”

This assertion by Singaporean mind and reality scientist Enoch Tan is exceptionally insightful and profound.

Our experiences -- both harmful and helpful -- and especially those from our childhood years, reliably dictate how we interpret and interact with the world.

Juleus Ghunta is a Jamaican social activist, transformational speaker and creator of the D.R.E.A.M.R.I.G.H.T. concept. Contact him here

What we attract into our lives are manifestations of our deepest thoughts, arising from our impressions and expectations.

Most people are merely vessels for minds which are heavy with decades-long, sometimes centuries-long limitations and fears.

We live the kind of lives that, as stated by the late American writer Henry David Thoreau, interfere with life itself. We make a living, yet we do not live.

By not facing our fears, we sanction them to drive us into a state of eternal self-defeat.

Examining one’s life is the beginning of freeing oneself. To examine one’s life is to carefully dissect the facts and events that have shaped one’s perspective of how the world works and one’s place in it.

An individual for instance, who as a child was compelled to listen to abusive words regarding the unlikelihood of his/her achieving future success, may fulfil that prophecy until he/she confronts and conquers the enemies within which have imprisoned him/her behind the bars of such limitations.

There is a Rwandan proverb that says that if there is no enemy within, the enemy without can do us no harm.

If that individual declines to take up this crucial challenge or is unacquainted with the steps necessary to achieve personal freedom, it is not likely that his/her dominant aspirations will be realized. He/she will become as small as his/her controlling desire - to paraphrase a sentence from James Allen’s pithy classic, As a Man Thinketh.

No human being can achieve anything beyond his/her mental or emotional boundaries without first freeing himself/herself to achieve it -- by shattering those boundaries.

Freeing one’s self is more difficult for those whose defects have been accentuated by others, especially close relatives, from infancy, and by the dismal nature of one’s socio-cultural existence.

Five steps to free yourself to get what you want

Acknowledge your passions: This is the first and most critical step since it is the beginning of change and attainment. If you have no ambition then there is nothing for you to free yourself to attain. The ambitious person, Marcus Garvey wrote, is great in mind and soul. Ambition is the lifeblood of our revolving universe.

To be ambitious is to step out of your zones of comfort toward the residence of lofty dreams and ideals.

Acknowledge your fears: by stepping out, you allow yourself to become vulnerable to your fears, which is fine since vulnerability is an indispensable outcome of one’s movement in the direction of growth and maturation.

Accept your fears for what they are. What are the experiences from your childhood or recent past that are robbing you of self-confidence; that would deny you your right to dream? Be honest with yourself.

Confront your fears: go against the grain of what you were told you cannot do. Everything you need, businessman Dr Farrah Gray likes to say, is on the other side of fear. Begin with ‘I can’ affirmations: “I can achieve my dreams; I have a right to dream.” Repeat these words with the regularity with which you breathe.

You may need external assistance such as counselling; do whatever and go wherever you may get help to triumph over your fears.

Master your craft: once you master your mind, you may go on to master your craft or talent. If you dream of becoming a painter, paint; a writer, write; a student, study; a speaker, speak. Read widely in your area, in fact read everything that is worthy of reading. Go to workshops and lectures and listen to those who have succeeded in your field.

Pursue your passions: Be courageous and tenacious. Take the steps en route to your bliss. Heed these words of Henry David Thoreau: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”

This is why you are here on earth!

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oliver mills:

I have read this article,and would like to make a few observations. Firstly, freeing yourself, suggests that you are in bondage of some sort, that you recognise this, and would like the situation to be changed. How do you recognise you are in bondage? Is it a good, or bad thing? You could be in a state of bondage for self-protection. You also cannot ensure that if you should indeed free yourself that you would get what you want. Even what we want is not normally clear to any of us. Also our experiences do not reliably dictate how we interpret and interact with the world. Each experience is different. None is a blueprint for how we act. There is no data base from which we constantly draw, since new situations constantly confront us.Further our interpretation of an experience could be off the mark, and we could misapply the potential solution and worsen the situation. Also what we attract does not manifest our thoughts. We don't attract anything, but spontaneously interact with our environment, with a number of episodes coming at us. We are not magnets attracting anything. Our thoughts are sovereign and independent. Many times our thoughts are random and uncontrollable. We would have a number of different things resulting from our thoughts which we cannot manage, if some order was not imposed on them. The article seems full of traditional proverbs, and we would need to ask 'how,' and receive an answer to each of the assertions made.

Nicholas:

This is a most powerful article. It is only when we free ourselves of the obstacles that prevent us attaining our true dreams will we be truly properous. The fear of failure should never prevent one from chasing their dreams, for failure makes the attainment of the dream more perfect.

Well done Juleus and I look forward to seeing the next document.