Excuses Begone! The Resolution It's Never Too Late to Make
Excuses are the explanations we use to justify continuing in the same old ways. Many of the excuses you use have been with you since you were a very young child, and they very likely so cemented into your consciousness that you actually have come to believe they are all true.
However, I would like you to keep this one thought uppermost in your mind as you make an effort at the beginning of the year to rid yourself of these tired excuses and take on an entirely new attitude about who you are capable of becoming and what you are capable of achieving.
Don't believe everything you think. Remember the famous words spoken by Lao-Tzu some 2,500 years ago: "When you correct your mind, everything else will fall into place."
All excuses are in the mind. I urge you to follow these four guidelines as you work toward an excuse-free year.
Think Awareness
I use this example from the teachings of the New Testament: "With God, all things are possible." Now, what does that leave out? All things means all things. Excuses are thoughts that tell you what you can't do, how difficult something will be for you, that it will take too long or that you don't have the luck or the ability to create the life you want. By thinking in awareness, you correct your mind and allow all the things you need to show up in order to have your life work the way you want it to. This kind of thinking will remind you that you do exist in a place where all things are possible. I encourage you to apply this consciousness to all of your old thinking habits.
Try aligning yourself with these affirmations in place of their old excuses:
Excuse: It will be difficult
Affirmation: With God, all things are possible.
Excuse: I'm too busy.
Affirmation: With infinite patience, I produce immediate results.
Follow the rest of Wayne's guidelines
However, I would like you to keep this one thought uppermost in your mind as you make an effort at the beginning of the year to rid yourself of these tired excuses and take on an entirely new attitude about who you are capable of becoming and what you are capable of achieving.
Don't believe everything you think. Remember the famous words spoken by Lao-Tzu some 2,500 years ago: "When you correct your mind, everything else will fall into place."
All excuses are in the mind. I urge you to follow these four guidelines as you work toward an excuse-free year.
Think Awareness
I use this example from the teachings of the New Testament: "With God, all things are possible." Now, what does that leave out? All things means all things. Excuses are thoughts that tell you what you can't do, how difficult something will be for you, that it will take too long or that you don't have the luck or the ability to create the life you want. By thinking in awareness, you correct your mind and allow all the things you need to show up in order to have your life work the way you want it to. This kind of thinking will remind you that you do exist in a place where all things are possible. I encourage you to apply this consciousness to all of your old thinking habits.
Try aligning yourself with these affirmations in place of their old excuses:
Excuse: It will be difficult
Affirmation: With God, all things are possible.
Excuse: I'm too busy.
Affirmation: With infinite patience, I produce immediate results.
Follow the rest of Wayne's guidelines
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Think Alignment
All excuses are misalignment. You are a divine expression of the source that is responsible for all of creation. Your ego allows you to believe otherwise. And every excuse you use shows you that you have lost alignment with your spirit. Remind yourself over and over that you are not a human being having a spiritual experience, rather the reverse is true. You are an infinite spiritual being having a temporary human experience. Words like "difficult," "risky," "can't," "too weak," "too dumb" and "too complicated" do not apply to the divine mind. I urge you to reharmonize with energy that can do anything and everything, for this is your original nature.
Excuse: I can't afford it.
Affirmation: If I stay in alignment with my originating spirit, all that I need will be provided.
Excuse: I don't have the energy.
Affirmation: There is an energy in the universe greater than me, and that energy is always available.
Contemplate Carefully
Aristotle said that contemplation is the highest form of activity. I urge you to contemplate yourself surrounded by the conditions you wish to create. And remember this:
1. Contemplation is the continual use of your thought process.
2. If you contemplate with thoughts that match originating spirit (or God), you have the same power as originating spirit.
3. The presence of excuses in your life is evidence that you contemplate what you can't do or have.
4. Start a new habit of contemplating what you want, and you'll set into motion all the creative forces of the universe.
Excuse: It's too big.
Affirmation: If I can conceive of it, passion and the abilities to create it will be given.
Excuse: I'm too old (or not old enough).
Affirmation: In an infinite universe, age is an illusion—there is only now.
Be Willing
In order to change your lifelong thinking habits, be willing to do what is required to make such changes. If you are overweight, be willing to live with a few annoying hunger pains in the beginning or to extend yourself by being willing to be exhausted after a workout. If you would like to rid yourself of an addiction, you should be willing to experience some withdrawal for the prize of being free from your cravings. Talk to yourself from the perspective of truly being willing to do whatever it takes rather than relying on the same old excuses that keep you from making those changes. You'll be thrilled with yourself when you adopt an "I'm willing" attitude.
Remember throughout the year that all those tired excuses are the work of your ego convincing you to believe in your limitations and to live out the half-lived life. And remember all year long, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He's the author of more than 30 books, including the New York Times best-seller Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits.
All excuses are misalignment. You are a divine expression of the source that is responsible for all of creation. Your ego allows you to believe otherwise. And every excuse you use shows you that you have lost alignment with your spirit. Remind yourself over and over that you are not a human being having a spiritual experience, rather the reverse is true. You are an infinite spiritual being having a temporary human experience. Words like "difficult," "risky," "can't," "too weak," "too dumb" and "too complicated" do not apply to the divine mind. I urge you to reharmonize with energy that can do anything and everything, for this is your original nature.
Excuse: I can't afford it.
Affirmation: If I stay in alignment with my originating spirit, all that I need will be provided.
Excuse: I don't have the energy.
Affirmation: There is an energy in the universe greater than me, and that energy is always available.
Contemplate Carefully
Aristotle said that contemplation is the highest form of activity. I urge you to contemplate yourself surrounded by the conditions you wish to create. And remember this:
1. Contemplation is the continual use of your thought process.
2. If you contemplate with thoughts that match originating spirit (or God), you have the same power as originating spirit.
3. The presence of excuses in your life is evidence that you contemplate what you can't do or have.
4. Start a new habit of contemplating what you want, and you'll set into motion all the creative forces of the universe.
Excuse: It's too big.
Affirmation: If I can conceive of it, passion and the abilities to create it will be given.
Excuse: I'm too old (or not old enough).
Affirmation: In an infinite universe, age is an illusion—there is only now.
Be Willing
In order to change your lifelong thinking habits, be willing to do what is required to make such changes. If you are overweight, be willing to live with a few annoying hunger pains in the beginning or to extend yourself by being willing to be exhausted after a workout. If you would like to rid yourself of an addiction, you should be willing to experience some withdrawal for the prize of being free from your cravings. Talk to yourself from the perspective of truly being willing to do whatever it takes rather than relying on the same old excuses that keep you from making those changes. You'll be thrilled with yourself when you adopt an "I'm willing" attitude.
Remember throughout the year that all those tired excuses are the work of your ego convincing you to believe in your limitations and to live out the half-lived life. And remember all year long, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He's the author of more than 30 books, including the New York Times best-seller Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits.
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