If you have ever thought to yourself,Darn? My life is in the dumps?,
then you are the person who should read this most.
This for two reasons: First, what you learn here can help you make a
difference in shaping your life to the way you want it to be. And
second, you can help a friend by sharing this message with them. Doing
so, you can make the world a better place? one person at a time.
What follows is an analysis of five factors which block the path to a
life of fully realized potential. What I mean by realised potential. is
that within you, there exists enormous potential to be released in this
lifetime. You might not realize you are a channel for great things. not
many people do. Many have buried their dreams in the sands of time and
live stuck in the nine to five grind.

You can change this and start living your life on your own terms, in the
direction you want to go. I am sure you have tried many times before to
make your breakthrough. But somehow, you just found yourself hitting an
invisible wall- an unseen factor holding you back that blocks the path
to your goal.
This essay is about uncloaking these invisible walls; making them
visible to you, and showing you how to get pass them so you can build
the life of your dreams.
Are you ready?

*Factor #1: A World Too Fast To Handle *
On all fronts, things are changing fast. People complain of not having
enough time and suffering from fatigue and chronic lack of sleep. Around
the world, people work hard and fast, yet they still donÕt have enough
time to get everything done. According to the National Study of the
Changing Workforce, at least 50% of the U.S. adult population is sleep
deprived, many surviving on 3 to 5 hours rest a night than the necessary
7 to 8 hours.  In Japan, there is the phenomenon of ‘karoshi’, or death
by overwork. All this working through the night and pushing oneself to
the extreme leads to metabolic issues and straining of the heart and
kidneys, which greatly increases the risk of stroke, cardiovascular
disease and diabetes. (1)
Would you like to have your heart stop or have your brain become a
stupid vegetable before you have had a chance to enjoy your money? What
about connecting yourself to a blood sucking machine for the rest of
your life?
I drink a lot of coffee and perhaps you do too. Why do we swallow this
brown stuff? The answer often is that we need our daily shot of
caffeine; sometimes even several shots just to get through the day.
Since the turn of the millennium, our world has been evolving at a
blistering pace. We have actually built an international space station,
there was the Dot Com boom and bust, the rise of China and India as
economic giants, the cloning of animals, the invasion of Iraq, the Bali
Bombings, world recession, a flu pandemic, natural disasters every
month, the end of the world in 2012 and more.
Even without trying to keep up with global events, people find
themselves stretched thin between work and family commitments. There is
a common saying that, “we have lots of stuff to enjoy, but no time to
enjoy it.Ó On the other hand, there are those who do spend their time
wallowing in hedonic pleasures, who often find that they sacrifice
achievements in their career and their material success. What you
probably want is a lifestyle where you can enjoy what you have, without
going broke at the same time.
To break through this wall, you need to have a clear sense of your place
in the world. Amidst an era of sweeping changes, what do you stand for
and where are you headed? In stormy uncharted waters, a boat captain
needs to steer the vessel towards a specific destination, or risk
drifting forever at sea. How can you chart the purpose of your life? How
can you know which way to go? These are eternal questions every human
being eventually ponders along the course of their lifetime. The clearer
you are, the easier it will be to get there.

*Factor #2: Drowning in Exabytes*
Your email inbox is swamped with SPAM. You have too many movies to
watch. Your unread books and magazines are piled sky high. And yet you
are still downloading more content, ordering new titles and albums, and
clogging your brain with streaming video instead of consuming the
valuable material you have waiting.
In this world, information is unlimited, there is more being produced
every second. Despite all the research expounding the boundless
capabilities of the human brain, your brain does have a limit. Be
careful of rushing for more and more content because once you choke up
your mind, you wonÕt have the mental space to produce anything
noteworthy. Productivity drops. Goals are abandoned; dreams crushed.
I have a friend who has great plans and dreams for his life. But he has
trouble achieving any of his goals. Closer inspection of his routine
uncovered that he spends all his free time watching movies he downloads,
which are entertaining but – as he admits – useless.
I asked him why the insanity? And he said it is because he wants to maximise the value of the cable modem subscription he pays so much money for, apparently, the
fastest broadband plan on the market. I told him, ÒDo you realize that in attempting to squeeze maximum value from your broadband, you are squeezing the time for success out of your life.Ó He has since cut the downloading habit and uses his free time more purposefully.
Examine how you are using your free time, and are there any information clogs you can unplug? Some hotspots might be your chat messenger, your social networking platform, and even your email system.

*Factor #3: Catch an Addiction*
If you have got one, you can identify it through the effect it produces in your life. Your time, energy, and money will be sucked up pursuing this one thing you must have. If you do not obtain it, you have a sense of uneasiness, craving, and even frustration. Some say this is the Devil at work. Gautama Buddha said, ÒGrasping leads to suffering, when you crave what you do not haveÓ.
It is incredibly easy to catch an addiction; temptations surround you in modern society. You have probably heard of serious ones like sex, gambling, and alcohol addiction.  But even seemingly mild fetishes like shopping, online gaming, and eating can be destructive when the activity becomes a compulsion. There was the Korean fellow who died after 50 hours of non-stop computer gaming.(2) Also the student who studied till one of his brain vessels burst causing stroke that ended his academic future.
An ancient inscription from the Greek temple of Apollo touts the clear wisdom: “nothing in excess”.

For life to have zest, everyone needs that natural feeling of drive, anticipation, and excitement. When one does not know how to get it naturally, one may resort to vices to stimulate that sense of being fully alive, desperately trying to bring some meaning into life. For these temporary pleasures, it feels exciting while itÕs happening, but once itÕs over, the same pattern of meaninglessness sets in, and they are left wondering, ?When can I get the next high??

*Factor #4: The Cards You Are Dealt*
The trend has been that the rich are getting richer and the poor are
getting poorer. How poor? Almost half the worldÕs population – 2.8
billion people live on less than two dollars (USD) a day. Just imagine?
you had a 50% chance of being born into such a hard life.
The majority of the worldÕs population are born into average and low
income families. Some say this is the reason they cannot succeed. But
there is something worse. You have a 10% chance of being born disabled.
1 in every 10 children around the world copes with a disability, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are approximately 750 million disabled people on Earth.
The good news is, despite financial and physical setbacks, if your brain is functioning well, you can still achieve amazing outcomes in your lifetime. As a one-year-old baby, Helen Keller contracted an illness which left her deaf and blind – no sight, no sound; everything through touch. Even so, she could pick up language, earn a Bachelor of Arts, write books, become a political activist, and even lecture for universities.  Helen was blessed with a great teacher, Annie Sullivan, who taught her the sign language alphabet by tracing the outlines on
HelenÕs palm.
The danger of this wall is in believing that the scarce conditions you begin with are the deathbed of your dreams. Like Helen Keller, you can make best use of the cards you are dealt. Always remember: the conditions you are born into are not a curse, but a necessary starting point for the life you are going to lead.

*Factor #5: Your Very Own Self*
The four factors we have explored above are external barriers. They are
blocks set in your path due to the outside world. This fifth factor is
an internal barrier; meaning that it is within you. You are the cause.
Within your mind, there could be a mental virus preventing you from
achieving your goals. Perhaps you want to be happy in life, but since
young, your parents have drilled into you the idea that you got be
working and achieving all the time. Every time you relax, there is a
nagging voice in your head telling you to Ôbuck up and work harderÕ. How
do you think that affects the choices you make?  Could that mean you
neglect your childÕs science demonstration to close that million dollar
deal? Or having worked to the point of exhaustion, you return home and
forcefully explode when your spouse asks you to empty the garbage?
Looking back, you realise your parents had the best of intentions in
telling you the things they did. They could not have known the outcomes
such programming would produce. If however, you do manage to sort out
this block, then life turns out differently. You know that yes, it is
important to work hard, but without sufficient rest, you wonÕt be
working hard for long. Yes, the million dollar deal is worth a lot, but
the pride in your childÕs eyes is priceless (reschedule your meeting).
And of course, you make it a point never to work to the point of
exhaustion; always reserving some energy to care for your friends and
family.
Past programming is like an invisible enemy. It is difficult to fight
because you cannot see it. You are aware of its effects in your life,
but you are not sure why you act or react the way you do. If you can
bring alignment into your being, energy flows, and you can take action
in the world to accomplish your dreams, despite challenge from the other
four factors.

*Actions: To Create A Life Worth Living*
1) A World Too Fast To Handle

a. Know that the world is accelerating at an unbelievable
pace, so do not expect to keep up with it. Your human body can
only take so much strain before it begins to break down. Rest
adequately to maintain your youthful vigour.

b. If the world is a whirlwind of events, know where you are
headed amidst the storm.

2) Drowning In Exabytes

a. Note that clutter is not only physical, but also mental. If
you keep filling your brain with movies and streaming video,
it will use up your mental hard disk space – keeping you in a
daze for hours after the show, as you ponder what it would be
like to live in that imaginary world. Actively reduce or
remove mental clutter to free up thinking capacity.

3) Catch An Addiction

a. Beware the vices of the world. They come not only in terms
of intoxicants and activities, but also people.

b. Any regular activity, done to an extreme, can become an
addiction.

4) The Cards You Are Dealt

a. Trust that there is divine purpose to your life and that
where you began is exactly where you needed to be.

b. Believe that you can achieve.

5) Your Very Own Self

a. Consider how your life today is a reflection of who you
have been choosing to be through every decision you have made.

b. Looking within and knowing yourself can bring alignment to
your being, increasing your ability to take action and create
the life you deserve.

6) Practical Application

a. Notice at which of the five factors you are stuck at. Focus
your change effort there.

References

1) The research, published in the Archives of Environmental
and Occupational Health and conducted by John Violanti of the State
University of New York at Buffalo and colleagues, focused on 98 police
officers. Data were gathered on blood pressure and blood lipids, as well
as information on sleep habits, physical activity and smoking and
alcohol use.

(2) South Korean Dies After Games Session
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4137782.stm