AM I?

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I sat quietly, pondering the essence of my existence. I thought to myself, what would make me TRULY HAPPY. What would make mankind truly happy? What were these problems that were causing the chaos that I was seeing in the news every day? Why were so many of my friends retreating into the quiet shelter of their homes day in and day out. I was seeing it everywhere. People losing identities, people no longer knowing what was truly right or wrong, and trying to navigate in a world where there was but only one message: Buy this. Buy that. You will be unhappy until you buy everything we are selling you. The media is literally forcing you to answer their negative questions.

"Are you fat? Buy this pill. Are you depressed? See your doctor about THIS pill. Are you getting older? BUY this car." There is a solution you can BUY for EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM you have. So why is everybody still so unhappy?

It's because you can't buy it. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. You can't pull out your billfold or dial a 1-800 number, because it won't work.

The answer was so clear as it came to me. The answer was to SUBMIT. We just need to SUBMIT and stop running FROM the very things that were designed to make us happy. I then started asking myself, "what makes people really HAPPY?" What have our ancestors been telling us since the beginning of TIME that we are now ignoring? It was in that moment that I discovered my life's purpose. I must SUBMIT to the lessons my ancestors have been talking about all along, no matter how hard, or boring, or against the grain it seemed. My journey to COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION began that day.

Since then I have been unlocking secrets, ancient secrets, that have gone back through millennia. I have been systematically unlocking the doors to happiness. God revealed to me the path one must take in order to achieve the best this life has to offer and it all begins with myself. I have to ask, "how AM I doing?" If God stated his name was "I AM" then my new name would be "AM I." Am I fulfilled? AM I happy? AM I healthy? AM I doing what I should be doing to honor Him? If we are a direct reflection of his glory, then in the mirror we ask and listen for His answer. When we begin to look inward, we find what he has created within us. The perfect and beautiful light that shines at our center when we live life the way He intended for us. This reminds me of something that happened to me several months ago:

I was traveling one morning in rush hour. Traffic came to a stop and when I looked at the license plate of the car in front of me, it said "YOU ARE". As much as a rational person would say, "well it said 'YOU ARE' because the owner of the car wanted to convey a message that was meaningful to them." That is very true, but I would argue, there was something important for me to realize in that moment. I began to ask myself "What am I?" and again "What am I?"

As I pondered that question, the radio station I was listening to had just previously started playing a song. The song was "No Longer Slaves," by Jonathon and Melissa Helser, and after asking myself, "What am I?" several times, the lyrics in the song suddenly clicked when I heard the bridge: "I AM A CHILD OF GOD." They sang this phrase over and over 6 times! Something deep in my soul told me this was a direct and perfect love note from my God above. Another illustration of why we must always be asking "What AM I?"

It is when we stop asking "What am I" or "Who am I?" that life decides what we are for us. It will put everything you can imagine in front of you! Messages of dysfunction, self-defeat, abuse, sadness, anger, rage, and anything else that will get your attention.

As humans, we are designed to notice several key things: Danger, Food, Sex, and I would argue, Fear of the Unknown. Because of this, advertisers and the media know that fear, negativity, insecurity, and danger really drive our emotions. The problem is that when that is all we see, notice, and are exposed to, our mental well being and our very life source begins to suffer. Getting wrapped up in TV shows, video games, sports programs, and social media pages with endless negative content is ruining our lives and FAST! From there, I started asking more questions: 

"How do I fix this? What is the answer to all this and where can I find it?"

As I meditated on these questions I discovered there are 8 key factors to living a healthy and happy life. Each one of these factors unlocks a new door to happiness. Each one is not enough to stand on its own, though. They must all be opened at once or we will continue to only get brief glimpses of what TRUE happiness is. What shocked me is how few people are actually doing these things! Many people are either working so hard they have no time to reflect on their life choices or getting too wrapped up in self-gratification to really care about their health, dying more and more inside each and every day. Through this revelation, I knew what needed to be done: 

I MUST bring this message to everyone who is willing to listen.

Before that, however, I knew I had to adhere to these standards myself so my journey began. In the last year, I have built a small business, created a financial wellness plan, lost 40 pounds, have discovered ways for ongoing improvement in my family relationships, and learned more in a shorter period of time than I ever have before. I am now reviewing my goals each and every week finally taking ACTION like never before. The best part is each one of those goals revolves around these keys to happiness I discussed earlier. That means I am making purposeful steps each week to discover what makes me happy, leading to ongoing joy and fulfillment that never stops.

Out of all this discovery, the 8 Degrees of Transformation Program was born. I now write articles, provide resources, and teach people just like you how to start living their dreams and achieve happiness just like it did for me based on these principals. If I said how excited I am to be finally doing something that changes people's lives in a profound way, it would be an understatement.

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