How to Overcome Any Obstacle to Prosperity

You have dreams and aspirations, everyone does. There wouldn't be a reason to keep living without validation of ourselves, there is no such thing as acceptance of a dead-end life without hope of accomplishing anything or attaining something. Whether your dream is to write a book, raise a child, compose a song, or any feat of your choosing, you are inevitably going to get in your own way. Our society has the tendency to bear down on you and shape you to fit their expectations, which in turn can compromise your own personal goals. Don't buckle under the pressure, you may just need to change your perspective and do a few mental exercises to turn things around and get closer to your dreams.

The first thing to do is to identify your obstacles. These are usually the biggest stress factors in your life, the negative aspects that eat up your time, energy, and spirit. This process can be more difficult than it sounds- the routine of our lives and the nature of the mind can make it difficult to discern which factors are helping or hurting. The easiest course of action is to take a look at the basic human needs required for prosperity and go through them by process of elimination to find which one you are lacking. You may think all of your needs are met if you can sustain yourself physically, but if your goals and dreams are so out of reach then you have a problem in one of the following areas:

• Basic Survival
• Social Standing/Status
• Academic Enlightenment
• Physical Attractiveness and Sex Life
• Perspective of Consciousness (awareness of the mind and it's potential)

If you feel as though one of these aspects of your life is unsatisfactory, take a moment to focus on it. What is the reason for this deficiency? It is quite difficult to answer this question by simple brute force thinking, the source of your problems likely has a lot of negative baggage attached to it and thus your mind seeks to protect you from shame, regret, and blame. Admitting to the internal cause of your obstacles is a strenuous task on your psyche. Overcoming these feelings and digging to the root of your obstacles may require some mental exercises to guide you through the process. Give the following technique a try:

1. Stand up and relax your muscles. Stretch your arms straight out horizontally, flexing your fingertips outward. Imagine an orb surrounding and enveloping you, touching your fingertips, the tip of your head, and your feet. Breath slowly and evenly, relaxing your core. You should feel sensitive, almost euphoric as you become aware of your body. Every time you exhale, contract this sensitivity slowly until it focuses acutely on the center of your chest.

2. Now that your mind is relaxed and clear, focus your attention on your lifestyle, your day to day routine. How do you spend your time? Do you work it all away because of financial concerns? Do you procrastinate and waste time with meaningless activities for fear of failure when you try to accomplish something? Now imagine all of this time spent on dead-end pursuits as a tangible orb in front of you similar to the one that surrounds you. Adjust its size based on the quantity of time.

3. This orb represents misspent energy. You devote this huge part of yourself to covering up some factor in your life- you expend this energy applying bandages to a wound that just needs a few stitches. Imagine that there is a mirror image of yourself just beyond the orb, facing you. Right now, it is exactly the same as you in every single way. Keep breathing slowly, visualizing the orb around yourself, the orb of misspent time and energy in front of you, and the mirror version of yourself just beyond it. Now, the image of yourself reaches out and grabs the orb, looking at it inquisitively. It looks up at you, studying and calculating. After a few moments of thought, the misspent time is absorbed into him. Now, this figure is no longer a mirror image of you. This is you with all of your basic needs met, whatever deficiency you had is now totally alleviated.

4. The figure, the improved you, the you at your full potential, walks into your circle. It walks through you, into you. Wear it, become it. Imagine yourself at full capacity, all inhibitions gone, free to spend your time and energy on your dreams and passions. What is the result? Allow your subconscious to provide the answer.

Take time to reflect on this exercise, allow this visual representation to clarify that negative factor, realize what is possible when you reevaluate and get rid of this problem instead of living with it.

The most important part of this technique is the reflection that takes place afterward. The exercise itself is a simple visualization of what it takes to overcome your limiting factor, it's up to your own mental process to recognize and digest this information to come to a conclusion and act upon it. Remember, there is always room for improvement.

Don't accept your station in life if your lifelong goals are out of reach- evaluate yourself and move on up to a position where your dreams are achievable. Perspective is what separates legends from burger-flippers.