The MONTHLY Motivator - February 2004

Look At All You Have

Every now and then, it pays to sit back and take a clear, detailed look at yourself, to look at your life in terms of the big picture, to see where you’ve been, evaluate what you’ve accomplished, find the things that are meaningful to you, and to set a specific direction for the future. It’s always helpful to look at what’s right with your life, as well as uncovering areas for improvement.

Your life has an incredible richness, much of which you probably take for granted. By looking at the specific details of your own life, you’ll develop a deeper appreciation for your unique treasures, and discover powerful ways in which you can use this hidden wealth to bring you anything you desire.

It is very much worth the effort to know the details of your own life. And at some level, you do know them. But most of us rarely ever take a look at the details in a methodical manner. Many things are deeply buried, and regularly “mining” them can be a powerful, revealing exercise.

Your personal inventory - take stock

Let’s take a look at where you are at present. Every journey needs a starting point, and the journey of your life begins today, with where you are right now.

In order to recognize possibilities for yourself and for your life, you must have a clear idea of the resources you have to work with. You have many assets of which you are not even aware. In fact, each and every one of us has an abundance that is almost beyond comprehension. When we identify and tap into that abundance we can use it to do whatever we want to do.

Most people would be surprised to discover the amount of hidden wealth that they already possess. Everything you already have, everything you already are, can help you to become what you want to be. This includes both material possessions as well as non-tangible assets. So take a good look at your resources. Appreciation for what you already have is a major step on the road to achieving your goals.

If you truly want to benefit from this exercise, take a pencil and paper, or open up a new file on your word processor, and make a list. That way, you will always have easy access to the vast richness of your life. Don’t expect to do this all at once. Keep the list with you for several days, and add to it when you think of something else that should go on it.

Start with your tangible assets, the material things you have that make your life easier or could be used to create or provide value, entertainment or excitement. Money in the bank, investments, real estate, home, furnishings, books, music, audiotapes, computer equipment, tools, automobiles, things for entertaining, sports equipment, musical instruments, office equipment, clothes, home electronics, cameras, telephones. Now this is not intended to be a complete home inventory like you would make for insurance purposes. Rather, this list is a way for you to objectively look at your material assets. So you can be a little more general on this list than on some of the others you’ll be making. We all have a lot of stuff laying around, and much of it we don’t even use on a regular basis. You have a lot of useful, valuable things available to you. They may not be the latest and the greatest, and you probably couldn’t get much for them on Ebay, but they have value based on what you can do with them. You’ll probably discover that, in material terms, you are “wealthier” than you thought you were.

One interesting exercise is to consider all your material possessions from the perspective

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--Ralph Marston

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