Using structure to enhance freedom
Guidelines can be helpful, they suggest choices we may have overlooked and might want to consider. I'm considering new choices every day and enjoying the constant flow of new information. My rule for a good guideline is one that empowers me to go beyond where I am right now; one that makes me feel free and unbounded. If a guideline oppresses me or tells me not to do something, I consider it carefully before adding it to my toolbox.

Freedom is not a physical thing
“Well, how free are you if you're a workaholic?” some well-meaning friends may ask, seeing you turn down invitation after social invitation week after week, month after month. To this I say, you're the only one who knows your truth. You're the only one who knows how free you feel. I agree it often appears to others that we're bound, when in fact our minds are engaged in a most enjoyable and dynamic journey. Years ago, a dear brother, Bo Lozoff, wrote a book called We're All Doing Time which was designed to offer an option for those entering prison. In it, he explains that while our bodies may be trapped in a cage, we can use our mind to make the journey not only bearable, but productive. He offers the idea of viewing your jail time as a self-imposed ascetic, monastic retreat, and gaining value from a variety of mental exercises, incorporating meditation with creative visualization. So how trapped you feel really has little to do with where your body is, and has everything to do with where you place your thoughts.

How does a thought become a thing?
Well, Seth says “When we think a thought, electromagnetic energy units (EEUs) are generated. When we concentrate on an idea or desire, the intensity of the EEUs is so great that a portion of our own consciousness is actually imparted to the form. The greater the intensity of our emotion relative to that thought, the sooner the mass (the physical form corresponding to our thought) enters our experience.”

The secret of the Universe
I think this is the most important thing we can know: that the life we live is birthed from the thoughts we think. If there's anyone who's unclear on this subject, read the Seth books by Jane Roberts, read Beyond the Winning Streak, 10,000 Whispers, and Wizards of Consciousness by Lynda Madden Dahl and read A New Beginning I and II by Abraham-Hicks, as well as the extensive Abraham audiotape series (call 210-755-2299 for catalog.) It's my experience that once we understand how it all works, big changes begin and always for the better! If you knew that every word you thought or spoke would come true, what kind of thoughts would you want to focus more on? “My life is getting better and better.“ “Money comes in from many directions.” What kind of thoughts would you want to focus less on? “I'm too fat.” “Life is hard.” “People are lazy.”

Driving your own karma
To go where you want to in life means you have to know where you want to go. If you never identify goals by bringing them into your mind as concepts, the foundation to a future of your choice is never laid. Hear that - identifying a goal lays the foundation to a future of your choosing.

Our goals are ever-changing
Choosing a goal doesn't have to be any big deal - we want to do many, many things with our lives and we're living a lot longer, so there's enough time to do everything. We're re-inventing ourselves daily and we'll go through a lot of “selves” before we're done, and each of these selves has a few goals of its own. We may set a goal of being a caterer and the first time the dirty dishes overwhelm us, we may rethink and redefine that goal. Or, more likely, we set a goal of being a housewife and mother and 18 years later we're neither, and we're forced to re-invent, re-define and re-image ourselves.

You're allowed to change your mind
Just because you've made one choice, that doesn't mean you're stuck doing it forever. Just do it as long as it's fun; when it stops being fun, rethink and redefine your goal. Discovering what it is that you don't want helps you more clearly decide what you do want, and the process of gathering information about what thrills and inspires you is also a valid occupation.

Reviving the Renaissance Woman
I'm 45 years old and I've had many careers, usually overlapping, sometimes contradictory, and each lasting dozens of years. Sure, I worked for law offices most of my life but I'm also a great seamstress, I love to draw and paint, I like to build things out of wood and mold things out of clay, I'm an effective success coach to friends and family and I love to garden and camp and be in the wilderness. I've always been financially responsible for myself.
You've had many careers and were chastized for “not being able to stick with anything,” and “not being able to make up your mind.” Some of you may have believed that everyone else must be right and you were doing something wrong.

You're no different than me
The only difference in everyone's scenario is how much they care about what other people think, or how much they accept the beliefs of another without seriously considering if those beliefs are appropriate for them at this point in their lives.

Everything is subject to change upon evolution of consciousness
Every belief I hold and every idea I have is what I find true for me at this moment - it is not frozen in time. I used to believe that blondes had more fun. That belief shattered when I was no longer blonde and was still having more fun! I used to believe I had to work hard to get ahead and struggle to make money - those beliefs shattered as my consciousness relative to those issues changed.

Celebrate yourself as a work in progress
So, in defining a goal, it doesn't matter how small you start, what matters is that you start. See youself as a magnificent (you are, you know!) work of art in progress, see yourself and your life as a giant collage that you're constantly working on, ever evolving into greater and greater fulfillment in the moment. What thrills you now may not thrill you in 8 years; what thrilled you 2 weeks ago may need to be redefined, perhaps replaced, even now. So yes, you may be a recently single, overweight mom who hates her job, but you're also the things that thrill you most - a good mother, a loving daughter, a fine cook, a meticulous housekeeper, perhaps an artist or poet not yet discovered, and a fine keeper of the felines.

We get what we can picture ourselves doing
What picture do you see yourself in? We get what we can conceive of, so start picturing yourself doing things you want to do. Start picturing yourself living where you want to live, picture yourself driving what you want to drive, picture yourself being as you want to be and feeling how you'd like to feel. Picture it, envision it, daydream about it, pretend it - pretend is a very powerful word: “Pre” from before, ahead of time and “tend,” from intend, intention, so when you pretend, you are intending ahead of time what you'd like to experience, and it's that kind of creative visualization that takes you ever closer to your goal.